"VTOL is an heroic act, pretty much no matter how you go about it." 12-year
olds with drones do it every day, thanks to cheap flight controllers
containing super-cheap gyros and accelerometers. I can teach a caveman to
fly one of those in 10 min. Herb


Perhaps at the risk of offending troglodytes, maybe I need to spend more time
in caves? Or maybe especially so with VTOL craft, the devil really *is* in the
details.

The quad-copter drone In-law Santa gifted this past Christmas has escaped four
or five times, enjoyed several nights out following two of the escapes, and -
despite having only a five-minute-to-props-stopped "fuel load" - has so far
been successfully piloted-by-me to a single-flight-to-fuel-exhaustion
touchdown exactly once. Every other flight has been terminated because escape
or disaster was imminent, or, (following escapes) desperation-inspired
throttle chopping. By comparison, controlling RC sailplanes is considerably
easier to both predict and accomplish, in my experience.

Bob - VTOL-challenged? - W.