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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

What Happens when a Rookie Pilot tries to fly an Oktocopter with a Camera

The one I've flown was pretty straight forward. But it had auto pilot, GPS waypoints, auto hover, return to base and more tech then my workstation. Before rigging a camera up to anything though, fly a few weights that are a few ounces over your full camera kit to see if the pilot can handle it...
 
Luckily I essentially had nothing to do with this other than showing up to watch it happen, and providing the SD card that we recovered.

He did fly it with weights before putting the camera on - one thing that I thought was weird was that he was convinced he could fly it all by himself and pilot the gimbal as well with VR glasses. I thought a Pilot and Operator combo would be much smarter.
 
Good call testing with an Abel FS-100 first. And yet--

Driving Jared to a shoot a few years ago, I said something about how damn well the Red One held up in bad conditions. "Yup, it tumbled down a mountain slope recently."

"What?!"

"Lens was toast. Camera booted up and kept shooting."

"The fire started on the first floor..."
 
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Good call testing with an Abel FS-100 first. And yet--

Driving Jared to a shoot a few years ago, I said something about how damn well the Red One held up in bad conditions. "Yup, it tumbled down a mountain slope recently."

"What?!"

"Lens was toast. Camera booted up and kept shooting."
 
Looks like he lost orientation on nose in and over-corrected. Pretty easy to do until you train yourself with muscle reflexes and a cool head. Which takes tons of flight hours. Even easier to do on an Octo.

Poor guy.

There is only 4-5 people based in the U.S right now I would trust on a pro job with an RC helo. 3 are on this forum, and one is me :) Damaging cameras is one thing, damaging peoples faces sucks even worse.

Did the camera die? Hopefully just the gimbal and a couple arms took the heat. That's not a 20k platform, no way jose. MK Electronics and looks like a Cinestar frame from the shadows. One good thing about multis though, is they are very hard to completely destroy. Worst case, a few arms, motor or controller or two, and flying again. I actually bring 2 helicopters to every real job "just in case".

one thing that I thought was weird was that he was convinced he could fly it all by himself and pilot the gimbal as well with VR glasses. I thought a Pilot and Operator combo would be much smarter.
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Depends on the shoot. I solo all the time. Most of my shoots actually. But not on 3-axis gimbal sure. IMHO you shouldn't be video piloting anything, especially not trying to get the kind of shots that makes a multi worthwhile.

Also - Try getting a heli operator with their own comprehensive camera kit (and spares!). Everything matters. It isn't just the weight of "can it lift it". A change in balance, lens, etc.. can bring weird vibrations, jitters, gimbal issues, changes in overall control gain, all sorts of stuff. Best if cameras that have been flown, tested, flown, tested and so on a number of times by the pilot/operator on that specific platform. Every camera reacts a bit differently.
 
As someone who has been an RC flyer for a lifetime, I can tell you that there is a huge difference to flying by eye and flying FPV (First Person View). It might seem easier to be "in the seat" but there is a large difference to comparing the incoming visual inputs from a wide angle lens.

I am planning to build an octo to fly RED eventually but I am starting with a small quad as a trainer to get the reflexes for FPV down. I intend to fly a GoPro Hero2 first for getting footy and testing the whole concept. My EPIC won't fly until I have racked up "Hundreds" of hours.

As well, I will have a full weight and balance mockup of the Camera and Lens to be a proxy to test , test, test, before the real thing goes up.

Hurts to see that crash but as we always say in aviation; "You fly 'em, you crash 'em!"
 
As long as the insurance is up to date you can keep trying this test with our cameras as long as you want. ;-D
 
Matt hit the nail on the head. As someone who has been a professional RC pilot for over 30 years, I can tell you that just being a really good sport/hobby pilot with purchasing power is not enough to fly high dollar cameras around. The last thing you want is someone "learning on the job" here. Even with 25 years of top level international competition experience (FAI-F3C), It took another 6 years of continuous work to develop the equipment systems, procedures and flying techniques required to be able to 100% reliably fly 10+ lb. cameras around all day long by RC. In the last 6 years of doing this, coast to coast, we have never put anyone's camera in the ground or in Davey Jones' locker. Our cinema rigs have the payload capacity to carry the weight of two epics at the same time. Not that we would ever fly two, but this proves that we have plenty of reverse payload capacity and drivetrain durability. Thousands of logged flight hours show these systems are not being overloaded doing the job. Not only in ideal conditions, but in over 100 degree/below freezing temps and in high (25mph+) winds. This is why Josh Radnor had no reservations in having us fly the Epic in his latest film. I think another reason for having a perfect flying safety record is that I don't need to rely on an assortment of electronic stabilization gadgets to fly, but rather default to plain old flying experience.
 
