click map AirPigz About mail Robert Clupper

click map 787 Caption Contest CoolPix Homebuilt Military Must See Oshkosh Racing RC Space Video Podcast

click map Perfect Paper Airplane Facebook twitter

Search AirPigz...
Popular Previous Posts


  

  

 

Search AirPigz 1000+ posts

 

Entries in VTOL (53)

Monday
Jun092014

Video: Killer Drones - The Future Of Crop Dusting?


 The idea of killer drones is fine with me if they're all about killing insects that hurt crops. In fact, I'd say that the idea of using Quadcopter-style drones for crop dusting is probably the most logical and viable use for these unusual flying machines.


Video screenshot: view from above a crop dusting quadcopter


 The video above shows a quad from the people at armcopters.com demonstrating an electric powered drone with a nice spray rig installed. Their website says they have systems with 22 and 66 pound payload capacities, tho I don't see them available for purchase at the moment. You might think that payload impractical as a crop duster, but the ability to more accurately target the crops, and do so from a much lower altitude greatly reduces the amount of chemical required to be dispensed to be effective. Even more, the powerful downwash from the rotors helps drive that chemical deeper into the crops where it'll be even more effective.


Video screenshot: underneath view of the crop dusting quadcopter


 
While we continue to see electric drone capabilities improve rapidly, their time aloft is often still relatively limited due to battery capacity. That's where an idea like the gas-powered collective pitch quad concept from Curtis Youngblood might be perfectly suited to applications needing higher payloads and much longer durations. 

 Without a doubt, the future of the drone in this world is a sticky wicket, but I gotta say I like 'em as crop dusters!


Like this post? Tell your friends... use the 'share' or 'email' article links below - thanx : )

Thursday
Jun052014

Superior Pilots: Trimming Trees From A Helicopter! (Video) 


 The first time I viewed a video of a huge 10-blade vertical saw suspended from a helicopter and cutting tree limbs near large power lines was shortly after I launched AirPigz back in 2008. It was crazy and amazing to me back then, an there's no surprise that it remains that way to me still today. It's just much more relevant to me today since I've recently trimmed and cut down some large trees in my neighborhood using a chainsaw. I did not, however, use a helicopter!


 I did use a 60' boom lift tho, which I found to be incredibly enjoyable work (which oddly might lead to a career change here very soon), but it's slow and tedious work even with the lift. I felled an 85' Maple tree that had lots of branches hanging over two houses... hours were spent cutting off limbs from the lift before I could take the saw to the trunk. I can easily understand the massive amount of man-hours and equipment traditionally required to trim trees along a powerline path. The helicopter and the horror-movie-like vertical saw definitely makes quick work of the difficult task of tree trimming! I'm confident however that the pilot would say it's still very tedious from his point of view!



 That's the reason I'm sharing this video, to call attention to the skill and focus these pilots have. Honestly, I'd lean toward calling them crazy if it wasn't for the fact that I've seen lots of videos of this kind of work being done and it always seems to work out just fine. With the right pilot and the proper equipment, it appears to be a completely safe method of tree trimming.

 One of these days I hope to be able to chat with a pilot who has done this and get a better idea of just how challenging it is... and then after that I need to find one of the guys that flies the line-checking helicopters like the one in the video below. Those guys are ARE crazy, even if it seems to work out just fine on a regular basis as well.

 Let's also have a little hat tip to the Hughes 500 since it seems to be the dangerzone helicopter of choice!



Like this post? Tell your friends... use the 'share' or 'email' article links below - thanx : )

Thursday
May012014

Video: Seriously Awesome RC XC-142 VTOL (Must See!)


 If you're short on time and just need an under-a-minute avgeek experience, you'll wanna go here instead of watching the video above... but if you like awesome, cool, and truly amazing examples of modern tech being used to make extremely difficult aircraft designs fly great in model form, then please take 15 minutes to watch this.

 The real XC-142 was a remarkably successful VTOL design from the early 1960's. However, even tho it proved capable of vertical takeoffs and landings along with over 400mph maximum speed, mechanical complexities and aerodynamic problems in certain phases of flight prevented it from moving beyond the prototype stage. Five XC-142's were built, and the only remaining example is the one turned over to NASA in 1966. It's on display at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force and I have spend quite a lot of time looking this unique aircraft over on each trip I've made to Dayton.

 The December 2013 video above of the all-electric RC model XC-142 begins with northern California builder and pilot Ran D. St. Clair explaining a little about the design, then sharing some details on the open-source OpenAero2 flight controller software, and then showing the wing pivot process and interconnect with the horizontal tail. The first of the flying begins at the 3:10 mark. The flying footage is very impressive.
 

