So the time had come for me to test the gopro on the Heli and answer a couple of questions. One that was answered quite quickly was how stable was the configuration. It turned out to be quite stable after all. Although attaching the camera at the nose of airframe makes contro in windy weather quite intricate. I had a couple of close shaves. The eventual footage didn't produce much desired results although that was expected as not much thinking what into the vibration isolation of the video camera. The maiden flight was to see if everything will work as expected. One could potential use a vibration removal video editor although that it last resort. Accumulated flight time: 94min

It's been awhile since I've actually touched my project. More responsibilities at work and now enrolled in a business school makes finding time for 'real' work quite difficult. And by the way, I've been learning Android development for school (business school) so I might come up with an application for this project in the near future. But nevertheless, I've had many chances to ponder on how I can speed up the development of this autopilot. It's been quite clear that flying a 2m glider is restricted to large fields which you have to drive to only when the weather is right. For prototype development, a slow turnaround for testing is your number one enemy. Trying to fly at work is also counter-productive because then time is taken off something work is not paying for. So the decision made to change the platform upon which the autopilot is been tested. We went from 2m glider, 60cm glider and now we're going quadcopter. You may think what!!!!! You can...

Yeah that's right. Everywhere you go, including some intern projects at my company, quadcopter drones is the current trend. The marketing success is simple. It's a lot cheaper and less complex and than a comparable RC helicopter. They're virtually no mechanical moving parts (expect the platform itself). And it's perfectly suited for camera attachment. So hot combination has spawned the quacopter drone revolution. I've always been against following a trend just for the sake of it. But considering that I need perfect weather test fly my flight controller only makes sense to start modifying my code to accommodate for a quadcopter. The controls are pretty straightforward and the design is incredibly simple. Another design dev coming up!

I Although I now have a Radian glider. It's quite difficult to find open places where you're able to practice your flying. So i decided to design a new airframe that will be able to keep my flight hours up without having to travel far. The aim was to make a cheap. light and yet strong powered plane that, if needed, would be able to carry the autopilot board. The airframe was made of foam core , 160gsm board paper, packaging tape and dowel sticks.