In this episode
Join us for the main discussion, practical takeaways, and stories from this episode of RC Plane Lab.
After a little chit chat, Ron and Tom talk a little bit about the new electric Rolls Royce Spirit of Innovation airplane and they also go over the FAA’s Survey of UAS Operators.
Episode 79 Transcript
This transcript has been lightly edited for readability. Timestamps are retained.
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[0:00] Hello everyone, welcome to the RC Plane Lab podcast. I'm Ron. And I'm Tom. It's been a while. Yes, it has. I mean, it doesn't seem like it. It feels like it's been a month. Probably because it has. It has been a month. So it doesn't seem like it to other people because we've kept on schedule. Right. So I'm feeling better this time, by the way. I don't know if you remember a month ago when we recorded that my voice was, yeah. It didn't sound right. No. You sounded sick. Sickly.
[0:31] I felt sickly at the time, too. You were not 100%. I was not. Now I feel like I am. Yeah. We are back. Like I said, so last time when we recorded, we had to do it back to back. We were going to try and do two in one day, but we ended up doing it the next day because of me. But you are now back. You were out of country for a while. You had some stuff to do for work. I was away with work. So I actually have not seen you for right about a month, if not a little over. Yeah, yeah.
[1:00] So welcome back. Well, thank you. It's good to be home. It was kind of sad not having my friend around. Aw, that might be the nicest thing you've ever said to me and it's the absence makes the heart grow fonder thing because whenever i see you all the time it's like oh it's just tommy hey come on whatever and now it's like oh i feel like we should be doing something so yeah like working on projects and stuff I'm not even going to talk about that.
[1:25] Yeah, we're not going to get into that. One day we shall. So yeah, we're back. Yeah. Well, to work on projects, you need raw materials, right? That's another sore subject if you want to get into that. So I don't know if you saw or not, one of the friends of the show texted us on Facebook, messaged us on Facebook. Messengered us, something like that. So he got his order. Which is great news. For him. That's great. I mean, you can look at it.
[1:54] Okay, so his order number and your order number are very close. However, his is past mine. His is after yours, yes. So he ordered after I did. The fact that orders are getting shipped. True. You could look at it that way, right? Orders are getting shipped. Now, that could be a positive sign, right? No, okay, I guess if I look at it that way, yes. That's awesome to know that something is happening and there is movement behind the scenes that nobody is telling me about.
[2:23] So again, communication. Yeah. Lacking communication. Still have not heard anything about what is going on with my order, but that's okay. Is it okay? I don't know. It's really not okay. I feel like I say it's okay and it's just, it's not. I'm actually kind of getting a little miffed. Yeah. But somebody else got their order.
[2:43] So that means something's happened. But according to that individual, that individual has been, I don't know if I would say constantly, but in fairly recent communication, even if it's one way, he's pinging the company saying, hey, listen, I need my order. Hey, listen, I need my order. Hey, I know I said it's okay if I don't get my order, but I really want my order now. And not that I'm saying you should have to do that because you
[3:08] shouldn't. Which I have though, by the way. But you have. So the squeaky wheel gets the grease, maybe? I don't know. Maybe my wheel's not squeaky enough, but I, yeah. So we're still waiting. Yeah. Well, I still have a credit there. So when he starts accepting orders again, I'll apply one. Yeah. Okay. Anyway, we can talk off air about that because it's not appropriate. So anyway. Yeah. Once we have some raw materials. Yeah, so one of these days we'll be able to get some stuff in.
[3:38] We do have some falcata. We do have some other stuff. I really don't want to use that for this. No. Unless we want to. I mean,. No. Unless we want to. I mean, I just, I don't necessarily want to. And that's… For the tri-motor. I think that's, yeah, I think that's… Okay. I don't feel like we should have to use that either. Okay. Yeah, I'm on board with that. Okay, good. And we had some different, I don't know if you remember, but not to get too deep in the weeds about it,
[4:02] but we were going to try some different construction techniques with the, with the side, the fuselage sides and stuff like that. So hopefully we won't have to use a lot of the Falcata. We shall see. But yeah, hopefully in the next couple episodes, I can give an update that says, Hey, I got a bunch of balsa. Yeah. And we can do something. Maybe it'll show up unexpectedly and you'll be surprised no
[4:26] matter what i'm going to be surprised even if he tells me it shipped i'm going to be surprised because he already told me it was supposed to ship by the end of july i think in july he gave me a week or something like that that was going to be out by anyway it's okay yeah let's move on moving on moving on to something happier. Let's thank our patrons. Hey, let's do that. Always happy to do this because the patrons give us that extra little
[4:52] bit. Sometimes it keeps us going. The motivation sometimes that we need. Knowing that there's people out there who care enough about what we do to actually give us part of their income to me is amazing so in no particular order here here we go thank you to cory fulton he's new by the way welcome aboard hey welcome aboard corey thank you very much rob derrick steve yum don schlack
[5:21] there's no l in that you just got new classes so don i am so sorry don shack not schlack there's no l in that you just got new glasses so don i am so sorry don shack not schlack yeah so as ron mentioned we had a little conversation before we started and i'm gonna pause right here on my patron i'm gonna put my finger right there so i don't lose my place yeah so i'm wearing glasses now so apparently as, as you get older, which you like to, point out that I'm so old. Me? No.
