Flying Monkey

September 18, 2021

Flying Monkey 03 – Status: PRESUMED DESTROYED

I finally got around to flying the Flying Monkey 03 in sport mode for the first time this past Tuesday. Everything was going well. Did a fast pass down the length of the canal then stopped and turned around to come back. Got everything lined up and pushed up on the stick to accelerate. Only one small issue: the wind was gusting a bit that day ahead of a massive storm front that was rolling in and, not thinking about it all, that was the direction that I was flying back in.

Everything was going smoothly until I glanced over to check where some people were walking by. I looked back at the video feed and saw this:

As soon as I saw that I knew it was in the drink. A split second later, the feed died. I tried to use the locate feature built into the app, but it was already underwater when I tried, no luck there. I searched the area on both sides of the canal for the next hour in the hopes that what was left of the airframe might still be buoyant enough to wash ashore. No luck there either. Dismayed, I got in my car and drove away with no idea of what had happened.

Upon checking the DJI Fly app later that night, I discovered that the app records all incoming video feeds and flight telemetry in real-time, so I have some semblance of what happened. It appears that while going down the canal on the first pass (approximately 5 meters up), everything was fine. Part way back down the canal it suddenly began to lose altitude. A split-second before the final pic above, the aircraft canted to the left a bit. I believe that it was hit by a strong burst of wind and that with it being angled forward in flight, that the wind pushed the aircraft downward. The final turn to the left was probably the ground detection sensors detecting the water as the aircraft had also begun to slow down at that point.

The aircraft has been deemed destroyed, along with the flight battery and micro SD card holding 2 flights worth of imagery (always back up your data between outings).

A replacement drone is on its way and should arrive within the next few days. The flight battery and micro SD card have already been replaced.

A hard lesson learned. Always test out new flight modes/options at altitude and never above water. Replacing a busted arm or two is always cheaper than replacing an entire drone.

R.I.P. FMUAV03 – 9 months, 30 flights.

January 13, 2021January 13, 2021

Mid-Canada Line Site 12

This is a spot which has been on my list of places to explore for the last year or so. It’s an abandoned test facility for the Mid-Canada Line, a cold war era line of radar stations used for detecting aircraft. Notably aircraft flying towards North America over the Arctic. The Ottawa Valley had 4 sites set up to test the technology out. The Cliff Notes version is this: transmissions between each station in the line would be interfered with by any aircraft passing between them, thereby acting as a trip-wire of sorts to alert the military to the presence of an aircraft.

MCL Site 12 Top of Tower — Main Doppler dish on top of the tower.

The tower does have some tilt to it, but all of the guy wires are still attached. This thing was built to withstand 120 mph winds when fully kitted out, also while covered in 2 inches of ice. Should be up for a little while longer. According to the UAV, the top of the tower sits around 40m AGL.

MCL Site 12 Tower Overhead — Oblique view of the antenna arrangement. Top is the Doppler dish, middle 2 antennas are for receiving, and the lower antenna is a microwave dish.

Only the skeleton of the equipment building remains. Most of the sheet metal siding seems to be intact, just no longer attached to the building frame, and can be seen in the second image laying on the ground around the buildings foundation.

Flight 012 Mid-Canada Line Site 12 Test Fence — The view from 120 meters up. You can play “Where’s Maltose” with this shot.

This location does see quite a bit of foot traffic with all the footprints and vehicle tracks that were there on the morning I went. It was definitely worth the visit. I look forward to returning later in the year to get some updated shots during the warmer months.

December 24, 2020January 13, 2021

Flying Monkey 03

Introducing the newest member of the Flying Monkey family. Picked up this Mavic Mini recently and have begun to put it through it’s paces. One thing to note is that the DJI Fly app for this UAV only supports phones and tablets running 64-bit OS’s, and the supported list of handsets is very limited.

Luckily I’ve got an older iPad running a 64-bit OS and could activate it through the app on there. Unluckily though, is that the included lightning cable for the controller is not long enough and the tablet can’t be mounted to the controller. I’ve got a longer cable and a tablet adapter on order to correct these issues.

On a whim, I decided to try connecting the drone/controller with some 3rd party software (Drone Harmony in this case) that I had installed for mapping purposes. Seems to be working as I’ve run 4 flights with it with no issues from my 32-bit phone. I think this may be due to DJI releasing an SDK for the Mavic Mini a few months back. Either way, it works and I’m happy with it. Just need to run with the proper overlap settings on my next outing.

Flight 004 Skate Park TEST — Completed orthophoto of a local skate park. Altitude was set to 45m to clear the trees/poles in the area. Despite the wind that had picked up, the UAV was able to do it’s job quickly.