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GoPro mounting

air cooled dad
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air cooled dad

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Ok.  Just splurged for a GoPro Hero 5.  Bought it for our upcoming trip to Hawaii. Snorkeling and other adventures.  Now I'm wondering about mounting it on the Mooney.  Suction cups seem kinda scary.  Removing the tie down ring seems good.  What are you all doing to keep $400 from flying off the aircraft.  I'm sure the video of it falling would be cool if it was ever recovered!!!  I've searched through a few threads but haven't found the "hey do this dummy!" thread yet.  Thank for any ideas and suggestions. 

Jason

 

  • Like 1
TonyK Rising Star

TonyK

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I bought the non swivel mount and it seems very solid so far.  It doesn't fit my tie down rings but works well on the tail.

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gsxrpilot Grand Master

gsxrpilot

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+1 for the GoPro sticky mount. I've used them high on the vertical stab, on the forward tips of the horizontal stab, wing tips facing forward and inward, and tail skid. As long as the surface is clean when you put it on, it will be good for 6 months to a year of use. I've used them to hold a GoPro 2, 3, 4, and 5. The early GoPro's were much heavier and larger. I've still never had one come off my 252 with airspeeds near 200 knots.

Whatever mount you choose, don't safety wire or tether it to the plane. If the mount does come loose, you want it to fall away, not be swinging around beating the shit out of whatever it was attached to.

  • Like 3
xcrmckenna Veteran

xcrmckenna

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Sticky pads. Tested to 70lbs of force without coming off. You'll need to be doing 350kts for it to come off from drag.

If you put 3M aluminum tape down first then the sticky pad mount on the tape it will save having to take the sticky pad off the paint down the road. When the uv rays make it brittle and the ring mounts break off and all that is left is the pad.


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midlifeflyer Grand Master

midlifeflyer

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20 hours ago, gsengle said:

Buy from these guys. Use tie down rings for exterior. Done.

 

http://mypilotpro.com/

I agree. I cobbled together a DIY that's similar, so I'm fairly confident his will work well on a Mooney.  FWIW, this is mine on a J. Hope to try it soon on an Ovation to see if it hold up to the extra speed.

 

gsengle Grand Master

gsengle

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I agree. I cobbled together a DIY that's similar, so I'm fairly confident his will work well on a Mooney.  FWIW, this is mine on a J. Hope to try it soon on an Ovation to see if it hold up to the extra speed.
 


Mine worked fine at over 200 knots in the descent on my ovation.


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  • Like 1
midlifeflyer Grand Master

midlifeflyer

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1 hour ago, revwatch said:

I thought I would post something actually helpful...if you plan on recording straight out front buy a filter so you don't see the prop distortion going on.

https://www.nflightcam.com/collections/filters/products/nflightcam-propeller-filter-for-gopro-hero5-black

Don't forget the flip side. The same darkening effect that causes the prop to blur can also mute colors. I see a lot of YouTubers foregoing the filter, apparently for that reason.

  • Like 1
gsxrpilot Grand Master

gsxrpilot

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As with most things in aviation, if it's for airplanes it's over priced.  The filter is really nice to have if shooting through the prop, but just order one from Amazon and it will be less than 25% of what nflightcam is asking for the same filter.  Any Neutral Density filter will work. Also that huge mount from mypilotpro is way too expensive and overkill as well. For some reason airplane people think they need something stronger than what anyone else might ever need just because its on an airplane. Never mind that camera mounts that stick fine on F1 cars and Formula Drag Cars, are MUCH stronger than anything needed for airplanes. Suction mounts do have issues if going high from the pressure difference. But even they work easily for the first 5000 feet or so. I regularly use the standard suction mount up to pattern altitude when I'm trying out a new position. It's easy to stick on and move around. When I get the view I want, then pull the suction cup off and put down a sticky mount. I change the mounts once a year whether I need to or not.

The GoPro sticky mounts are cheap and work perfectly fine on our airplanes. If they need to come off, just use a piece of dental floss or fishing line to cut them off, then a little heat from a hair dryer and the residue will roll off with your thumb. It will not mar the paint nor is it difficult to take off. 

