Throughout October, we went through different designs of airborne vehicles. Raymond and Eric both bought RC helicopters off Craigslist – we were surprised how inexpensive they were these days – and tried flying them around, without too much success. We also tried flying a remote-control glider, which didn’t work too well either, even though it didn’t travel very quickly. By the end of the month, we had decided that we would build an airship of some kind, that would be lighter than air and easier to control than a helicopter or airplane. We hoped to have separate channels controlling lift and thrust on both sides, and possibly also have thrust vectoring built in, as well as a servo to release our “instrument packages.” To these ends, we decided to purchase an assortment of small servos, and the nicest radio we could find.
