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Q?

Can a drone complete a mission by itself? Is it autonomous ?

A.

The flight controllers we use are very capable of full autonomous missions all the way from take-off, flying a grid and then returning home and landing, completing a range of tasks along the way like taking photos for example. The drone can be monitored from the ground by tracking it's progress with ground control software or viewing a live video feed from the drone.

Q?

How hard is it to fly?

A.

With the addition of fully stabilized flight controllers and the GPS capabilities, it has become much easier to operate sUASs/drones. Most people should be able to take off with a drone and keep it in the air right away. The difference comes when more advanced flying skills are required to navigate through obstacles and getting that perfect shot, there is nothing that can replace good old practice and spending more time flying will only be to your advantage. Autonomous missions and flight does not rely on the ability to fly, but the technical aspects need to be clearly understood.

Q?

What happens when you lose control with the radio?

A.

If you lose control of the vehicle due to the signal loss, the drone will go into RTL (Return To Land) mode and return to where you took off from - that's if you had GPS lock when you took off and the drone is setup correctly. By default, our drones come standard with this setting. Similarly, if you lose control of the drone due to pilot error or visibility you can also activate this feature via a switch on the radio and the drone will also come home if this feature was activated in time and the drone has not suffered a crash.

Q?

What is the max altitude?

A.

This is affected largely by the system, props used, payload, etc. Flight time will decrease the higher you go above sea level. The motors and the ESC will also become hotter in the same flight time compared to flying at sea level, because they need to work harder. You will see a decrease in performance when going higher than 3000m ASL.

Q?

Can you see the video on the ground?

A.

Yes, there are a number of options for transmitting live video from the air to either a field monitor or video goggles on the ground. This allows you to frame your shots much better or monitor autonomous flights. You can also fly the drone by looking at the feed, instead of directly at the drone, this is referred to as FPV or First Person View.

Q?

What is the legal operation range?

A.

Legislation and laws differ from country to country but in most countries you may operate the unit within line of sight and below 400 feet above ground level. It is the pilot's responsibility to know the laws of the areas he/she flies in.

Q?

Do you need a permit or license to fly a drone?

A.

In some countries you do yes, in others only if you use it commercially and some countries you are not required to have a licence. Confirm with your local authorities before flying. South Africa requires a full RPAS Pilots licence to commercially operate drones from 1 July 2015, please see the CAA website for further details.

Q?

How high/far/long can the drone fly?

A.

The main limiting factors here are your radio's range and your battery life. Depending on the flying conditions and your equipment, the radio will normally give you up to around 1-1.5km of range line of sight. If the drone is operated in the auto mission mode you are not limited by the radio's range as it used GPS, when using this feature please make sure you fully understand it and that you are legally allowed to operate it in this manner. Battery life is dependent on the drone you are flying and the equipment you have on it. Also remember that your power consumption will be higher when travelling at speed thus decreasing your flight time. Altitude above sea level would also effect your battery life.

Q?

Do the units come with a camera?

A.

Due to the wide variety of cameras used it would be virtually impossible to sell the unit with a camera that would suit everybody's needs. Also, many people already own a camera that they would like to use. We attempt to design the units to be versatile so that you could use a camera of your choice. We do offer turn-key solutions which include certain cameras and sensors for specific applications.

Q?

What is the maximum payload of the drone?

A.

This depends on many factors such as the design of the drone, motors, propellers, electronic speed controllers (ESC), batteries and altitude above sea level. Please see the specifications for each model.

Q?

What power source does the drone use?

A.

The drones use Lithium Polymer (LiPo) battery packs. Battery packs are made up out of a number of cells in series which determines the voltage of the battery, we mainly use 2S (7.4V, 2200mAh), 4S (14.8V, 6200mAh, 8000mah and 10 000mah) and 10S (37V, 10 000mAh) battery packs. Battery packs also have different storage capacities measured in mAh. The higher the value the higher the capacity of the battery and also the bigger/heavier the battery will be.

Q?

What is the voltage range of the LiPo batteries?

A.

LiPo batteries are shipped with a storage charge of around 3.85V per cell. Before the battery is used it should be fully charged to 4.2V per cell. LiPo batteries should not be depleted to below 3.2V per cell as this will damage the battery and make it potentially volatile. Please note that depending or the specific drone, flying conditions and payload you might not be able to use the battery down to 3.3V per cell as the drone might not be able to fly with the decreased power as this directly also decrease the max RPM of the motors. Always make sure you leave enough head room to safely come in and land at the end of every flight.