Chapter 1. What Makes a Drone Possible

The quadcopter glides gently through the sky, using every subtle variation in the atmosphere to its advantage, performing that delicate dance with the air that we call flight.

Doesn’t quite sound right, does it?

Let’s face it, a quadcopter doesn’t so much dance with the air as arm wrestle. Usually the quadcopter wins. Some days the sky wins.

No, the beauty of a drone is not in the graceful curve it cuts through the sky or the subtle shape of its wings. It has no wings, of course. In fact, among the best things about our modern multirotors are all the parts they don’t have. No wings. No control surfaces and no servos to move them. No complex collective pitch hubs. No stall speed, timed turns, or holding ...

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