Bramor Field Outing

Week 11 Bramor Training and Field Outing Report_­­­­­

Introduction

During week 11 of AT 209, our class met at the North end of Martell Forest near Purdue University. Our class includes 3 flight crews, however only crew 3 was able to fly during this lab time. Upon arrival to the mission area crew 3 began by setting up the catapult and assembling the airframe. They then completed the Bramor preflight checklist and launched the aircraft. Upon recovery of the aircraft, we ran out of time to complete any more flights during the designated lab time. Similar to our week 6 field outing, we learned that it is important to work together as a team to effectively and efficiently set up the Bramor. Following the checklist step by step is among the most important things for a team to follow because it ensures all systems are working properly and will lead to a successful and safe mission, if a crew were to skip a step it could lead to an in-flight malfunction or worst-case scenario a crash. 

Field Outing:

·       Site Description:

Vegetative cover at Martell Forest was a grassland that included small shrubs, weeds, and plants. Hazards included a tree line around the entire mission area as well as a road and powerlines located to the North of the area. It is important to set a good mission altitude, rally point, and landing area in order to avoid the potential hazards surrounding the area. 

Figure 1: This picture is a good representation of the vegetation at Martell Forest during our field outing

 

·      

Prior to the first mission of the day, the weather was recorded at around  4.8 degrees Celsius. Upon arrival there was a light frost covering the vegetation. Flight crew 3 had visibility of 10 miles and nearly no wind.

	Temp.	Visibility	Wind
Crew 3	4.8 C	10 miles	N/A

Figure 2: Weather Conditions

·      

The Bramor catapult was setup pointing to the East direction toward the field. There was no extreme weather direction, so catapult direction was not an issue. There were no adjustments made during the flight due to any weather or external factors.

	ComBox Volts	Tablet Battery	Rally Alt.	WP Alt.	TO Alt.	UAV Volts	dB	Satellites	Flight Time
Crew 3	14.1 V	96%	55m	120m	120m	16.4V	-51	12	6:54

                                                            Figure 3: Flight details

Issues

There was only 1 recorded issue during the mission. This issue did not compromise data collection, nor did it cause any damage to the aircraft, people, or objects. When initially setting up the aircraft there was an issue where the Bluetooth connection was not working. So we disconnected and reconnected the connection and reset the PIN to 1032. Then, in the. Settings, we found that the comm link was incorrect so we changed it the comm port to 3.

Concluding Statements

Prior to this lab our flight crews revised the checklist and a CRM plan for the bramor in order to make setting up more efficient. And like the last field outing our experience with folding the parachute with attention to detail lead to the same mindset when assembling the Bramor and following the checklist. Creating the CRM to delegate tasks so we are aware of the roles each member of our team is responsible for really helped with this lab although we did encounter an issue with the connection on the tablet.