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52 Radio Control Model News Issue 100 February 2010 Issue 130 is also available for Apple, Android Kindle fire devices at www.rcmnews.com 52 Drone Zone UAV was hard enough to explain to the general public. Then there was UAS (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) Now we have RPA. (Remote Piloted Aircraft) and RPAS (systems). RPA seems to be the one that will become the worldwide industry term. Efforts to force soft drink sellers to explain that “it’s not Coke, it’s cola” have proven almost futile. The term Drone is here to stay. That horse bolted yonks ago. Do we have good drones and bad drones? Being on the receiving end of a particular operation might change that perspective. This column is concerned with civil operations. Not missions. That term has an odi- ous military connotation that has been tagged only to the more sensa- tional flights that make it to the TV News. Flying RC for commercial reward isn’t new. What is new is that regu- lations are in the process of being promulgated in many countries. Australia is at the forefront of that change. The Advisory Circular from CASA which for all intent and purposes turn the new regs into LAW shouldn’t be too far away. Helicopters and fixed wing have advantages too, but Multirotors have opened up so many new areas of operation that not only reduces risk to aircrew, in some cases they are the only option to lift something aloft safely. These marvellous machines can do such more than many of us Richard Fraser helps out a competitor whose pilot was unavailable All systems go!

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Page 1: Drone Zone - irp-cdn.multiscreensite.com Zone.pdfproduction filming on location should be enough for anyone to understand why cost per day seems astronomi-cal. Another selling point

52 RadioControlModelNewsIssue100February2010Issue 130 is also available for Apple, Android Kindle fire devices at www.rcmnews.com 52

Drone Zone

UAVwashardenoughtoexplaintothegeneralpublic.ThentherewasUAS(UnmannedAircraftSystems)NowwehaveRPA.(RemotePilotedAircraft)andRPAS(systems).RPAseemstobetheonethatwillbecometheworldwideindustryterm.Effortstoforcesoftdrinksellerstoexplainthat“it’snotCoke,it’scola”haveprovenalmostfutile.ThetermDroneisheretostay.Thathorseboltedyonksago.

Dowehavegooddronesandbaddrones?Beingonthereceivingendofaparticularoperationmightchangethatperspective.Thiscolumnisconcernedwithciviloperations.Notmissions.Thattermhasanodi-ousmilitaryconnotationthathasbeentaggedonlytothemoresensa-tional flights that make it to the TV News.

FlyingRCforcommercialrewardisn’tnew.Whatisnewisthatregu-lationsareintheprocessofbeingpromulgatedinmanycountries.Australiaisattheforefrontofthatchange.TheAdvisoryCircularfromCASAwhichforallintentandpurposesturnthenewregsintoLAWshouldn’tbetoofaraway.

Helicopters and fixed wing have advantagestoo,butMultirotorshaveopenedupsomanynewareasofoperationthatnotonlyreducesrisktoaircrew,insomecasestheyaretheonlyoptiontoliftsomethingaloftsafely.Thesemarvellousmachinescandosuchmorethanmanyofus

Richard Fraser helps out a competitor whose pilot was unavailable

All systems go!

Page 2: Drone Zone - irp-cdn.multiscreensite.com Zone.pdfproduction filming on location should be enough for anyone to understand why cost per day seems astronomi-cal. Another selling point

Australia’slargestcirculatingR/CModelMagazine 53 Please mention to advertisers you saw it in RCM News #130 53

Gear up and on the climb. Job sheet called for pic to be shot on dusk

Gear down heading back in

everimagined.Onsimple4rotormachinesthecostofafailureishigh.Morerotorsincreasesredundancyaswellasliftingpower.

ItiswithgreatinterestthatIintro-duceacompanythathastakenthisnewtypeofspecialistairworktoawholenewlevel.

XM2AidanKellyLukeAnnellsandStephenOhspecialiseinaerialcinematographyfromdrones.The

companyistwoyearsoldalthougheachpartnerbringsmanyyearsofindividualexpertise.AidanownsARKRCandisaveryhandy3Dhelipilot.AsisLuke,whoalsolooksaf-termachiningandbuildingtheirownflying camera platforms. Stephen is

thefoundingDirecterofXM2andhis background is in film, production/ direction.

XM2Dronesaredesignedinhouseandfeaturetwinmotorsoneachboom.Puristsmightsaythatthere

Page 3: Drone Zone - irp-cdn.multiscreensite.com Zone.pdfproduction filming on location should be enough for anyone to understand why cost per day seems astronomi-cal. Another selling point

54 RadioControlModelNewsIssue100February2010Issue 130 is also available for Apple, Android Kindle fire devices at www.rcmnews.com 54

is slight loss of efficiency with this configuration but that is more than madeupforwithreducedsetuptimeandmaintenance.OneversioncanrelayHDvideowhichisrecord-edontheground.ThelatestplatformisdesignedtolifttheRedDragonhigh definition camera which records intheair.Thesensorhas9timesthepixelsofHDandcanalsoshoot100framesofHDstillspersecond.Thebody fits wide aperture Zeiss lenses. LowFstopsarevitalwhenlightislow.Integraltothewholeoperationarethegimbalswhicharemadeinhouse.Considerabletimeandex-pertiseistakentotuningagimbaltoparticularbody-lenscombination.

Timeismoneyanditreallyappliestoanindustrystandardthatachieves

oneminuteofuseablefootageperdayonlocation.Avisittoasmallproduction filming on location should beenoughforanyonetounderstandwhycostperdayseemsastronomi-cal.

