I was on the low side there. It’s a short runway and lots of traffic so “minimum occupancy”. Should have kept a few knots on top nevertheless.
Apart from that, some stall horns on the 40s are very sensitive and sound even during take off at 75kts. Apparently one can even select different sound pitches ;)
Vapp is 66kts @940kg and 72kts @1100kg. I tried for 72 and had 68kts for a second. Diamonds are very benign and forgiving airplanes, which helps.
stall horn
Outside video:
Interesting, it seems they’re flown at faster approach speeds than I’m used to from the Cessnas and Pipers. One day I might get to fly one =)
Thanks for all the feedback. Over on the MMOPA forum there is a pirep of an externally mounted Garmin 360 camera being used on an Eclipse, FL410 at 360Kts, so I plan to try the GoPro Fusion up at FL270 next week and hopefully not damage it. :)
I will report back.
E
So…tried the Gopro Fusion camera at FL270. OAT was -13oC.
The battery lasted about 5 minuets after getting established in the cruise, due to the temperature no doubt.
Battery and camera came back to life after a normal re charge at room temperature once back on the ground. No lasting damage appears to have been done which is pretty impressive given I am not using any protective casing or temperature shielding.
I am now exploring alternative power sources. :-)
I have posted some trip reports with additional footage obtained from the camera over in the trips section.
E
The problem with practically all consumer IT gear shutting down in freezing temps is caused by the battery monitoring software, which decides the battery has much less capacity at low temps, and proceeds to shut down the product. My last-1 phone, Samsung S7, would drop from 100% to 10% in minutes, with the phone in a waist bag, when on a ski slope in say -20C. Plugging in an external power pack (which evidently didn’t have that “protection”) made it work again…
External power may thus solve the problem, and wrapping some insulation around the camera (say 5mm of polystyrene) enabling its internally generated heat to keep it a bit warmer, may also help.
Most electronics works fine down to -25C or colder, so long as the humidity is low so you don’t get internal condensation.
Thanks Peter,
That’s good info.
I am currently modifying a separate battery pack to power a USB connection and see how that works out.
E
I am persevering with the GoPro Fusion.
I hooked up a large capacity external battery to it (strapped inside the wing), and it survived a flight at FL270 for just over one hour at OAT of -17oC.
Write up and footage here
I have a longer flight planned to Phuket next week which will be just under 3 hours.
I hooked up a large capacity external battery to it (strapped inside the wing)
The footage is nice but I am not sure that is a good idea to have a huge battery in the wing where you can not reach it. Just brainstorming but maybe it would be safer to power the camera from some power source in the wing like nav lights. Maybe someone could even design a nav light with a camera much like the nav light with ADSB?
What would be the legal process for powering an external camera from the nav light supply?
It is a great idea, because you can turn it off from the cockpit if you see flames shooting out of the camera 
It also enables the camera to have a heated faceplate (not viable on a 360 of course). I played with it here but never finished it.
The gotcha would be that you must remember to turn on the nav lights, because if you forget and the battery in the camera goes flat (which will happen in minutes in subzero temps) you will not be able to restart it.
Personally I would come at this from a different angle. I would probably put together an array of smartphone lenses from old phones and connect them through fibre optics into the aircraft and plug them into an Ipad or similar through a black magic studio digitizer.
That way the batteries could be kept within the aircraft and very little power would be needed anyway.
I believe BBC Bristol or Oxford Scientific used a similar, but non 360° set up to film inside a termite mound. Although I think a French production company also used a similar system for night filming on a series called The Village, but I think that was a coproduction with a UK company so I have no details on this. Both produced some exceptional footage.
