We started an RC flyers club on campus, and are currently building a heavy lift hexicopter for our Video Productions class.
If I had it to do all over again I would have had them start much smaller, like a blackout, or one of the many arduino based quads...We also have a number of micro Hubsan x4s...$40 on amazon for training pilots.
The hex has flown a few times...Suffered a major crash last week, (Got lost in the sun and flown into a tree and then fell onto a concrete walkway from about 40 feet up...)and due to lunar new years won't be fixed until late march, maybe April...
I think part of my issue is with the fact that the kids were really working from scratch with very little support, and they didn't/weren't able to do their research properly which has led to some issues.
Here is a link to the shopping list for the hex that we built. After the last crash we will have spent about 2K on the project through a grant.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...it?usp=sharing
Edoga