Return to Flight -- 5-Nov-2016 -- Moffett Field

Craig's Mile Long Flight
(1.62 km, 4 mins duration)

We had our best testing day ever.  7 pilots, 8 flights.  Once again Craig completed the longest flight ever for DaSH, this time flying from the start of the smoother part of 32 L, to very near the end, for a 1.62 km (1.01 miles), 4 minute duration flight that only stopped because he reached the end of the runway.

We had a successful return to flight after fixing the damage from our crash in June.  The new nosewheel assembly with larger wheel in front worked great, as did our new joystick that has better spring feel for the individual pitch and roll axes.   This helped us concentrate on only lateral movement without disturbing the pitch trim, which we tried to control only with trim buttons except for takeoff rotation, gust responses, and landing flare.

We revamped our wing catching procedures, and did more pilot training, and added a brake to the main landing gear wheel, and that helped make the landings go much more smoothly than in June.  We had one inconsequential touch of a wingtip at the end of the flight with no damage, and had no runway excursions.  A big improvement from June.

Ariana Peck, the second female to fly DaSH, had our longest flight so far by anyone other than Craig, at 850 meters, and 2 minutes, 24 seconds duration.

These are the statistics on all of our flights from Saturday 11/5:

(Note: all measured from first takeoff to final landing for those with multiple touchdowns)

Flight # 1, 5-Nov-2016, Alec Proudfoot, 355 m, 48 secs

Flight # 2, 5-Nov-2016, Craig Robinson, 1.62 km, 4 mins 0 secs

Flight # 3, 5-Nov-2016, Ariel Herrmann, 600 m, 1 min 26 secs

Flight # 4, 5-Nov-2016, Marshall Gusman, 570 m, 1 min 18 secs

Flight # 5, 5-Nov-2016, Ariana Peck, 850 m, 2 mins 24 secs

Flight # 6, 5-Nov-2016, Geoff Bower, 80 m, 11 secs

Flight # 7, 5-Nov-2016, Geoff Bower, 660 m, 1 min 25 secs

Flight # 8, 5-Nov-2016, Greg Thomas, 700 m, 2 mins 0 secs

(Note: Geoff's first flight was a short hop due to the chain coming off of the chainring)

So far, among all of our testing days, DaSH has flown for over 11,000 meters (7 miles), and over 27 minutes duration, in 22 flights by 8 different pilots.


Here is a video playlist of all the videos we have from November 5th:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBLVsDZ-89fraUHjPWDroCxtVAQ4gvZ83


And we have now have organized all our videos, including flight and construction videos, in these playlists:

https://www.youtube.com/user/alecproudfoot/playlists

A few videos from Saturday Nov 5th

360 Video of Craig's 1.62 km (1.01 mile) flight

(flight starts at ~ 5:15)

Below is some beautiful 4K stabilized video

shot by Mike Conrardy of icam copters

4K video of Alec Proudfoot's Flight #1

(335 meters, 48 seconds)

4K video of Craig Robinson, Flight #2

1.62 km (1.01 mi), duration 4 mins 0 secs

4K video of Ariel Herrmann's Fight (Flight #3)

600 m, 1 min 26 secs

(from first takeoff to final landing)

Marshall Gusman, Flight #4, Chase Bike video

570 m, 1 min 18 secs

Ariana Peck, Flight #5, Chase Bike Video

850 m, 2 mins, 24 secs

(Note: Geoff's flight #6 was a short, aborted flight due to a derailed chain)

Geoff Bower, Flight #7, Chase Bike Video

660 m, 1 min 25 secs

Close-up video of Greg Thomas's Flight #8

700 m, 2 mins 0 secs

Some photos from Saturday, Nov 5th