Alot should go wrong to crash a oktocopter. I mean its alot safer then the regular since you can still land if one propeller quite. How hard was the impact? Any pictures after the crash?
 
Wendell Adkins said:
Matt hit the nail on the head. As someone who has been a professional RC pilot for over 30 years, I can tell you that just being a really good sport/hobby pilot with purchasing power is not enough to fly high dollar cameras around. The last thing you want is someone "learning on the job" here. Even with 25 years of top level international competition experience (FAI-F3C), It took another 6 years of continuous work to develop the equipment systems, procedures and flying techniques required to be able to 100% reliably fly 10+ lb. cameras around all day long by RC. In the last 6 years of doing this, coast to coast, we have never put anyone's camera in the ground or in Davey Jones' locker. Our cinema rigs have the payload capacity to carry the weight of two epics at the same time. Not that we would ever fly two, but this proves that we have plenty of reverse payload capacity and drivetrain durability. Thousands of logged flight hours show these systems are not being overloaded doing the job. Not only in ideal conditions, but in over 100 degree/below freezing temps and in high (25mph+) winds. This is why Josh Radnor had no reservations in having us fly the Epic in his latest film. I think another reason for having a perfect flying safety record is that I don't need to rely on an assortment of electronic stabilization gadgets to fly, but rather default to plain old flying experience.
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As a long time RC flier I have to wholeheartedly support the concept that you absolutely must be able genuinely to fly the aircraft. All these stabilised, gyro controlled, waypoint following etc etc features just invite the inexperienced to go directly the scene of the accident.

I guess the problem is similar to one I've encountered throughout my time flying RC - we make it look easy. I've lost count of the number of times I've flown a little foamy in my local park and had guys stop by and say 'hey, can I have a go?' Literally expecting to just fly the plane like you'd drive an RC car across your living room carpet. ( On the other hand, one of my favourite games when I have friends visiting is to hand them the tx for my simulator and challenge them to put a trainer in the air and keep it there for over 10 seconds. Always funny to watch. )

Put it this way: I've got a ton of RC hours, I'm safety officer at my flying club, I'm that guy who brings his planes home just the way they went to the field, all year long. I've even flown professionally for a company developing UAVs, but I still stop short of flying camera platforms.

People just don't seem to respect the danger involved, the skills required, or the seriousness of the whole thing, because it looks like playing with toys...

Enough ranting...sorry.
 
That just sent chills through me. As an operator, I could not take that risk with someone elses equipment.

I have the confidence to fly my hexacoptor with MY equipment in a safe place, and have done so with a 5D (Disposable Camera) for some fun projects, but a RED, even mine, I will leave up to the pro's.

And, a note on flying and operating the camera POV at the same time; it was the only time I crashed! Got focused on the POV and did not see the palm tree in time to PULL UP. Camera Survived, Hex needed $1,500 to fix.
 
Jack Shanahan said:
how hard are those things to fly?
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Fucking hard. I did the exact same thing with ours.. first flight lasted about 15 minutes and then it was more like a pile of broken carbon fiber tubes and bits and pieces of computer boards laying around on the ground. I would say do not fly before you at least crashed a few thousand times in a good simulator... then you might be stable on your first rigs. But do not think that you will not need spars of every thing... they brake very easy those little things...

If anybody is up for a try we have a Droidworx 6XL for sale for 18k USD, it can, if you dare, take an epic with a light canon glass... :)
 
Alot should go wrong to crash a oktocopter. I mean its alot safer then the regular since you can still land if one propeller quite. How hard was the impact? Any pictures after the crash?
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Not really, all you have to do is fuck up. Pilot error is the cause of most crashes.

Nick
 
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