K.C.'s Garage

I was doing some fast, straight line FPV flying with one of my quadcopters and a few things struck me about how multicopters fly in a straight (horizontal) line; The more you pitch forward (to go faster) the less aerodynamic you are The angle of the pitch actually serves to reduce lift, effectively fighting the motors Finding the maximum forward speed is a risky, manual process. So what if you wanted to build a multicopter optimized for forward flight?  I've seen some 250mm FPV racers that actually had the front two motors angled forward to increase the forward speed at a lower pitch angle.  I found myself asking - what if you could dynamically actuate the front motors forward instead of pitching the whole aircraft?  (Similar to the motors on an Osprey, but sans wings.) Vectored thrust on multirotors is uncommon, but not new.  Still, this idea has a singular purpose which makes working out the details and controls a bit easier. So, I decided to build one....

Class: Nebula (F330) Date Built: 2014.04.22 Date Lost: 2015.01.02 Today we declare Phoenix - my primary FPV quadcopter - LOST .  Its final flight was Friday, 2 Jan 2015 in the large private dirt field that I like to fly at.  I was performing some aggressive acrobatics when something on the quad failed, sending it into the infamous quadcopter death spiral. Despite knowing where it failed and roughly where it went down - the quad was not located at the crash site.  I had a colleague join me in the search, and we gave up after an hour.  Two subsequent returns to the area and I have concluded that we can't find it because it is in fact no longer at the crash site.  My current working theory is that someone from the neighboring park saw it go down and took it in the few minutes between the crash and my going to retrieve it. :( This was the aircraft that I learned FPV flying on. It will be missed. Phoenix final specifications: Frame: F330 Quadcopte...