A bird's-eye view and you can see why I wanted an articulated mannekin. I must have got one of the last few of this type in the UK prior to the arrival of a container at the end of next February... and it was Goethe I believe who said that when you set out on some or other venture the Universe conspires to make it happen?
I've a piece of plywood too left over from the last build and which I can use for the 'flight-deck'. One thing I discovered from building for the competition in California was that if you fix a 'stay' fixed half way up the columns, then their length is effectively halved and they can support a great deal more weight. What the 'flight-deck' will do, pulled up like Wallace and Gromits' trousers, is to reinforce the columns as well as providing an active means of control.
In terms of pilotage, a reason I want the avionics fitted on the underside of the drone is that then you've an overhead panel like in jet airliners, with controls accessible to the aircraft operator for engine-out procedures and so forth. Another advantage of the layout is that with the motors shut down and propellers windmilling, the vehicle will descend like a parachute; unlike most eVTOLs. I learned to fly with both helmet and parachute, and worst case here you'll release the platform and bale under gravity.
Someone looking at these drones once said that I thought of everything... and I do.
