Theoretical question

uhhello · Apr 8, 2017

In everyone's opinion, would it be possible to deploy a mavic pro from a moving helicopter? To keep it tactically feasible, lets say 100 feet above ground and 50 knots airspeed.

Top Hat · Apr 8, 2017

I doubt it.

quick_dry · Apr 8, 2017

at 50 knots, and assuming something like a Bell 412 with a 14.2m rotor diameter and 8' wide cabin, you're only directly under the rotors for 0.23 seconds - though for that time you've got some pretty extreme air to be travelling in (I'm bored, and up past my bedtime

)

I'd say a Mavic would lively end up smashed to bits on the ground. I think if you tossed a race quad it'd be OK if you gave a bloody good frisbee throw to it, and you could orientate yourself in time. Nothing as extreme, but there are plenty of demo's of pixhawk Iris's correcting themselves to a stable hover using the "throw to auto-start" feature.

rydfree · Apr 8, 2017

I believe it would be feasible if you could have the heli in a stable hover first so that the Mavic could initialize then once the heli was in forward flight drop it out of the cabin . I would be concerned about the sudden rush of 50mph wind damaging the props though and it likely would not have a good GPS fix .

Grey Wolf · Apr 9, 2017

And you would need permission from the helicopter pilot.
He will emphatically so no for obvious reasons.

Javioul · Apr 9, 2017

Agreed.

uhhello · Apr 9, 2017

Sure he will

quick_dry · Apr 9, 2017

Grey Wolf said:
And you would need permission from the helicopter pilot.
He will emphatically so no for obvious reasons.

given that it's a thought experiment, this particular chopper pilot is OK with things forcefully ejecting from the cabin - maybe he take skydivers, commandos on ropes, maybe he learned to fly on a farm - and he used to fly low and drop firecrackers near the cattle.

"Can you convince a helicopter pilot to let you do X" isn't really the interesting part of the thought experiment

The GPS should have an excellent fix, the cabin would block some satellites, but it should get plenty of signal - the higher up you go, the more satellites out towards the horizon you can see, lower down they would've been below the ridgeline created by houses and hills. 50 knots shouldn't be too fast for it to handle, consider how that fixed wing sUAS will be flying well over 50

kykayak · Apr 9, 2017

I think the Mavic will recover well 75-100' below. Possibly faster once out of prop wash. I don't think you would have a problem.

Top Hat · Apr 9, 2017

After seeing this video it maybe possible, but @ 50kts or greater, not sure.

HeavensAbove · Apr 11, 2017

uhhello said:
In everyone's opinion, would it be possible to deploy a mavic pro from a moving helicopter? To keep it tactically feasible, lets say 100 feet above ground and 50 knots airspeed.

Enough with the theory. Become a heli pilot, buy a chopper have your co-pilot launch the Mav.

Get back with the results.

My take is that the Mavic could be deployed out of a moving helicopter at that height. It may or may not end up lodged in the ground. My question is what would be the need to use in this way?

Javioul · Apr 11, 2017

Are we talking high hover or cruise flight, if it's the former I think once it gets out of the violent doenwash it should be ok. AS far as the former, I think your main concern would be the tail rotor.

Bunny Too · Apr 11, 2017

quick_dry said:
given that it's a thought experiment, this particular chopper pilot is OK with things forcefully ejecting from the cabin - maybe he take skydivers, commandos on ropes, maybe he learned to fly on a farm - and he used to fly low and drop firecrackers near the cattle.

"Can you convince a helicopter pilot to let you do X" isn't really the interesting part of the thought experiment

The GPS should have an excellent fix, the cabin would block some satellites, but it should get plenty of signal - the higher up you go, the more satellites out towards the horizon you can see, lower down they would've been below the ridgeline created by houses and hills. 50 knots shouldn't be too fast for it to handle, consider how that fixed wing sUAS will be flying well over 50

Ah, my misspent youth chucking cherry bombs out the cab of jet ranger to frighten lil doggies. However I still remember cyclic is between your legs like a bicycle; that was a steep learning curve. Seriously though, I do not see the wash being a huge issue, I used to toss balsa wood gliders and little army men with parachutes out of MD500 Equivalent without issues.

tcope · Apr 11, 2017

Could you? It might work (highly doubtful). However, the US it would also be in violation of the FAA regulations so I doubt any pilot would allow it.

Bunny Too · Apr 11, 2017

tcope said:
Could you? It might work (highly doubtful). However, the US it would also be in violation of the FAA regulations so I doubt any pilot would allow it.

I am sure there is a FAA workaround, put a methane sensor on it and it is a scientific probe, I launched those all the time.

tcope · Apr 11, 2017

Bunny Too said:
I am sure there is a FAA workaround, put a methane sensor on it and it is a scientific probe, I launched those all the time.

Sure... I'm sure the FAA will not realize it is a drone if there is a sensor attached to... a drone. As I said, it _can_ be done.

Given the risk of the drone not recovering from a 0-50mph wind and the fact that it's illegal, I think we are just talking about a hypothetical situation at this point.

Bunny Too · Apr 11, 2017

tcope said:
Sure... I'm sure the FAA will not realize it is a drone if there is a sensor attached to... a drone. As I said, it _can_ be done.

Given the risk of the drone not recovering from a 0-50mph wind and the fact that it's illegal, I think we are just talking about a hypothetical situation at this point.

Theoretical, and possibly unlawful. But well within the realm of possibility and legality, I had a friend haul a 70 foot folded "paper" air plane 5000 feet and release and there was little difficulty getting clearance for that.

Grey Wolf · Apr 11, 2017

quick_dry said:
given that it's a thought experiment, this particular chopper pilot is OK with things forcefully ejecting from the cabin - maybe he take skydivers, commandos on ropes, maybe he learned to fly on a farm - and he used to fly low and drop firecrackers near the cattle.

"Can you convince a helicopter pilot to let you do X" isn't really the interesting part of the thought experiment

The GPS should have an excellent fix, the cabin would block some satellites, but it should get plenty of signal - the higher up you go, the more satellites out towards the horizon you can see, lower down they would've been below the ridgeline created by houses and hills. 50 knots shouldn't be too fast for it to handle, consider how that fixed wing sUAS will be flying well over 50

No pilot in his right mind will EVER EVER let you drop a drone from his helicopter for fear of it getting caught up in the rotors above. Yes, I know, there is a downwash but the's always a chance something could happen as you launch. The pilot might have to drop suddenly because of a no lift situation or whatever.
If any pilot says yes, I would report him.

Grey Wolf · Apr 11, 2017

Javioul said:
Are we talking high hover or cruise flight, if it's the former I think once it gets out of the violent doenwash it should be ok. AS far as the former, I think your main concern would be the tail rotor.

Yes, the tail rotor is also a big reason no pilot will allow anyone to drop a drone from a helo.

Grey Wolf · Apr 11, 2017

kykayak said:
I think the Mavic will recover well 75-100' below. Possibly faster once out of prop wash. I don't think you would have a problem.

No way Jose!
I doubt the Mavic would recover from a downwash as it probably would be spinning upside down.
Also, the tail rotor could attract it and also the main rotors above should the chopper have to make a sudden drop to catch some lift.
No pilot will EVER allow this! Get real!