Another issue with the mypilotpro is that it is a long mount. The more distance there is between the airplane and the camera equals vibration and the jello effect. The 4Session and the 5 have a flush mount that with a sticky mount keeps the camera tight to the airplane further reducing vibration.

I've been mounting cameras on my Mooneys for the last four years. I've used every mount out there. Nothing beats the GoPro sticky for security, positioning, ease of use, etc.

  • Like 2
Yetti Grand Master

Yetti

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If you were going for a tie down ring....   some 2" angle alum and 1/4" fender washer.   A 1/2-20 bolt and a wing nut. 3/8 if you want to be fancy.  Camera mounts are 1/4-20 also..  Drill two holes in the 2" angle alum.   Pro trick from quad copters is to use the fuzzy side of Velcro as a vibration dampener.   Just stick some to the where the camera is going to be.

Can all be purchased on the fastener/hardware isle of the home improvement store.   Probably about $10.00

  • Like 1
midlifeflyer Grand Master

midlifeflyer

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12 hours ago, Yetti said:

If you were going for a tie down ring....   some 2" angle alum and 1/4" fender washer.   A 1/2-20 bolt and a wing nut. 3/8 if you want to be fancy.  Camera mounts are 1/4-20 also..  Drill two holes in the 2" angle alum.   Pro trick from quad copters is to use the fuzzy side of Velcro as a vibration dampener.   Just stick some to the where the camera is going to be.

Can all be purchased on the fastener/hardware isle of the home improvement store.   Probably about $10.00

Before I went to the Rockler clamp, I used a wing nut. No matter how tight I made it, the mount would rotate in the under wing tiedown ring. No problem at 172 or PA28 speeds, but my other video showing the camera pointed straight down was the inevitable result in the M20J. The added pressure of the Rockler, the most expensive part of my DIY, made all the difference.  And, yes, everything other then the Rockler was from a regular hardware store. And the angle aluminum was an angle brace with the holes already in it.

Yetti Grand Master

Yetti

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I was improving this mount in my mind on my bike ride last night.   I would bet a beer can coozie (neophreme)  applied with contact cement to the clamping part would help alot.  And add a lock washer to the wing nut.  The bigger the bolt the more pressure you can apply.

midlifeflyer Grand Master

midlifeflyer

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4 hours ago, Yetti said:

I was improving this mount in my mind on my bike ride last night.   I would bet a beer can coozie (neophreme)  applied with contact cement to the clamping part would help alot.  And add a lock washer to the wing nut.  The bigger the bolt the more pressure you can apply.

You'd think so, wouldn't you? So did I. Neoprene is slippery. Pieces of inner tube or rubber washers are better. And, of course, lock washers. The wing nut* never loosened. After the flight, with the camera pointed straight down, I tried to (re)tighten the wing nut  It wouldn't budge in that direction. Still as tight as wen we started. From my experimentation, the problem was the lateral pressure being placed on the tiedown. You may be far stronger than I but I'm not sure how you compare a hand-tightened wing nut with the ~400 lbs of pressure pressure produced by a cam clamp . There's a reason these type of clamps (albeit smaller) are used to hold the front tires on bicycles rather than wing nuts. It was well worth the $7 added on to the$7 spent on the other parts (if we don't count all the experimentation money ;))

(*My DIY uses a wing nut on the opposite end of the carriage bolt from the cam clamp, but it's the cam clamp that prepuces the pressure to hold it in place)

gsxrpilot Grand Master

gsxrpilot

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6 hours ago, John Myers said:

How easy is the sticky pad to remove?

30 seconds with a piece of dental floss or fishing line... then another 30 seconds to roll off the residue if you have a heat source like a hair dryer. Without the heat, it takes a couple of minutes rubbing with your thumb to get the residue off.  All in all, very easy.  

INA201 Experienced

INA201

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Sticky mount. They have the curved and flat just use the correct one and you'll be fine. Just FYI in the preMooney era when I had an Archer I had one mounted on the wing and one on the leading edge of the stabilator.  FAA fellow spotted the stabilator mount and gave me a call. He wanted the stabilator mount removed(control surface) and a photo copy of an A&P endorsed logbook entry for the wing mount. I guess he could've made a bigger deal out of it and used it as an excuse for a full ramp check but fortunately I was not available at the airport.:D

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