 

 As the inflight pic above shows, this model is extremely well built, but the really impressive work is how well the programming has been done to create a very controlled VTOL flying machine. Transitions from vertical to slow-forward-flight and then full-forward-flight and then back to vertical for landing are done with relative ease. The video is also very well done which gives you a really great opportunity to see this remarkable little model at its best.

 And in case you think that little vertical prop in the rear is a nod to the pitch-control tail rotor found on modern electric toy helicopters, think again... the real XC-142 has one there too for pitch control when in vertical mode.

 Bravo Ran D. St. Clair for some very impressive work! 

 
Like this post? Tell your friends... use the 'share' or 'email' article links below - thanx : ) 

Wednesday
Jan222014

Video: Brave New World Of Collective Pitch RC Quad Flying: Curtis Youngblood MantaRay


 If you're in the know about RC quad copters then you're probably aware that multiple world champion RC helicopter pilot and innovator Curtis Youngblood has pioneered the use of collective pitch blades into the quad copter concept. It's a lot like taking the tail rotor from an RC helicopter and adapting it for quad use... and tho the collective pitch adds some complexity, his design uses a single powerplant to drive all four rotorsets via belts and pulleys. His company CJ Youngblood Enterprises has been selling an electric collective pitch quad called the Stingray 500 since last year.

 What's especially unique about the video above is that this is a prototype for a larger collective pitch quad that also expands overall utility by being powered either by electric motor or via a gas engine. I only learned of the collective pitch quad idea yesterday, and in my research this morning I've seen how some in the traditional quad community don't see the advantages of a gas-powered quad... but the most obvious is the ability to dramatically increase flight time. It would also seem that payload potential would increase as well. Clearly the gas-powered quad is not meant to dominate the quad world, just dramatically expand it.


Video screenshot of the larger electric or gas powered MantaRay collective pitch quad 


 The bigger overall issue tho is the incredible increase in controllability that variable pitch blades allow. The smaller electric-only Stingray 500, which can be bought for $600, takes the quad into 3D hyper aerobatics. The two videos below give you a very good idea of what that really means. But the potential for a larger gas-powered quad like the MantaRay expands the commercial potential of the idea exponentially.

 Watching the video directly below of the Stingray is the closest thing I've ever seen to the flying robots seen in sci-fi films in the last 15 years... the ability and style in which this thing can be flown is straight up spooky. Beyond the extreme 3D nature of quads like the Stingray, Curtis is hoping the idea of extreme terrain racing might catch on where the capabilities of these amazing flying machines will break open an entirely new world of race courses and extreme pilots.

 Brace yourself for the brave new world... there's no stopping it now.



 

Monday
Jan132014

Video: 'Flexible' VTOL Powered By World's Smallest ICE - Wow!


 I figured I had three choices for what I was gonna post this morning: There was the successful Virgin Galactic flight on Friday, the third conducted using the rocket engine to power the suborbital spacecraft (story and video here)... then there's the Southwest Airlines 737 that mistakenly landed yesterday evening on the 3,738 foot runway at M. Graham Clark Airport, 7 miles away from the 7,140 runway at their intended destination of the Branson Missouri Airport (the only privately owned, privately operated commercial service airport in the US) - see the story here in case somehow haven't seen it 10 times already... and then there's the video posted a couple years ago on youtube of the 'flexible' VTOL aircraft that's powered by the world's smallest production internal combustion engine.

 I decided that you've probably seen one of the awesome previous rocket-powered test flights of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo, and it was just back in November, just 240 miles from last night's mistaken landing that one of the DreamLifters landed at Col. James Jabara Airport in Wichita Kansas instead of the correct destination 8 miles away at McConnell Air Force Base. It seems that mistaken landings are fast becoming the norm in the heartland... But when have you ever seen a Cox .010 gas engine power a shop rag into vertical flight?

 Yeah, I'm pretty sure for most of us, this flexible VTOL with the screamin' 27,000 rpm Cox .010 engine is avgeek story of the day : )


Screenshot of the Cox .010 and the shop rag 'airframe' ready for engine start and flight!


Thursday
Dec122013

3 Videos: The Future Belongs To The Wingcopter! (OK... Maybe Not Just Yet)


 The Bubbleship VTOL from yesterdays Oblivion movie post has me cranked up on vertical flight concepts, so I did a little digging to see what VTOL dreamers are up to. I turned over a few rocks on youtube and found: the Wingcopter... and I gotta say this is a very impressive concept from a small team in Germany led by Jonathan Hesselbarth. It's just an RC model at this time but after several prototypes they seem to be on to a really good thing.