[5:52] Something that can happen, like I wear contact lenses. Apparently, when you get older, your eyes can develop a sensitivity to the material that the contact lenses are made of. to the material that the contact lenses are made of. And that's what happened with me. And I got a really nasty infection and couldn't see out of my right eye. It was pretty good times. So, yeah, I'm wearing my glasses, giving my eyes a break from contact lenses for, well, a while. Forever now.
[6:23] My doctor says that I gave it a couple weeks, let it clear up, I tried contacts again, and the infection came right back. So now I'm in glasses, and obviously I can't see very well because I mispronounced Don Shack's name. Poor Don. Sorry, Don. I apologize. Wow. But thank you very much for your donation. Your continued support of the show is very much appreciated. Moving on, Jeff from Flight Team, thank you very much. Garrett Newhart, Ron Struss, Rick Maddox, and Matt Leroy. Thanks, guys.
[6:59] Yeah, thank you very, very much, guys and girls, if there's any girls in there. Didn't see any girls' names, but you never know. I don't want to be sexist or whatever on the show, but thanks to all who contribute to the show. And you don't have to give us money to contribute to the show. You can also contribute to the show by giving us ideas of what you want us to talk about. And you can contact us many different ways.
[7:24] I don't even remember anymore, but yeah. giving us ideas of what you want us to talk about. And you can contact us many different ways. I don't even remember anymore, but yeah. I remember most of them. RCplaneLab.com. That's the best way. Or Facebook. If you ask us questions on the Facebook page, that works really well for me.
[7:42] I apologize if you ask us questions on Facebook Messenger because I actually have to sign into a different account. It's weird. And I don't get notifications for some strange reason. I'll get them from you usually saying, hey, can you answer this question? But anyway, the best way, get on our website and click the contact us tab. Yeah. By the way, we are also very bad, and I admit it, at answering questions on YouTube. Oh, that's something I'm going to work on.
[8:08] We need to get back on there and do that. So if you have asked us something on YouTube and we haven't answered, sorry, it'll happen one day. Yeah, I'm going to really work on that because I can't watch YouTube at work anymore. Yeah. So I'm going to try to be better because I do like YouTube. Oh, I do too. There's good stuff on YouTube. Not just our stuff. There's other good stuff out there too. All right. You want to move on? Sure. I didn't know if you want to talk about YouTube anymore.
[8:39] No. Okay. So something I came across that I was actually kind of excited about. So we all know I like electricity. Get out. I know, right? Electricity is cool. That's a shocker. RC airplanes, cars, anything electric is awesome. I actually am kind of looking forward to when we can get solar panels, but we're not there yet. Not quite there yet no we soon hopefully sooner rather than later hopefully but so there's a new airplane out that's well not really out it's
[9:14] a prototype whatever rolls royce somebody's working on an electric airplane rolls royce is working on an airplane that they're going to try to okay so it's exciting but then it kind of sounds dingy when you listen to what they're saying so they're working on an airplane they're trying to break the electric apparently speed airplane record whatever at 300 miles an hour 300 miles an hour plus is
[9:38] what they're trying to go for but it's called the spirit of innovation i don't know if you've seen anything about it other than the picture i showed you i personally have not it's a the spirit of innovation. I don't know if you've seen anything about it other than the picture I showed you. I personally have not. It's a cool, it is very cool. Freaking cool looking airplane. Yeah. it's okay. So Rolls Royce has a weird, like what they call the Excel program. and that's a CCEO, right?
[10:03] Yes. A CCEO. And that's A-C-C-E-L, right? Yes, A-C-C-E-L. And whoever kind of did the whole naming scheme again failed because that is short for, you ready? Accelerating the electrification of flight. That's a mouthful. Excel, yeah. Kind of like trust. If you remember that conversation. Oh, I remember. Don't get me started on that. But anyway, so if you look on the Rolls-Royce website that kind of talks about this, it's very fluff.
[10:35] I mean, there's a whole bunch of we are awesome, we're doing this, this is an amazing thing that we're doing. They talk about their 500-horsepower motor, which is actually three motors on this airplane that's driving the propellers. I'm guessing it's like a triangular, however gear driven, it's got multiple motors on it. Then they talk about their battery that has over 6,000 cells and all this kind of stuff, which sounds like it's a knockoff of the battery in my Tesla.
[11:02] I don't know if you have ever looked into how Tesla does their batteries batteries but no we won't get into it but man that's that's a lot of cool but anyway so it sounds like they kind of copied that which is which is cool i mean that's well i mean how it's going to reinvent the wheel that's a great battery that works it is and then it's a good chemistry the way they do it and all that but But I think my problem is if you look at the numbers on what they're aiming for,
[11:29] it doesn't match what the full airplane is that they're basing their electric aircraft off of. Okay. That make sense? It does. So I really would like to make a model of this, like an RC airplane, because it's perfect. It's an electric airplane, so why would you not make an electric version? Absolutely. RC. I love it. But anyway, I was trying to figure out. It just so happens that it's been done. There is an electric version of that airplane, RC airplane. Is there?
[11:59] Yeah, the Nemesis, right? No, not this one. Oh, well, okay. Not this this one specifically way to steal my thunder but anyway so here we go so i was looking online like for three views of that airplane and i couldn't find anything that they would give you like a side view but not good three views in order to kind of make it to make a model from sure but after digging a little deeper i saw that that airplane is actually a
[12:26] converted nemesis nxt which i didn't know much about those i don't know if you've i don't know anything about nxt well that's what was it was next extreme tech something something silly again something silly again. Okay, right. Acronyms, love them. I don't remember who, whoever is the president of Nemesis, I guess, whatever the guy's name is, forgive me, I don't remember, designed this back in 2004 for the Reno Air Races, the NXT. Oh, okay. So it's a very sleek looking airplane. Yes.
