The Project 

Engineers and technologists work with aerial photographs on civil and geotechnical engineering projects. The photos are usually high level aerial photography at a scale of 1 to 12,000.

On certain projects, low level oblique aerial photography provides a perspective on a project that gives a clearer understanding of the situation. Normally to obtain low level oblique photography, a  full scale aircraft, pilot and photographer must be hired. If you are a few hundred miles away from an airport, the charter can get expensive and time consuming.

The goal of the RCAPP project is to photograph specific engineering project sites to determine if r/c aerial photography can be a cost effective tool in engineering analysis, mapping and project management.

A further goal is to study and document the practically of using "off the shelf equipment" (model aircraft, electric motor, batteries, chargers and r/c equipment) to take the photographs.  At this time, Project RCAPP is a recreational volunteer non commercial  venture to gather data for the project goals.

Updates 

2007-08-12 - 1st flights ok, our off the shelf almost read to fly (arf) model airplane completed two initial flights to trim out the model, check the balance, control surface throws and endurance. The model takes off at 1/2 throttle, climbs briskly, and cruises at 1/3 power.

Equipment

FMA Direct Cellpro 4S charger - the charger worked flawlessly out of the box and is the advanced and safest LiPo charger.

FMA Direct Cellpro Revolution LiPO battery packs. More news on the packs as we start flying.

FMA Direct Co-Pilot Flight Stabilization System. More news on the co-pilot as we start flying.