REFLECTOR: Expensive (but cool) video

[Mark Magee]

Geoff,
Very cool! I thought for a second your gear came up on you during a full stop. 
My biggest concern in mounting any of the photo-recon pods is their location such that if they can become detached into the prop arc, they most certainly will. No matter how well attached. Murphy has a way of releasing things considered secure by most. I was expecting video ending in a line-drive triple by the prop on your GoProHD. Glad that didn't happen.
Cool vid: be careful. 

Mark B. Magee
N34XL
Sent from IPhone 4S

On Sep 16, 2012, at 7:25 AM, Geoff Gerhardt <geoff.gerhardt at gmail.com> wrote:

> Guys,
> 
> How cool would it be to strap a gopro video camera to my nose gear so it retracts/deploys with the gear, right?  I found a spot to mount it and made it a secure as possible.  After mounting it, I put the plane up on jacks and exercised the gear - yep, still retracts/deploys fine.  Time to try it.  I have the "wifi backpack" for my gopro, so I can control it from the cockpit (turn it on/off, start/stop recording).  Once I got clearance to take off, I started recording.  Did a  couple takeoffs and landings, flew around for a half hour or so, then headed back to the hangar.  Once I got out, I noticed that while the camera case was still nicely attached to the nose gear, the camera case had opened up, and there was no camera inside it.  Apparently one of my landings wasn't smooth enough and it jarred the case open.  I called airport operations (ORH is class D) and told them to do a runway sweep.  A few minutes later, one of the airport ops guys came by my hanger with the camera in several pieces.
> 
> You can see how I had it mounted here. 
> http://thegerhardts.com/velocity/?p=573
> 
> Here's the video I was able to retrieve from the SD card.  You can see where the camera case popped open and the camera is just jiggling loose inside.  On the next landing, the case must have opened up all the way and the camera popped out.
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vE78J4ahlJ4
> 
> I love the whoosh sound the camera made when the nose gear dropped down. 
> 
> So, if you use a gopro - probably best to put a zip-tie around the case to make sure it stays closed - particularly if you mount it in a high-vibration place.  I've never had a problem with a gopro mount coming loose.
> 
> I sent the video to gopro's support folks - they gave me 20% off a new camera - better than a kick in the teeth.
> 
> Geoff
> 
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