[13:02] And I was able to find three views of that one. So hopefully this winter, I will have a chance to make a model of it. But where I'm kind of disappointed, if you look at the speed that this airplane flies at, the one that actually has flown before with the gas engine, its cruise is like 326 miles per hour or something like that, its cruise speed. And its top speed in a race was over 400 that's hold on and it's only 300 horsepower engine oh and io 540 or five light coming whatever it is
[13:34] yeah yeah for some reason though the electric version with 200 extra horsepower is not going to meet those numbers at least that's what they're saying. Their goal is 300 miles an hour. Why would you not be able to get more out of it? Well, so are they saying that the electric motors are capable of making 500 horsepower or that they are making 500 horsepower in the configuration that is going to be in the airplane? They say 500 plus horsepower on the website.
[14:03] Like I said, their website doesn't give a lot of… You see what I'm saying though? You can put a 500 horsepower engine in your car, but you can also detune it to the point of 300 horsepower for longevity, or maybe you can't hold enough gas in it, or maybe you can't put the right… what I'm saying? No, I get what
[14:21] you're saying, but if that's the case, get a different motor. Don't say it's 500 horsepower and then say it's not going to be as powerful as a 300 horsepower gas engine. Yeah, that's weird, though, that they would put that out there and it doesn't add up. Because like I said, on the Tesla, it's a dual motor, and that is 450 horsepower. So if they have a third motor, even if it's the exact same motor, that should be plenty to be able to get that much horsepower out of it.
[14:49] So why aren't they using it or what? I mean, I don't know. I don't know. But that's not my point, actually. Because I'm more excited about the shape of the airplane and making one because that is a cool-looking airplane. It will make a fantastic-looking model. And it's going to be a fast flyer. It will definitely be fast. Like, if you look at the wing on that, that wing is thin. It's very thin. And just slender. Yeah.
[15:14] It's long though. It's wide. It has a very long aspect ratio, much like a high performance glider. Well, it's a high performance airplane that's made for air racing. So we'll see. I just love the shape of it though. And I like the colors on the Rolls Royce one because red and silver, not red and silver, blue and silver. Red, blue, whatever. Red. Oh, I did it again. Blue and silver. Blue and silver is just awesome. It does look good. Like the picture that you showed me? Yeah.
[15:45] I'm a fan. Me too. I think it'll make a really, really good-looking airplane. So something in the 60-inch wingspan or something around there. We'll see how that works. It'd be interesting to see how they change the nose of it, though. because on a Lycoming, you have to have that shape and those intakes to cool the cylinders. It still has the shape, but it's not as wide, and it's more rounded in the front. So there's no opening in the front
[16:09] because you don't need the air going through it, apparently. And then on the bottom of that airplane, it has a big round opening. That's not on this airplane either. Like the NXT has a round opening on it in order to help cool, I think. But the electric one doesn't have it either. Yeah, sleeker. So it should be faster, really. You would think so. And maybe they're sandbagging it. Maybe they're saying our first goal is 300 miles an hour. And they'll go out there and smash it and then say
[16:36] we shattered our goal of 300 miles an hour. Everybody look at us. We are awesome. I could see that. There you go. So we'll see. It is a very cool looking airplane. I'm looking forward to that. I could see that. There you go. So we'll see. Very cool, though. It is a very cool-looking airplane. I'm looking forward to that. I'm disappointed that I haven't kept up on that. I've seen a few things here and there on YouTube about electric airplanes. But, yeah, I mean, I'm not anti-electric.
[17:00] Not really. Yeah. I mean, I think everything is going electric in the future anyway. It is. That's just the way stuff is moving on. Yeah, that is a very cool project. And I think that just flew for the first time on, like, September 15th, the full-size airplane. So, I mean, it's all happening, like, in real time. So, it's not that long ago. Yeah. I'm going to have to look that up now.
[17:24] Okay. What else? What else do you want to talk about? Oh, you had a… Well, the corn's ago. Sweet. Yeah. I'm going to have to look that up now. Okay. What else? What else do you want to talk about? Oh, you had a… Well, the corn's out. Oh, yeah. Corn is out. The corn's out and we… Well, I say we. I shouldn't say we because I've been gone, but… Well, I shouldn't say we either because I've not been out to the field for a little while either. Reggie was out last weekend.
[17:42] Now that the corn is out. And sad to say, he did not find the extra was it extra 300 yeah the extra 300 it is gone with the sado yeah i'm really i'm really surprised because he found someone else's airplane and that one of the other airplanes that had gone down had gone through by the way, the combine. I'm not sure. I mean, judging by the pictures that he sent us, I'm not sure if it actually went through the combine or if the combine may have just run over it.
[18:13] Do what I'm saying? The motor looked like it was kind of torn up. It looked dirty. It looked muddy. But I didn't see any, like, from what I could see in the pictures, I didn't see any, like, broken fins or anything. Something like that you would associate with going through a piece of machinery. What I think happened is I think that, now this was Bruce's airplane. I feel like it was probably lower or low enough to the ground where the corn head actually went over the top of it
[18:39] and then it just got run over. That's what I think happened. what I forgot when I actually was looking at that picture? That that plane was crashed. For some reason. It skipped my mind. I knew it had gone down in the field, but I forgot that it would have something wrong with it just from crashing, too. Just the crash, yeah. I don't know. Maybe it got skimmed. Maybe it got ran over. Maybe something happened.
