RocketAviator Posted April 17, 2015 Report Posted April 17, 2015 Well I guess I'm officially a candidate for the CB member of the week! I purchased 3 knock off GoPro cameras from Amazon So far the one I played with tonight worked as advertised. Will machine a mounting method, hope to install & test this weekend. I see several recommended software for editing, will have to learn. All 3 camers 4 spare batteries cases & a number of mounting attachments, for less than the cost of 1 GoPro or Vib! My buddies Pinto & gsxrpilot may not talk to me though....
chrisk Posted April 17, 2015 Report Posted April 17, 2015 I have a Polaroid xs100. I'm happy for my relatively infrequent use. The go pro videos do seem a bit nicer.
ryoder Posted April 17, 2015 Report Posted April 17, 2015 So it's legal to bolt just to the outside? How about bolting another pitot tube for an experimental avionics stack as backup? I wonder if that is legal?
Hank Posted April 17, 2015 Report Posted April 17, 2015 It's legal if the mounting is not permanent. Thus the popularity of screwing them into inspection panels or attaching to tie down rings. Some people make "replacement" inspection panels to mount the camera to so that the original can be put back in without leaving a screw hole. A second pitot tube would be possible, but the tubing and assorted other stuff in the cabin would likely make an inspector deem it a permanent mount and thus in need of STC or DAR approval, to say nothing of logbook descriptions, IA inspection, etc.
gsxrpilot Posted April 17, 2015 Report Posted April 17, 2015 Let's just hope that knock off doesn't get knocked off by the high speeds of your Rocket. :-)
Houman Posted April 17, 2015 Report Posted April 17, 2015 Where would you recommend buying an inspection panels for the Mooney from ?, would that be directly at Mooney or are there 3rd party resellers ?, I would like to use that for the camera mounting in the future. Thanks !
Hank Posted April 17, 2015 Report Posted April 17, 2015 Check with Mooney, salvage yards, or you can do Owner Supplied parts. Check with your IA for details on the latter.
Marauder Posted April 17, 2015 Report Posted April 17, 2015 Also check with our own Sanford without a son Alan (n74795). He has stripped down a few Mooney for parts and may have a few laying around. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
RocketAviator Posted April 17, 2015 Author Report Posted April 17, 2015 I snuck out to the airport this morning and had a phone conversation with my good friend Pinto who has had a lot of experience with mounting and using his Vib & GoPro on his plane. The only guy I know who might have had more is my friend gsxrpilot. I have seen both Pinto & gsxrpilot mounts including a sticky mount on the wing (something I am not going to do). I am thinking I would prefer my 3 cameras available mainly on the inside of the plane but also on the outside in some rare occasions (under wing, tail both high and low). Mostly I expect to have them inside the plane. The outside mounts on the tail will be for over the plane and under the plane views. I particularly want to see the landing gear and runway on a landing. Pinto cautioned about the oil spray from the engine. Working on mounting possibly up on the side of the tail where there are some screws now to avoid the oil spray on the lower mount. The upper mount I had installed nut inserts with my new ILS antennas anticipating a camera mount so I have 4 good screw mounts available on my vertical stabilizer in front of the ILS antennas. On my plane there are a number of physical mechinical screw / bolt down locations on the under side of the wings and the tail. I do not expect to have to modify anything except changing out a screw etc. #1 use will be for formation flying videos. #2 use will be for general flying videos. #3 use will be for outside viewing of landing and gear etc. I have the wifi but do not intend on using it. I am also in the camp of turn it on and leave it. The exception to that is if I have a co-pilot during a formation flight and I switch with lead or a wingman and the cameras are inside the plane the co-pilot can re-aim the cameras accordingly. Looking for a good means of infinitly varialbe position arms such as ball joint rods etc. I believe I have decided to try the cameras mounted on the inside center compass bar and one each on the shoulder strap anchor. Will see how it all works out.
ryoder Posted April 17, 2015 Report Posted April 17, 2015 It's legal if the mounting is not permanent. Thus the popularity of screwing them into inspection panels or attaching to tie down rings. Some people make "replacement" inspection panels to mount the camera to so that the original can be put back in without leaving a screw hole. A second pitot tube would be possible, but the tubing and assorted other stuff in the cabin would likely make an inspector deem it a permanent mount and thus in need of STC or DAR approval, to say nothing of logbook descriptions, IA inspection, etc. Here is my idea. Install a Bluetooth enabled pitot tube on the tie down and hook it up to an ilevil ahrs pushing data to an iPad. Of course there are no bluetooth pitot tubes.
Releew Posted April 18, 2015 Report Posted April 18, 2015 I used a stainless steel hose clamp conformed to the step and riveted on a spare go pro mount. Easily removable and very steady. You can see a few videos at eleewr YouTube. Have a few with the camera mounted on a 172 strut too. Rick
StinkBug Posted April 18, 2015 Report Posted April 18, 2015 I have a bunch of gopro sticky mounts on various spots on my plane. One of them is on the bottom of the tail a foot or so forward of the tie down. No issues with oil whatsoever, but my plane doesn't blow a lot of oil to begin with so YMMV. I also picked up a go-pro knock off a couple years ago and was fairly satisfied with the video quality for the price. After having it sit on a shelf for a while it's cheapness became apparent. The latch holding the door of the case shut broke....just while sitting there, and all the mounts started breaking just from tightening the bolts that hold them together. It became readily apparent that the plastic used was of a far inferior quality. The camera itself still works fine, but I cant actually do much with it since all the mounts fell apart. Wherever you mount yours, make sure that if it decides to break free it's not gonna bang into your plane as it departs. This is not something I worry about with GoPros, but after this experience I'm very wary of using the cheapo cameras on the outside of the plane.
gsxrpilot Posted April 19, 2015 Report Posted April 19, 2015 I've also been searching for the right fully articulating, but low profile mounting options. I've collected quite a few, but haven't had the time to try them out yet. I'll bring them all to Kerrville for the clinic and we can all play around with them.
Hank Posted January 7, 2017 Report Posted January 7, 2017 (edited) I've been seeing ads like this a lot recently. Makes me wonder if they could be rigged to work on our planes? They are designed for First Person video links to RC aircraft in the air. It may be small enough to fit inside the wingtip lens. Edited January 7, 2017 by Hank
carusoam Posted January 8, 2017 Report Posted January 8, 2017 Interesting... Small enough to be collocated with landing and taxi lights or wing tip light area. The long body has a lot of plexiglas that could house something like that... Thinking out loud... Best regards, -a-
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