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michaelmurfy

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#111235 28-Oct-2012 02:23
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This has been found! See This Post





So it has happened, my Quadropter has decided to take it's own flight across Christchurch and would have dropped out of the sky somewhere.



It has got super bright Blue and Red LED light strips on it so can be seen from a distance, if you hear a rather annoying beep that's possibly it yelling it's out of battery.

This Quadropter is my pride and joy, and I would love for anyone to help me find it - if you have got any leads or have actually found this hopefully without it causing any damage to human, cats, dogs, animals or physical objects please flick me a message - findmyquad@murfy.co.nz

I have whipped up a quick site on where I think it might have fallen based on battery, wind, speed and altitude - share it to anyone in Christchurch in hope of getting this back - http://murfy.co.nz

How did it happen?

I was flying it at night in Middleton Park here in Upper Riccarton, Christchurch, wasn't doing anything crazy but was just making it as visible as anything, I had just placed some LED light strips on it (ironic) and all the sudden it lost contact with my receiver.

This is no off the shelf Quad, it's fully custom built complete with an aluminium frame and a MultiWii flight computer, they're no cheap motors either - costing approx $60US/ea to import excluding shipping so it's got quite a bit of power to it.

It has got a killswitch on it in case of it losing contact with the receiver of which it's supposed to attempt to land (by killing the motors essentially) - but this normally gives me quick control of getting it to safety in case anything crazy goes on - but it seems that the board it had lost contact with the radio receivers.

Quite simply put, it decided to go in it's own direction with the wind and ignore everything from my controller, I couldn't reinstate communication with it at all.

What about safety?

This is the worst thing that could ever happen with any hobbyist due to the unpredictable nature of such things, especially if all you were doing is testing something and it decides to fly off on it's own - if it does this there is no way of getting it down until the speed controllers decide to cut the motors due to low battery especially with something like a Quadropter - since it weighs in at approx 1.8kg it could cause some serious damage if it decides to hit anyone - I'm just hoping that since it's night it will have nobody to hit - and hopefully my estimations are correct and it's landed in a field.

Please note, Police have been contacted just in case. They're on the lookout too.


Cheers for your time - share this with anyone in Christchurch: http://murfy.co.nz and let's see if I am able to get this back. Also my contact is findmyquad@murfy.co.nz






Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
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michaelmurfy

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  #708762 29-Oct-2012 21:53
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UncleArk: Looks like coming from here...

http://www.caa.govt.nz/rules/rules.htm

Scroll down to part 101

P.S. Hope you get it back!


No comment ;)

 

Good news!


I did get it back, it was off in an open field in Papanui near Northlands Mall, a guy saw my article in The Press and contacted me, turns out it almost clipped his house at high speed and crashed in the field behind his house, was still going for a good 1hr before the LED's turned off.

 

The guy got the tip from one of his mates on Facebook about seeing it in the paper, he then got the paper and saw my article, he actually picked me and my flatmate up from my house to drive us out there, had flown for 10.4km according to GPS.

Anyway I am a happy man!








Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
Referral Links: Quic Broadband (use R122101E7CV7Q for free setup)

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