3 ms·
Of course communicating a signal good enough to remotely fly a plane going mach is an impressive feat.
by swalsh 13y ago
Of course communicating a signal good enough to remotely fly a plane going mach is an impressive feat.
- bri3d 13y agoOf course! But I'd say more like "was" - remote-controlled fighter planes have been around since at least the Airspeed Queen Wasp in the '30s (!!!), and those were arguably more complex to control remotely as the control systems weren't already directly run by computers. Plus the F-16 actually becomes more stable as its speed increases - at below-mach speeds, it's dynamically unstable and the aerodynamics are patched in by computer, but at mach speeds it becomes dynamically stable and will trend towards straight and level.
- bigiain 13y agoI don't think the fastest hobby RC guys are doing anything particularly different from regular RC builders, and they're up over MACH 0.8 now: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1609281 http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1609281 (Amusing fact-of-the-day - the fastest RC models in the world do not have motors. Specially built gliders flown in big winds on just the right shape hills can go a couple of hundred mph faster than even jet powered RC planes…)