I have been very interested in FPV flight for a while now, but my primary focus has been on multirotors. I have made two FPV multirotors (a 250 quadcopter, and a 250 tricopter), and I have spent hundreds of hours researching and tinkering and flying them. I’ve even made an app to help track flights. One of the next steps for me was to start trying FPV flight with fixed wing. So, like any good hobbyist, I bought myself the AXN Floater Jet from hobby king, based on Bruce from RC Model Reviews‘s suggestions. I learned to fly LOS on this plane, and then later took it to the next step of flying it via FPV.

Maiden FPV Flight

Spark notes:

Pictures

Build Information

Build Notes

I do not filter or regulate my power — I will only ever run 3S and the noise for my glider is noticeable only under 60-100% power, which I infrequently use since it’s a glider and doesn’t really need a whole lot of throttle

With 2200 3S batteries, I can fly for around 15 minutes of throttle time, but my flights can last upwards of 25 minutes, landing ~3.7v per cell. I am, of course, gliding around primarily, so this could be shortened with harder flying.

My FPV video range far exceeds my transmitter range. i will get low RSSI callouts from the Taranis before I ever have any video hiccups from the 600mw transmitter combined with the helical antenna. I have really only done some park flying with this setup, so it’s obviously not the best setup for LRS or anything, but it’s a nice day at the park. I have flown everywhere within the attached picture and had perfect video clarity. When I got to the top right corner of the image was when I got below 50% RSSI on the taranis and turned around. My Taranis is un-modified, so I could probably pull some more range out of it, but hey — I’m just getting going. 🙂



Yes, my plane is pretty beat up. It’s my first ever radio controlled plane.

The above video is flown with the Xiaomi Yi attached, and it had some balance issues with the camera attached. Below are two where the plane was a little bit better tuned, but flown via LOS.

Finally, never been totally happy with the flight characteristics of this plane. I’m thinking of trying all of this on a flying wing like a Bonsai from hobby king or something like that since it would be a little bit more maneuverable and fun and fast. This is a good trainer for it, but I want something a little bit quicker maybe.

12v from the 3S battery goes to the VTX from a splice on the pigtail that comes from the ESC. The VTX in turn powers the camera.

Next Steps