Neil wrote:
I think the regulations are aimed at
a) being sure that the camera won’t fall off and land on someone’s head
b) being sure that somebody hasn’t made a stupid decision to attach a camera somewhere daft, like on a control surface.
I think the regulations were written when a camera was like this:
And regs have not kept pace with technology.
The good old “rule” not to use the radio when at the fuel pumps harks back to the time when aircraft had spark-gap transmitters, the rules about radios were written at a time when radios were bulky valve-things, and in some countries technically outlawed even carrying a mobile phone on an aircraft without a licence…
@JasonC wrote I think the new VIRB uses GoPro mounts.
100% correct
@JasonC wrote I think the new VIRB uses GoPro mounts.
bq.
bq. 100% correct
That’s a pity, the one thing I think Garmin did right which GoPro has yet to address is the mounts – they are fixed and, even inside the aircraft, cannot be moved unless you buy additional mounts. The original Garmin Virb mounts allowed you to loosen the fastener and spin the camera through 360°…..
The original Virb also came with a Virb-to-GoPro mount adaptor, so you could use both Garmin’s own mounts, or the much cheaper 3rd party GoPro ones.
The UK CAA document applies to cameras mounted inside the cabin. They require a Licenced Engineer inspection and approval. It only covers Annex2 aircraft not on an LAA permit.
The LAA have now issued a document requiring inspection and approval by an LAA Inspector. This applies to a Go-pro suction mounted inside the cabin, etc.
I was looking at some action cams yesterday.
Comparing like for like, the Sony FDR-1000V compares with the Go Pro 4, not with the older and significantly smaller Go Pro.
Go Pro 4
Roughly in proportion, here is the Sony
Of course if you show the GoPro out of the case and without the foot then the difference is reduced but it looks as though the Sony does indeed present a little less frontal area
I think the answer to the question is made clear by the volume of videos shot without incident. The difference between the area presented by a Go Pro and the Sony being insignificant as empirically demonstrated.
For the record, here are some considerations about GoPro and cockpit footage, from my experiance.
I have been looking into ways to extend my GPH4B’s battery. I have bought a pair of batteries from Wasabi. These batteries are like the originals but a lot cheaper and it’s always nice to have a pair of them around, just in case. They also come with a nice double charger.
Since the Black model does not have the screen at the back that the inferior Silver model has (GoPro, why do that???) you must have the WiFi on to place the camera and frame it. BUT on my last trip LGMT-LGSK 2 days ago (1.5hr flight) the WiFi could not pair with my smartphone. I tried all different tricks and nothing. This took me 10 minutes under the Greek midday heat, so I was so frustrated that I left it off and only switched it on before landing for the usual video.
Now, I confess that my GoPro will last 45 minutes with WiFi on and capturing at the same time. This is not an option of course.
Other alternatives for the GoPro are some add-on batteries that claim to extend the life to 5-8 hours.
Limefuel makes one, but is out of stock some time now.
Brunton is another option.
They come with their own back housing. Of course the GoPro will be like a big brick now…
Another option is to use a usual battery pack that can give 1A/5V to keep up with the camera (I think). The camera must be in the skeleton case and there are some new skeleton cases that are pretty nice, but make sure the mini USB jack actually fits (mini USB is more “fat” than micro USB).
The thing with GoPro cameras is the lack of image stabilization. This means that, in my case anyway, there are times the camera shows that little vibration that is evident in full power, even after using the GoPro suction mount, which I guessed would be one of the good ones.
In our C172 the vibration data is as follows:
Top of the windshield: a lot (full/medium power), front windshield side area, left/right, where the perspex looks sturdier: some vibration at full power, also wobbling. Beneath the cockpit light on the roof: nearly none, but you record half cockpit, half outside and you must not forget to tell the GoPro to take exposure data from the middle of the frame if you want to capture the outside and leave the inside black).
To remove this vibration you will have to use some software afterwards. Thankfully GoPro Studio can eliminate the fisheye effect by itself.
Another strange thing is that GoPro Studio must load the video, convert it to another format and then, after your own modifications (they are plenty and very nice effect-wise) produce the final video. So you need more than 2 times the free space of the original video (and an SSD to speed things up). For a 10 minute video that is, say, 4GB + 4GB + your final cut, which may be just 500MB.
Last of all since I record only from inside the cockpit, you also need an ND filter, preferably ND8, to remove the prop and make it nicer (for bright sunlight, in other lighting conditions this may not be needed). The cheap eBay ones work fine and come in versions attachable to the housing or simply to the camera’s lens if you are using a skeleton case. In the latter case make sure to buy a very slim filter to avoid having vignetting effects on the video edges IF you record in SuperView mode.
The following video shows 4K/SuperView with an ND4 slim filter to reduce the prop effect.
During my PPL course our instructor on principles of flight who I a self employed test pilot talked about this matter. He said he would never even dare to put a camera somewhere on a wing due to the danger of aerolastic flutter and wondered how many pilots still do it knowing that you change the mass, the resonance frequency and the aerodynamics by doing it.
