Air is an entirely different beast from ground (or water) design. Everything affects the way an aerial drone flies. We mean literally everything. Let us take a look.
Weight doesn't just affect the ability of a drone to get airborne. That much is obvious. Let's take an example from my experience. In the following image, you'll see a monster-sized fixed wing drone (the Skywalker X-8) with a nearly 8-foot wingspan, sitting on a slingshot-style launcher (known as a jetapult):
I built this drone in 2011. I thought I was really smart. The maximum payload for takeoff is 3.2 kg. So, I packed it full of batteries because I wanted this drone to stay in the air for extended periods of time. It flew beautifully when I was on the sticks. The first time I tested it on autonomous flight, the wings (literally) blew right off the plane, and it turned into a very expensive lawn-dart. It was completely totalled. So, what happened?
I failed to take into account g-force. G...