Where I Fly ... Work ... Live ... and Play

[N213RV]

Ok Steve, I must ask.... what heli is that? What camera, and what type of stabilizing system? Thanks!

[SkySteve]

Mike,
Ha! You noticed! Long story short, I used to be a partner in a company called Leptron, started by a fellow Kitfoxer. We designed and manufactured mil spec drones for mostly government work. Our specialty was the drones themselves, not the payloads. There were multiple cameras, sensors and other cool government payloads our drones carried. That is one of them, dressed out with a Sony box HD camera in a 360 degree turret, and yes, fully stabilized. It's great for reading license plates from enough distance that you would have no idea a drone was anywhere around. Our specialty was to design and build the drones, then modify in multiple ways to carry whatever our clients needed transported. We sold the company. I've got some very cool photos of stuff that can't be posted and it was a lot of fun doing what we did. We also got to go to a lot of very secure locations. It really was a blast. This was all before drones became popular like they are today. That particular one will fly at 12,000 ft and travel 75 mph. It's a beast.

[efwd]

Hey Mike, I am glad you asked that question. I just wrote it up as pretty cool toy Steve had.
That was a cool background story Steve. One question, You mean that all the guys out flying their RC helicopters over the past two decades have been flying "Drones" the entire time? Im not being cynical here at all, I am genuinely interested. Why would you call that a drone? I was thinking just RC helicopter.
maybe I would have the answer if I just looked in Websters for Drone. But I bet your explanation would be more interesting.
Eddie

[SkySteve]

Eddie,
That is not a RC aircraft. Yes, you can hand fly it, but you don't need to. It is programed to fly a mission on it's own. It will start, lift off, fly a mission, return, and shut down all by itself. Also, when you "hand fly it", it is programed to follow a gps signal so all you are really doing when hand flying the controls is moving a gps "dot" around the sky. The ship will fly itself and follow the dot. I could teach you to fly it like an ace in about 5 minutes. The cost of that one set up the way most of our customers wanted it was about the same price as purchasing a brand new fully equipped glass everything with the biggest engine, big tired LSA Kitfox from Kitfox Aircraft (well over $100,000). And yes, it is full auto pilot, mode S transponder, ADSB in and out, etc, etc, etc.

[Paul Z]

I can remember being at work at Raytheon and my wife was always asking, "Honey, what did you do today?" My response work on a Missile, or worked on a Forward Looking Infra Red (FLIR) and that remained the answer. Too many things I'm still not allowed to talk about. Then the dreaded question, "Where are you traveling too." That was the dreaded question. I'd tell her I'd give her a call every night. The good things it paid well, I got to work on some fun toys, and I was able to retire early. One of the Missiles I was worked on I had a young female engineer that I had to travel to places undesclosed, we were discussing the inability to talk about anything we worked on. She told me her husband asked her how fast the Missile flew, and she told him "it witless s@@k, f@@k, and did the mambo." She said he never asked again.

[efwd]

Very interesting, thanks Steve.
Eddie

[SkySteve]

Paul,
That's what I like about you. You're like Schultz, you don't know notin' and you didn't see notin', but the job got done. And, hey, we used to hang with a few Raytheon guys. Weird dudes... Love you, man.

[Paul Z]

Paul,
That's what I like about you. You're like Schultz, you don't know notin' and you didn't see notin', but the job got done. And, hey, we used to hang with a few Raytheon guys. Weird dudes... Love you, man.

Weird Dudes, I resemble that remark!

All I know it that watching video's of the Iraq War & the recent Syria Strike was actually somewhat entertaining & educational for me & my Job. However, some of the Military Footage was definitely a reality check. I wouldn't want to be on the Receiving end of some of our Missiles! Some of the equipment I've seen on National TV in the hands of ISIS is not good! I remember watching an ISIS video, and I saw them standing next to a US made HummVee with an FLIR System on top, we should have destroyed the systems we left behind!

[SkySteve]

Landing a new unimproved off-airport airstrip? The Snake Pit

[DesertFox4]

Liked the video and the new gear.