An impressive VTOL concept: the Wingcopter!  (photo: Wingcopter)


 When I observe a verti that's meant to achieve traditional high-speed forward flight, I'm looking for just one thing to impress me: transitions from vertical to forward and back again. The Wingcopter demonstrates this in the video above with amazing stability and control! You might have to watch the video several times to see that the the motors and props are moved back into the VTOL position at about the 29 second mark. The aircraft then decelerates to near stall speed when power is brought in again to complete the transition back to vertical flight. It doesn't just look 'doable', it looks like fun!


Onboard camera view with transition to forward flight and back to vertical


 The only big drawback I see with the concept thus far is that if this was a full-scale aircraft and the motor/prop assemblies became stuck in the forward flight mode, you've got a set of propellers that are going to extend well below the landing gear. That's a problem. My criteria for truly successful VTOL allows for a no-damage landing in the event that the hardware can't get out of forward-flight mode (sorry V-22 fans) - I can imagine tho that there'd be several possible modifications to the concept here to be able to meet that criteria. Overall, this is some seriously impressive work, both in the mechanics and the programming.


Detail of the motor/prop transition mechanics


 
You can learn more about the various designs that led to this current configuration, as well as the mechanism that drives the pivot arms on the Wingcopter.com 'prototype' page. And, if you're interested in getting in on the fun with this amazing little flying machine, check out this page where you can actually purchase a Wingcopter ARF! Note that these guys don't appear to be in the RC kit biz, they just happen to be cool enough to to be willing to sell their work so you can experience it. No price is listed, you have to follow their contact link to inquire. 

 It's too early to say, but this just might be a truly viable VTOL concept for the future... Bravo Wingcopter!

 

Wednesday
Dec112013

Videos: Living Life At 3,000 Feet AG (Bubbleship And Skytower From The Film 'Oblivion')

Unused short scene for Oblivion showing the CGI Bubbleship flying by the camera


 I live in a bit of a vacuum these days without any cable (or broadcast) TV at home. It started as a cost-cutting measure about a year ago, but even now, when money is not the problem that it was, I find I'm much happier without cable in the house. So, still no cable. This shift has brought about a new process for the relatively small amount of TV we consume: we watch completed TV series on DVD (just finished watching all 5 seasons of Fringe in about 3 months) and we watch some movies. So a few nights back we rented the recent Tom Cruise movie Oblivion. (I hadn't even heard of the movie, an interesting side-affect of life without cable TV.)  It was actually a test of an upgrade to a Blu-ray DVD player, and it was the first live-action Blu-ray DVD I've ever seen. (Blu-ray looked fantastic... feel free to welcome me to the 21st century)


Video screenshot: The very cool Bubbleship VTOL from the Tom Cruise movie Oblivion


 I'm somewhat surprised to say that I really liked Oblivion. It doesn't hurt that the living quarters are a fabulously modern house sitting at 3,000 feet above the ground on a thin spire, and there's a lot of flying in a very cool VTOL called a Bubbleship.

 After I watched the movie, I watched it again with the special-feature commentary that replays the film with Tom Cruise and writer/director Joseph Kosinski making comments about the scenes and the production process. I love this stuff. After seeing the commentary, I find myself quite taken by the film. I have to say that I recommend checking it out if you haven't seen it yet.


The video above gives a great overview of the Bubbleship in Oblivion


 There's a certain simplicity and open-ness to the film that I'm drawn to. As life here on Earth seems to increase in quantity and diminish in quality everyday, the uncongested landscape of Oblivion's post-alien-attack Earth seems oddly attractive to me. (maybe I just need to move to Wyoming)

 Your mileage may vary on that.


 
This video gives an overview on the 3,000 foot high Skytower in Oblivion


Video screenshot of the Bubbleship on the landing platform of the Skytower in Oblivion


 I really enjoyed these videos since they show how some of the effects in the film were made. The way that they created the background sky and cloud views for the lookout from the skytower is extremely cool. Fascinating stuff... and a movie I actually liked. Watch it, I think you might like it.

 

Monday
Dec022013

Video: 'Amazon Prime Air' Makes A Fabulous Publicity Stunt For Cyber Monday


 I could be wrong, but Amazon Prime Air looks like nothing more than a very effective publicity stunt to me. The video above has received over 2 million views in well under 24 hours... and it just happens to be Cyber Monday, hmm. If you were in the retail sales biz, offering a massive inventory via the great big interwebs, wouldn't you love to have half the country chatting you up right now? Of course you would.

