First Flight

The video shows the first flight of the CASA quadcopter which we intended to fly at the UK Drone Show two weeks later. Luckily, the maiden flight went without any problems as we were running out of flying days before the competition and desperately needed as much air time as possible.

The first CASA quadcopter just before its maiden flight. The bigger aircraft in the background is the one I normally fly.

That day I made five flights in all, with a total flight time of around 50 minutes. The two new 3S 1100mAh 45C packs and the old 3S 1300mAh 30C packs all give around a 10 minute flight time, which is what I had estimated. Analysing the packs with a capacity meter after the flight shows that they're down to 15%, so I wouldn't push it any further.

The main problem I had was with the legs falling off due to the vibration. The control power settings were also too high, so it was rather sensitive to fly and harmonisation between rudder and aileron wasn't right, so coordinating turns took some getting used to. Unfortunately, I couldn't film the later flights, but as I got used to it, I found that I was able to throw it around at some speed and simulate the sort of left/right and height control needed to fly through FPV racing gates. In conclusion, I was very happy with how it performed, as it is very fast and agile in the air.

The video makes the flight look a bit shaky, but it was really a case of just grabbing a camera phone and getting my friend to point it at the aircraft to get some flying shots. I'm still experimenting with the best way to film aircraft flying, as it never looks the same as I see from my point of view.