This Looks Like The Right Place

I don't know where to start. What would be fun is searching remote regions for meteorites. I've been kicking around ideas to myself for applications of what I guess ya'll call UAV's.

I know real planes better than RC's. I've been told for years to do something in miniature and came to the conclusion that full size costs about the same for that project, or so I thought. It has become intriguing that I may have discounted a very important area.

After seeing a video of someone flying a chopper very erratically got me to thinking. I almost built a custom ultra light to explore the desert and or scheming on how to make my own Aerial maps cause every time I get close they seem to not exist. Why risk your life when you could just cry if your toy crashes?

I'm open to directing me to what questions I should be asking, as crazy as that sounds, on what I guess is a research probe.

What is .60 ? I MUST be rusty , a real plane is what? 30' wing span and .60 of that isn't 5' it would be more like 18'.

There must be a huge road block that IS out there , and I'm guessing regulations/laws/politics other than $ , time & info. When does a model become real? Has anyone assessed the damage 911 did? What would happen if one had a 10' Dia. chopper and flew it around town or just over BLM/gov't/our land? I suppose you'd have to carry a transponder after a certain size , no? Laws not written yet? Big time restricted air space? Why, if so? You have to risk your life and endanger a whole building instead of a single car to fly legally remotely?

I read the thread about cargo back in Dec. today and it doesn't make since , 3HP little motors and can't lift much , should. What are the limits on size of off the shelf parts? I take it that most metal parts are pot metal and made in Asia , does anyone make their own chopper 'heads?' I'm sure the fixed wing is the way I'm thinking, but

30,000 parts flying in formation and not risking your life sounds like fun.

What if you use them for home land security instead of thought of as a threat? Oh, I guess I was the only one who thought that model rocket plant fire wasn't an accident right after 911.

Reply to
Sunworshipper
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Also (if you're googling) RPVs (remotely piloted vehicles).

Agreed. As long as your UAV/RPV doesn't hit someone or something on the way to the crash site.

Start here:

Even if you can't afford to buy one from them ($25,000 or so), it shows what people have done.

.60 cubic inches--a popular engine displacement in the hobby. It's roughly 10 cc.

The Aerosonde uses a much-modified 1.2 ci engine, I think.

Yes. The FAA and Homeland Security aren't going to like the idea of a civilian RPV with substantial flight capabilities (payload, duration, autopilot, GPS nav, etc.).

When it flies. Then it's an aircraft, even though it is not human-carrying.

Depends on who saw it, how it behaved, and what the mission of the flight was. Also whether you got permission beforehand or just hoped not to get noticed.

Depends on the air space and altitude you're flying in. Also whose land you're overflying.

Not in detail. There are grey areas. If you don't hurt anybody or do anything too stupid, no one will bother you. Otherwise, be prepared for big time trouble.

I can't make sense out of that sentence. The one data point that I've got stuck in my head is the example of an OS .40 ci FP (plain bearing engine) lifting 19 pounds of cargo, circling, and landing in a specified area. I doubt that the engine put out more than

3/4 horsepower.

The size is limited by what you want to spend. There are "model" engines that could fly an ultralight and pilot (four cylinder, 15-25 horsepower). Not many shelves stock these engines, of course.

People did in the beginning. Now there are excellent helicopter kits available.

A Japanese company had some crop spraying RC helicopters with GPS autopilots. I don't know if they're still in business.

Yes, it is. I've got one heli flying (little electric) and am going to buy another used one from some friends.

I don't have any opinion on that.

Marty

Reply to
Martin X. Moleski, SJ

| I don't know where to start. What would be fun is searching remote | regions for meteorites. I've been kicking around ideas to myself for | applications of what I guess ya'll call UAV's.

Your post is very hard to follow ...

| What is .60 ? I MUST be rusty , a real plane is what? 30' wing span | and .60 of that isn't 5' it would be more like 18'.

It's an airplane powered by a 0.60 cubic inch displacement engine. It's sort of a class of plane size -- perhaps a 5 foot wing span, though it's pretty vague.

| There must be a huge road block that IS out there , and I'm guessing | regulations/laws/politics other than $ , time & info. When does a | model become real? Has anyone assessed the damage 911 did?

