The vast majority of consumer-level drones on the market right now are either quadcopters or hexacopters: multi-rotor UAVs designed for vertical takeoff and landing. Parrot has been making them since its first AR.Drone in 2010, but opted to go in a different direction with the Disco: a fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that flies very differently from the others.
Parrot’s pedigree in this area is not without precedent, as the company has made fixed-wing drones for commercial and agricultural purposes in the past few years. But this one isn’t for farmers or land surveyors – it’s designed specifically for drone enthusiasts, amateur filmmakers, and everyone in between, so we took it to the skies to see how it stacks up against the average quadcopter.
Design
We got hands-on time with the Disco in Palm Springs back in August, flying it in a more controlled environment with Parrot reps close by. We covered the basics of the drone at that time, but here’s a quick refresher. Sporting a wingspan of 45-inches and a depth of 22-inches, the 1.6-pound body is made of expanded Polypropylene (EPP) foam and carbon tubes for reinforcement. There’s a sole propeller in the rear to give it lift, with winglet tips on the wings protruding up for better steering.
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