The DJI AGRAS Lands in the Philippines

The sight must have seemed peculiar to a flock of migrating Chinese Egrets as they glided down the wet rice fields of Los Baños.  They flew hundreds of miles to find a bird flying straight as an arrow only to pause in mid air, hover, bank right, then fly in reverse!

Eight rotors worked effortlessly, humming with a low deep throttle, blowing a gentle draft which caressed the shaggy panicles below.  Hovering just 1.5 meters above ground, it made slight vertical adjustments thanks to the sensors positioned beneath the 10 liter tank.

It cruised straight down a tiny rows of rice plants at 10 km/h, releasing fine droplets into a curly shaped swath which continued to twirl into smaller circles as the Agras headed towards the edge of the rice paddy under the egrets' watchful eyes. 



But the real watchful eyes Monday morning were the senior sponsors for the Agras. They raised intelligent questions around operability while observing movement of the aircraft both in the air and on the flight controller.  The Agras turned turned the corner for its final pass as its hawk-like wingspan hovered just 5 meters away:  Mission complete.  The pilot then took manual control of the aircraft, landing it beside a grassy patch near the road.  With smiles all around, the first official flight of the DJI Agras was declared a success.

The journey here began Saturday afternoon with 2 Agras sets neatly tucked away waiting for our arrival.  Our technical adviser flew in from Davao to perform the first build while the client observed to perform the next assembly.  The client has several thousand flying hour on their UAS (unmanned flying systems or drones) hence they caught on quickly, assembling their kit 15 minutes faster.  The pair of Agras side by side looked awesome.  With the battery chargers blinking (and therefore charging), everything was a 'go' for the Sunday test flight.  

The air around Mt. Makiling had a wholesome and misty feel at 6:30 a.m. Sunday morning, its bosom slightly obscured by a light haze.  That all cleared up as the full force (and heat) of the sun was upon us at 9 a.m.  From a folded position, we flexed the Agras' 1.4 meter carbon fiber arms.  This is the largest drone commercially made by DJI.  We gazed around the hardware with much anticipation and wondered, "Wow.  How's this baby gonna fly?"

Murphy's Law I know all too well so I held my breath--drone pilots can never be complacent despite all this high tech gadgetry.  The client is a licensed pilot.  That level of professionalism showed as he diligently went through internal flight procedures before taking control.  The Agras MG-1S lifted its legs above ground in a steady throttle.  With a slight yaw to the left and then the right, it moved forward with a controlled pitch giving us confidence to proceed with spray testing.

Each of the 8 rotors can ramp up to 5.1 kilos in thrust, more than enough juice to carry the 10 liter payload.  In the next test, we wanted to see how the Agras would behave with a 1/2 full sloshing payload.  So, we had it yaw to the left then suddenly stop, then, to the right before making another hard stop.  The sloshing momentum did very little to sway the drone from the pilot's command.  It also held steady against a breeze indicating that the A3 Flight Controller was working properly.  After a few more test runs later that afternoon, we were confident it was ready to be presented to the senior sponsors that Monday.

The Agras operated flawlessly on its maiden flight in the Philippines.