GPS Autopilot Shuttle Glider Dropped from Drone - RCTESTFLIGHT

Testing if PX4 can steer my little glider back home.
My previous drop shuttle videos:
• FPV Shuttle Glider Dro...
• RC Shuttle Drop Glider...
Interested in the PinPointRC lost plane tracker: use promo code "RCTESTFLIGHT" for a discount! www.pinpointrc...

[@birdseyeview1543]

Two aircraft. An expensive Alta and a crappy piece of foamboard. Lets look at the foamboard. THIS is why Daniel is awesome.

[@thecaptainnoodles]

BirdsEyeView Well he is only using an alts because it needs to be dropped from high

[@kolbeinnhelgi6341]

Ok

[@PeterSripol]

Sweeeeet! Was thinking about doing the same project to get around the issue with having to control the glider on descent! Keep it up and looking forward to the 3D printed one.

[@toba1163]

Hi Peter!

[@kreevee8351]

look its a wild peter

[@weirdscience8341]

Hi Peter I can officially say you and David are the reason I got into RC flight 👍🚁🚁

[@thecaptainnoodles]

weird science Same

[@dangryder6050]

Peter are you gonna buy idubbz gfs xxx cam vidsss?

[@davidpuissegur1263]

Great video, good to see that you are doing such interesting projects again.

[@nikderking1125]

unless you're a goose...

[@mrcat5508]

Goose*

[@locouk]

High altitude stuff.. Like on a helium balloon, raised to 60km near the edge of space high altitude?

[@ciber_flyer]

edge of space is 100km :) but 60 is better than Felix Baumgartner.

[@locouk]

Pierre ANDRE Correct, the edge of space is known as the Kármán line and is around of 100 km.

[@Mionwang]

@@ciber_flyer turns out earth's atmosphere extends up to the moon according to some recent discoveries.

[@coriscotupi]

@@Mionwang But the edge of space still remains at the Kármán line, at some 100km.

[@brianevans4]

@@ciber_flyer You mean Julian Baumgartner

[@stevetaylor1120]

What a great idea you mentioned. Organizations that send up sensors by balloon would be able to recover expensive equipment easily and safely. I wish I could tag along and assist. You are brilliant....Good Job!

[@stephensowell9578]

Thanks for the education. Having a bag with several Autopilot/stabilizers with precarious results. Your video inspires me to get them out and find their instructions. Truly cool project, with very respectable results.

[@AsTheRavensGather]

I love to see shuttle like planes drop from a other plane/drone. Idk its kind of satisfying🤔🤣

[@dakofpvrc4804]

Hi Daniel I just want to thank you for doing this awesome videos. They are such an inspiration for me. Thanks to them I am back at getting creative again. As you are doing, I'm Building a Spacex RC landing booster. You even inspired me to begin documenting my projects on KZbin. Thanks Damian

[@KenKneknaneek]

Very nice. I put a couple of Autopilots in my zohd models and am waiting for the snow to go and the weather to get better so I will be able to test the return to home feature in case I fly out of range. Am using the BGL 6G xxx and see how it works. Happy Flying

[@glydrfreak]

Man! I totally invented this concept when I was little. An autonomous, GPS guided glider software for a model skydiver dropped from a plane. But obviously didn’t have enough resources or knowledge to pursue it.

[@Silver0Crow]

it's like boomerang but way more expensive...

[@raytron1138]

All your projects are so cool!! Really enjoy all the details. You have opened up so many things that are possible. Thanks

[@SubWaySpiderman]

I think it needs an altimeter so when you're making waypoints that it needs to be at the specified height at said waypoint

[@T28-f6b]

indeed your right, to make a profile suited to the glide ratio of the aircraft.

[@ohokcool]

That works perfectly! You just need to get better at working with the limitations and nuances of the mission waypoints. So inspirational, thanks for all the content you post.

[@kennethkustren9381]

Cottonwood trees... Farmers best defence against winds. Also one of the greatest allergy pollens.

[@rippleyaliens]

One of the best things, i have ever scene. A mere 10 years ago, this was 100% fantasy. Sweettt Vidddd

[@rhymereason3449]

LOL... a pile of tubing waiting there for you to use... you live a charmed life my friend...

[@gwheyduke]

Struggling through blackberry and wild rose prickers is the main reason I retreated from free flight. That new GPS is pretty cool.

[@Ahblair4]

I saw this when it was first uploaded, but I'm now noticing how seamless those transitions are and WOW.