[19:00] The fact is that that one got found, you might have gone did not so so it either went through a wormhole which you don't think that's possible well i mean i'm not gonna completely count that out but i i think the the likelihood of that is pretty slim i just i guess i just want to know if somebody found it when did they find it and how much of our time looking for it was completely wasted because it was not there yeah because we spent here's what i think happened
[19:32] okay so i'm i'm gonna i'm gonna make a couple of assumptions the corn obviously is out the beans are out the beans aren't out but they are so dry you can look right through them, he said. Okay. All right, so I'm going to assume that it did not end up in the bean field. Okay. Which I don't think it was that far away anyway. With our calculations and the way we looked at the map, I don't think it made it to the beans either. I agree. So here's what I think happened.
[19:59] I think the farmer was out there knocking down the corn, and he saw your airplane, and he didn't want to do damage to his really, really expensive corn head or his combine. I personally feel like he probably saw it, stopped, paused, whatever, the combine, hopped out, grabbed the plane, threw it up in the cab, continued about his business. threw it up in the cab, continued about his business, and then that's just, he took it home,
[20:31] and now it's hanging on his wall as, hey, here's all the crazy stuff I found in my field over the years. Here's my trophy. That's what I think happened. But honestly, I want to believe that that airplane was out there when I was out there looking for it in the corn. I would hope that would be the case. To me, it would be more likely, though, if there were airplanes in the field and the farmer found them, that he would get out and just throw them
[20:52] to the next aisle that he's already been through. That way, he's not running over them. He doesn't have a lot of room inside that combine with him to store airplanes. That's true. There's not a lot of room in those cabs. And it would just make more sense to me to throw it out of the way usually the combine it depends on the farmer but the combine usually has somebody trailing him in the semi truck or the or
[21:12] the grain wagon or whatever wouldn't be that hard say here take this throw this in the back of the truck or whatever yeah i don't know wouldn't that's i i'm going that's what you're hoping that's what i'm hoping happened yeah you just you yeah. You don't want to think that somebody found it and took it out already. No, I want to have faith in people. Well, and maybe they just haven't called me yet. Did you have your name and number in it? Shush, as soon as I said that, I thought.
[21:38] No, but Reggie's would still be in it. Oh, that's true. Because that was the first flight, so. Maybe Reggie has it. Reggie could have it right now. No, he would have told me. Because I talked to him just a couple days ago, and he would have told me by now. Yeah, he's true. Because that was the first flight. Maybe Reggie has it. Reggie could have it right now. No, he would have told me. Because I talked to him just a couple days ago, and he would have told me by now. Yeah, he would have.
[21:49] Yeah. No, I don't think that's what happened. Well, anyway. I think it's just… I still… I'm still really sad that we lost a Sato. A good Sato. My first motor. Yeah, I'm really sad. So, I'm not sure how I'm gonna move on from this but i'll find a way i know i'm gonna move on from this you're just gonna forget about it i'm gonna forget all about it when you had an airplane for a week and you didn't do much to it and you didn't spend
[22:19] a lot of money on it you don't lose a lot of sleep over it. Yeah. I mean, literally, out of all the people involved in this whole looking for it, involved in me buying it from him, and then you, and all that kind of stuff, I'm the one that owned it. I'm the one that crashed it. I'm the one that paid for it. Yes. I'm the one that no longer has it. Yes. And I'm the one that cares the least about it. That's true. Learn from me.
[22:44] Yes. I will try. You just cares the least about it that's true learn from me yes i will try you just wanted the engine and that's no i did not want the engine for myself i wanted the engine to go back to you at least the engine because like i said if you found it you could have the engine no i was if i had found it i would have given it back to you and i would have given it back to you well anyway that was the reasons were not selfish on my own part i wanted you to have your first
[23:11] real in nitro real what do you mean real well you had some cox airplanes and stuff that you had forgotten about when you were a kid those were flim because i couldn't get them started no but that was not engines that was my first four stroke that wasn't my first well true nitro engine well four strokes are real engines well but anyway i'm sorry i'm trying to provoke an argument all right and i'm not gonna i'm not
[23:36] gonna maybe i will no i'm not gonna get into it hey speaking of engines sorry didn't mean to cut you off in our last episode, I believe I made a mention of an engine story from the field. I said, oh, I'll talk about that someday. Today is that day? Today is the day. Yeah. So it was really simple. So if memory serves, which I'm older. This has been a long time ago.
[24:00] It's been a while ago now. It's been over a month ago. Yeah, we had gone to the field, and I was having a little engine trouble with my contender, Super Tiger 75. Just very, very low on compression when it was cold. And I made the observation that, yes? Is that ringed, or is that ABC? So it's a ringed engine. Well, let's see. Look at me go. Look at you go. I know. Yep. So once I got it going and warmed up, it got a little tighter.
[24:28] some of the compression had come back, which was kind of an interesting observation. I just wanted to maybe touch on that, why that phenomenon occurs. And it has to do with thermal expansion, right? So the ring in the piston is made of iron or steel, more than likely iron. in the piston is made of iron or steel, more than likely iron, and everything around it is made of either aluminum, in the case of the piston, or if it's a sleeved engine, and this engine is sleeved,
[24:51] it's a brass sleeve that is coated with nickel, right? So this is where ABC, when you see that in the terminology of an engine construction, that's what that means. It's aluminum, brass, and chrome. Chrome-lined brass sleeve with an aluminum piston. And in this case, the piston has a ring on it. So aluminum being cold, it shrinks. And as aluminum heats, it expands. So the aluminum piston,
[25:19] right, as it warms up, it expands a little bit. And it takes the ring with it, expands, right? And then it creates a better seal in the cylinder, thereby restoring some of the compression. And the engine did finally run okay-ish, but not good enough to fly it more than once that day. And it's time for either a new ring in that engine or a different engine. Which is it going to be? That's going to be a different engine. Yeah, I'm not going to waste a lot of time on that Super Tiger.
