Rc flight camera action september october 2016

THE UK’S 1ST DRONE AND MULTIROTOR MAGAZINE

RCFLIGHTCAMERAACTION.COM

ISSUE 7 SEPT/OCT 2016

THE UK’S 1ST DRONE AND MULTIROTOR MAGAZINE

FROM ENTRY LEVEL QUADS TO FPV RACING, AERIAL FILMING, IN-DEPTH BUILD GUIDES AND INDUSTRY INNOVATION

NEW DRONE TECH EXPLAINED & EXPLORED

FULL THROTTLE FPV

FROM THE GRASSROOTS UK SCENE, TO UNDERGROUND RACING IN THE USA, WE BRING YOU THE LATEST FPV COVERAGE FROM AROUND THE WORLD! HUBSAN FPV X4 PLUS PALM-SIZED FIRST-PERSON FLYING

YUNEEC TYPHOON H

4K AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY PLATFORM

GHOST DRONE 2.0 VR THE LATEST VERSION OF EHANG’S FLAGSHIP DRONE

MICRO DRONE 3.0 MICRO DRONE, MASSIVE FUN

RCFCA ISSUE 07

Issue 07 £4.99

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INSIDE RC FLIGHT CAMERA ACTION

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016. ISSUE 07

Hubsan FPV X4 Plus

40

Micro Drone 3.0

56

Feilun 400 3D Drone

60

Yuneec Typhoon H

72

Dromida Verso

78

REVIEWS 10 Ghost Drone 2.0 VR

A first look at the latest version of Ehang’s Ghost Drone

30 Build Your Own Drone The official Haynes Manual

40 Hubsan FPV X4 Plus

Palm-sized FPV plus a look at Hubsan’s new goggles

56 Micro Drone 3.0

Micro drone, massive fun! We go hands on with Extreme Fliers’ latest version

60 Feilun 400 3D Drone John Daniels tests out a 3D quad

72 Yuneec Typhoon H

David Bright takes Yuneec’s latest aerial photography platform out for a spin

78 Dromida Verso

Inverted flight is the special move of this fantastic little drone – we put the Verso through its paces

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FEATURES 16 Mini Air Show

We took a trip down to Brighton to check out the second ever Mini Air Show

22 Quad on a Shoestring Part 2 The second instalment of Wayne Andrews’ FPV quad build series

30 Riot in the Underground

Dahlton Grover reports from the ThrustUAV event over in the USA

34 Sky Drone Survey Riot in the Underground

30

David Bright tells us about his visit to the Cheltenham based drone survey company

50 MSRM Drone Weekend

Mid Suffolk Radio Modellers’ inaugural drone event

52 Drone Dealer Expo

Barry Vaught shows us what went down at this year’s dealer expo in the USA

64 Drones Down Under

Australian photography enthusiast Josh Tagi shows us some amazing drone photos from the other side of the world!

68 Short Circuit

Adam Richardson reports on the June Racedrones.co.uk FPV event

Ghost Drone 2.0 VR

10

REGULARS 44 Viewpoint

The latest stunning drone images from around the world

70 Quad Clips

All the coolest, jaw-dropping FPV clips in the past few months in one place

Sky Drone Survey

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RC FLIGHT CAMERA ACTION

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COMMERCIAL DRONES

THE FUTURE IS NOW (AND ORANGE) David Bright took a trip down to Cheltenham to visit Duncan Jones from Sky Drone Survey, a commercial drone company – here’s how they got on...

AUTHOR: DAVID BRIGHT – BRIGHT SKY VIDEOS

Duncan Jones with the Height Tech Inspector S

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Sony front camera

Packed neatly in its case

e are all aware of the benefits of drone aerial photography, from enabling ordinary citizens to have a view of the world previously only available to a privileged few, to the increasing use by TV and film companies to produce dramatic footage without the expense and limitations of using helicopters/light aircraft.

W

Ltd, and arranged a meeting with their CEO Duncan Jones at their operations base at Staverton Airport. Duncan’s background was an electrical engineer in the RAF, serving in the Falklands, Iraq, Northern Ireland and Bosnia, and later as an SAP engineer at various electrical companies; obviously someone immersed in electronic and electrical technology.

We are also aware of the reports of what drones will be able to do in the future, such as feasibility studies for Amazon delivery drones, police and emergency services trials, increasing commercial use etc.

All interesting stuff, but where are we now?

I explained that I was interested in the commercial applications of drone technology, and the payloads they carry. Duncan enthusiastically ran through the equipment he has available and the services that Sky Drone Survey provides to industry. We talked about visual inspections and photogrammetry (which I knew a little about), infrared and near infrared imaging (something I was aware of, mainly from reading Rod Boswell’s article in the last issue) as well as LiDAR and UV corona detection.

As I have mentioned in a previous article, many in the UAV field are predicting that the next big growth area in drone technology will be in commercial applications. We’ve been through the DIY/hobbyist stage and the FPV pioneers have ushered in the concept of aerial imagery.

We’ve now arrived at a point where a number of companies (notably DJI and Yuneec) can offer, to consumers and professionals alike, very capable aerial platforms that are able to produce good to excellent quality aerial images.

Height Tech Sky Drone Survey use and are UK distributors for Height Tech UAVs – German engineered and built multirotor aircraft, specifically made for commercial operation.

So, my mission was to find out what the current state of technology was regarding the commercial applications of UAV platforms.

At the suggestion of the editor, I contacted Sky Drone Survey

I had a good look at the latest addition to Sky Drone Survey’s fleet, the Height Tech Inspector S. This is a large octocopter with a bright orange canopy. Designed for inspection work rather than filming,

Inspector S features eight brushless motors

Duncan poses with the Sky Drone Survey van

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