We got to meet up with Don and his Droid at the recent AMA Expo in Ontario, CA. This is a very cool video he did with his flying R2D2.
Say hello to “Arturo”, the worlds first actual flying R2D2 drone. Custom build by Don Melara (By a fan for the fans). Complete with DJI GPS autopilot navigation system, Articulating dome, LED jetpack lights, Speaker box for sounds and even a CCD camera installed into his eye. It took approximately 8 days to complete the build. It was always a childhood dream of mine that someday, someone would build a flying version of our favorite StarWars Droid. Now, thanks to today’s technology and a little bit of a passion for aviation it has become a reality.
Special thanks to Craig Badger for the epic aerial shots of R2 in Flight https://www.youtube.com/user/xwermx
And Paul Drucker as operator of R2’s dome and lights when I had to put down the remote control and man the camera. You guys Rock!