[25:44] I was never really happy with that super tiger in that airframe anyway it always ran better with the smaller displacement higher revving os 61 sf i'm sorry ax really fx it's a 61 fx that's what the engine i took out to put this engine in because it needed the os needed bearings so you did that though didn't you or no it's still not on that one though okay so i'll put some bearings in that old
[26:10] 61 and put it back on that airplane and be happy again winter project yeah to go along with all my other winter projects hopefully this winter project yeah so anyway that's that was that story just sorry it wasn't much of a story but at least I closed the loop on that one.
[26:27] Yeah. Okay. Other thing. So I got an email, which you didn't get, ironically enough, from the FAA, which honestly, when I kind of started writing this up to do this or to talk about this on here, I figured everybody got it. Nope. Like, interesting. Yeah, I didn't get it. And the really interesting thing is you and I registered with the FAA in the exact same manner, like as operators or whatever, because- I don't remember, honestly. No, we did. I know we did.
[27:02] No, I mean, I know we did the same way, but I don't remember how I did it or where I went. Because we're gonna use our UAS, I'm using my air quotes here, as potentially revenue producing. Because we were going to take videos and post them on YouTube, and maybe someday that would make us some money. So we wanted to have our bases covered. And we both registered as the part 107, right? Or not 107. I don't remember. I think it was part 107. But either way, we both
[27:26] registered the same way. And you got the email and I didn't. But it's a survey. So maybe they just sent it out to random randos. Maybe. And I'm just a weirdo that got it. Maybe. It was very, like, it was not a lot of stuff that applied to us, honestly. But I can see – it was funny because when we were reading over it beforehand, I read it. They could apply to us. I guess so. what I'm saying? Okay. No, I get you.
[27:58] But I think when I read the email the first time, I read – weirdly enough. the first time I read, weirdly enough, one of the things that said in there was, and I don't have it in front of me, but about if you're using this for personal business, then you'll be the one to fill this out. If you're using this for like a big commercial type business where there's other people in your company, it might be better to get this forwarded to somebody else to fill this out.
[28:26] When I read personal business, I was just thinking like personal use, like, like, it's whatever your business is, your business kind of thing. And that, that way I wasn't taking it as personal business, the way you kind of looked at me like, and I was an idiot. And then, business, the way you kind of looked at me like I was an idiot. And then as soon as I saw your face, I was like, oh, I get it now. Yeah. So. Yeah. The way the questions are, and we'll go over them,
[28:54] but the way the questions are worded, as I was just kind of briefly looking at them, because again, I didn't get the email. I only saw what you had printed out here or typed up for me to look at. So as I was reading through them, I was like, well, these questions are really intended for somebody who's using their UAS, again, with the air quotes, for making money, like somebody who's taking pictures with them professionally or whatever. And that's, again, that's when the
[29:23] light bulb sort of came on above your head and you're like oh man maybe that's why a lot of these questions didn't make any sense to me like it wasn't anything i was going to do but i can see like reading through them i could see how some of the some of the answers to these could benefit us yeah like if the faa knew the answers to these could benefit the recreational flyer portion of the market. Yeah. Demographic. The side of things. Yeah, there you go.
[29:49] So I'll go over the email really quick. It says the Federal Aviation Administration is conducting a survey of registered unmanned aircraft system operators. The survey is used to determine UAS activity across the United States and to help predict future UAS activity. This information is important to the FAA for improving services for UAS operators, increasing the safety of both manned and unmanned aviation, allocating fund for UAS traffic. Fund, by the way.
[30:19] This is copied right off of there. They don't even have the grammar correct. Allocating fund for UAS traffic management and estimating the cost of regulations on the public. And then it goes on, blah, blah, blah. Your responses and opinions are very important, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, the survey is unique to you. Don't forward it on anybody, blah, blah, blah. We're not going to sell your information, wink, wink. Which they probably will. Anyway, so here here let's go over
[30:46] this says the questionnaire takes less than 10 minutes completed one sitting com let's see hit submit when you're finished you don't care about all that stuff question number one how do you prefer to receive uas drone or model or model aircraft? That's the other thing. Model aircraft. I know. News from the FAA. Select all that apply. Some of these are weird. Like, okay, I'll read what it has.
[31:28] FAA email, FAA.gov, Facebook, YouTube, other social media, smartphone app, such as Before You Fly, text message u.s postal service the academy of model aeronautics and community organization please specify why would anybody want it like if it's something that's important and you want to know it quickly why would you want it any other way than your email yeah i don't know i definitely don't want the post office sending me something to get lost yeah
[31:45] if it's important if it's important and i shouldn't have to go search it out on youtube or facebook although they do say news so if it's just like if it's just like a monthly newsletter okay fine i'll i'll take that in the mail that's fine but it but again it's if it's something time sensitive yeah i don't i don't think I want the mail to handle that. News to me is still something that's going to be important that I need to know.
