- Joined
- May 3, 2019
- Messages
- 5
- Reactions
- 3
Hello all. I’ll start off by saying I have pretty much “0” experience with drones of any type.
Currently, I’m a member of the local ground search team. I’m a recently retired flight engineer (RCAF)and I flew choppers for 28 years in SAR. Here’s my last aircraft:
Came a point where I was just so injured, I just couldn’t conduct flight ops any longer. So they pensioned me off medically and now I’m full time retired.
But SAR gets in the blood, so I joined the local ground search teams. Since I’m busted up pretty good, I use my Argo (amphibious 8x8 ATV) to search trails and such:
That’s an older pic from when I first bought it. It’s been fairly extensively reworked since then for SAR use.
But being a former aviator, I know there’s nothing like an arial view for seeing objects down through the trees. Very often, it’s difficult to impossible to see very far off the trail due to the density of the forests around here and you see things in an arial view you would drive right by on the ground.
So I was thinking a drone might be a good addition to our search capabilities, using the Argo as a “mothership”. Ie: launch the drone to look just a bit further off the trail when the trees get too thick.
As to what would work best, I’m lost. Extensive reading on the subject has become “information overload” at this point.
So here’s what I think I would need:
1. Range: doesn’t need to be far. 1-2 kms would probably do. More is better, but absolute range can be sacrificed for the next item.
2. Flight time: obviously, more is better here. But somewhere in the 7-8 minute range would prob work. I can always keep a couple spare batteries on hand.
3. Video: recording isn’t really needed, but the operator needs to “see” the feed in “real time” to locate the search object.
Not sure what else would be needed.
Auto-return would probably be a useful feature.
Height would only be a couple hundred feet at best. Trees top out around 60-70 feet here, so 100-150 would prob work. Higher would allow you to see a larger area, but would probably sacrifice some of the detail on the ground.
Now the most restricting criteria: cost.
There is no organization budget to speak of. It’s a provincially run volunteer group. So this is on my dime. A couple hundred bucks would be ideal, but that seems to limit me to retail stuff, which all seems to be more “toys” than anything else and highly likely to be next to useless for my purposes.
I’m not adverse to buying something in kit form and assembling it. I’m more than capable, both mechanically and electronically.
I actually used to build and fly RC helicopters, but that was a long time ago. My last heli was a thunder tiger raptor 30. Nitro, FM, etc. Still have it on the shelf in the garage, although it hasn’t turned a rotor in more than a decade.
So I’m not new to RC flight, but drone stuff is all new to me.
Anyone want to take a stab at a recommendation for my purposes?
Cheers
Ps: my apologies if this isn’t posted in the right place.
Currently, I’m a member of the local ground search team. I’m a recently retired flight engineer (RCAF)and I flew choppers for 28 years in SAR. Here’s my last aircraft:
Came a point where I was just so injured, I just couldn’t conduct flight ops any longer. So they pensioned me off medically and now I’m full time retired.
But SAR gets in the blood, so I joined the local ground search teams. Since I’m busted up pretty good, I use my Argo (amphibious 8x8 ATV) to search trails and such:
That’s an older pic from when I first bought it. It’s been fairly extensively reworked since then for SAR use.
But being a former aviator, I know there’s nothing like an arial view for seeing objects down through the trees. Very often, it’s difficult to impossible to see very far off the trail due to the density of the forests around here and you see things in an arial view you would drive right by on the ground.
So I was thinking a drone might be a good addition to our search capabilities, using the Argo as a “mothership”. Ie: launch the drone to look just a bit further off the trail when the trees get too thick.
As to what would work best, I’m lost. Extensive reading on the subject has become “information overload” at this point.
So here’s what I think I would need:
1. Range: doesn’t need to be far. 1-2 kms would probably do. More is better, but absolute range can be sacrificed for the next item.
2. Flight time: obviously, more is better here. But somewhere in the 7-8 minute range would prob work. I can always keep a couple spare batteries on hand.
3. Video: recording isn’t really needed, but the operator needs to “see” the feed in “real time” to locate the search object.
Not sure what else would be needed.
Auto-return would probably be a useful feature.
Height would only be a couple hundred feet at best. Trees top out around 60-70 feet here, so 100-150 would prob work. Higher would allow you to see a larger area, but would probably sacrifice some of the detail on the ground.
Now the most restricting criteria: cost.
There is no organization budget to speak of. It’s a provincially run volunteer group. So this is on my dime. A couple hundred bucks would be ideal, but that seems to limit me to retail stuff, which all seems to be more “toys” than anything else and highly likely to be next to useless for my purposes.
I’m not adverse to buying something in kit form and assembling it. I’m more than capable, both mechanically and electronically.
I actually used to build and fly RC helicopters, but that was a long time ago. My last heli was a thunder tiger raptor 30. Nitro, FM, etc. Still have it on the shelf in the garage, although it hasn’t turned a rotor in more than a decade.
So I’m not new to RC flight, but drone stuff is all new to me.
Anyone want to take a stab at a recommendation for my purposes?
Cheers
Ps: my apologies if this isn’t posted in the right place.
