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That's not true of fixed-wing drones. I've seen fixed-wing drones, made of really cheap parts, just act like helicopters. Hover, translate in arbitrary horizo

That's not true of fixed-wing drones. I've seen fixed-wing drones, made of really cheap parts, just act like helicopters. Hover, translate in arbitrary horizontal directions, VTOL, etc. I dunno if they were "flying backwards", but they did reverse flight direction. I think it's mostly just a matter of power-to-weigh ratio, which small aircraft have in spades.

m463 6y ago
I would expect the efficiency would be severely compromised by these maneuvers. Sort of like fly 20 minutes or take off vertically for 30 seconds. For efficiency, I think the best bet might be to take off from the top of a downhill slope gaining momentum and flying. To land, return facing up the slope killing momentum. sort of like this: https://youtu.be/vscvM8ysAwM https://youtu.be/vscvM8ysAwM
- jlcortex 6y ago
  That's the point. Even though some fix-wings or convertible drones are able to do certain maneuvers similar to multirotors, their endurance is extremely limited then. A hybrid copter like HYBRiX is able to hover for hours, but it would be even more efficient on translational flight. Here you can see to which degree we can control the drone when we push it to its limit: https://www.instagram.com/p/CHIZgQPgLtZ/ https://www.instagram.com/p/CHIZgQPgLtZ/ This means an outstanding resistance to wind, which fix-wings do not have.
matheusmoreira 6y ago
> I've seen fixed-wing drones, made of really cheap parts, just act like helicopters. > I think it's mostly just a matter of power-to-weigh ratio, which small aircraft have in spades. Yeah! These small aircraft parts actually provide a respectable amount of thrust. The low weight of drones and model aircraft usually means they have massive thrust-to-weight ratio. T/W > 1 means the engine alone is able to propel it straight up. The larger the ratio, the more it acts like a rocket. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrust-to-weight_ratio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrust-to-weight_ratio

m463 6y ago

I would expect the efficiency would be severely compromised by these maneuvers. Sort of like fly 20 minutes or take off vertically for 30 seconds. For efficiency, I think the best bet might be to take off from the top of a downhill slope gaining momentum and flying. To land, return facing up the slope killing momentum. sort of like this: https://youtu.be/vscvM8ysAwM https://youtu.be/vscvM8ysAwM

jlcortex 6y ago
That's the point. Even though some fix-wings or convertible drones are able to do certain maneuvers similar to multirotors, their endurance is extremely limited then. A hybrid copter like HYBRiX is able to hover for hours, but it would be even more efficient on translational flight. Here you can see to which degree we can control the drone when we push it to its limit: https://www.instagram.com/p/CHIZgQPgLtZ/ https://www.instagram.com/p/CHIZgQPgLtZ/ This means an outstanding resistance to wind, which fix-wings do not have.

matheusmoreira 6y ago

> I've seen fixed-wing drones, made of really cheap parts, just act like helicopters. > I think it's mostly just a matter of power-to-weigh ratio, which small aircraft have in spades. Yeah! These small aircraft parts actually provide a respectable amount of thrust. The low weight of drones and model aircraft usually means they have massive thrust-to-weight ratio. T/W > 1 means the engine alone is able to propel it straight up. The larger the ratio, the more it acts like a rocket. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrust-to-weight_ratio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrust-to-weight_ratio