[@dodo3441]

I sowed a little parachute canopy last year. Getting one of those to drop, open and then steer autonomously would be awesome too!

[@alenlutz7469]

Awesome test! I love that you mentioned the pinpointrc black box tracker at the end. I got one about a month ago. It's a great little product. Managed to find my lost plane multiple times.

[@leahparsuidualc666]

Now bind a brick to it, so its maneuverability becomes what it looks like: a SpaceShuttle ... Wait! - would you be so kind to strap it on some solid rocket boosters ... ??? ... pretty-please?!

[@kc8omg]

For a manual RTH I believe there's a parameter to set minimum altitude, so the times it worked you were likely above that altitude, and when it rejected it, you had fallen below. A failsafe RTH might ignore that parameter because it's an "emergency". On a normal plane with a motor it'd be able to climb to the required altitude.

[@Freebird_67]

kc8omg so he should probably set RTH alt to as low as he can set the parameter then correct?

[@kc8omg]

@@Freebird_67 yeah, I would think you should be able to see it to zero, since it's a "minimum height", and then it would always try to head home

[@T28-f6b]

@@kc8omg maybe work out its (the shuttle) glide ratio, and set a initial waypoint (IP) position and final waypoint (touch down) set an appropriate altitude at the IP and 0 feet at the touch down waypoint, in fact if you set an ideal Altitude at the IP you won't even need to set an Altitude at the touch down waypoint. it will just vary a little bit with wind.

[@letsgocamping88]

Looking at the route the plane took you can see it nails the centre of each waypoint before making the turn to the next one. So maybe if you want to get the landing right you need to chain a few waypoints together to control the planes heading.

[@MrNaomeentales]

You have to adjust the PVT to 200 bdc's and raise the FML to high, so that the plane can switch from ALS to BLS. Do NOT set the GPS's FGI to 0, or it will crash. One other thing, I have no idea what I'm talking about.. Cool video man!

[@randomodbuild]

Could you try to do an iNav build? It would be very interesting to see an iNav glider or quadcopter.

[@mr.sandman4782]

Will you do your long range FPV videos again. I loved those man

[@Freebird_67]

Maybe the vehicle is to close to home point when you engage it and is why it rejected RTH.? Try getting further out and away from launch point. You can change distance to home point engagement distance but can’t remember how. It’s been a while since I’ve messed with Ardupilot and PX4. I had the original 3DR mini pixhawk running px4 and had lots of issues and ended up dropping that project and moving on to something else. I’m not familiar with the pixracer but no they had some problems with that board a while back as well but sure that’s been addressed by now.

[@mrbrianbray]

Fantastic. Inspirational. Imagine where this will be in five years.

[@honkhonk8009]

Fun fact: During a campaign or whatever, a US drone lost connection with its controller and by default was set to land back home. The drone however did land home, all the way in california. And it the drone taxied away apparently even into the proper hangar.

[@Rcschim]

Very nice mission. It's got the spirit of your old videos - but modern day tech instead of just popsicle sticks :) The px4 looks pretty nerdy - just what I need. You also got a Sripol going on here in the comments - next video Casey and Pew will come and say hi :)

[@hmax1591]

dude! that's real cool. Can you imagine dropping the glider in your state and actually gliding over to another state? Man, that would be cool A.F.

[@longitudelatitude2859]

Imo the best lost plane tracker is tBeacon, because it uses 433mhz band to transmit coordinates via voice. So you can use cheap UV-5R to call for them and receive them, and if u'll use Yagi high dBi antenna u'll be able to find it even without coordinates. You just search for direction with best signal, and go there. I used to fly drones and planes in places with almost no cellular coverage (for example mountains), and this tBeacon thing helped me out really good though. It has its own battery with pretty low power consumtion because it just waits for you to call it and it doesnt transmit anything if its not needed.

[@LabRatJason]

Be careful with dropping from a balloon, as I saw a guy a few years ago try that and ended up getting his balloon rig tangled his antenna. Instead, try putting a small balloon opposite the large one. The small balloon is inserted into a cavity in the rear of the aircraft and holds it using pressure borrowed from the main balloon. When the big one pops, all pressure is lost in the system and the small balloon releases the aircraft... no strings attached! Good luck, I'd love to see it happen.

[@richardgault1002]

You need to contact the "Earth to Sky Calculus" group. They send balloons to over 100K feet, but it takes days to find their payloads. Just think if it would return home. Good work!

