R/C Ekranoplan Long Range FPV

Use code RCTESTFLIGHT120 to get $120 off Factor at bit.ly/3vjcYOR !
Previous video about this model: • RAM Effect Vehicle - A...
All my GEV videos: www.rctestflight.com/ground-e...
Support rctestflight: / danielriley
IG: danielriley_

[@NicholasRehm]

Daniel’s gotta be the Snow White of the RC world with all these animals coming to check his stuff out

[@multiarray2320]

i'm a big fan of your last video :)

[@BigElCat]

Or maybe Dr. Doolittle; "Get the ___ , whatever you are" !

[@kwhp1507]

Seeing as every time he shows himself in a video, he needs a haircut, so I would think he’s part Rapunzel

[@BigElCat]

@@kwhp1507 To quote Scooby Doo; "Rutt Rho".

[@feizal7554]

@@kwhp1507 ha ha

[@Just-eh4fm]

The Bever makes this video so good lol, my man was chilling

[@kschleic9053]

Should have given the beaver some factor in the #ad😂

[@FilosophicalPharmer]

"That Beaver is trolling me" lololol!! Imagine the stories he had to tell when he got home. "Y'all ain't gonna believe what I just saw!!" HA!! You've done excellent work. This design is so amazing. Keep at it! :)

[@eklhaft4531]

Beaver kids: hey dad how was your day? Dad: don't ask. Some stupid ass seagul kept flying over me. Must have thought I was a fish.

[@jm9523]

For someone who doesn’t own anything RC, the AirFoil Saga has been very entertaining and interesting. Love how the videos have sort of been evolving and now there’s wildlife popping up at ur spot haha. very cool videos keep ‘em coming!

[@brendanmassaro9595]

I feel like you need to turn the vertical stabilizers into rudders for turns so that you don't have to rely on roll and par thrust to turn as those tend to cause one of the wings to dip into the water for anything more than a shallow turn

[@wiegraf9009]

Rudders are definitely a must for turning this thing. It just doesn't have enough room to roll in.

[@dmacpher]

Hydrofoils!

[@nicjansen230]

I really like that you show the full experience with the wildlife. Feels as if I'm there, except I don't have the hassle of actually building stuff and having it break

[@simonmerrett]

Please please duct something like an EDF to the underside of the wings, distributed underside ducts along the front edge, facing rearwards, to really ram the air into the right area for generating separation between the water and wing/fuselage. I feel like you could really isolate the effect with something like this, over forward mounted props. Even if you just use ducted air for the basic lift/planing and a separate prop for forward drive....

[@shize9ine]

That’s basically a hovercraft

[@simonmerrett]

@@shize9ine is it? The main difference being still no skirt and the air is in close proximity to an aerofoil (unlike a hovercraft) and that may be significant. Maybe ducting further back towards the trailing edge would be better.

[@wiegraf9009]

@@shize9ine It's channelling the air not trapping it under a 360 skirt.

[@M-H433]

Why don't you do it Simon,be great to see

[@simonmerrett]

@@M-H433 my skills are a long way off doing that, and closing the skill gap will have to get in line behind all the smaller gaps I'm trying to close.

[@dfgdfg_]

I guarantee this channel is responsible for hundreds of future engineers

[@NZobservatory]

For an alternative pov, go visit the beaver’s KZbin channel.

[@3089io]

I'm always thrilled to see an update from you. Fantastic stuff. IT'S SO FAST! Could you put some dynamic aero under or through the body that could create a kind of dynamic spring for chop? Maybe that sounds crazy. Like if you pair the ToF lidar heigh sensor or even just measure with the accelerometer for chop and move some dampaning baffles. I dunno. Seems possible in my head. Seeing how fast this thing is man, you gave me a bug here. I've been working on a little camera boat project and have been wondering what the next step is. Ground effect plane. Sweet.

[@demianmoody148]

i was gonna comment qbout active aero on the underside :D good thing i looked first

[@wiegraf9009]

The elevons are providing a kind of active aero but could probably be tuned better?