[32:11] So that's why I kind of took it as, get it to me fast so I know what I'm talking about. And we welcome, like, if any of our listeners have gotten this email, we would love to hear your take on it. Yeah. Because these are just our opinions. -huh. And we all know. Well, they're like some opinions yeah anyway question number two in general how many flights does your organization conduct per month with all of your uas drone or model aircraft
[32:37] flight is considered a single takeoff and subsequent landing subsequent so yeah oh okay Subsequent landing. Subsequent? Oh, okay. That's what I said. I thought it was pronounced subsequent. But tomato, tomato. Sure. Zero to one flights, two to three flights, four to five flights, five to ten flights, 11 to 15 flights, 16 to 20 flights, greater than 20 flights. Please specify.
[33:00] Now, see, this question to me is really geared towards the professional UAS, again with the air quotes, operator flying their drone for revenue, taking pictures or maybe they're flying it for a farmer, surveying fields, whatever. So, I mean, in this situation, how would it help the FAA if they knew that I only flew once a month or twice a month? what I'm saying?
[33:26] I guess they're just trying to maybe figure out how many times people actually go up in the air in general. So, weird question. Whatever. Number three. I like this one. Yeah. In general, how long is each flight? In other words, what is a typical time a uas spends in the air between takeoff and landing well some are longer than others yeah it depends since how quickly it ends i mean in my head i'm thinking take off crash take off crash take off crash i mean those
[33:58] are pretty short flights they can be or if you lose signal who knows how long it's gonna go that's true yeah so let's see the answers were zero to ten minutes 11 to 20 21 to 30 31 to 40 41 to 50 51 to 60 listen greater than 60 minutes they can fly for 60 minutes or more then i would love to see that uas well that's more professional type stuff that I think we're kind of getting… I mean, I know there's some records out there, people that have done that with a model airplane.
[34:31] But wow, that's quite an achievement. By that time, I would be bored. My neck would hurt. My hands would hurt. I mean, my eyes would be burning from the sun. Yes. Question number four. How does your organization check the airspace before flying? I mean, a visual scan of the sky with Before You Fly on the FAA website with a community organization or other? I'll be honest. So, excuse me, the couple of times that I've used the Before You Fly application, I don't recall it actually.
[35:09] Now, perhaps somebody can educate me on this, but I don't recall it actually telling me if there was other activity in the area. Do what I'm saying? Yeah, it's not going to say, Fred up the street is going to be taking off or he's flying now. Maybe it does. Maybe it does. And maybe checking the app would benefit you. But honestly, as a recreational flyer flying model airplanes at our field, I mean, why would I check that? I mean,
[35:35] I'm flying at a authorized, air quotes, place to fly these. And the only checks I'm going to do is to make sure that, there's no obvious hazards in the air that I'm going to, potentially impact by a visual scan. And I think the weird thing about this question is too, is before flying. Now for me, a day of flying is different than a flight. Yeah. So we'll go out and, we might have 10 flights and two hours of sitting out there and talking and messing around.
[36:13] That's different to me than, a single flight. Checking before each flight. On the app or something like that. So, yeah, I don't know. This was a weird one too. And are they asking like so again how does your organization check the airspace before flying well check the airspace for other drones other uas other full-size airplanes like i said i've looked at the before you fly app and i don't ever recall seeing any kind of hey this hazard exists know, don't fly during this time.
[36:46] Yeah, I think it's more with that one. It tells you if you're okay to fly, because you tell it when. you get that instant response, and it's probably, obviously, it just goes out and pulls from a database that if this is where they're saying this is okay right now, so they're good. And they're probably just trying to keep a they're saying this is okay right now, so they're good. Yep.
[37:08] And they're probably just trying to keep a record of what's going on in case somebody comes up later and says, hey, you crashed your airplane into my house. what's going on? Who was flying here? That kind of thing. Yeah. So let's see. Question number five. In general, at which altitude does your organization operate their UAS the most? Once again, drone or model aircraft? Not sure. Which you should know. I mean, like, roughly. You should have a general idea of how high.
[37:35] And it should be all beaten into our heads now that it's under 400 feet. That's all you say at all times. How high do you fly? Under 400 feet? Why? Under 400 feet. But the question or the the answers are not sure zero to 100 feet 101 to 200 201 to 300 301 to 400 feet or greater than 400 feet where they say please specify and everybody knows not to check that one under 400 feet That's what we always say. They're trying to trick you. I'm sorry. What was that all about?
[38:12] Just me being the old guy. They're trying to trick you. Take your toys away.
[38:20] Number six. In general, when is your organization most likely to operate their UAS? Select all that apply. AM with Monday through Sunday listed or pm with monday through sunday listed yeah so obviously for us it's weekends am pm is pretty much all i put because i don't make it out during the day yeah during the week the odd friday off maybe i'll, but like I said, I didn't get the email, so I don't have to answer this. Maybe I shouldn't have. Let's see.
[38:49] What months of the year? Question number seven. What months of the year does your organization actively fly their UAS? This is another one that I just, I mean, so it goes through every month. And then you have never, rarely active, active, or very active for every month of the year. So I'd be curious. That question would take some time to answer. Well, not too much. I was pretty much rarely active for all months except summertime. Then it went to active.
[39:21] But yeah, I'd be interested if anybody else filled this out or got it to see what they thought of it or what their background is, if they understood it more. How many UAS, question number eight, how many UAS does your organization own? Well, that's just a trick question. Can I just say I don't know? Yeah, I like it if you honestly. Well, it's easy for me. I mean, because here's your answers. You have one, two, three, four, five, six, and then the last answer greater than six.
