Build it. Configure it. Fly it. This course takes 673d EOD Flight technicians through a complete 5-inch quadcopter build — from the threat context that motivates improvised-sUAS work, through frame assembly, motor and ESC installation, flight-controller soldering, video and radio setup, battery handling, and Betaflight commissioning, to a modular-airframe capstone. Each lesson pairs a briefing deck with hands-on lab steps and the exact guides and bench videos used in class. Work the lessons in order — the aircraft you assemble early is the aircraft you commission and fly at the end.
Lessons
1Threat Context and Counter-UAS
2Flight Controllers
Slide deck: this lesson is also available as the classroom deck — open the fc deck (arrow keys to navigate, N for presenter notes). Good morning. This module is Flight Controllers. You have all held this board already — it came out of the bag in Section 1, the small green one with the USB […]
3Electronic Speed Controllers
Slide deck: this lesson is also available as the classroom deck — open the esc deck (arrow keys to navigate, N for presenter notes). This module is Electronic Speed Controllers — the only part of the aircraft that handles the full energy of the battery. It does that by switching that energy on and off […]
4Brushless Motors
Slide deck: this lesson is also available as the classroom deck — open the motors deck (arrow keys to navigate, N for presenter notes). This module is Brushless Motors. There are four of these on your aircraft, and they are the simplest thing on it — one moving part, no brushes, no gears, no commutator, […]
5Camera and Video Transmitter
Slide deck: this lesson is also available as the classroom deck — open the video deck (arrow keys to navigate, N for presenter notes). Introduction This lesson is the video chain, taken end to end in one sitting: the camera, the wire between the camera and the transmitter, the transmitter, and the air. FPV — […]
6Radio Control Link
Slide deck: this lesson is also available as the classroom deck — open the radio deck (arrow keys to navigate, N for presenter notes). This module is the control link — one module, both ends, handset to aircraft. In your kit you have a RadioMaster Pocket and a RadioMaster RP4TD receiver: seventy-eight dollars and thirty […]
7LiPo Batteries and Charging
Slide deck: this lesson is also available as the classroom deck — open the batteries deck (arrow keys to navigate, N for presenter notes). This module is LiPo batteries — Lithium Polymer — and it includes charging, which is where most of the money and most of the fires get spent. The pack is the […]
8Betaflight Setup
Slide deck: this lesson is also available as the classroom deck — open the betaflight deck (arrow keys to navigate, N for presenter notes). This module is Betaflight Setup. Your package is soldered and it survived the smoke test — right now it is correct hardware running someone else’s assumptions. This hour makes it yours. […]
9Modular Flight Package
Slide deck: this lesson is also available as the classroom deck — open the modular deck (arrow keys to navigate, N for presenter notes). This module is the Modular Flight Package, and it changes how you think about the aircraft you are building this week. Here is the idea in one sentence: everything you solder […]
10Build Walkthrough — Assembly Footage
This is the actual class build filmed at JBER — follow along bench by bench as the quad comes together from parts to finished aircraft. Frame Assembly Motor Unboxing & Hardware Motor Mounting Arm Heat Shrink & ESC Placement Soldering the ESC Power Lead Tinning the Flight Controller Pads Soldering the VTX Harness to the […]
11Guides and Downloads
Every written guide from the course. These are the documents used on the bench — print the bind card double-sided; it is designed as a single sheet. Setting up the aircraft Setup Guide — Lucid H7 (PDF, 12 pp) — the main one. Installing the software, flashing Betaflight, pairing the radio, motors, failsafe and first […]