[@LuciusKyrus]

Your vids from 10 years ago were great. They made my son and I laugh so hard when the planes would go wrong. Many great memories of those days of building, flying and watching your vids. Still like the vid with Schlomo song.

[@Snagglepuss1952]

Why does the px4 need a motor, as long as you have altitude you can trade it for speed, of coarse you can’t climb without a motor, but your just trying to get home. This project has really fired me up to try this. Great job.

[@garryperrin2408]

Nice! Reminds me Xyla Foxlin vids. When it landed in the water by Mother Goose, did you perform CPR, CRC, or blow dry electronics, foam Proly not to happy with electronic cleaner???

[@PowerScissor]

Story if my life: Man look at all these really cool features! Won't answer the really simple question I need answered....but has a ton of cool features.

[@taltruda]

Can you incorporate a radio altimeter and get this thing to flare itself at 5 feet?

[@GhostRyderFPV]

"...so many autonomous vehicles!" Welcome to the Matrix. Now charge my LiPo puny hooman!

[@parkflyerindonesia]

Awesome experiment, dude 😎👍 You've been inspiring me to design my own parkjets and fpv planes.

[@ando6116]

Add a little bit of wing flex to increase stability, because your shuttle appears to have a negative flex, awesome work !!!!

[@SuperFrodo95]

Dihedral.

[@ando6116]

@@SuperFrodo95 thanks

[@emberpolyvideo3287]

literally every rc thing I have ever built, "huh, I wonder why its working, what changed?"

[@TheyTookStrawb]

Just realized how easy it is to make an rc plane, probably gonna be making one and now I'm looking at your videos way differently.

[@benjaminholbert9267]

The shuttle drop project was the first video of your I saw and have been watching sense.

[@nozmoking1]

Damn. The possibilities are freaking infinite. Very, very cool concept.

[@scottthompson2481]

Always nice to see an rctestflight video uploaded , great project Daniel , All the best ...............

[@alexvalchuk3452]

I suppose you can slow down your dropship and make it glide smoother (and as a result more spectacular) by applying the tail-breaking system which is in a real space shuttle is implemented by a two-piece split air brake.

[@johnnyllooddte3415]

thats a very important piece of research if it works

[@BotanyDegreePilkerton]

i worked in STEM for 25yrs [Science Technology Engineering Maths] this is fascinating - i worked in aerospace, precision engineering

[@sparrow082]

You should try an airfoil versus no airfoil with the same weight on both machines.

[@sUASNews]

Gliders are supported by Ardupilot #LookforArdusoar

[@darrenweeks5425]

Can you make a video where you go over the gear that you have for your planes? And possibly how they work and all that

[@felixbaum2180]

Beeing able to remember the Space Glider video like it was yesterday, i feel old now...

[@EnglishTurbines]

Those Blackberry bushes looked like barbed wire....Im feeling nostalgic for those pink foam days Daniel...:)

[@RCLoversan]

If you want to do a drop test on a budget, please take a look at my X-37ABC. Plans & instructions are available on Instructables website. By the way, I did a drop test using a cheap WLtoys V262, using my trusty FlySky FS-T6 to release the glider (using a device I've built using a servo and a 3CH receiver), controlling the aircraft using a F939 receiver (which is compatible with the FlySky FS-T6. Now, I didn't have expensive cameras to film it, therefore the quality of my video is pretty cr@ppy, but the drop test worked perfectly.

[@rebelyell22]

Those vids at your parents house back in the day were the best 😂

[@williamdimpfl7529]

Daniel, Back when you did a shuttle drop video I suggested that this technology would be useful for returning weather balloon or other balloon borne instrument packages to a home base instead of relying on them being dropped by parachute, found accidentally, and mailed back. I don't know if your comment about doing this from a balloon release is related to my earlier comment, but I still believe this would be a valuable application. My experience is that good ideas have usually already been patented, but if this hasn't it would by worth your pursuing. Bill Dimpfl

[@captainrick9379]

NASA is looking for guys like you! Thanks for sharing!

[@pereoz]

Amazing video! What Ground station are you using in your Mac? I haven’t been able to install APM in my Mac. Can you give me a clue?

[@GaryMcKinnonUFO]

These gliders put windows in danger! Nice work :)

[@brandonrodgers2479]

Dude, Im finding your catalogue backwards. I know its been years and youve made so much progress since this video, but were you setting your home location when you powered on and established gps before taking off? If it isnt getting a good home point it might not go into rtl.

