While my flying experiences over the past 5 months, and thru all sorts of extremes of temperature and conditions, have generally been good, my paranoia about losing my aircraft hasn't really gone away.  While I've been meticulous about correctly initializing my Phantom 2+ before each flight, I'd like just have one final 'Failsafe' option: a Ballistic Parachute Recovery System.  These things are common on ultralight aircraft and consist of a tube containing a (round) parachute with no drive vents and an ejection device.  I intend on building one specifically for my drone but here are the considerations I'm struggling with.

1)  To manually deploy such a device in the event of a motor failure or dead battery I need an emergency channel and appropriate receiver on the BPRS, and,

2)  For emergencies that have me out of radio range I'll need to build a system that incorporates a rate-of-descent sensor that is set for anything above the nominal (2 m/sec?) descent rate.

I checked with the local hobby shop and they said my only option was to have another 5-channel RC unit, etc.  Seeing as I'm travelling internationally with my Phantom I sure as hell don't want to be carting around more electronics than I already do.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

Ted

While it probably can be done, you have to consider the weight and mounting on the Phantom will be difficult.
It would probably be cheaper to just buy another Phantom as a spare.
Personally I see very little point in a parachute system, as you say, you need control to activate it, or a lot of electronics to do it automatically, then you have the problem of false deployment and even if it works correctly you can still land in the water or the decent speed will still be great enough to damage the Phantom on landing.
   

A few other things to consider, if it is a ballistics parachute you will have more trouble with this than your lipos getting through customs or security. And the phantom will be fairly weighted down with all the added "safety". If this is what you want you may be better off with looking at a new craft that is capable of a little more, maybe DJI F550.

johnwarr@live.c Posted at 2015-5-5 03:13
While it probably can be done, you have to consider the weight and mounting on the Phantom will be d ...

I can see advantages there.

If the parachute can be launched automatically and being reliably integrated, atleast it could save some innocents from severe harms.

I'll be very willing to install one on my phantom if DJI or someone could provide such kind of the solution.... but I guess it's not a easy job since there is less spaces inside the phantom...

A parachute and a kill switch would make a wonderful combo for those times when the Phantom might have a mind of it's own and try to fly away.

Automatic parachute system for the Phantom:

Article: http://dronelife.com/2015/05/11/smartchutes-gives-falling-drones-a-chance/



There is link at the bottom of the article to more pictures/videos.

Batman Posted at 2015-5-22 22:36
Automatic parachute system for the Phantom:

Article: http://dronelife.com/2015/05/11/smartchutes-g ...

Hum look the same kinda stuff than Mars...plus apparently, their Kickstarter funding is almost over and they are far to reach the goal.