Transatlantic Model Airplane Flight to Begin Shortly

dtmos writes "An update on this old story -- Maynard Hill's attempt to fly an 11-lb. model airplane across the Atlantic (from Newfoundland to Ireland) is due to begin tomorrow night, Newfoundland time. This would be the first transatlantic flight by a true model under FAI rules (this plane was too large to qualify). News and updates, background information, some technical info."

Comments

I work with one of these guys...

[staggerlee]

...he's in the General Services department at National Geographic (and a better code and hardware hacker, in all senses of the word, than anyone in our IS group). This guy's spent months trying to build a GPS that would fit on your watch face.

The funny thing here is that he went to NG to offer them coverage - he wasn't looking for funding or anything - and they declined, saying there wouldn't be enough interest. Well now it's in the Post, it's on /. and to cap it all off, who's doing a TV special about it? Discovery. Ain't that a swift kick in the crotch.

Congrats, Foster - clear skies =)

GPLed do-it-yourself kit

[tramm]

Since Slashdot is now 100% robotics stories, you might be interested in building your own autopilot kit for model airplanes and helicopters. It isn't perfect yet, but we're getting there.

The hardware design and source code are all GPLed and available. The most recent releases have an OpenGL helicopter simulator for you to play with as well.