The Freefly Alta family (Alta 6 hexacopter and Alta 8 octocopter) are American professional heavy-lift cinema drones built to carry MoVI gimbals and cinema cameras top- or bottom-mounted. Discontinued 2022 in favor of the Alta X.
| Country | USA |
|---|---|
| Subcategory | Multirotor |
| Price | ~$11,500-17,500 (Alta 6/8) |
| Subtype | Heavy-lift cinema multirotor |
| Role | Aerial imaging |
| Class | Commercial small UAS |
| Classification | Commercial heavy-lift multirotor |
| Mission | aerial cinematography, heavy-lift payload carriage |
| Datalink | FrSky/2.4 GHz RC link + telemetry |
| Variants | Alta (Alta 6); Alta 8; Alta 8 Pro; Alta X (successor) |
| MTOW (kg) | 18.1 |
| Operators | Commercial film / production users |
| Frame type | Hexacopter |
| Length (m) | 1.27 |
| Propulsion | Electric (6 or 8 brushless motors) |
| Range (km) | 1.6 |
| Wingspan (m) | 1.27 |
| Combat-proven | No |
| Export status | Commercial product |
| Launch method | VTOL |
| Autonomy level | Manual/assisted with autonomous modes |
| Endurance (min) | 15 |
| Recovery method | VTOL |
| Year introduced | 2015 |
| Max payload (kg) | 9.1 |
| Max speed (km/h) | 64 |
| Standard sensors | camera/gimbal payload (user-supplied) |
| Production status | Discontinued |
| Airframe / lift type | Multirotor – hex |
| Control / autonomy level | RC line-of-sight – VLOS, Semi-autonomous (human-on-the-loop) |
| Domain | Aerial (UAV/UAS) |
| Mission / use case – civil | Photography / film |
| Origin / supply chain | COTS (DJI, Autel, Skydio), Military-grade |
| Propulsion | Electric (LiPo / Li-ion) |
| Range / endurance | Very close range (<5 km, <1 hr) |
| Signature / detectability | RCS – small, RF-emitting |
| Speed regime | Medium (50–150 km/h) |
| Threat vector | Smuggling / payload delivery |
| Weight / class | Class I – Mini (2–20 kg), FAA <25 kg (Part 107) |