[@prodr0xxthefirst267]

Awesome stuff, I really think a larger scale is on your side with this design and most of your 'issues' result from it being smaller. Maybe increasing weight and power would allow for smoother ground effect and also a higher ground effect ceiling as more air is required to be compressed to gain flight. Also I'd love to see if a vertical control surface coupled with differential thrust would help with the large turning circle or induce other problems like rolling or drifting. I really think you're on to something amazing here, keep it up!

[@Scoots1994]

I was going to say the same thing.

[@slothFPV]

i think a rudder would cause adverse roll unless it was at least nearly symmetrical

[@reezlaw]

@@slothFPV the FC should compensate roll with those elevons

[@baccarah7010]

Peter stripol made a big one that worked decently.

[@tomblack4198]

Am I the only one who is fucking hyped about the Beaver? Video is also awesome!

[@GRLDT]

This is still better than F1 ground effect cars' porpoising, pretty interesting build!

[@Simon-jv9bm]

What even is the link between these 2, one is the Ram effect, the other is using downforces

[@FilosophicalPharmer]

AMEN!! Which do I prefer? Watching millionaires use CAD and wind tunnels and exotic materials or a determined young inventor with foam board and a glue gun? Here I am!!

[@FilosophicalPharmer]

Gotta add a quote: "If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you have to start by creating the universe first." - Carl Sagan

[@wiegraf9009]

​@@Simon-jv9bm The Venturi and Bernoulli effects that he describes at 3:32 are what make the F1 ground effect designs work and produce downforce. Of course the F1 cars do whatever they possibly can to avoid creating a RAM effect because they want to ride on a cushion of rubber (the tyres) instead of a cushion of air. In either case, both are types of "ground effect vehicles" but with different intended functions and focuses. EDIT: The porpoising under F1 cars also isn't caused by competing ground effects like we see on this vehicle, but by the car body getting too close to the ground, cutting off the Bernoulli effect and causing the car to lose downforce until airflow is restored and the Bernoulli effect kicks in again.

[@michaelroberts9895]

2:09 that low pressure zone is actually at a higher pressure. Its acting as a divergent nozzle. Look up the effects of a convergent/divergent nozzle with both subsonic and supersonic flows. Bernoulli states that at a subsonic flow, a fluid at a given pressure will increase its pressure through a divergent path/nozzle.

[@westherm]

I found your channel a week ago and I'm hooked! It's fun to watch you experiment. Great to hear the F1 comparisons, too.

[@FiltyIncognito]

Awesome vid with all the experimentation and commentary. It was fun being brought along! I look forward to seeing what some time apart from the project will bring to the table once you take another crank at it. Thanks for the vid!

[@adamalbert]

I have been enjoying your ground effect series. I like systematic approach to problem solving. Thank you for posting

[@chiquitabanandy]

Your content is some of the best stuff on all of KZbin! I can’t remember when I first found your snowcat video, but everything you make is so interesting! I also really appreciate how much you explain the science behind your projects! I also love when your friend makes music for your vids! Please keep them coming! Huge fan here! 🙋🏻‍♂️

[@IDGAF56852]

Dude-this is an incredible design and build. Im seeing really big things happening for you with your ground effect craft. Well done.👍

[@JacobCanote]

Your footage is beautiful and pleasing to watch. A joy to see!

[@EricTheCat]

It has been really fun seeing your progress on this. It seems now you have a true beaver-effect vehicle. :)

[@hippopotamus86]

Maybe you could build a makeshift wind tunnel, using fog machine, fans etc, and then you can test your theories about the airflow characteristics.

[@wiegraf9009]

Flow-vis paint could be an option too

[@JGuraan]

FWIW some IRL Ekranoplans are quite capable of flight out of ground effect. The Russian A90 had a ceiling of 10000ft, and the early-2000s Boeing Pelican concept would have been able to reach as high as 25000ft. They generally lose efficiency when flying, but it enables them to use conventional airports.

