Does your FBO or flight school allow GoPro's & Drift style cameras?

CFI A&P

CFI A&P

Exploring the world one toilet at a time.
Do you and can you guys/ girls mount cameras on your rental airplanes?

Yes, no or yes when staff is not looking?

Here's why I ask: Ran in to this one today... I was called out to loosen the oil dipstick (that's another story- Lycoming doesn't require 100 ft-lbs on the dipstick!) and happen to notice the GoPro with a home made mount attached to the airframe. This renter was attempting to fly an airplane with a GoPro mounted in a manner that would have obstructed a flight control and damage that flight control surface on a school airplane today. After a closer look, I told them that he would have to remove it. He was dumbfounded that it was going to interfere & damage the airplane.

I've mounted GoPro's and Drift HD170's before, after careful consideration of the location and what's going to happen if it comes loose. But 10 people will have 10 different ways to mount them, and some of those mounts won't fly very well.

Anyone else ran in to this?
 
Where was it mounted? The school I taught at allowed it. Most of our aerobatic aircraft had hard mounts already on the planes for a GoPro.
 
I saw one mounted on a Glassair with the suction cup mount once! :eek: The thing can pull dents, but I still wouldn't trust it.

Would definitely rig up an inspection panel instead. I think that's what most people do. I imagine it wouldn't be a good idea with some of them. The panels held on with 3 screws would make me nervous.
 
My school went nuts with video camera policy. All external mounts must be approved by management. All footage shot cannot be used for anything but training purposes and must be deleted in 5 days. Oh lawyers.
 
I've heard that the chief pilot of another 135 op up here in Alaska doesn't have any problem with it on their aircraft...I saw some footage that one of their guys shot with the gopro mounted to the foot peg on a chieftain, which was a pretty freaking sweet angle.
 
Roger Roger said:
I've heard that the chief pilot of another 135 op up here in Alaska doesn't have any problem with it on their aircraft...I saw some footage that one of their guys shot with the gopro mounted to the foot peg on a chieftain, which was a pretty freaking sweet angle.
Click to expand...
Might that be the one on TV?
 
I've seen some of your videos on InvertedCast, Mark. Good Stuff. The flight school owner isn't against cameras, he's against not so intelligent mounting and behavior that usually occurs after a camera install.

It would be just a pain in the .... to oversee every mounting but clearly it may become needed because of situations like this.
 
Anything on a control surface is generally a really bad idea...


If it's attached with nuts'n bolts (modified inspection panel) on a certified aircraft, it's not legal without a STC. You might have a nicer FSDO than we do, but that's the word.

Zip ties and duct tape people.... If you use the adhesive mount. Blue 3M tape on the paint, then stick the mount to the blue tape. Reinforce with zip ties. I will safety wire the body to the mount just in case.
 
TwoTwoLeft said:
If it's attached with nuts'n bolts (modified inspection panel) on a certified aircraft, it's not legal without a STC. You might have a nicer FSDO than we do, but that's the word.
Click to expand...
I would disagree on that, but sometimes it's easier just to not fight that battle. Even if the FSDO doesn't care you've got to be careful that air loads on the camera aren't going to put excessive stress on the skin around the plate. Which I would imagine they would most of the time. Wing skin is usually pretty thin.

The clamp mount for the gopro works real good on various foot pegs and landing gear struts.
 
Hacker15e said:
I find the GoPro fascination kind of silly.
Click to expand...

Try hanging out with skydivers. They take it to an absurd level. "Hey dude, we got some sweet shots of me looking at you, looking at me, looking at you, holding hands in a circle! Sick!"

about_us_6.jpg
 
jrh said:
Try hanging out with skydivers. They take it to an absurd level. "Hey dude, we got some sweet shots of me looking at you, looking at me, looking at you, holding hands in a circle! Sick!"

about_us_6.jpg
Click to expand...
Skydivers sound like they talk like heli-skiers...
Hey brah, thanks for the ride, we're gonna go to the heli and ride some sick lines, shred some pow man
 
The GoPro camera's have a lot of surface fighting the slip stream compared to other brands.

2iau43a.jpg


 
fholbert said:
The GoPro camera's have a lot of surface fighting the slip stream compared to other brands.

2iau43a.jpg
Click to expand...

ZOMG! Did you have a structural engineer analyze that mount? Did you get an field approval for that? Does your insurance company have a clause in your policy permitting external loads!?!?

You are DANGEROUS!

dangerous.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top