Make sure to update the Title following the format “Jan 01, 2020 Flight Test”

Flight Preparation

Requested by:	Anthony Luo
Required Sub-teams	Mech Electrical EFS CV Operation Sys-Int
Requested Date	Apr 10, 2023
Location and Time	Apr 12, 2023 1800-2000, Waterloo Region Emergency Services Training Center
Summary & Goals	Test Transition Flight
Approved?	Yes / Pending / No

Required Persons During Test

Name	Phone #	Role	Reason

Name	Phone #	Role	Reason
Anthony Luo	613 618 5547	Flight Test Lead	Creating documentation Booking the test flight Creating a thread in #flight-staging
Anthony Luo	613 618 5547	Pilot in Command	Aircraft preparation Filling out documentation
Ayoung (tentative)		Safety	Making sure everyone is safe Bringing Med kit
Aidan Bowers		Flight Engineer	visual observer
Alison Thompson		Mechanical Rep

Other Attendees

Name	Role

Name	Role

Drivers & Seat Arrangement

Driver	Vehicle Type	Passenger

Driver	Vehicle Type	Passenger

Success criteria

Tests	Success Criteria	Requirements	Outcome

Tests	Success Criteria	Requirements	Outcome
Successful Transition flight	Able to fly forward at up to 20m/s and maintain lift/authority for fixed wing flight	Wires properly connected, props mounted properly.

Testing Timeline

Date/Time	Action

Date/Time	Action
Mon & Tue	Aircraft Assembly If aircraft assembly is complicated, outline dates of various milestones that should be met to ensure we don't rush to complete work at the last minute.
Tue 8-10PM	Pre-flight Preparation Feel free to not come at 9 if you don’t have a lot workload. During this time get snack if needed
Wed 1700	Required persons for preflight preparation show up at bay Flight test lead breifly assign task for preparation work
Wed 1730	Flight brief from flight test lead
Wed 1730	Loading onto the Car Take your water bottle with you. Go washroom before we leave!
	Drive to the test ground
Wed 1800	Flight Testing
	Debrief

Aircraft Incident Procedures

Incident	Procedure

Incident	Procedure
Crash	Outline the procedure for who will go to handle the aircraft in the event of a crash, what should be done, were emergency equipment is, etc.
Flyaway	Outline the procedure for flyaways. List relevant contact information for local authorities and plans of action to recover control of the aircraft
Configuration Error	Outline steps to take in the event of a configuration issue with the aircraft
Injury
Property Damage

Week-Before To-Do List

Day-Before To-Do List

Pre-Departure Checklist

Pre-flight Safety Checklist

Post-Flight Checklist

Item	Owner

Item	Owner
	ALL MEMBERS PRESENT

Flight Test Post Mortem

Pilot with LOS
FPV camera angled lower
More flying experience

Data&LOG Analysis:

Watch recording Apr 12 Flight Debrief if you need full information of the debrief

< flight path overview >

Total flight path, red is airspeed, green is groundspeed, orange is current draw, blue is altitude

In general, from our flight path:

took off at the gravel pad BELOW the skid-pad because formula motorsports (gas) was using the skid pad and we had agreed that we would take off off the track.
flew out in quad mode a bit, and then proceeded to transition
Transition was not fully completed until after we had turned back towards the skid pad
Orientation was difficult to judge for all parties, and the drone was identified as “heading towards us very fast”, which is when we transitioned back to QLoiter
At some point in the transition, a motor failed and the drone entered a flat spin, drifting with the wind until it landed in a nearby water reservoir.
note drop in current after transition complete, and stabilization of current draw when in transition.

< altitude/pitch analysis >

Zoomed in view of pitch (red) and desired pitch (green) between transition airspeed reached and transition done.

Desired pitch not controlled by the autopilot until transition done
- large gap between transition airspeed reached and transition done? @Nathan Green
Pitch is controlled by the quad motors until transition airspeed is reached, when the quad motors will then power down. and no longer provide levelling.
After the quad motors shutoff, there is a fairly large moment pushing the nose of the aircraft down.
Notice that with a spike in desired pitch, the aircraft does respond to the autopilot & also pilot input
- (not shown, RCIN was requesting almost full nose up. Seems that desired pitch is software limited?)

< motor graph >

< brief thoughtdump from anni >

Push motor drawing 40A (20A last flight test)
Max airspeed reached around 24m/s (while decending)
Pitch/Roll has positive correlation
Elevator deflicting to 900 when transition QLoiter → FBWA
Elevator deflecting to 1800 ish when max angle in FBWA
Max desired pitch limits to 20 in FBWA (software limit?)
Transition airspeed reached → transition done had (5s?) delay ← unsure please check me
Motor 4 (BR) was being commanded to full throttle on QLoiter transition but was not reacting.
Multiple flatspins on final descent.
Landed in the water.

< to insert charts if possible >

All persons are unharmed and safe
Transition was marked as complete (adequate airspeed)
Relocation of pusher motor showed marked improvement (both in measured current draw and measured airspeed) - indicating that relocation gave more airmass for movement.
Airframe survived 5Gs of deceleration when used as an airbrake during the transition from FBWA → QLoiter
Commanded pitch/roll and autopilot desired pitch/roll corresponding positively to actual aircraft attitude change. This indicates our software system is good.
Video was clear during the entire flight, with minor rolling banding when quad motors are spinning and brief (<1s) breakup near the start.

Flight engineer had difficulty finding data.
- data layout was not consistent between flights & this was not checked prior to flight
Visual observers had difficulty tracking the vehicle as it flew into the glare of the sun.

Flight Tests

April 12, 2023 - Transition Flight Attempt (#4?)