Yesterday I decided to dig up an old RC airplane in our family's garage to examine its features and "feel" to know what generally to aim for in our own RC airplane as well as what could be improved. I also figured that someone needed to be good at flying these things so that testing the plane could scale with user competence (we'll likely test the plane under the hands of someone who has never flown before, and then I'd be the "experienced" flyer to test it as well. I don't personally know anyone who regularly flies these things).
I had a good first flight, impressed that a small motor could carry the forearm-sized Styrofoam airplane so far and so high up! My second flight, though, wasn't so fortunate. Moments into the flight, the wind started to pick up. I tried to turn the plane around away from some trees, but it was too late. Shutting off the rutter, frantically trying to get it to turn around away from the neighborhood next to the park I was at, and doing everything in my power to get the plane back to me was futile. That was the last I saw my personal training device.
Some lessons:
- Always write your name and number on valuable possessions, especially those that have any realistic risk of getting lost or left behind
- Before running a test, consider all variables and possibilities, even if those possibilities seem small
- Failure invites ideas for new features, although that should likely be a secondary source of inspiration.
- a slot to add an Air tag in case it gets carried away by the wind or somehow crash lands somewhere else.
- A loud buzzer
- flashing lights
- Ability to divebomb by the push of a button (if it starts to get carried away by the wind, this may save it from straying too far). Perhaps collapsible wings or something of the sort.