APM enhances Father's day

In FBW mode, the APM turns almost any plane into a perfect trainer. My two older daughters (9 and 7) were able to confidently circle over the Berkeley marina. Despite the 10-15 knot winds the Bixler2 behaved very docile and controllable. I had them completely ignore throttle and only focus only on the aileron.

I was amazed on how stress-free the flights turned out. After a few minutes of practice I felt confident enough to stop watching the plane and take some pictures of the young pilots.

Besides getting cold from the wind they enjoyed it and want to come back out to the field with me. I'm thinking to let them practice a few times in FBW (to get used of the correction when the plane flies against you) and eventually graduate them to stabilized mode.

Hard to spot the plane, but it is there ;)

You need to be a member of diydrones to add comments!

Join diydrones

Comments

Andreas June 17, 2013 at 9:00am

@Graham, Google for "César Chávez Park", it's next to the Berkeley Marina. Just follow University avenue towards the bay, then turn right at the fork.
Graham Pollock June 16, 2013 at 10:05pm

Where is that in Berkeley I like in the Bay Area and I'm looking for a good place to fly
Chuck June 16, 2013 at 3:32pm

I love all this Father's Day talk with APM! I just spent the day building a QU4D with my father, and my son really enjoyed watching us (he is only 2). Nothing like getting hands on with a project to enjoy Father's Day.

Great story Andreas.
Joshua Johnson June 16, 2013 at 12:39pm

Thanks for sharing this Andreas! I just took my father to the park so we could mess around with my RQ-11 and my 31 inch heli. He's a medical electronics technician so he enjoys working on projects with me and helping me out with all the electrical work and soldering.

Happy Fathers Day Buddy!!!!!!!!

Joshua Johnson

This reply was deleted.