For the past several years Robyn and I have made the trip to Kamloops on this weekend each year to participate in the e-FLY Indoor Electric R/C event held inside the Tournament Capital Centre Field House. With 65,000 square feet of space this indoor facility is the perfect venue to host Precision Aerobatics, Freestyle (to music) and the popular Extreme Obstacle Championships.
Most airplanes flown indoors these days are very sophisticated in terms of technology utilizing high speed digital servos, brushless motors and very powerful lithium polymer battery packs all flown with 2.4 GHz radio systems. The airplanes themselves are made from foam or specifically Depron Foam which is used as hardwood floor under lay in Europe. With a total flying weight of under 6 oz and a thrust to weight ratio of around 5 to 1 it makes for some really interesting flight characteristics.
The first video was taken while I was wearing my GoPro Hero 2 creating that "first person" view so that basically you get to see what I saw while I was flying. In this video am I competing in the Extreme Obstacle event and this is my first of two flights with the lowest flight time of the two used to determine placings. The objective is to fly under and between the pylons (neon pink sticks) while not hitting them or crashing into the ground.
The next video was also taken with a GoPro but mounted on a quad-copter like this one. With stabilizing gyros, upgradable GPS and altitude hold capability it is the perfect platform for capturing aerial pictures and video. Hummm...... just maybe I can use this while on the water in the kayak. ;-)
A great weekend flying with the boys from around BC. Kinda felt weird leaving the kayaks home all alone by themselves. Back on the water this weekend!!
Wow, unbelievable control and precision, Mark. Very impressive!
ReplyDeleteDuncan,
ReplyDeleteYeah, not bad for someone who hasn't flown much since the world championships last summer. I was definitely rusty but managed to take a second place in the Obstacle with a time of 1:04 or about 40 seconds faster than this first flight. It was weird going to the event for fun this year instead of practicing hard and trying to capture top spot in the events. I have been pretty fortunate over the past several years to take home my share of hardware.
well done, Mark. Pretty incredible actually.
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