lluciani
Active Member
I bought a MD80 "Spycam" on eBay for $12 and mounted it on my RV8's wing tip. I made a small aluminum mount and screwed it in to the existing plate nuts. Here's a short movie I made a couple of months ago: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06tyP-Jj834.
The camera has enough battery to last about 1 hour. The micro SD Card I have is good for about 25 minutes of video. Since I have to start recording before starting the plane, there is barely enough time to get out to the practice area.
The hammerheads at the end of the video are not as vertical as I intended for them to be. They seemed fine when I was doing them.
On the subject of hammerheads, I have been doing them in my RV8 for about a year. I do them because there is a hammerhead in the IAC Sportsman sequence and because they are really a lot of fun.
I have never had a problem with hammerheads until a month ago. I did one where I unintentionally waited too long before starting the pivot. I think I was also pitched beyond vertical. When pressed down on the rudder pedal there was no resistance and the plane didn't respond. It stayed more or less vertical at full power and full left rudder for what seemed to be a couple of seconds. It then fell over on its back and started to rotate at the same time. As the nose passed through the horizon I chopped power and centered the controls and rudder. Slightly opposite rudder as the nose dropped down immediately stopped the rotation. I eased back on the stick to go vertical down and then pulled to level off.
I love doing hammerheads. Still, I will only do them wearing a parachute, at fwd CG (i.e. solo in my RV8) and with lots of recent spin practice.
The camera has enough battery to last about 1 hour. The micro SD Card I have is good for about 25 minutes of video. Since I have to start recording before starting the plane, there is barely enough time to get out to the practice area.
The hammerheads at the end of the video are not as vertical as I intended for them to be. They seemed fine when I was doing them.
On the subject of hammerheads, I have been doing them in my RV8 for about a year. I do them because there is a hammerhead in the IAC Sportsman sequence and because they are really a lot of fun.
I have never had a problem with hammerheads until a month ago. I did one where I unintentionally waited too long before starting the pivot. I think I was also pitched beyond vertical. When pressed down on the rudder pedal there was no resistance and the plane didn't respond. It stayed more or less vertical at full power and full left rudder for what seemed to be a couple of seconds. It then fell over on its back and started to rotate at the same time. As the nose passed through the horizon I chopped power and centered the controls and rudder. Slightly opposite rudder as the nose dropped down immediately stopped the rotation. I eased back on the stick to go vertical down and then pulled to level off.
I love doing hammerheads. Still, I will only do them wearing a parachute, at fwd CG (i.e. solo in my RV8) and with lots of recent spin practice.