 Jeff Bezos might be serious about using octocopters (small unmanned electric drones) to deliver five-pound-and-under items directly to people's homes, but I honestly don't wanna see it happen. Ever. I think it's a bad idea.

 In a perfect world they would be great, but this world is far from perfect. Aside from all of the possible mechanical and electrical failure possibilities (which lead to an autonomous 10 pound object falling completely uncontrolled from the sky) the real issue here all about people trying to shoot them out of the air just for fun. And far worse than the 10 pound uncontrolled object falling from the sky that they hit with their favorite rifle, consider the 10 bullets they shot that missed their target... but found your head while you were mowing the backyard half a mile away.

 I say bad, bad, idea... but great publicity stunt. Btw, I love Amazon Prime, let's just keep the Air out of it, ok?!


Video screenshot of the 'Amazon Prime Air' drone concept delivering a small package

 

Thursday
May162013

Poll: Awesome Or Ugly? The 5 Engine, Short SC.1 VTOL (1950's)

Short SC.1 - Britain's first VTOL demonstrator aircraft - first flown in 1957 (1958 VTOL)


 I admit that I'm fascinated by experimental military aircraft from the 1950's... it was such an incredible time of let's learn everything we can! This unusual looking jet, the Short SC.1, is definitely one that fascinates me. It's Britain's first VTOL testbed, built by Short in Belfast in the last 1950's.

 With a delta wing, fixed landing gear and awesome 'spaceship-of-the-future' bubble windshield, the SC.1 was first built with just one centerline mounted Rolls Royce RB108 turbojet engine to allow for conventional takeoff and landing tests. The first flight of this version was on April 2, 1957. The 2nd and only other SC.1 was fitted with four more RB108's mounted vertically in the middle of the fuselage and made its first tethered vertical flight on May 26, 1958. By October of 1958 it had made its first completely free vertical flight. The first vertical to forward-flight transition was made in 1960.

 With fixed landing gear and 5 turbojet engines, the SC.1 was a very unusual jet!


 The SC.1 had a remarkable career as a VTOL testbed and both examples remain today, the first aircraft on display at London's South Kensington Science Museum and the second at Ulster Folk and Transport Museum in Northern Ireland. However, it is important to note that the second aircraft did crash in 1963 due to a control malfunction killing the pilot J.R. Green. The aircraft was rebuilt and testing continued thru the late 1960's. All SC.1 testing ended in 1971.

 The SC.1 provided much valuable data on vertical flight and control, tho the use of 4 vertically-mounted engines for lift and just one for forward thrust proved to be an inefficient method... the Hawker Siddeley P.1127 (predecessor to the Hawker Harrier) first flown in 1960, proved that one large engine could be used to provide vectored thrust for both vertical and forward flight.



 I'm voting 'awesome' in the poll, but what do you think of the Short SC.1?


 

Tuesday
Mar122013

The Awesome 4th Hop Of The Awesome-Hopping SpaceX Grasshopper! (Video)


 After SpaceX solved an issue with the oxidizer tanks on the most recent Falcon 9 launch, their streak of excellent success with five Falcon 9 launches is intact. That's quite an impressive feat. And last week, on Thursday March 7, 2013, they had a successful record-altitude flight of their Grasshopper reusable rocket demonstrator. On its fourth test flight, Grasshopper reached 262.8 feet in altitude... and while a flight to an altitude of just under half the height of the Washington Monument might not seem like much to write home about, it really is a remarkable accomplishment. 

 The rock-solid stability and control on Grasshopper can be seen in the video, which includes some onboard views. It would be easy to think it was some sort of animation rather than a real free-flying rocket-powered flying machine. Wow, this thing is very well programmed! Grasshopper lifted off the pad, climbed to almost 263 feet, and then it returned back to the pad with a soft landing near the center! It appears to have been a perfect 34 second flight. This thing really does look like science fiction.

 All this testing is moving toward the day when SpaceX will have the ability to retrieve the launch vehicle with a controlled descent and vertical landing rather than allowing it to burn up on re-entry as essentially all boosters have done in the past - except for the Shuttle SRB's. This new reusable concept should allow for cheaper launch costs and quicker turn-around.

 Congratulations SpaceX, your work is outstanding!

 
 SpaceX Grasshopper launching on its 4th flight on Thursday 3.7.13  (photo: SpaceX