Parrot Disco for crop survey & forestry, any actual user experiences? Anyone tried it?

[Jerry Normandin]

Very nice flight what was your average speed been carefulabout letting mine loose on half mile square area I live in(golf course)? Real shame about all these evasive species people need to be responsible with the environment.
The Ash borers are a problem on the golf course I live on in Illinois we lost about 100 Ash trees in the past 3 years. I have a 60 foot Ash in my back yard which I have clipped several times with my Anafi it is still healthy so far.

Keep sending videos (include your flight plan if you can as screen capture).

Good luck

Hi,
According to my free flight pro logs the average speed was 33.5mph. Average altitude was 393ft.

I really like this drone. I don't use the circular landing approach because my club's airfield is surrounded by corn fields. I use a linear approach and adjust accordingly to wind direction for each flight.

My ultimate goal with the Disco is to use GPS coordinates from tagged great white sharks in my region and fly out to capture video of them . Best locations is Chatham, Falmouth, and Wellfleet.
The trouble is finding a location where I can launch and land, legally.

 

[AugerIn]

launching is no problem most places, but landing space is always a pain.

I have tried hand catching several times, it’s difficult to coordinate flying low then dropping the controller to grab the disco, and I managed to cut my hand once, just a bit, when the prop got me.

What’s needed is a carrier arrest system, like a big butterfly net or something. Maybe a deployable bungee cable, or a nose/dorsal mounted chute.

I know I’ve seen somewhere a disco modified into a quadplane, though I can’t seem to find it now. But vertical takeoff and landing with a transition to normal flight. Found guys talking about it on ardupilot, but can’t find the result anywhere. Big Oil must have found it out and squashed it...

 

[Jerry Normandin]

I get a perfect landing every time !
Use flight plan, only use a linear landing approach. Update your flight plan before takeoff to insure your Disco is landing in the wind.

 

[IronSky1]

Finally began designing my EV SS mount for Disco look like total weight with GoPro Hero 5 and mounting willl be close to 400 gm. I have a couple dozen in the field on DJI Inspire 1s however disco will be more of a challenge . The entire gimbal and camera can be adjusted front to back rear of the snsor will have to find proper CG. I have Landing tackoff skids that elavate disco about 6 inchs . May need a ramp. I will keep you posted

 

[Drone_guy]

Finally began designing my EV SS mount for Disco look like total weight with GoPro Hero 5 and mounting willl be close to 400 gm. I have a couple dozen in the field on DJI Inspire 1s however disco will be more of a challenge . The entire gimbal and camera can be adjusted front to back rear of the snsor will have to find proper CG. I have Landing tackoff skids that elavate disco about 6 inchs . May need a ramp. I will keep you posted

What if you used a landing net? You could just fly your Disco into the net and leave off the skids. You could use fishing net...or perhaps a hockey goal net, I've been considering a net for landing my Disco at my home...in a residential neighborhood.

 

[IronSky1]

Clever that would take good piloting unless you have a lot of space solves the hitting ground issue

 

[IronSky1]

Attached are several photos of the bottom camera mount I have been working on. This will allow you to mount any GoPro style camera or a EVO SS Gimbal. Should work well for mapping , multi spectral or FLIR camera. If you have any other mounting suggestions let me know. Still working on landing guards should be ready for sale on Amazon and Ebay in a few weeks.

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[Drone_guy]

Very nice mount! I don't see any way to mount landing gear/skids without adding a good bit more drag.

I imagine you haven't flown it with that setup yet, or have you? If so, how bad was the drag and how was the center affected?

 

[IronSky1]

Correct no air time yet - Landing skids are very flexible paddles that are mounted under main body attaching to existing screw holes and outboard paddles on each wing about 1/3 from ends very light weight and strong if you could envision a medical tongue depressor mounted with a rearward angle best I can do to describe (about 1 inch by 6 inch now could bring down to .5 x 6 on wings). Center of gravity is totally adjustable over 6 inch range you just slide to estimated position based on estimated CG and tighten clamps. You can mount one or two auxiliary devices front, rear or down facing using Go Pro buckle or I can make custom mount. Current payloads are around 350 (single gopro) to 500 g (with gimbal) . I am sure the 350 g is not going to be a problem that is weight of Parrot Sequia assembly not sure about 500g.

Regarding the drag I also have a partial cowling that help reduce drag on camera mount however it cannot be to high because of camera orientation from down facing to vertical.