[@RCLoversan]

This "experiment" has been already done successfully by the Italian Company ABACHOS. The glider can get data on the way down (temperature, humidity, pressure. etc., etc.), landing on the same spot it has been launched. By the way, they've recently upgraded the aircraft, equipping it with a motor, to increase the accuracy.

[@MarianKeller]

It isn't really that novel. Had the exact same idea of a self-recovering weather probe almost a decade ago, didn't follow up on it as I didn't have the money and nobody would be interested in a commercial implementation, as it would require expensive licenses for the product and special approvals and clearances per flight. But there are many RC hobbyists who've done similar things. The idea itself isn't really that hard to conceive, the implementation is the interesting part.

[@RCLoversan]

The real innovation is having a glider/airplane that comes back to the launch point, saving the users from travelling for miles to recover the probe and the electronics (with all the data captured during the flight). If you had the same idea 10 years ago, you should kindly explain to me how you would have recovered the probe, as controllers for drones and gps accuracy made it possible (and affordable) just a few years ago.

[@MarianKeller]

@@RCLoversan I wanted to use an RC glider frame with ardupilot or paparazzi running on a custom flight controller board. It was 2010, so accurate GNSS modules and MEMS sensors where all available back then. Recovering the data isn't really the reason why you'd want the probe back, as that's already all transmitted wirelessly on commercial weather probes. The interesting part is to be able to reuse the same probe multiple times over a short time frame, reducing environmental pollution from disposable probes, offering a controlled second measuring run through the atmosphere and providing the opportunity to take more expensive payloads, as it isn't lost after one flight. But as I said, Idea stopped dead by bureaucracy and my budget.

[@Declan-pg8cg]

Smooth glide slope. No matter where I put the explosives on mine it always seems nose heavy. It messes up the shaped charge alignment on contact with the wheelchairs, if you know what I mean? Ha ha ha ha ha, obviously joking. Nice to see you doing some projects again. Is there anything you can do to optimise your sink rates so that at any given time it's extrapolating for your position relative to it's speed, altitude, sink rate and orientation?

[@stevefink6000]

Awesome man! GREAT IDEA. Great video on this, with the Thorn bushes and all

[@andresherrera3649]

Really cool! Do you have any video where you go through your setup? I´d love to understand how it works!

[@captarmour]

Try a close coupled canard and about 20 degrees sweep back on the main wing trailing edge and it may pitch up in ground effect for a softer landing

[@Tomwesstein]

Nice project. When dropping from a height, pay attention to the build-in military limitation on GPS sensors that makes sure they don’t work above 18.000 meters/59.000 ft.

[@iforce2d]

Most u-blox (even $11 clones) go to 50km these days

[@nrdesign1991]

That was awesome, can't wait to see the weather balloon drop.

[@Frank-il2my]

I like this guys RC's big up bro,from 254

[@mccc4559]

My year is complete when I see your new video. No more KZbin for me until 2020.

[@mrcat5508]

That ages well

[@cecilcasey6440]

Please post a follow-up video of the GoPro footage of the plane bouncing off the trees in the final crash landing. Epic bouncing from branch to branch.

[@jrotor3301]

Cool project Daniel. Keep ‘em coming😊🛩

[@mickistevens4886]

Cool! But if you land in those giant poplar trees and you're going to need that big drone to rescue it! I made my own giant extendable pole (40 ft) for trees that I have had to use on occasion but nothing will reach those.

[@airborne2876]

Most advanced paper airplane one may ever see... Your old high school classmates must be jealous

[@rewolff2]

Due to high wind at higher altitudes, flying home from 10 or 20 km is going to require a better glide than the "bad glide angle" you say you are going to try next.... I'd prefer to go for higher glide angles....

[@BrianPhillipsRC]

very cool!