Yes, lots of people have thought about it. Mostly people have realized that a 10 lb model airplane just can't do that much damage. Even that kid who flew a single engine plane into a building shortly after 9/11 didn't do much damage beyond killing himself.

If you want to do damage, you park a van full of explosives outside. Not fly a R/C plane somewhere.

How has 9/11 affected our hobby? A few sites have been closed due to FUD. Beyond that, not sure. Here in Austin, people can't slope fly off Mansfield dam anymore (nobody is allowed to walk on the dam anymore. The sign says `temporary restrictions', but it's been several years now ...) (So we fly near it.) Beyond that, *shrug*.

(Of course, to blow up a dam would require *massive* explosives. I doubt even a 747 crashing into the dam would do it. But that's paranoia for you ...)

| What would happen if one had a 10' Dia. chopper and flew it around | town or just over BLM/gov't/our land? I suppose you'd have to carry | a transponder after a certain size , no?

The FAA generally leaves us alone. And conversely, we try not to do stupid things around full scale planes, just like we've always done, in the hopes of 1) not hurting anybody and 2) keeping it where the FAA generally leaves us alone.

| What if you use them for home land security instead of thought of as a | threat? Oh, I guess I was the only one who thought that model rocket | plant fire wasn't an accident right after 911.

*shrug*

As for using R/C models for doing reconnoissance, the military does it a lot, and there are plenty of applications where private industry does so as well. Often a full sized plane would work, but a model can do the job for _much_ less money. And many of the models used are just off the shelf R/C models with standard cameras and such -- cheap.

Reply to
Doug McLaren

Ted shuffled out of his cave and grunted these great (and sometimes not so great) words of knowledge:

I don't know what he is on, but it sounds interesting. {:-)

Reply to
Ted Campanelli

How are you going to detect the metorites from a plane?

Reply to
Grant Edwards

Well the real cool ones must leave a small round crater. Take the plane out for a day and video the area and watch the footage at home. Anything that looks promising you just print that page with the GPS numbers and go back and hunt it down. The main idea is finding interesting things out in the desert mines, ghost towns, and the dirt roads that lead to them. It sucks to physically check every road/trail in a valley to find what trips my trigger. Like when I get dragged out camping everybody goes fishing or some other boring thing and I go hunt down locals and park rangers and pick their brains for cool places to go.

I've got other ideas on how to detect them and an EE god for a friend, but half the fun is trying. The main problem is making sure the payload isn't over extended with future equipment cause that means I'd have to start all over again and make it better. I really want to find one ! After that I'd probably loose interest , totally.

You know there is another part to it. Its the strange looks and the "Forget About It Speeches" and then you do it and people go wow...

Reply to
Sunworshipper

I suppose so, but there are only about 150 known craters on the planet. Your chances of finding one are pretty darned small. Usually a meteorite is just a rock laying on the ground that looks slightly different than those around it.

Reply to
Grant Edwards

It's not the right place.

m-m

Reply to
M-M

There's some site in the Antarctic where they found the meteorite from Mars. I think the rocks there have to be examined by hand in order to see whether they are worth collecting.

Marty

Reply to
Martin X. Moleski, SJ

Really , 150 ? Do you happen to know how many are on the moon? I could have sworn I ran into a map of the earth with a good guesstimation of what it would look like if it weren't so active and for the life of me I can't come up with the key words to find it again. Or that moon number,can't tell me they haven't got a good idea.

But but I'm thinking small maybe wind filled one's of minus 150 yrs. Bet the gov't has the pictures I want to look at already, but they an't coughing them up with out lots of bucks under the table, booze, and hookers...

Its the quest , maybe I'll stop if they let me spend weeks going through them. I found one as a kid that was about the size of a milk bottle tab. I'm thinking around softball size and solid metal now.

Happen to know say the odds of finding a gold nugget to a meteorite?

What about modifying weed whacker motors, I have some metal working machines. I can find them for free if I look.

