FMA Direct
– 3 –
Co-Pilot™ user’s guide
Safety precautions
Radio controlled models are not toys! Please observe these gen-
eral safety precautions:
Follow all instructions in this manual to assure safe operation.
If you have not assembled and operated a radio controlled
model before, obtain help from an experienced modeler. You
will need guidance to successfully assemble, test and operate
radio controlled models. One of the best ways to obtain help
is to join your local radio control club.
Never fly radio controlled aircraft near people, buildings,
telephone or power lines, cars, trees or other objects on the
ground or in the air.
Never allow a helicopter to fly within 20 feet of you or
another person. If a helicopter flies toward you or another
person, stop the engine immediately to prevent personal
injury.
Keep your radio controlled models and equipment away from
children. Do not allow unauthorized people of any age to
operate radio controlled models without proper supervision
from an experienced modeler.
In some areas of the country, you cannot legally operate radio
controlled models except at approved fields. Check with local
authorities first.
Observe frequency control. If someone else is operating a
radio controlled model on the same channel as your
transmitter,
do not turn on your transmitter—even for a
short time
. Your transmitter has a channel number marked
somewhere on its case. When a model receives signals from
two transmitters on the same channel at the same time, it
cannot be controlled and will crash—possibly causing
personal injury or property damage.
For safety, most RC
flying fields have formal frequency control rules. Follow
them carefully.
Do not operate your radio control transmitter within 3 miles of
a flying field. Even at a distance, your transmitter can cause
interference.
Do not operate radio controlled models and equipment in the
rain, or at night.
Protect all electronic equipment from exposure to rain, water,
high humidity and high temperatures.
FMA Direct recommends that you join the AMA. They can
help you find a club in your area.
Academy of Model Aeronautics
5161 East Memorial Drive
Muncie, Indiana 47302
Phone: (800) 435-9262
Web:
www.modelaircraft.org
Safety precautions for Co-Pilot™:
Co-Pilot™ is designed for flight stabilization only. It cannot
navigate the aircraft or prevent a stall. You must control the
aircraft’s flight path.
Co-Pilot™ is for recreational use only. Do not install Co-
Pilot™ in aerial photographic aircraft where there is a possi-
bility of flying over people.
You must mount the Co-Pilot™ Sensor securely. Carefully
follow the instructions in “Installing Co-Pilot™,” which tells
you to roughen the surface with sandpaper, then clean the
surface with rubbing alcohol.
Keep fuel off the Sensor. Fuel on the Sensor can affect Co-
Pilot™ operation for as long as 10 minutes.
Perform an infrared calibration at the beginning of each flying
session, and repeat the calibration if there are major weather
changes. Details are in “Infrared calibration.”
Besides your regular pre-flight check, also check Co-Pilot™
operation before each flight. Details are in “Co-Pilot™ pre-
flight check.”
Co-Pilot™ derives precision and flexibility from the
calibration procedure on page 16 (“Infrared calibration”).
Background information and technical reasoning are provided
on page 15 (“About infrared calibration” and “More about
infrared calibration”). Please read and observe the following
guidelines for the best, safest operation with the greatest
margin:
As nearly as possible, calibrate Co-Pilot™ over the type of
terrain the aircraft will be flying over. For example, do not
calibrate over bare dirt if the aircraft will be flying over
light vegetation.
Grass provides the best, most consistent reference terrain,
but snow is the coolest reference terrain.
If the flying area has variable terrain, calibrate over the
coolest part. This provides a conservative, lower
calibration number, and assures a greater margin over
warmer reference terrain. Typical infrared temperatures, in
order from coolest to warmest are: snow, water, grass, light
vegetation, sand, and asphalt or concrete.
If you calibrate over an artificially warm medium such as
asphalt or concrete, the infrared temperature over anything
else will be lower, which reduces the temperature difference
(between earth and sky) available for Co-Pilot™ to work
with. If at all possible, don’t calibrate over asphalt or
concrete.
If the aircraft will be flying over patchy snow, calibrate over
the snow.
A calibration reading of 1 is rare. It is recommended that
you not fly using Co-Pilot™ when a reading of 1 is
obtained over the coolest terrain present.
To completely
turn off Co-Pilot™, you must
rotate the sensitivity
control (“Throw”) on the Computer fully
counterclockwise.
Helicopters require extra precision to hover. For that
reason, you should only use Co-Pilot™ on a helicopter
when the calibration reading is 3 or greater.