[39:51] Well, I think most of us that have been in the hobby a while, we're just going to go straight to greater than six. What's in parentheses though? It says please specify. You just put in there and say,. Ten. Yeah. I mean, 15. I have more than six, but less than 100. There you go. It's somewhere in that range. Do you, though? I'm sure I have less than 100. This is another funny one. Number nine, what percentage of your organization's UAS were operated? No, I'm sorry.
[40:22] It actually says, yeah, I'm going to read this the way this was maybe this was spam number nine what this is how it's written what percentage of your organization's UAS were operate in 2020 that's a small typo that's the second one on a official FAA government document that I mean it's the second one on a official faa government document i mean it's government so it should be perfect then right well no i mean okay so there's a term if it's good
[40:52] enough or good enough for government work oh i guess that's true i have heard that we aim for okay is that what you guys said anyway so all 100 most 80 to% to 99%, over half, 50% to 80%, less than half, 20% to 50%, few, 1% to 20%, and none, 0%. So what they're asking here is from the previous question, how many do or does your organization own? And of those, what percentage of those did you operate? In 2020. In 2020.
[41:26] Well, that's an easy one, one one to 20% for me yeah that's me too cuz I didn't fly much at all in 2020 mm-hmm I mean this is 2021 right that's true yeah we didn't make it out there hardly at all last year yeah because of the pandemic okay question number 10 what types of UAS does your organization own? So they have quadcopter, fixed wing, rotary wing, or other. Isn't a quadcopter technically a rotary wing? Well, I mean, technically, yeah.
[41:58] So why are they calling out quadcopters separately? And then technically, if you have like a tricopter or an octocopter, is that still part of the quadcopter thing? I think this just comes from a place of misunderstanding. Of general not knowing what the heck they're talking about on this? Yes, I think so. Because that's annoying to me. me yeah i mean because you you i mean how how would you differentiate between a whatever the
[42:27] word unicopter from a helicopter from an oct copper octocopter yeah what i'm saying no i get it like so i mean yeah weird i think it just comes like i said i think it comes from a place of misunderstanding or not knowing yeah of not knowing what they're asking. But really, though, here's where I thought maybe this could benefit us, the recreational flyers, like, where it says, what types of UAS does your organization own?
[43:00] So if you wanted to put your spin on that, let's rephrase the question, what type of UAS do you own, right? So if I'm answering this as a recreational flyer, obviously I'm clicking fixed wing. And hopefully enough people that got this survey read it the way I did and will click fixed wing. and hopefully the responses that the FAA gets will be overwhelming in the fact that, oh, well, we're affecting a large population of fixed wing recreational flyers.
[43:33] Perhaps we should tailor our rulemaking more towards that. what I'm saying? Yeah. That's kind of where my head went when I saw that question. That was like, honestly, with getting this, I always figure I have nothing to hide with stuff that we do. So the more information I can give back as to what, as a hobbyist, what I do with airplanes, the better it is for them to understand that. And that's kind of how I looked at this when I was filling it out.
[44:02] Because, if they get all the responses back that say, I'm a multimillion dollar business that wants to deliver packages and that's the only thing that they have to go on, then that's going to be a lot different than if most of the people that respond say, look, I'm a little mom and pop shop that just likes to make my own little airplanes and we do what we want to do out of the field. We fly some
[44:25] stuff we're not hurting anybody it's completely different right and that that's exactly yeah that's exactly what i was getting at yep and then some of the questions just get so number 11 what is the approximate weight of your organization's uas at takeoff okay so they have less than 0.55 pounds which is that magical number where it doesn't have to be you don't have to be registered 0.55 to 5 pounds 6 to 25 pounds 26 to 55 pounds and then greater than 55 pounds please specify I
[44:59] marked three in the middle I don't have anything greater than 55 pounds. Yeah, there's something magic about that 55 pound mark also. I think, and I'm not positive, but I think there's a waiver you have to have when you fly something heavier than I think it's 55 pounds. And that's probably why that answer is in there. But yeah, I mean. Which is why we have to keep the tri-motor under that weight. I think we will. We'll have to keep the tri motor under that way we'll have
[45:25] to we will we'll have to make sure that we get the the weight figured out before we we aim for it but yeah it's gonna have to be into that because i don't want to deal with all the extra stuff with that no that's gonna be a pain let's see what kind of uas number 12 keep forgetting to say the number for some reason what kind of uas or model aircraft, operator, do you also consider yourself?
[45:48] This is where it was a weird question because there wasn't a lot of answers to it that you could choose from. There was two on here. Public safety or law enforcement, which is one answer. And then the other one is recreational hobby model. I mean, that was all that they had as answers to that. I mean, yeah, they're really kind of… They're kind of pigeonholing it to where, what if I'm a business that is taking pictures to sell property? Because that doesn't…
[46:25] That doesn't fit either of these two answers. Number 13, please indicate below how active your organization is for each industry with their UAS. I had to read this question twice. Yeah. That was a very… I'll be honest. With their UAS, which is what it is. I mean, is that what threw you off too? Yeah. Okay. Because I would think with your… Please indicate below how active your organization is for each industry with their UAS. I think that question is not worded correctly.
[46:57] I would agree. Because that makes it sound like, how much or how active am I with somebody else flying their stuff when this is a question about my stuff right so yeah i don't know and there's a lot of a lot of answers with this one yeah so they want you to answer never rarely sometimes or frequently two law enforcement and emergency response agriculture forestry fishing and hunting. And it goes on. Mining and oil construction. Utility and energy production. Like pages. Manufacturing.
