Taking its design cues from microlight indoor RC flyers, this flapping-wing micro air vehicle can fly with complete autonomy in unknown environments! That means this 20-gram aircraft can take off by itself, then use its onboard 4-gram onboard stereo vision system to keep itself at the same altitude and avoid obstacles! Its sensing and processing […]

In other news this weekend, four people were arrested in Morgan, Georgia, for trying to deliver contraband material to inmates at the Calhoun State Prison.  Police commented, “After we gained consent to search the car, we found the helicopter and I don’t know exactly how much it was but probably about one or two pounds of […]

Everyone’s talking about Amazon’s proposed Prime Air “delivery by drone,”  which would get packages into customers’ hands in 30 minutes or less using unmanned aerial vehicles. Amazon notes, “Putting Prime Air into commercial use will take some number of years as we advance technology and wait for the necessary FAA rules and regulations.” Check out their footage […]

Leif Ristroph, an applied mathematician a NYU, created this unique aircraft, which weighs just 2 grams and is 8 centimeters in diameter. The aircraft’s four wings flap 20 times a second to keep it aloft. Half its weight is the motor, and for now the flying jellyfish is tethered to a power cord. The most intriguing part, though, […]

OK, so this post is NOT about aerial photography, but it’s so very cool I had to share. “Car L,” an RC 4×4 buggy equipped with a Nikon D800E, drives up to a pride of lions, and this video is the result. The curious cats seem to enjoy their new playmate! Our thanks to ChrisMcLennan for posting […]

Multi rotors perform a lot of useful tasks, but here’s one of the best I’ve ever seen. Henry Evans, who has been paralyzed by a type of stroke, uses a quadrotor to navigate space. The aircraft’s FPV view allows Henry to look around a garden or take a stroll across campus and gives him greater accessibility to the […]

This emission-free, environmentally friendly helicopter may be the rotorcraft of the future! Designed by German company e-Volo, it has 18 electric motors and can carry two people. After its ground-breaking test flights, the e-Volo managing director commented,  “Rich and incredibly quiet sound, absolutely no noticeable vibrations in the flight, convincing structure with a great, new spring […]

Check out  this 15-foot-long,  17-foot-span A-380 Airbus! Powered by four Jetcat P120 turbines, this aircraft consumes a gallon of fuel every 3 minutes! The magnificent model was filmed at a Swiss airshow. Thanks to RCHeliJet for posting this on YouTube.

This is serious RC! The Black Hornet nano drone, which can be carried in a soldier’s pocket, has an onboard camera that gives troops video and still images of hard-to-access places. Weighing only 16 grams (0.56 ounces), the Black Hornet looks like a tiny toy helicopter but it’s really a nano-size piece of military hardware.

This video promises something different from all those FPV shots that show the foreground or background as the plane flies by. YouTube’s Secretspy711 writes that he was inspired by the “RotoR” continuous camera rotation mount that was developed for motorcyclists and skiers and decided to add it to his SkyHunter aircraft. The result is amazing!  (Fair warning: you may want […]

File this under “why didn’t I think of that?”! The University of Tokyo’s Multi-field Universal Wheel for Air-land vehicle (MUWA)  uses a foam wheel to balance sideways like a wheel and roll along the ground as well as land on water. Its four, independently controlled variable pitch props can direct thrust in two different directions, forcing […]

Believe it or not, whenever any of our magazines show a scale model or full-size plane with even slightly “risque” nose art, I can practically guarantee that I’ll get a few letters from concerned parents who are upset that they have to censor our publication before giving it to their young sons. Modelers will know […]