Anothersellingpointoftheseincred-iblystableandmanoueverableaerialplatformsisfastturnaroundtime.Shootingascenefromtwodiffer-entdirectionsoftenrequiresheavyequipmenttobemovedoutofshot.Achangeofangleatadesertscenerequiresthesandtobeswepttore-movefootmarksleftbythecrew.Aspayloadcapabilityincreases,dronescanreducetheneedforlayingouttracksforcameradollies.Swappinglensesrequiresgimbaldampingtobere-calibratedorthegimbalchangedtoonethatmatchestheweightandcentreofgravity.Fastturnaroundisverydesirable.

Aconsiderablenumberofcommer-cials and film works are in the can awaitingrelease.DavidAttenbor-oughattheGreatBarrierReefisone.

Stephen Oh brings a cinematography and production background to XM2

Red Dragon camera high

definition video camera can

shoot 100 fps DH still shots

Drone Zone

Page 4: Drone Zone - irp-cdn.multiscreensite.com Zone.pdfproduction filming on location should be enough for anyone to understand why cost per day seems astronomi-cal. Another selling point

Australia’slargestcirculatingR/CModelMagazine 55 Please mention to advertisers you saw it in RCM News #130 55

TheMoonandtheSunisafeaturefilm due imminent release.

Eventhougheveryonedreamsoftheimpossibleshot,muchofthebreadandbutterworkiscreatingPOVs.(pointsofview)HavealookatthefootageontheXM2.comwebsite.Trackinghorsesalongthatridgeforthirty seconds for the feature film demonstrates brilliant flying and cameracontrol.Theimageremainsstableandinrightinthecentre.Notehowmuchthetreesaremovinginthefirst shot in the mountains lifting up through the trees. Mountain flying in windyconditionsisverychallenging.Flyingoverwaterhasitschallengestoo.Amovinghorizonmakesitquiteeasytosuffermotionsickness.Onemistakeandyoulosethelot.Evenifthegearcanberecoveredsaltwater,rendersitunusable.

AidanshowedmefootageforanupcomingTVseriesandoneshotthattookmyfancywasoftheim-possiblenature.Trackingavehiclethrough the scrub then flying through theforkofatreeisrightupthereupforanyoneinthe“Howdidtheyget

Flying under pressure! How does a $100,000 payload sound? With an AUW (all up weight) of 40 kg this new design will lift an Arri Alexa M camera.

A world first

Air to ground HD video recording capability

No need to holler for a Marshall

Drone Zone

Page 5: Drone Zone - irp-cdn.multiscreensite.com Zone.pdfproduction filming on location should be enough for anyone to understand why cost per day seems astronomi-cal. Another selling point

56 RadioControlModelNewsIssue100February2010Issue 130 is also available for Apple, Android Kindle fire devices at www.rcmnews.com 56

https://www.facebook.com/XM2Aerial

http://vimeo.com/103982608http://vimeo.com/102807856

https://www.youtube.com/watch?x-yt-cl=85027636&x-yt-ts=1422503916&

v=eAgyKeG0YXU

Drone Zone

thatshot”fraternity.Thiscolumnisn’taboutgivinguptradesecrets,soMum’sthewordonthat.

ThecompanyhasachievedAustraliawide area certification from CASA whichmakesquotingjobsmucheasierandfaster.Newdevelopmentsingimbal,imagingandmultirotorcraftarebeingphasedin.XM2’slat-estdroneshouldhaveachievedcerti-fication by the time this magazine has gonetopress.

CoMMerCial Flying Inthe1980sIwasoneofasmallgroup of people operating fixed wing and helicopters. I only shot film. Dabbledwithvideo,butvibration

wasaproblemrecordingonboard.No so with film. A sixty powered heli hadnotroublewhatsoeverliftinga1.5kgSLR,Evenon40degreedays.My last fixed wing model had all the conveniencefeaturesbuiltin.OS90

fourstoketoreducenoise.Carburet-torairboxforoperatingfromdustyor sandy strips. Huge flaps, main gearbrakes,viewingwindowfortheframecounter.Fuselagedoorwithwindow,tochangerollsandcheck

Checking site for obstacles

Cinematography demands good gear

Page 6: Drone Zone - irp-cdn.multiscreensite.com Zone.pdfproduction filming on location should be enough for anyone to understand why cost per day seems astronomi-cal. Another selling point

Australia’slargestcirculatingR/CModelMagazine 57 Please mention to advertisers you saw it in RCM News #130 57

camerasettingsfromdataback.Twopiecewing.Dihedraltailplaneforimproved pitch control when flar-ing with ninety degrees of split flap selected..

Redundancyisvitalwhenofferinganyserviceonacommercialbasis.Redundancyalsoreferstobackuponboardsystemsincaseoffailure.BackthenIoperatedstandardra-diogearandreliabilitywasneveraproblem.Oncethejobinvolves

Get to know the rules. » For recreational use visit casa.gov.au/sportaviation

» For commercial use visit casa.gov.au/rpa

Was this shot from a pole or copter?

Drone Zone

crewsonlocation,twoofeverythingisrequired.ShootingstillswithinanhourofhomeIoftenonlycarriedonemodel.Anyfurtherandinwentaspare.

The most challenging flying was forFilmandTVDirectors.ManyofwhoImethadonetraitverymuchakinwiththatoftheFamilyCourtLawyer.Theyhavetoknowwheretogetinformationonanawfullotofsubjects.Buttheypossesslittleor

noexpertiseinany.Norhavelittleinterest.Explainingwhyyoucan’tdowhattheywantsoonbecameoflittleinteresttome.

IfyoutakethetimeandefforttoobtainandpayforyourOC,dealingwithpushyclientscomeswiththeterritory.Therewillbeaminoritythat does not care if the flight was legal.Aresponsibilitythatrestsentirelywiththeoperator. StephenGreen.

This operator is about to obtain his OC flying DJI’s new Inspire 1 with dedicated camera