[@Felix-kd8tn]

The way you plated the factor mac n cheese with broccoli would cause a chef physical pain, 10/10 I love it. Food looks good so you let it speak for itself!

[@josephchellin5852]

I watch all of your videos as soon as you put them out. I would love more videos out of you but I know your stuff takes more time. Keep up the good work. I have a DIJ FPV drone your stuff really makes me want to try more DIY stuff.

[@Linuxpunk81]

This was just a fun video to watch! Great job!

[@aljensen7779]

@rctestflight I've been biting my tongue waiting to see if you ever mention a certain effect that's contributing to your ekranaplans. I've enjoyed this series very much and fascinated by the concept. To get to the point, I'm pretty sure this is what's happening: You often refer to "Ram air", as if the speed of the air is the most important factor in making it fly. When your creation (I'm going to simply call it your 'rig') 'flies normally - that is, when it's holding its ideal altitude, what's taking place is the resonance of the air bouncing between the [under]surface of the wing and the water. This vibration pushes the rig upward with a pulsing motion that we can't see. If the rig flies higher, the greater distance causes a slower resonance which is also weaker & unable to produce enough upward force to sustain the altitude. Resultingly, the rig 'falls' back down to the air's natural frequency (which is determined by the square area of the wing) where its weight is equal to the collective force of the bounces. It 'wants' to ride on the average of those bounces, or frequencies. Imagine if you were a cubic inch of air, floating around, minding your business. Suddenly a wing goes overhead. What you would experience at first is a short but violent vibration ('violent', relative to floating around doing nothing). As the wing passes, the distance to the water becomes shorter, thereby compressing the air waves/pulses, making the upward pressure stronger. For most of those vibrations, you helped push the wing upward. In your efforts to create a rig that performs well but doesn't 'want' to fly, my feeling is you should focus attention to this resonance frequency to make it strong at its natural pitch but dissipate quickly above or below that frequency. I'm not an airologist but I have a ton of experience in acoustics, which requires an intense understanding of resonance. I'm also an RC veteran, so I'm often delighted whenever you overcome an Arduino problem. Using Arduino & related stuff is new to me. If you took the time to read this, I thank you, and, I hope that in some way this information makes a difference to your next project.

[@strcmdrbookwyrm]

This is cool! I love how it looks when you get up on the ram effect and just start cruising. I'd call this one a success. I can't say for certain because I haven't used this myself, but I think I'd prefer the craft if it had at least some of the horizontal stabilizer. It seems to be easier to keep it stable without the PID (at least until you add the extra weight) when you have it. Some things I'd want to experiment with are different sizes of H. stabilizer, spoilers for the H. stabilizer and/or the main body to try and eliminate aerodynamic lift, and using "flap rudders" (rudders that work by extending a pair of flaps from where a rudder would be) to see if they can create similar turns without having to use so much roll or differential thrust. Can't wait to see what's next!

[@georgeshapiro301]

Science with clear and concise insight. Novel engineering. Epic camera shots. Silly animals. He's got the formula down.

[@samueltennent5861]

Love this channels content, relaxed but relevant tone is great!

[@thesoupin8or673]

Love this! Your content is always incredible. Can't wait for the next rover, solar plane, or autonomous boat mission!

[@andymiddleton6431]

Loved this mini WIG serie, some very interesting observations there👏👏

[@tracybowling1156]

I get so excited when you make long videos!

[@youzrnaim]

Two questions: 1) I know “how to” videos aren’t really a thing you do on this channel but I would be interested to see some content on waterproofing a cadex. 2) when you switch from futaba to DJI/cadex, why use the DJI controller vs something like edgeTX and crossfire? Wouldn’t you have more control with your model and modes? I ask this question as someone with much less experience but find myself in similar circumstances. I build several models/craft and sometimes consider having the DJI controller but I feel like having a more open source TX provides more versatility. Again, I know this deviates from the content, but I would be interested to hear what drives these decisions.

