Fly From Home

While being able to work from home might be considered a luxury in these crazy times, it surely has its down sides. Depending on the country you live in, going to work might be more or less the only allowed exit from you home apart of doing groceries.

Working from home so leads to staying at home all day, all the week, maybe even longer?

We all know what makes us happy when we are tired of work. It's our hobbies! My hobby is building and flying RC airplanes. After a long winter the only thing I wanted was to go out on the beautiful model airfield in the nature and enjoy some flying.

But gatherings on the model airfield as most of the other outdoors activities are banned or at least considered something you should not do these days.

I needed to get this solved… The outside temperature was just too tempting.

Check the video, read the inctructable and have fun!

Step 1: From the Place to the Frame

First thing find a place to do it. Use your imagination and consider any available option may just be the one.

I was thinking about the roof, but balcony just made so much more sense.

I would recommend your backyard or garden, but not all of us have one at home.

You could just use a drone, no need for a landing place in this case, but drones are just too easy to hoover and boring to me. Nothing wrong with them, just with my personal taste maybe :)

The challenge to fly a drone from home just did not trigger any excitement in me, while flying a plane did!

I wanted to use only material that I already had at home, but found out i have nothing suitable for catching a plane.

I went to the local gardening center and bought a 5x4m "anti-bird" netting, that is usually used for covering fruit trees.

Being a sound engineer I used microphone stands as a frame, and cable ties fo fix them all together.

Step 2: The "anti-bird" Netting

The frame from microphone stands was attached to the glass panel roof holders at the top and fence at the side. After the frame was in place it was time to attach the netting with cable ties.

The bottom was fixed to a balcony deck chair. I made it a bit "loose", so it is as soft as possible for landings.

Step 3: The Airplane

I have more than 40 RC airplanes at home, but in this project I just couldn't use the "coolest" one. I needed to use the smallest and lightest I have. Safety first! Flying big RC planes is not allowed where people might be present nearby.

The limit for totally unregulated RC flying here is 250g. I must admit the plane I used had a total weight of 275g, but close enough. I tried my best to have the situation totally under control and never missed the balcony or landing.

If you are not feeling capable to fly in such a small place just do not do it!

The plane is a home build "mini piper". Fuselage is built form 6mm Depron sheet foam. Wings are CNC cut Styrfoam.

It uses 4 micro servos (2x ailerons, rudder and elevator).

It is powered by a brushless motor 2204-14T and a 12A speed controller.

Battery is Li-Po 2s 850mAh.

With this setup it easily flies for 15-20 minutes at the model airfield. Flying in a tight space you really do not want to be out of battery and miss the balcony, so i set my timer at 7min to really be on the safe side with power.

Step 4: Flying

Such a plane flies really good and it is easily maneuverable. Just perfect for flying at home in tight spaces. It can be boring in an open field, but flying in a limited space with challenging landings it is pure fun. The perfect thing to clear your mind after a boring day working from home.

Yet I made the wing flat with no V angle. This means less self-stability, higher speeds and better maneuverability.

Including the system of LED lights to fly in the dark and 2 aileron servos that are not necessary it all sums to extra weight which again means higher minimum speed or stall speed.

If built more basically with only rudder and elevator + V shaped wing it flies slower and it is excellent for beginners, but a bit boring fore experienced pilots.

Enjoy the video and don't forget about your hobbies while staying it home! They are the key to happiness.