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How the Draganflyer Flies
Written by Nick Sacco, Rotory Magazine
When I first saw the Draganflyer, I knew that this little electric, four-motor helicopter was pure fun.
Even though I’ve flown conventional fuel-type helicopters for years, the idea of a four-motor, four-
rotor helicopter was just too good to be true.
Although the Draganflyer is constantly undergoing engineering changes to make it more commer-
cially desirable, its basic premise is that it is a stable hovering platform that climbs and turns by
manipulation of the motor-rotor speed only! The Draganflyer uses some fairly sophisticated elec-
tronic wizardry to maintain its stable hovering characteristics, but all this is totally transparent (and
should be) to the user. After all, do we want to enjoy it or constantly be tweaking and tuning it?
The daily “non-maintenance” is where the similarities to conventional model helicopters stop. As an
avid helicopter hobbyist, I enjoy the tuning and tweaking that is a normal part of helicopter life. But
I get a vacation from it with the Draganflyer. The Draganflyer is designed to be nearly maintenance
free, have a long service life and provide the owner with valuable flying time anytime it is required!
The kit is nearly assembled when received. Wiring consists of plugging a couple of connectors
together and the assembly steps are essentially tightening a few screws. Set-up for flight readiness
is just as easy also: Charge the batteries, align the motors and go have fun! Quite a contrast to con-
ventional helicopters whose complex pitch mechanisms demand hours of tuning and specialized
radio gear.
When you purchase the Draganflyer, you don’t have those tasks and all the necessary radio gear is
included. Actually the Draganflyer is a complete flying package. All that’s missing is YOU.
So how does it work?
The Draganflyer, as I alluded to earlier is designed as an integrated flight package. The circuit board
that lives in the center of the machine is the magic (and truly the heart) of the Draganflyer. That
means that the remote control system, the stabilization system, and the power system are built into
it. There’s nothing else to purchase. Let’s break down these three main components of the
Draganflyer and see just what makes it go…
The Remote Control
The remote control system consists of a 4-channel conventional FM system common in the remote
control hobby industry. The Draganflyer uses a standard Futaba® radio transmitter, but in living up
to its integrated design, the radio receiver is literally built into the Draganflyer’s electronic “brain”.
Viewing the circuit board from the side, the radio receiver would be the top portion to which are
mounted the LED’s (light emitting diodes) that serve as the Draganflyer’s “ready” indicator and
eerie-looking “eyes.” The remote control system is a 4-channel receiver having the decoder circuit,
the oscillator and RF crystal (which determines on which radio frequency it is operating).Also locat-
ed on this particular circuit board is a long square component called a piezo gyro. I’ll come back to
that when I discuss the Stabilization Section.
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