GoPro mounted to wingtip on an RV-7

[DakotaHawk]

I'm still having fun playing with my Christmas present. I mounted my GoPro camera on my wingtip to see what kind of video I could get. The mount is attached to the wingtip using two screws.

Max speed I saw during the flight was about 180mph, although my APRS track shows that I did 197mph at one point (that could be attributed to a tail wind?). I was doing some fairly tight turns and pulled 3.1 max g's.

Through the entire flight, the GoPro was steady. I was concerned about having this camera sticking out in the airflow and causing an out-of-trim problem, so I flew a slow pattern circuit - never exceeding 100mph, for the first couple of minutes. But after giving the aileron trim a couple of nudges, the trim wasn't an issue, so I headed off to the foothills to play around a little.

Here's the video...

(video link deleted by Dakotahawk)

[Bevan]

Very nice. Inspirational. Thanks for posting. Quick, back to wiring!

Bevan
RV7A

[rvmills]

Nice vid Scott! With the camera aimed slightly forward like that, it gives an interesting perspective to aileron rolls! Looked like big fun out there!

I saw you're coming to the WC Raven Formation Clinic in Madera in a few months...look forward to meeting you!! (And do bring the camera!)

Cheers,
Bob

[jsherblon]

Very cool - Can you give us more details on how it was mounted?

[DakotaHawk]

My camera mount is pretty hokey right now. The camera comes packaged in a plastic case with a 4" x 4" hard plastic base. I drilled two holes in the plastic base, removed two screws from my wing - wingtip, and used 1" 8-32 screws with large washers to attach the plastic base to the wing. I sandwiched a layer of light foam under the base to protect the wingtip paint.

The camera is monted at about a 45* angle to the airflow, so there may be some degree of streamlining. I put a pretty good force on the mounted camera using my calibrated forearm (version 1.0), and felt that the camera/mount could easily handle the 200mph wind loads imposed on it. In-flight tests seem to prove that this basic mount works just fine.

Sorry - no pictures.

[kevinh]

Cool video!

For a possibly easier approach you can modify one of their plastic mounts with a tinnerman washer. Very stable.

It is worth noting that a wingtip mount makes for some noticable yaw, so I don't do intentional spins with the camera installed here.

the post

my test video

[flyboy1963]

hey, had anyone tuft-tested their wing/fuselage etc, and then recorded that on video?
I saw someone who did the oil droplet flow testing, with coloured oil!...which was very informative.
I'd really like to see the flow over my flaps and stab, especially if considering VG's, which only need to be in the critical areas.

[N53LW]

How much is the cost of the camera, can you turn it on & off from the **** pit? How long can you record? This is way to cool, it doesn't give you the fish eye look. Have to have one for formation flying!

[kevinh]

Originally Posted by N53LW

How much is the cost of the camera, can you turn it on & off from the **** pit? How long can you record? This is way to cool, it doesn't give you the fish eye look. Have to have one for formation flying!

I think about $220 for the camera. Records about two hours of video, depending on size of flash. You can't control it from the cockpit.

[andre nunes]

Hey, I also made a video in my RV7 the same way. To watch it follow this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_P6Uispugw