[@nicholassunshine]

I now know so much about ground effect thanks to all these videos.

[@RickMaddoxSr]

Great video. Love the ground effects videos. The snow cat is also great. Thanks

[@saiforos7928]

Love the wildlife shots and trolling beaver, adds a lot of variation to the video

[@Jokl92]

Love your appreciation and fascination of nature (geese and beaver and all). I'm the same, it's just soooo cool!

[@lakeguy65616]

Another outstanding video! You are a gifted inventor / engineer!

[@AKtoTok]

Wow.. been following these for some time and they continue to get more and more incredible.. 🙌🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@earlmcnastybmfcodm]

Cool man. I've been watching some of your videos. I never watch anything longer than like 5 or 10 minutes but you keep me pulled in the whole time. I live your channel.

[@wa389]

Super video + I admire your dedication: 5:30 am with mosquitos swarming. Looking forward to what you will think of next.

[@philoso377]

Nice project and presentation. This is regarding turn radius. 1. Is difference left right forward thrust offered a desirable turn radius? 2. Is difference motor tilt offer a desirable turn radius? 3. Is mixed elevator-aileron offer a desirable turn radius? Caveat: over steering into violent spin. 4. Consider rudder channel controlled “dip (left/right) tip sticks” to skim water surface to produce drag to aid reduce turn radius. 5. Consider mode change from GE to airborne to enable a banking turn. 6. Airborne mode capability can help get around surface obstacles too. Hope this helps.

[@jkeithfowler]

I've been a fan of your channel for several years now. I have an Autel Evo that with all the rules and regulations I haven't flown it in months. I'm in the process of setting up a FPV system on my Arrma Kraton not liking 5.8ghz. not sure if 413mhz. or 1.2ghz. One of my favorite video was the time you flew the plane while following it in the car. I really enjoyed flying FPV just to see how far I could go which my record was only 1/2 mile. Now I am trying it on a ground vehicle. Looking forward for the next video.

[@santosakowski9846]

Very interesting video, cool design, great-looking craft, and lots of fun to watch. Adding the camera ratcheted up the the fun of watching. Great job and nice narration, too.

[@ryfi_fpv]

You should put some Rain-X on the Vista's lens, might help keep the water drops off

[@spokehedz]

Question: For the 'wet lens' problem, what about attaching a very small tinywhoop motor just under the camera to just blast high pressure air on the camera to clean the lens off? Maybe a 3D printed cowling could make a 'bubble' of air over the lens, which would maybe deflect some of the water.

[@eulogyguild]

Ive heard of filmmakers using a spinning lens cover so as soon as water hits it it gets spun off.

[@spokehedz]

@@eulogyguild I was trying to keep it cheap, and simple to make. I have seen those spinning viewports on milling machines for manufacturing, but I think a tiny thing would have to spin at several thousand RPM which would be a whole other problem to deal with. Or, we can blow air at the lens with a tiny propeller and motor.

[@stratos9222]

Outdoor kart drivers use a clear free-spinning disk in front of their visor. It has vanes on it to catch the air, which spins the disk as they drive. Update: they’re called turbo visors

[@goddamnitization]

I've heard rain-x works well

[@pauljs75]

Spin disks are used on automated industrial milling machines to look through the windows while coolant/lubricant is being sprayed everywhere. He could make one under 5 minutes when at the workbench with a circular piece of clear plastic and a small brushless motor. Should be a non-issue and solved with things he is likely to have on-hand.

[@ninehundreddollarluxuryyac5958]

Hope you get back to this soon. You are making real progress in an area that was stagnant for decades. Removing the rear wing was a huge step forward. Would have liked to see another video about tuning the elevator. If you want to build a human sized one, you can live at my house, build in my shop and fly from my dock in Florida.

[@imager09tube]

Excellent work!

