Freefly ALTA Will Soon Be Here

The wait is nearly over. Early next month Heliguy is due to start selling the Freefly ALTA - the exciting new professional hexacopter designed with cinematography in mind. The ALTA works hand in hand with Freefly's famous range of camera gimbals - the M5, M10 and M15. It's a marriage made in heaven. And what take the ALTA to a whole new level is its ability to carry a gimbal on top as well as underneath. alta_flight_topmount-1100.jpg The Freefly ALTA The ALTA has the ideal combination of lightness, strength and power. Despite its slender, elegant profile, it can lift a maximum payload of 6.8kg (15 lbs)*. What's more it does it smoothly and quietly. The 6 X 18 inch carbon fibre and balsa, folding props combine with low noise, lightweight motors and Freefly Silent-Drive Sine Wave ESCs. That all  makes it highly suited to carry professional cameras including RED Dragon, Sony F55, and ALEXA Mini. The gimbal is quick to swap out too. It uses Freefly's Toad In The Hole Quick Release System. Topcam-99_7433-crop-1100.jpg Freefly ALTA with camera on the top ... Freely-bottom-cam-crop-c99_7346.jpg ... and under-slung. A versatile combination. The ALTA's flight control system is new so is it proven? Freefly say this about it: "The Synapse flight control system represents a new level of control, precision and reliability for unmanned aerial systems. The system combines high quality sensors with proprietary control algorithms to allow users to execute complex flight patterns with ease. "The Synapse is the result of the industry’s brightest engineers working closely with leading aerial cinematographers to create a flight control system that empowers creativity. Freefly’s unique position as both a leading aerial cinematographer and industry innovator allowed us to create an advanced flight control system tailored to meet the most demanding applications." The ALTA's satellite receiver takes advantage of both the GPS and the GLONASS networks, which should give it a quicker fix and more satellites for improved accuracy. Power for the ALTA comes from two 6S (22.2V) batteries which can measure up to  240 x 180 x 80 mm. Although the ALTA is a large aircraft, it does fold down into a compact form for transporting. ALTA-Folding-Booms-1100.jpg The ALTA's folding booms alta_folded-small-2.jpg A neatly folded Freefly ALTA One nice little touch is that the colour of the LED orientation lights can be changed by using the Freefly ALTA app. There must be a serious use for this but it's nice to be able to change the factory settings anyway. ALTA-LEDs-1100.jpg The ALTA app allows you to change LED colours. At £6964 the ALTA is pitched at the professional operator, who will probably also need a Movi gimbal. They range in price from £3267 for the Movi 5 to £9520 for the Movi 15. The Movi 10 sells for £6610. The DJI S900 (hex) or DJI S1000+ (octo) are cheaper alternatives but you have to bear in mind that the Zenmuse gimbals are camera and lens specific, which isn't the case with the ALTA. The maximum payload of the ALTA is 6.8kg while the S900's 4.9kg. The extra two props and motors on the S1000+ take its payload to 6.6kg. Reserve your Freefly ALTA now with a deposit of just £700. Just to tease you even more, here's a mash-up of some of the video snippets that Freefly have been releasing on social media in recent days. * Compare ALTA's flight times with different payloads and battery combinations. ALTA-Payload-graph-IMG_1702.jpg Freefly ALTA specifications UNFOLDED DIMENSIONS Length: 1000 mm Width: 1145 mm Height (to base of TITH): 220 mm FOLDED DIMENSIONS Length: 532 mm Width: 515 mm Height (to base of TITH): 220 mm POWERPLANT Number of Motors: 6 Motor Type: Direct Drive 3-Phase PMAC Outrunner Motor Model: F45 Motor Max Continuous Power Output: 350 W Motor Max Instantaneous Peak Power: 950 W Electronic Speed Controller: Freefly Silent-Drive Sine Wave ESC PROPELLERS Material: Carbon fibre with balsa core Propeller Orientation: (3) CW and (3) CCW Props Propeller Type: 18 x 6 Folding BATTERY Nominal Battery Voltage: 6S / 22.2V Maximum Battery Size: 240 x 180 x 80 mm Maximum Battery Quantity: 2 Battery Packs (Parallel) Battery Connectors: 2x EC5 (Parallel) WEIGHTS Maximum Gross for Take-off¹: 13.6 kg (30.0 lbs) Maximum Useful Load²: 9.5 kg (21.0 lbs) Maximum Payload³: 6.8 kg (15.0 lbs) Typical Standard Empty Weight: 4.1 kg (9.0 lbs) SPECIFIC LOADINGS Typical Specific Power 4: 145 W/kg Thrust Ratio at Max Take-off Weight¹: 2.0 : 1 LIGHTING AND INDICATION Orientation Lights: RGB LED’s Orientation Light Locations: Outboard on Boom Ends Orientation Light Colour: User Definable Status Light: Rear-Facing Red/White LED Accessory Lighting Port: 12 VDC Accessory Lighting Port Location: Outboard on Boom Ends ISOLATION SYSTEM Vibration Isolation System: Silicone O-Rings ISOLATION SYSTEM OPTIONS 1. Soft / Light Payloads: Red O-Rings 2. Medium / Mid Payloads Teal O-Rings 3. Stiff / Heavy Payloads Black O-Rings PAYLOAD MOUNTING Mounting Locations: Bottom and Top Mount Mounting System: Freefly Toad In The Hole Quick Release FLIGHT CONTROLLER Model Name: Freefly Synapse Flight Controller Flight Modes: Manual Height Hold Climb Rate Control (Vario) Position Hold Ground Speed Control Return-To-Home Auto-land Supported Inputs: Spektrum, S.Bus, PPM, FPV SD Video Outputs: PWM, I2C, CAN, FPV SD Video w/ OSD Supported Radios: Futaba S.Bus & S.Bus 2 DSMX, DSM2 (Spektrum/JR) PPM, PPM Invert, PPM Graupner Supported Radio Controller Telemetry Systems: Futaba w/ built-in voltage sense port Supported First-Person View Systems: Skyzone BOSCAM Immersion RC Fatshark First-Person View OSD Telemetry: User Configurable Installed Transceivers: Wi-Fi Data Logging Rate: 25 Hz 1. AT SEA LEVEL, STANDARD CONDITIONS. 2. TOP AND BOTTOM MOUNT. INCLUDES BATTERIES. 3. PAYLOAD WEIGHT TOP OR BOTTOM MOUNT. BATTERY WEIGHT NOT INCLUDED AND MOUNTED ON OPPOSITE SIDE FROM PAYLOAD IN TYPICAL CONFIGURATIONS. 4. . AT MAXIMUM TAKE-OFF WEIGHT, SEA LEVEL, STANDARD CONDITIONS.