REFLECTOR: GoPro mounted on the nose gear

[Dave T Nelson]

Geoff, you are an extremely lucky man... What would have happened if that
camera had gone through your prop?

NEVER have anything on your airplane that isn't completely safety'd
ALWAYS think about anything and everything on your airplane as something
that's trying to come loose.... every part of that airplane and (certainly)
everything in your engine compartment... consider every part of that
airplane as doing everything it can to shake itself off and go through the
prop... and make sure it can't.

Watching your video, I got chills looking at the hill and trees on the
approach end of your runway 33 and thinking about what could have happened.
You had an expensive event - the loss of your camera - it could have been
so much worse.

Safety first!

Sorry if this sounds too preachy... after 20+ years of flying canard
pushers, we have lost pilots and friends over less.

Dave
                                                           
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 Subject: REFLECTOR: Expensive (but cool) video            
                                                           



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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