

Ask HN: Why are quadcopters not flown like helicopters yet? - ratsimihah

Not RC quadcopters, but actual size ones, which carry people. Are they even being built? Would they not be more stable?<p>Edit: found this. http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.rcgroups.com&#x2F;forums&#x2F;showthread.php?t=1708654
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arlenarlenarlen
There are a lot of reasons, but one that comes to mind is that quadcopters
can't autorotate.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autorotation_(helicopter)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autorotation_\(helicopter\))

Also batteries suck.

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ratsimihah
Thanks! How would the batteries of an helicopter and quadcopter differ?

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ratsimihah
Also on StackOverflow: [http://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/3300/why-
havent-...](http://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/3300/why-havent-
quadcopters-been-scaled-up-yet/3305?noredirect=1#3305)

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dllthomas
My understanding has it one issue is that a lot of the control-system benefits
of the tiny quadcopter go away when you scale up and the blades have actual
mass (so changing their speed is hard).

