Week 6 Field Outing (October 1)

For week 6 lab, crew 1 (Jared, Abdul, Caleb) and crew 2 (Brooks, Ben, Stephen) set up and flew the Bramor. Crew 1 did the brunt of the rail and preflight set up, with crew 2 moving at an accelerated pace due to time constraints. The lab was done to further familiarize the preflight, flight, landing, and general beneficial skills needed to operate the Bramor in a professional and safe manner. Being able to be proficient not only ensures a productive learning environment but a safe one as well.

Autonomous flight can be deceiving because the title might cause a false assumption of simplicity. However, due to the relatively new technology being used combined with a fairly low level of skill and experience from most students and the overwhelming general complexity of aircraft, it is safe to say that autonomous flight is anything but. 

Field Outing:

The flight lab took place on Friday October 1, 2021 at 9:30am. The location was once again the north field of the Martel Forestry Center. Weather was once again great for flying. Very sunny sun high in the sky with a slight haze. Seasonably humid. Slight wind from the East South-East wind speed was under 10 kts.

Flight Crew Notes and Conditions	Crew 1 (Jared, Abdul, Caleb)	Crew 2 (Brooks, Ben, Stephen)
Preflight setup time	9:30 – 10:18	10:35 – 10:54
Combox Voltage	13.8 V	13.1 V
Tablet Battery	99%	83%
Rally Altitude	55 m	55 m
Mission Altitude	120 m	130 m
Takeoff Altitude	120 m	100 m
UAV Voltage	16.4 V	16.2 V
dB	-38	-41
Satellites	16	17
Temperature	19 ̊ C	21.2 ̊ C
Launch Time	10:19	10:55
Land Time	10:27	11:04
Wind	E-SE	E-SE

 Figure 1: Flight Crew Notes

We set up Bramor over the large prairie-like field because the wind out of the east/south east wasn’t strong enough to negatively affect flight performance, and thus, we didn’t have to set up into the wind. Due to good conditions there was nothing that forced us to make any dire alterations or cause any issues during flight. The first flight crew took a while with the checklist, however, it paid off because the first flight went smoothly. The first flight was only 9 minutes so that the other crew(s) could fly and have at least 30 minutes for setup. The second flight was also 9 minutes in order have enough time for disassembly and packing everything away. Time was the biggest enemy for the flights as we were scheduled to have 3 flights but only got done with 2. The waypoints had in the mission weren’t flown to completion and an override was done to bring the Bramor into the rally, and eventually land. Thankfully data collection was done and comprised in an organized manner. I took notes and a helpful table was shared by Brooks. Both flights went smooth and there was no physical damage to anyone or anything thankfully.

Concluded Statements (Assessment)

Because of good chute folding, installation, deployment, and retrieval of chute the flight was successful and easy. The parachute is a mandatory aspect of Bramor flying because without it the aircraft cannot land. Having one person who is familiar with setup help guide the other crewmates worked well. However, having defined roles and responsibilities would definitely improve the speed and success of flights.