[@gator1984atcomcast]

Learning a lot about GEM. 👍🏻

[@paulayala4816]

Beaver always causes problems. Really cool and your design seems to work very well. This gives me some inspiration and a way to use up the large sheets of corrugated mounting board and old Futaba surface radios I have laying around.

[@RCDUDEFPV]

KEEP DOING WHAT YOU DO, Thumbs up dude !

[@bowenbrown]

Oh yeah great love getting notifications the instant it is uploaded from the discord.

[@starbart5573]

Me too

[@dontknow3886]

hello bo

[@bowenbrown]

@@dontknow3886 oh

[@robsrides5851]

automotive rain-x on the camera lens could help. water beads up and blows away in the wind. it's amazing on car windshields. you can drive with the wipers off in the rain. maybe a hydrophobic coating on the whole plane might help.

[@mysticvirgo9318]

RainX windshield treatment on your lenses will do wonders keeping water off lenses

[@maxradecky7865]

That fpv footage is really cool.

[@Scott-kd4gs]

So wanted to hear your latest song release! Was waiting for a good beat with some clever Beaver and Geese references.

[@mrharvest]

Couldn't you steer it with rudder, instead of ailerons and differential thrust?

[@eveypea]

As a suggestion: Name it "The Dalek" as it seems to impeded by non level surfaces

[@therookienomore88]

We should be concerned when it starts yelling, “Extermiiinate!”

[@davidnansen6848]

Cool ground effect vehicle. Have you considered a canard to replace the horizontal stabilizer. with a forward wing. it will leave ground effect first. Might provide an inherently stable vehicle.

[@royrunyon1286]

Look up Charles Bixel and his WIG and "waverider" designs which incorporated a deep chord, symmetrical airfoil along with delta planform, symmetrical outer wings. He claimed the chord-dominated ground effect was 130% stronger than span-dominated ground effect. Flighttest, if you revisit your earlier experiments, you were close to Bixel's WIG concept. Also luck up sfluck and legaltender to see their variations on Bixel's WIG designs.

[@MohammadAdib]

You can put rainx on the camera lens to allow the water to just come right off

[@Truex007]

Dude, this thing is awesome, and looks perfect for me to have some fun with! No terror of crashing with an airplane, or with a boat. Do it right, and it's almost impossible to flip or lose.

[@jonscot8393]

use drag to turn sharp, it would also act as a stabilizer at the same time as it skims the water surface.

[@lefnutfpv8802]

Rainx is good for keeping the lens clear 👍

[@weatheranddarkness]

definitely seems like you're making some solid progress on this flight regime

[@leonardkosmalski6999]

Reminds me of a hover craft, very inspiring to me as I love boats and planes .. thanks for sharing

[@beauson1983]

You could totally make an awesome racing series with these...

[@confuseatronica]

suggestion- keep the plane around and if you ever visit some dry lake bed, get some nice desert ground effect shots. At least some dry lakes are flatter than the average city streets.

[@drizzxlee]

I remember watching you years ago as a little boy lmao. Great to see your still getting at it.

[@niil047]

absolutely amazing!✈

[@tedferkin]

@rctestflight just as a point. When you microwave a ready meal, put a plate underneath, otherwise the microwaves struggle to get to the underside. Makes the cooking more even

[@firebirdaviation5074]

I always feel that suction force pulling the plane down during short field takeoffs in the Piper Seneca. you can really feel the pull when you rotate and the struts compress a little right before it breaks off the surface.

[@WakeMtz]

You could make the upper wedge of the foils variable, this will vary the downward force helping with variable weight loads, or if you make it independent on each side use it as a turning mechanism. 👀

[@nanskate]

Thank you! A few things I would like to see as experiments on this small depron unit: Motors on the corners of the nose! Using the prop-vortex to seal the pressure. I think massive gains are possible. But who knows, maybe it'll be unstable or something. And IF you have a (passive) horizontal stabiliser, put it at motor height, in line with the motor, to even out the forces. If those are in line with the "wing" it should still not want to "fly", but hover at speed. Maybe even delete the fuse... place the battery on top , or split the battery. Make the sidepods slightly more buoyant, and have the motors directly in front of them. (Not that useful, if the goal is to have a manned version.)

