Testing flight stabilisation on my Frankenplane.

by alibopo | March 1, 2014 | (4) Posted in Projects

 Testing flight Stabilisation on my 4 channel Frankenplane. 

Having seen this extra around on this web site, I thought I’d give it a go on what I intend to be my FPV platform – my Baby Blender based Frankenplane.

Flying with and without the stabilisation was a revelation. This plane has long wings so when turning ‘off’ the wind (without the stabilisation) the wings would flick up as soon as the wind got under them. There's a fair bit of turbulence comes off the top of the trees around my flying area and the plane was very busy in the air. OK it was manageable, but it was a lot of work, and definitely took some of the fun out of the flying. Stabilisation on - like being on rails.

By the time I'd used-up all my batteries I was getting ground wind speed readings of almost 15mph, and I was in the shelter of that line of trees! Likely it was a bit stronger up in clear air. The other planes I had with me were dancing on the ground and threatening to set off on their own across the field.  I don’t normally consider flying in this kind of wind, but with the stabilisation on, these conditions were manageable, though I did have to keep the airspeed up - which is why I was doubling up my batteries.

One interesting and significant change with the stabilisation on was rolling. Without stabilisation the roll-rate is much faster. However, even though it was pretty slow, the plane didn’t seem to lose much altitude through the manoeuvre. There must have been a bit of extra rudder input from the stabilisation unit that I definitely can’t manage at present!

Watch the video;

To be honest, I was so quick to turn on the stabilisation there's really no video footage of before to compare with after. But once I was flying with stabilisation I was reluctant to switch it off - it made that much of a difference! My verdict - thoroughly recommended! This has opened up new flying opportunities.

Alibopo.

COMMENTS

Kurt0326 on March 2, 2014
I own two of these receivers too! i love it, my 10 year old son can fly three times better with it. It's now his preferred way to fly. Definitely consider for FPV flight, very stable. Great bang for your buck!
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alibopo on March 3, 2014
Yep, very well priced. I was so impressed by the receiver/stabiliser combo I straight away decided to buy a stand alone OrangeRx stabiliser (HobbyKing $17.99) to retrofit fit on my AVRO biplane. http://www.flitetest.com/articles/avro-539b-scratch-build-windy-flight
On the same day I did the test on the Frankenplane (not the same day as the flight in the video link I've given) I had a quick flight with the AVRO - it was just too busy in the air for me, and I felt lucky to get it down in one piece!
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backpackingn3rd on March 1, 2014
What sort of transmitter did you bind the stabilizer with?
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alibopo on March 2, 2014
Hi, I use a Spektrum DX6i. But any transmitter compatible with the DSM2 protocol will bind with this receiver. OrangeRx do their own transmitter for $65 - (http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__28494__OrangeRx_T_SIX_2_4GHz_DSM2_6CH_Programmable_Transmitter_w_10_Model_Memory_Mode_2_.html), but there's others out there that handle DSM2, and there's those plug-in modules (Open RLS?) that go in the back of compatible transmitters. Some of those little Hobbyzone 'game pad' style transmitters that come in the box with RTF parkflyers are DSM2 protocol. I picked up one of those for about £5.00 ($8.40) from ebay and it works fine. I recently watched a YouTube broadcast where DSM2 was described as a bit 'old hat' compared to other more modern 2.4ghz protocols, but the chap also said, that for the money, the OrangeRx stuff was very good value.
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Drezed on March 4, 2014
I had the stand alone stabilizer in stalled in my 800mm wing span Bf-109. When it was switched on, it was as if the wind disappeared! It did seem to slow the roll, but that might have been due to smaller mechanical throws when I set the plane up for the stabilizer. As far as loops, no problems versus non-stabilized. I have since moved it to my wife's plane, to assist on breezy days.
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alibopo on March 4, 2014
Yep - it's great when technology does what it's supposed to do. :)
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sailorJohn on March 1, 2014
Will also fight you when coming out a loop too close to the ground ,would not let me pull out of the back side of the loop as if the controls were softer. But once I learned that, gyros can turn a turd into a lily.
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alibopo on March 1, 2014
Thanks for that - I try to avoid that hard stuff when possible, but sometimes it creeps up on you :) In lighter airs this plane is very stable, so I don't think I'd use the stabilisation all the time. I think it's probably smarter to keep the hand/eye connection as polished as it can be - just in case the stabilisation packs in.
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808aerosquadron on March 4, 2014
As always, another good article. Thanks.

I have used the HK stand-alone stabilizer on my HK Bixler for some time now, mainly to help combat the effects of the Trade Winds here in Hawaii. Even with the gains turned low, you can see the difference. For a beginning pilot, the stabilizer & Bixler are a great combination as the combination reduces the tendency to slam the sticks overcorrecting the effects of the wind.

Thanks again.
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c.sitas on September 19, 2014
It seems on other forums that there is kinda a negative view towards the stabilizer. I think this is really great for the beginner. If it helps keep you in the air ,I'm all for it. If your the kind that scorn it, so be it. I like the tech part of it , always did. By the way ,why do they use all this modern hokey pocuss in our fighter jets. Maybe it just leaves their hands loose so they can do something else, just maybe?
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alibopo on September 20, 2014
Hi c.sitas, thanks for the comment. Stabilisation definitely has its place, even if it's just to give you time to scratch your nose in blustery conditions! :) Getting it 'right' for the individual plane is a little harder I think. I installed it in my 'Morphocoupe' and initially was very pleased with it. Then one day when I was flying near to a blustery tree line I found the plane was 'flicking' its wings a lot, so I assumed I'd left the stabilisation off. I threw the on/off switch on my transmitter and the plane immediately settled. When I got the plane down I found I'd actually switched the stabilisation off! I've been flying the plane with a much larger battery load (2000mah/14-15 minutes flight time) than I was previously using and the additional 'focused' load hanging under the high mount wing had made the plane significantly more stable. In some situations the stabilisation had actually been fighting the plane's inherent and very predictable self-righting tendencies. It's been flying so well in this configuration I recently removed the stabilisation unit. On the other hand my much lighter 'Tribewt' becomes a manageable plane in stronger winds, where before it was getting knocked about a lot and was no fun to fly. I have stabilisation on my 'Avro 539B' which helps a lot and I use it all the time. It's such a short plane, and can be quite a slow flyer, but it's very responsive to small changes in attitude caused by even moderate winds. It's a lot more fun pointing the plane the way you want it to go rather than constantly correcting deviations due to tiny gusts.
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Testing flight stabilisation on my Frankenplane.