On Thursday, December 6, 2012 4:07:58 PM UTC-8, Todd wrote:
Why not just put the instrument package into a radio control aircraft (aka: Drone) and fly it as high as you want and have it come back home with your $150 instrument package? Surely someone has come up with an R/C autopilot system by to to deal with the issues of visually flying an aircraft you cant see.

It's a pretty easy problem to solve except there are restrictions on altitude for unmanned aircraft. http://www.micropilot.com/

Craig