Gary Arthur

My Feedback: (29)

Check this out.

http://www.interestingprojects.com/cruisemissile/

seanreit

My Feedback: (60)

I think that guy is a joke. I've read other stuff of his over the last few years. What he's really good at is pulsejets. His last update in June. If he was serious, he'd have a model being ready to be stuffed by now. And according to his own schedule, he's severly behind. Plus, by his own design, the model won't track very well. What he doesn't know is that once he puts that FMA device on, the only real directional change he's gonna get is rudder becuase every time his GPS system asks for roll, the fma is going to override. I have extensive experiance with the fma device in airplanes and it's almost impossible to do an aileron turn. But if you hammer rudder full left, you do a tailslide turn with wings level. Over long distance ok, zeroing in on target, I doubt it.

causeitflies

I don't know much about the GPS system but are you saying you couldn't make a turn with just the FMA unit? If so it wasn't set up properly. The unit only takes over when you release the controls.

seanreit

My Feedback: (60)

It's not that you can't, we had three different FMA copilots here in Austin that were having what we called "feedback" issues. Such that you never felt like you had total control when the device was enabled or disabled (OR DISABLED!!) In other words, the three we tested would still correct the aiplane when turned off by the transmitter.

Further testing found no way at high speeds to get accurate in your turns. In this guys application that won't work unless he's driving in from quite a ways away and get to it by rudder as the rudder is unafected by the copilot.

Assume he's moving at 150 mph with a pulsejet (might be higher, but I don't know his drag issues) and my experiance tells me he has to disengage the device to hit a target within a certain range, or switch to rudder control within a certain range and drive it straight in. If he has to turn significantly within 1000 feet of the target, with FMA he's gonna miss by hundreds of feet.

seanreit

My Feedback: (60)

Anyway, if he moves forward he'll realize that it's not needed anyway. With the gps system, the program will call for an altitude above sea level. Any roll off of the target will correct the wings to level and elevator will keep the programmed altitude. However, I heard of a test that the software was written incorrectly, the plane went inverted and got low, called for up elevator and the airplane went straight into the ground. There has to be a software change that says if up elevator comes in and altitude goes down, reverse elevator. I got this from a GPS guy at Motorola here in austin I had lunch with a year ago. He actually told me that if I could come up with 500 guys that wanted full blown GPS on our RC planes, he could do it for $500.00 a pop. This was guidance level GPS he was talking about.

One of my dreams in this hobby is to do a flight, and have the computer on board go back and duplicate the flight by gps. Unfortunately, I don't know of an affordable way to do this yet, and also unfortunately, once a working system like this exists for us, it would make for a very affordable (see that guys work),

causeitflies

I could see how the FMA could be disconcerting on anything much more than a trainer as we usually command a bank and then release the roll control, which would cause the unit to level the plane. To continue the turn one would have to continue to hold in a certain amount of aileron. So even though we (RC pilots) might not feel in control because of this tendancy, the GPS shouldn't have a problem.

Not that I'm giving this guy any credit cause I haven't even bothered to read more than the first page of his site. But I think it could be done. How accurate?? Beats me

okjetman

My Feedback: (2)

Don't focus on the possibilities of his success! Focus instead on the fact that he is trying. That alone scares me the most. All it would take is one knee-jerk reaction from someone in a position to do something about it and it might be all over for all of us! Our r/c technologies do not in and of themselves constitute a threat, but throw this guy, and his thinking, in the mix and we might all be grouped together...to our detriment.
Bob
Ü

seanreit

My Feedback: (60)

Aircraft I tried this on:

Trainer
Bigstick
1/3 scale Extra 260 with a G-62
GP Patriot with YS45 that goes 150 to 160 MPH.
TOP Gun F-15

Didn't like the device on any one of them. Noteworthy were landings on the Third Scale were incredible, but Knife Edge was crap.

Gary Arthur

My Feedback: (29)

Like I said, he gives us a bad rap. His ludicrous ideas may have a large impact on this hobby.

seanreit

My Feedback: (60)

I really really doubt that this particular guy will have that affect. There are some in this hobby that could put the deal together, but not this particular guy. Unless he gets some spectacular help. This guy has been mentioned in these forums before. He evenbuilt is own hombuilt turbine. But that thing was crap. And again, what I see on his site is that he has lost either the ambition to continue, or the knowledge. I suspect both or intervention by others.

And I don't see anyone anywhere giving us a bad name or anyone who knows who this guy is other than here in this virtual domain.

Consider the views here and I bet 3 people in 500,000 out there would even know that this guy exists. Probably less.

No bad name. Plus consider that in Austin, maybe 1 in a thousand even know that our hobby is extensive as it is. Most don't even know you can run a trainer by remote and land it and taxi it.

There is no way that this guy is giving our hobby a bad name. Most people don't even know that RC turbine jets are a reality.

Gary Arthur

My Feedback: (29)

I do not worry about most people, I worry about the few that do know about turbines and may in a position to be heard.

This guy does not even have all of his facts correct about model planes. Here's what he has to say about models.

"Secondly, the LCCM flies almost twice as fast as the fastest RC model airplane. Most models fly at less than 70mph, meaning they are the type of target that can be "taken out" with small arms fire."

sideshow

My Feedback: (11)

Though this thread has taken a circuitous path around to R/C jets. It's not specifically R/C related.....