Reply to
Sunworshipper

Something like that. I'm sure google can find you the exact number.

Dunno. Tousands? Tens of thousands?

Afraid not, but I imagine it depends rather heavily on where you look.

Not sure what you're asking...

Reply to
Grant Edwards

Nylon weed cutting motor parts. If you don't know, never mind. I have time to check it out , gave away about 6 in the past cause I never thought toy planes could be fun.

I spent days on trying to find the number on the moon for my own calculations and couldn't find the answer. Can't find photo maps of the whole Moon to count them myself , either ! Something fishy there if you'd ask me. Probably cause I don't search with the right words or have to pay to get in to see if they have what I'm looking for.

Reply to
Sunworshipper

Ever try looking here?

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Reply to
C G

Piece of cake for you (not for me--no machines or skills).

For a poke-around, loiter, and photograph plane, you might consider converting one of the little Honda four-strokes. The regular two-strokes are better if you're planning to fly upside-down or need more speed and power.

etc.

Marty

Reply to
Martin X. Moleski, SJ

Yes, the utility two-stroke engine would be a good way to go. The model won't be overly large, but it will be capable of lifting a usable payload and its operating cost and replacement cost, should you lose the plane, will be acceptable.

You will need an FCC Amateur Radio Operator's License of at least Technician Class to operate the aerial video equipment that you will use. Most retailers will not sell amateur radio gear without proof of license. It is easy to pass the exam after one weekend of studying the manual.

There are quite a few almost-ready-to-fly models available that only require minor assembly, compared to building one from scratch or a kit of parts.

You will be limited to visual range flying only, if you have any common sense at all, or unless you live out in the boonies. The chance of an incident is fairly high. As we say in R/C, "If you fly'em, you'll crash'em". No exceptions.

Find and join a model airplane club. You will need flight instruction, regardless of how good a pilot you may be using a computer simulator. The learning curve for such a model is not very steep. Set aside a summer of leisure time for learning the ins and outs of R/C model flying.

I could go on for hours, but you would not understand what I am talking about, so why waste all of our time?

At the very least, you will have acquired a very enjoyable hobby. Having a mission to accomplish, such as discovering meteor impact sites, can make this hobby all the more enjoyable. Good luck and come back with any questions or comments that you may have. I am interested in learning of your progress.

Ed Cregger

Reply to
Ed Cregger

I know what they are, and I know that people use them to power frighteningly large R/C model planes. What I don't know is what question you are asking.

Reply to
Grant Edwards

...(snip)...

I don't know what kind of

"Access to Information Act"

you might have down there, but it would be worth the trouble to ask.

I'm working right now on a project for Human Resources Mgmt and the problems up here are

- requestor query is too vague - requestor query is too specific - requestor query is not routed correctly - requestor query is not interpreted correctly - requestor receives truckload of information in-hand within 30 days (that's Canada's statute-specified deadline)

My suggestion:

- talk to the local weatherman (make sure he is a meteorologist and not just some good-looking talker) - talk to the high school geology/geography/physics teachers

to help phrase the request with language that prevents the above-mentionned problems.

The other possibility, if you haven't tried yet is the NASA plublic relations office. Do it by phone so you can home in on the proper person to place your request with.

Good luck !

Eric

Reply to
abracadabra

If you look up the index of "named" craters on the moon, it might give you an idea of the numbers, because I am sure they have only named about 1 in 100 and that ratio may even be too close. It could go as high as 1 in 1000 or more.

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Eric

Reply to
abracadabra

Here is one specific "craters on earth" site, not the fake stuff from around Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.

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THe site talks about a HUGE land preserve intended to keep the formations from being tampered by developers and zealous recreation freaks.

Eric

Reply to
abracadabra

Here is the real deal for impact sites on earth.

Map location index:

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Crater name index:
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These are for sites tracked by institutions world-wide. Others have been either not detected or too small to attract researcher attention until possibly better image analysis software can recognize formations as being of crater origin.

Cheers !

Eric

Reply to
abracadabra

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