[Ben Smith]

It rained all weekend here on the island, so what to do? Make your own predator drone of course. Take a $200 R/C plane, crudely strap on a $25 digital camera, and try not to crash. The end result is a pretty cool aerial video of the village of Bar Harbor. The rain paused briefly on Sunday, allowing for a little flight time, so off I went and here's the end result:

Click here for the video of the very first test flight

Click here for a video of the longer second flight, climbing to a higher altitude

A piccy of the "poor man's" predator drone:

[3/4 time]

Ben that's quite an adventure. I see traffic and beach reports in the future, maybe even the Bar Harbor version of the Goodyear Blimp at summer road races, etc. Your first landing was very nice, a 3-point landing. (All three wheels hitting at the same time.) That's pretty difficult to do in a remote controlled for the first time. What kind of range and altitude can you get from it? Could you for instance, from the base, fly it over the top of Dorr or Cadillac Mountains?

[Ben Smith]

3/4 time, on 08 Jun 2010 - 08:28 AM, said:

Ben that's quite an adventure. I see traffic and beach reports in the future, maybe even the Bar Harbor version of the Goodyear Blimp at summer road races, etc. Your first landing was very nice, a 3-point landing. (All three wheels hitting at the same time.) That's pretty difficult to do in a remote controlled for the first time. What kind of range and altitude can you get from it? Could you for instance, from the base, fly it over the top of Dorr or Cadillac Mountains?

I don't seem to be getting any interference form the camera when I do range checks, so I should be able to get the full range which is half a mile. The catch is that I most certainly would not be able to tell which way the plane was pointing at that altitude. However, I have been thinking of flying from the top of Cadillac and crossing over to Dorr once the tourist season wanes. The camera does make flying a little difficult in regards to aerodynamics, so the air would have to be pretty calm. I'd also have to be very mindful of the battery...I most certainly wouldn't want to wind up ditching on the side of Cadillac.