VTOL Craft

[Gundummy]

I remember looking at these as concept craft a while back but the prices seem to have dropped and now available.... failed venture maybe?

http://www.robotshop.com/uk/firefly6-vtol-y6-multirotor-drone-frame.html



http://www.robotshop.com/uk/xcraft-x-plusone-rtf-rc-vtol-quadcopter-hybrid.html

[drambuidhe]

Yeh! I was interested in these too but put off by the price.
I still follow the forum thread covering them and have to say that I've never yet seen an fpv video which actually shows they can do anything but hover??
Nice concept though, It would be great to be able to drop back into your small back garden after a proper long range trip out :)
One day hey!

[wgt40w]

X Plus One

Here is a review on a pre-production Plus One by the FliteTest team - not very complimentary.


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[Billy_boy_2010]

I suppose people wonder what the point is?

If you're using a plane for long range, you don't want to huge current drain of a vertical take off.

If you don't need the long range- you may as well use a quad.

Not to mention the added complexity of vtol.

An interesting and tehpchnical exercise- but I don't think there's a real commercial use.

[Gundummy]

I suppose people wonder what the point is?

If you're using a plane for long range, you don't want to huge current drain of a vertical take off.

If you don't need the long range- you may as well use a quad.

Not to mention the added complexity of vtol.

An interesting and tehpchnical exercise- but I don't think there's a real commercial use.

agreed... the flying times really aren't impressive! I think this was more a 'proof of concept'.  the commercial sector is jumping all over this at the moment. God knows why.

[stevec]

they have a bee in their bonnet about "drone delivery" and it won't work until they have VTOL because not many people have a runway to land on. I suppose they are hoping the law will catch up by the time they have perfected the tech.

I think we are still 5 years or more from seeing Drones being technically able to be integrated into the airspace. The tech is pretty much there now but it needs to be a lot smaller before it becomes feasible.
Drone development rode the coat tails of the mobile phone IMU's so it was a quick thing to develop, whereas sense and avoid technology will probably be driven by the self driving car lot, and at the moment it isn't small enough to go an rc aircraft. I am sure it will come but the advancement will be nowhere near as quick as the rise in flight controllers we have see until now.

/Steve

[wgt40w]

Foxtech are now giving it a go !

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[BlueFlyer]

hahaha, hardly "next gen" is it?

basically a FPV Raptor with 2 sticks bolted to the wings for 4 motors.

The only part I'd have difficulty with is how to transition between forward flight and quad mode.... is there some mix programmed into the FC?

[Gundummy]

Chris. Have a look at the firefly. It has a naza and an APM with a "junction box" to handle the transitions

[FPVSteve]

Sorry I still don't see the point in these. And in any case, Peter from FliteTest mastered it years ago:

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[FPVSteve]

A far better vid of the same plane:

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