[@mickeyg.c.1654]

Most entertaining video I have watched in a very very long time. I love to watch videos that approach problems and have the same goals that I can only wish to have time for one day. In essence I vicariously live my hobby life through guys like you. And all the extra video material from the Animal Kingdom only made it that much better. Now I'm just waiting for a Chinese company to see your video copy the design and make it available to me by next year. LOL Kudos man can't wait for the fall video!

[@boo5628]

13:50 those are some dope floating houses

[@piconano]

Your videos are just amazing.

[@Taverius]

Consider the local airflow rearwards and upwards of the wedge wing - it is flowing down. So if you have a globally flat stabilizer, it locally pitched up by default.

[@FalkoRichter]

Nice video. Great 32 minutes!

[@olekaarvaag9405]

3:20 Dude, I did not expect you to copy the glorious aerodynamics of the Mercedes F1 team.

[@tcveatch]

Wedge concept: brilliant.

[@Stewi1014]

Well congratulations I suppose. You've got me well and truly invested and interested in ground effect vehicles.

[@octaveleroux5400]

Always seen that the ground effect was also depending of the wing span. Increasing it could allow you to produce more ground effect with lower speeds required and more lift (but therefore more drag too)

[@jobuda10]

The birds I think were following you. Sweet video.

[@pedrinho32286]

My favorite channel. Congrats

[@BPBomber]

You could try some Rain-x on your lens or on a protective screen

[@Ash-ft5su]

I hope this series just keeps going.

[@XXX-XX-X-X]

I love seeing the animals popping by.

[@sonofkami]

That's the best ground effect I've ever seen

[@mschmidt62]

When you said "negative pitching moment" I thought of the eighth inning of last night's (7/28/22) Mariners game.

[@Estuardomendez13]

Try making the bottom of the wing round so the ram effect happens more on the front and you might have a better ground effect control loop.

[@therealfearsome]

you're getting very close to a concept I have had for 20+ years that is a flying wing in ground effect with hydrofoils for initial lifting of the wing then super-cavitating foils for stability and highspeed control, so you get all of the advantages of a lifting body in ground effect with the maneuverability of hydrofoils

[@everestmaher1092]

Living next door it’s fun to watch you exploring our area by FPV lol

[@alansaxton5683]

these videos are for some reason super relaxing, any way. Random thought what about combining a ground effect plane with a hydro foiling boat, (so just a wing with a single foil sticking down in to the water) in my head the "flite controls" would be handled by the foil under water and the wing is used for the lift. IE when the the wing starts to pitch up to much the foil either pulls the front back down or a trailing foil could push the the rear of the wing up both ideas could keep the plane level with hopefully very little drag. the foil could also work like a rudder so the plane would purely control throttle (in theory). as long as you kept the foil away weeds it would definitely be a super weird vehicle. p.s. maybe you could have a front razor edge on the foil to cut through small weeds hmmm ?

[@noihansama1410]

Hi! Have been watching a lot of your ground effect stuff. Have you tried / have it been discussed to use a water foil in front of ground effect vehicles to help with breaking from water? Quite small and shallow waterfoil most likely. I Like the videos very much! Huge thanks for making them!

[@emaglott]

Fascinating as usual.

[@trex2099]

You really should look into hydrofoil boats. Not the classic ones with passive hydrofoils but the newer ones that have active stabilization and seem able to fly above the waves completely level.

[@iforce2d]

You should really look into some of his older videos

[@reedreamer9518]

There were turboprop versions of the ekranoplane - maybe those are the best design examples that would translate to model building. The final versions had a prop at the top of the tail, which would tend to keep the nose down while holding the high pressure portion of the wing near the water. They also had large flaps, which must have been an important part of trimming the wing for efficient cruise, as well as take-off.

[@Rich77UK]

What an AWESOME model.