[@mrpaulkennedy]

Mate love your videos. Dam that octo drone is a monster! Can you work out your glide ratio and use that to set “not below” and “not above” gates for the glider (which btw looks super cool flying autonomously). Bare in mind tho, if you set a “not below” altitude, it might not be able to achieve that gate and could stall trying to achieve it. I don’t know how the AP works, but if it has the ability to monitor AOA or glide ratio to prevent stalling this could be a protection against stalling. Otherwise set gates with a window. Like not below 100’/not above 120’. If you set up a cpl of key gates, this might allow you to set up a reasonably accurate profile to assist with accurate landing location. However, add wind into all this, and any calculations will go out the window because the glide ratio will be based on ground distance not air distance (that is, unless the AP system can calculate air distance and work out its own ratios. Hmmm now that’s getting complicated and involved. You could set it up so that once it hits a certain altitude over a reference location, it then starts a pre programmed approach. This is not unlike how single engine pilots are trained to make a forced landing after an engine failure (essentially they’re now flying a glider). You have high key, low key, and from these two gates, you’re able to make an approach to land at the airfield with only minor adjustments on base and finals. Apply this sort of set of rules to your programming and you might be able to achieve a reasonable accurate landing location. More videos please. That glider looks so majestic. Especially knowing it’s flying autonomously! No twitchy pilot inputs!

[@doozowings4672]

Glides like a brick ..... best line of the day...

[@thompascoe8463]

If you do your final version clear the grease from your servos and put a hand warmer pouch on the electronics and battery it gets cold up there.

[@joshuagaughan2567]

Check out the SAE aero design challenge, the advanced class planes have to drop these into target circles. They use pixhawks too.

[@dalecarpenter8828]

Cool idea for a drop from high altitude !

[@ronaldspencer547]

Scientifically done!

[@FPVHans]

Holy cow! This is so nice! Where do you get your ideas from?

[@darrenbradz]

Love your work good luck with the high alt version.

[@GreativeDIY]

really enjoy when planes landing

[@100SteveB]

Word of warning about those gps trackers - be careful using them in remote areas where there is weak cell phone coverage - if your craft goes down the gps on the craft will still know where it is, but without the cellphone network it can't let you know that information.

[@FlyingBuzzard]

since that was Goose in the pond, did that make you Maverick ?

[@PaulGarbettNZ]

Please please please do a high altitude drop in the near future. That would be so cool. A lot of people have attempted to pilot them back but it would be great to see and autonomous glide.

[@JMMC1005]

Agreed. I've seen a few attempts but none I'd really call fully successful.

[@thedancingdutchman2874]

If you drop from a high altitude PLEASE first check with the FAA or do it somewhere that it won't be sucked into a passenger Airliner intake and bring down the aircraft. I fly a lot commercially and thank you in advance. :)

[@brucebaxter6923]

Ardupilot not only supports gliders but it also searches for thermals.

[@weirdscience8341]

Really that's nuts

[@larrys8645]

Here's a link that may be helpful: ardupilot.org/plane/docs/soaring.html

[@larrys8645]

You can most likely adjust the ardusoar parameters to suit your mission.

[@alexandrpetrov1110]

Definitely great video. Really nice design.

[@alanhelton]

8:07 As a commercial operator (Flight test operator currently) and a past military operator with external operator qualifications may I state this out loud...? What do you have you turn radius set to? Are you capable of setting it and/or the direction of rotation in the flight plan? Given the close proximity of your flight plan legs, you may be overlapping your turn radius and or with a combination of the short legs causing the inconsistent flight paths in real life as opposed the those you have build in your software and uploaded to the air vehicle. To me it looks like the vehicle at this point was flying the flight plan, but the turn radius was large (shallow turn) and as such it didn't have time to orbit 2 in such a way as to strait line 3 if you will.

[@cetyl2626]

I always had problems with a cheap GPS. But it seems your tracking is good. So I guess you don't have problems there. Something to look into, though.

[@gonun69]

Very nice test. I had a similar idea of a weather ballon dropped plane for a long time, I was wondering how far you could go with a glider plane. If it is a wfficently build glider and you can drop it from 30km or so, you could fly for hundrets of kilometers. If you use high altitude winds probably thousands. Maybe also put in some solar panels...

[@JMMC1005]

It gets pretty difficult to build an efficient glider that is strong enough and controllable at those sorts of altitudes. You need very high true airspeeds to generate lift, which means you start dealing with stuff like flutter and shock formation. A stubby-winged shuttle is a lot easier, but not as cool.

[@gonun69]

@@JMMC1005 thanks, looks like quite a lot of research to do first.

[@xsto01]

check for jet streams over your area when it goes high.

[@lynchkp]

Daniel - I'm working on a project where I need to tow a glider, similar to what you have here. I plan on towing in stabilize mode - no rc on board, just using the telemetry link to set Stabilize mode. My question for you (if you see this). How did you tune your glider? Autotune would be tough on such a short flight. Thoughts?

[@josidasilva5515]

Next step: use a on land black box to update the home coordinates to the glider, creating a mobile destination.