3 ms·
The drone’s blades would likely still be spinning during a parachute descent... albeit at lower revolutions per minute. I’d imagine drones operate like a helico
by pinky1417 6y ago
The drone’s blades would likely still be spinning during a parachute descent... albeit at lower revolutions per minute. I’d imagine drones operate like a helicopter: in the event of an engine failure, the helicopter goes into “autorotation” in which the now unpowered rotor blades move due to the air going through the blades as the helicopter descends, thus braking the fall. However, if drones have locking rotors, then in that case the blades would not be rotating during a parachute descent.
Regardless of whether the blades are locked or spinning at lower RPMs, still better than powered drones falling from the sky!
- leetcrew 6y agothis is a reasonable hypothesis, but quadcopters don't work this way. the propellers are usually not large enough to meaningfully slow the descent of the aircraft. also, quads are not stable the way a helicopter with one large rotor is. a drone is likely to tumble when the power is cut.
- pinky1417 6y agoFair point. Didn’t mean to imply that the rotors would meaningfully slow descent. Just meant to say that, parachute or not, the rotors could still be moving while unpowered. It’s more of a technicality since the slow rotation of the tiny blades would probably be towards the bottom of the list of safety concerns, parachute or not.