After the quadcopter was fully assembled including ESC’s, accelerometers and radio calibrated it was ready for its maiden flight. This flight was carried out at the back of our Engineering building, Stellenbosch, on an insufficient piece of grass. A short video from the flight can be watched below.

After some time flying the altitude hold function was tested which seemed to work. However, when testing the second time and switching it off, the throttle was in a lower than hover position, causing the quad to come down hard. This caused three perspex motor mounts to be snapped off. Luckily this exposed some weaknesses in the frame. The motor mounts will now be manufactured from a slightly less brittle plastic. Ignoring human error (first ever flight) the quadcopter flew excellent the first time.