May 31, 2023 Houston Flight Test

Owned by Hardy Yu, created
Last updated: 2023-05-31 by Anthony Luo
5 min read

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

 Flight Preparation

Requested by:

Required Sub-teams

Mech
Electrical
EFS
CV
Operation
Sys-Int

Requested Date

Mar 30, 2023

Location and Time

One station away by taking ION, morning of May 31st

Summary & Goals

Validate the SBUS passing functionality of Simple System Manager

Approved?

Yes / Pending / No

 Required Persons During Test

Name

Phone #

Role

Reason

Name

Phone #

Role

Reason

 @Anthony Luo

 

Flight Test Lead

  • Creating documentation

  • Booking the test flight

  • Creating a thread in #flight-staging

 @Anthony Luo

 

 Pilot in Command

  • Aircraft preparation

  • Filling out documentation

@Hardy Yu

 

Safety

  • Making sure everyone is safe

  • Bringing Med kit

@Hardy Yu

 

Flight Test Coordinator

  • Prepare the document

  • Set up the wiring and firmwire of Nulceo

 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

  • Take Off

  • houston is able to take off from ground

  • Checking the prop/firmware setup

  • Having correct prop orientation, wiring, etc.

Flight Control Test

Houston perform the action ordered by controller (throttle up/down, yaw)

Correct rc control channel mapping

 

Testing Timeline

Date/Time

Action

Date/Time

Action

 

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.

 

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

 

Required persons for preflight preparation show up at bay

Flight test lead breifly assign task for preparation work

 

Flight brief from flight test lead

 

Loading onto the Car

Take your water bottle with you. Go washroom before we leave!

 

Drive to the test ground

 

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

Drone Registration

Drone Registration Number:

Flight test location booked
Pilot scheduled
Test Plan (What we are testing)
This should also include the flight path where applicable
Subteam action items (for flight readiness)
Transportation logistics finalized
Booking SDC vehicles
Assigning drivers
Renting any needed equipment (trailer? generator? etc.)

Day-Before To-Do List

SDC Vehicle key collected (if required)
Batteries Planned for (DON'T LEAVE CHARGING OVERNIGHT)
On-site kit together
Airfame assembled
ESCs/flight controller wired
Radio equipment tested
Motors tested
Wiring secured (Harnessing)
End-to-end test (neglecting props)
Check the center of gravity
All components not on the airframe that are required should be in the flight box (e.g. props & prop nuts)
Airframe payload
Spare parts
Flight Code Flashed
Ground station Software updated

Pre-Departure Checklist

Pre-flight Safety Checklist

Post-Flight Checklist

Item

Owner

Item

Owner

ALL MEMBERS PRESENT

 

 

Flight Test Post Mortem

Flew 3 flights.

Took off without compass calibration but with “learn offsets” checked. → we were unable to gain a successful compass calibration.

Battery 1

~ 2 minutes. Battery @ 80% after

Battery 1 Flight #1 & #2 (Stabilize, Loiter)
Battery 1 Flight #3 (Stabilize)

 

  • Took off in stabilize mode

    • checked stabilization, controls correction direction

    • added full stick deflection in all axis.

    • Landed after about 40 seconds.

  • Took off in loiter.

    • throttled up to ~ 60-70%, then throttled down to 50%

    • Drone lost altitude and eventually hovered at around 60-70% throttle.

    • Experienced wide GPS drifting hands off sticks → added pilot correction.

    • Experienced lost of thrust near end of flight → crash landed into some bushes. (even at full throttle)

  • Moved drone back to launch, stabilize, attempted to takeoff and hover.

    • experienced lost of thrust again.

Decided to swap batteries after this point.

Battery 2

~ 4 minutes. Battery @ 70% after

 

  • Took off in stabilize mode.

  • Decided to see how long we could maintain hover.

  • Added full throttle / 0 throttle impulses to gauge drone reaction. (starts around 1:42, again at around 3:50)

    • note drone roll to left when adding throttle impulse

Flight 3

~ 4 minutes. Battery @ 70% after

 

  • Took off in altitude hold mode.

    • Does…sorta hold altitude.

    • Very choppy altitude hold

  • Landed in stabilize.

  • SBUS works!

  • didn’t crash!

  • Altitude Hold & Loiter are able to fly.

  • Stabilize flight quite … stable (PID’s looking good).

  • Althold / Loiter very choppy.

  • No telemetry from minipix

  • no datalogs from minipix

RCA for Red Items

Create a RCA and keep it as a child page.

Action Items

Other Resources

Booking WRESTRC Field

WRESTRC