[47:29] Yeah, there's a whole bunch of stuff. If you can hear us fiddling through, that's because we're going through all of these. Let's see. Number 14 now. In which states does your organization operate their UAS? Well, that's pretty straightforward. In which states does your organization operate their UAS? States do that's pretty straightforward. In which states does your organization operate their UAS? States do. Or state does. Right. But, yeah. So that was easy. Well, government won.
[47:52] Also for me. And then, in what airspace does your organization most commonly fly their UAS? Well, Class G is all we fly in. Us, personally. Right. So that was an easy one. And then the last question is, does your organization intend to apply for waivers in the next 12 months? And it doesn't ask anything about what type of waiver. Like, are we going to apply for a turbine waiver? Are we going to apply for a weight waiver? Are we going to – just waivers.
[48:22] I mean, I was just curious to see if we're going for anything in addition to what we already do or something like that outside the norm but that was that was a weird yeah that's an unusual survey and i'm glad i didn't get it i wish you would have i regret now feeling no i really don't but well i don't think well we'll see yeah maybe historically speaking in the in regards to the faa and model airplanes i will say that
[48:54] the faa so far has seemed to be very receptive to input from modelers like us they did they did issue the know, the, oh gosh. I know what you're trying to say and I can't remember it either. I can't remember it either. But they wanted our input and we gave it to them. And really they did sort of tailor and re-tailor what their intentions were after they got our input. So I'm hoping this is just another step
[49:24] that the FAA is taking to further tailor and maybe differentiate somehow recreational flyers from the folks who are using their UAS for revenue. But we'll see. It's one of those things to where I remember, this is when we were first starting the podcast, I remember, this is when we were first starting the podcast, that was when they were talking about all these new rules and stuff that were going to be coming out for drone guys, for model aircraft. And the sky was falling.
[49:54] I mean, it was the point where I… People were freaking out. I honestly was not even sure if we should have started this. It was that bad. It's like, well, if this has really gone through, what's the point of us starting a podcast and trying to do this? But Comber Heads, I think, prevailed. Ever the optimist, me, I didn't predict anything, but I kind of in the back of my head was always, okay, this is going to blow over. It's really not going to be
[50:25] that bad and honestly it hasn't no it hasn't turned out that bad yet turned out bad at all i don't think but yeah so so far so good so far so good yeah and like i said i hope this is just a one more step that the fa is taking to help us rather than help us rather than, hinder us. Yeah, because, I mean, I really don't think what we do has any effect on full-size aircraft at all. Oh, absolutely not. No, absolutely.
[50:54] And probably, I mean, to throw out numbers for folks who like numbers, I'm going to say, like, 99.9% of club fields where you have just standard, not standard, but just regular guys out there flying their model airplanes. We're not going to pose any kind of threat because we haven't. what I'm saying? Historically speaking, there has been for the many, many thousands and thousands of model airplanes that have been flown over the last 50 years,
[51:25] how many of them have actually had an impact? I'm sure there's cases out there, but they're really, really small, like the number. So, and the percentage, when you look at percentages, very, very minuscule, right? Now, drone operators, there's been percentage-wise more but well i think it knows i think that's more because technology has gone farther to where you can go up higher you can fly to where you can't see it yes and still be in control of it right so yeah
[51:59] that's the that's the scary thing yeah because now we get lumped in with all of the people that are not flying correctly yep when even that is a small percentage of the general hobby for the i don't want to i don't want to put off anybody who is a drone flyer who does that for a profession i don't they serve a very unique purpose and which is very cool actually i mean some of the some of the video that you see at sporting events
[52:28] or not even just that, just people who are using them to help realtors sell houses, like you mentioned, they have their place. And in that realm, I think they're very, very cool. But as a hobbyist, as a recreational flyer, not a fan. I still don't think that's the kind of person that they would have to worry about, though. No, I agree. Because they're not going to be flying to 4,000 feet in the air to see how high they can go and actually get in the airspace where other airplanes will be.
[52:57] But anyway, I digress. You digress. I digress, too. Well, you digressed me. I digressed you. All right. I think I'm about done for the night. Is there anything else you want to talk about? No, that's it. It was good to catch up. Looking forward to the next episode and getting started on some of these projects we need to get going on. And the new project is exciting, too. Yeah, something else is exactly what I need right now.
[53:22] Well, I mean, I feel like that's a project you could probably kind of work in, among other bigger projects. Maybe. I mean, really, honestly, I guess I don't have that many big ones going on that we have to start. I've got, I think, three that I can think of right offhand. Yeah, I just have the one staring at me over there on the wall. It's not true. You still have your, what's that, Hortonese finished? Oh, yeah. Yeah, there's that. Yeah. You forgot about it. I didn't forget.
[53:47] I think I haven't forgotten. I think I'm just like pushing it to the back of my… I need to finish that. You're right. All right. Okay. Well, then until next time. That's all I got. Yep. Good. I'm Ron. I'm Tom. Good night. Good night. We hope you enjoyed this episode of the RC Plane Lab podcast. For topic suggestions, to ask questions, or to give any feedback, connect with us at rcplanelab.com or email us direct at either ron at rcplanelab.com
[54:12] or tom at rcplanelab.com. You can also text us or leave us a voicemail at 818-351-9846. Please subscribe, rate, and review us on your favorite podcast app. Until next time, may your landings be gentle
