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Ryan Hornback
08-14-2011, 08:50 PM
Hi fellow Pilots!

I recently bought a GoPro camera and am going to be using it to video my flying lessons, and hopefully my solo very soon. I was wondering if anyone had any tips to mounting it, or where I should place it in the plane.
Thanks for any adivice you can give! :cool:

-Ryan

Bill Greenwood
08-14-2011, 10:29 PM
Ryan, that's a great idea. If you can it may be good to have the camera look over your shoulder and show the instruments and of course the view out the window, that shows it as a pilot sees it and shows the attitude of the plane.

I have flown with some sophisticated flight schools that have expensive cameras, on in the top of the rudder that really shows the attitude of the plane and the horizon. They also have one in the wing tip that can show the pilot's face, and I didn't find that as usefull. They have sound which is very good. Good luck, Bill

teknosmurf
08-15-2011, 07:28 AM
I took a regular camera tripod, folded the legs and wire tied the whole thing to the back of my seats, right between the 2 seats. Doing this I can use the tripod head to point the camera for either outside views or something that will capture the instrument panel as well. It also has a telescoping neck to get above the occumpants heads and collapse down at the end of the flight if I don't want it in the way for the next flight. When it's collapsed, the tripod head and all goes down to the level of the seat so I can still put my arm back there if I desire.

If you look up my "Davis DA2A" videos on youtube you can see a couple examples of the results, one with more of an instrument view, and one with more of an outside view.

futurshox
08-15-2011, 11:22 AM
If you have a smooth surface above and behind your head, you could mount the camera hanging down.
Did you get the Motorsport version of the GoPro? If so, you should already have a nice suction cup mount.

I used my Contour like this, with a Fat Gecko mini (http://delkin.com/i-5829839-fat-gecko-mini-single-suction-camera-mount.html) and tripod adapter, stuck onto the canopy of this RV-6:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jSTUwUEE4U
I should note I wasn't in the plane, the camera was mounted where my head would have been...

To record audio, I use a little Sony MP3 recorder and an attenuation cable with a Y-splitter, into which I plug the headset cable. http://www.cdtsystems.com/audiocable.html

Hope this helps!

sdilullo
08-15-2011, 11:47 AM
I use a yoke mount screwed onto the frame bars in the Cub, connected via a RAM arm to a tripod mount. In the Cessnas, I replace the yoke mount with a RAM suction mount.

A few videos that show the results...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ex_F9Q87Mds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2G7E0DNGls

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZSrccvnAbo

wfelty
08-21-2011, 06:55 PM
I have an easier solution since I fly a Weight Shift Control Trike. I have one camera mounted slightly above and behind my head on the mast and one mounted near the right wing tip on a washout strut. With it, I record all flights and analyze all landings. It has greatly helped my landings. Examples below. Unfortunately, engine noise makes the forward movies waverer. I'm moving the camera to the front strut to get it further from the engine to see if that helps.
Try to get a wing tip mount for the most useful information on your landings.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mTh6VEDeZ4 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mTh6VEDeZ4)
http://www.youtube.com/wesfelty#p/a/u/2/130-umnmEuc