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Belly Cam


FlyingMonkey

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... I land perfectly now that the quirks of the plane were figured out...

 

Few human beings can make that claim. Its good to hear of your progress but maybe as you get 1,000 landings logged you will adjust that opinion. Now that you have made it we need to see a video :)

 

You may have figured out the plane's quirks but the weather will continue to be a variable that will throw you a surprise from time to time.

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I mounted mine same on the belly with the suction cup - 110 knots and that camera was so secure i had to use alot of strength to remove the suction.. (i did have a safety wire going to the luggage area just incase though). I would post the awesome video I took however, I am still working on reducing the vibration. Was this video edited with antishake?

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I mounted mine same on the belly with the suction cup - 110 knots and that camera was so secure i had to use alot of strength to remove the suction.. (i did have a safety wire going to the luggage area just incase though). I would post the awesome video I took however, I am still working on reducing the vibration. Was this video edited with antishake?

 

No, I never use anti-shake, because the slight blurring it induces annoys me more than the shaking. It might have had little shake because of the lack of wind that day. Where do you mount yours? Mine was pretty far back by the ELT antenna; I imagine the farther forward it is, the more shake you will get from engine vibration.

 

I do have a lot of shake when I mount under the wing. I am planning to make some thin rubber isolators to slide in the joints on the GoPro mount to try to reduce some of the engine & airframe vibration. That might make it worse from a wind shake standpoint though, we'll see.

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snapback.pngGravityKnight, on 15 December 2013 - 07:58 PM, said:

 

Now that you mention it. I was flying a CTLS today (usually fly, and much prefer the CTSW, but it's broke) and I noticed I was flaring a fair amount "harder" in the LS vs. the SW to arrest the fall. It has been a few months since I flew the LS, and now days I'm pretty in tune with the SW and the difference between the two planes is a lot more noticeable now. In my opinion there is noticeable amount of difference between these two planes in general...

 

the major difference is the tail. the SW has a small tail and elevator. never flown one. the CTLSi has to be willfully and intentionally flared with distinct back pull on the stick or the nose wheel will touch first and thats when the big trouble starts and ends.

 

 

The CTLSi is a bit heavier in the engine too. Morden has an SW so if he really wants to see what happens when the nose is not pulled up, he should try an LSi.

 

 

I got to thinking about what I wrote.... I believe this particular LS flies so much different than the SW I fly because the LS has a lot less prop pitch. They de-pitched it because up here (airport 6200 ft) the DA during the summer is usually 10k+ and the LS didn't climb with 2 people/fuel worth a poop.

 

I believe the de-pitched prop acts as an air brake and causes it to lose speed a lot faster causing the flare to come sooner, and more aft stick required for a smooth touchdown. To give you guys an idea, flaps at -6, flat and level wide open it hits 5700 pretty fast (where I backed it off), where as the SW is actually maybe not pitched quite enough only seeing about 5350-5400 in the same config. Somewhere in the middle of the two is probably where it would be best at this altitude.

 

Makes for two noticeably different flying airplanes... Honestly the LS offers "more" capability this way, you can really drop it in and get it down fast on a short field where this particular SW wants to float a while..... interesting stuff.

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Prop pitch should be around 5600 - 5650 WOT for flat and level at your average altitude for overall best performance with a ground adjustable prop. We have done so many test here over the years with many types of props it's ridiculous.

Mine turns 5650 and is faster than someone set at 5400 by a long shot. We just had one the other day. He was set for 5500 and mine maxed at 5675 and I pulled away. Landing length should be more or less pilot skill set between two CT's and flaps are not always what you think they are. Some flaps settings are not what the actually angle really is. I have reset many to actual flap angles that are seen on the board in the cockpit. Prop shouldn't make one stall any more or less provide that both are set the same. If one turns more rpm on landing or one less then distance will be affected. If anyone has a ground adjustable prop on a Rotax that only gets 5300 rpm WOT then it is over propped for your particular flying environment.

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I think the 'arm' i have attached to the go pro was too long (multiple attachments) which allows the gopro to shake quite a bit. Plus, i was getting the 'lines' from some vibration. It was a quick attachment right after i had seen your video and i didnt take time to do it properly. Could be also be that it is the first edition gopro that has gotten quite beat up over the years. (It would take rides on my learning RC flights) Time for a new one - hey, perfect timing-Merry Christmas to me. haha. and a Merry Christmas to ya'll.

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my kids got me a hero 3 for christmas. i know nothing about these cameras. is this a good model to mount on the round bar overhead in the cockpit? it came with a mounting bracket that will clamp on there very nicely. are you guys then using your smart phone to control it remotely? it didnt come with any suction cup mounting apparatus.

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I think mounting overhead is a waist. The last video I saw must have been mounted on the spar box and from there you see a lot of the cockpit but nothing interesting inside.

 

If you shoot from inside the cockpit the outside view is severely compromised. You have to share the inside/outside scenery on the screen as well as compromise between the inside/outside exposure.

 

If you mount on the bulkhead and can see the pilot flying then you have a reason to compromise, other than watching the pilot fly I have no reason to mount int he cockpit.

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i would have to agree the outside mountings makes for a much more interesting video to watch. we all know what the inside of these birds look like. anybody try mounting on top of the skylight on the outside of the plane? wondering what that view would look like. probably get a lot of prop blade visibility?

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Look up "FasterEddieB" on YouTube and you'll see videos with a GoPro mounted...

 

1) On the top of the canopy

 

2) On the left wing strut

 

3) Strapped to the bill of a baseball cap, and,

 

4) Under the tail

 

Each has its own advantages and disadvantages.

 

Use a lot of caution with any external mount - if poorly conceived or executed they can cause problems. And legality may or may not be an issue - but this has been debated here before.

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I clamped my GoPro Hero 3 to the round bar right next to the wet compass. I got very usable video with a bit of prop, but mostly a lot of the outside world. I think its a good place to start. Yes, I controlled it from my phone.

 

I also want to get some video from inside the cockpit so that I capture the flight instruments. It may use up too much of the visual field with stuff that isn't interesting.

 

fg

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  • 4 months later...

Since I saw this video I have wanted to try this view!! Got some footage yesterday, used this mount (attached picture), it's designed to hold a full fledged movie camera on a car. I think that thing would pick up a 100lbs it's ridiculous. I mounted the suction cups in line to provide less drag and more useful grip. It was solid as a rock. The only issue I had was I got some oil on the lense from the motor  :o It slowly built up over the course of a 1.4hr flight.. not a lot, just residue really (and enough to make some blurry spots on the footage)... Still concerns me though being it's a new engine... 

 

How nasty do the undersides of your planes look? 

post-1054-0-10578700-1400787613_thumb.jpg

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That's what it looked like. I've been using using 60kts @ 15º flaps for longer runways to narrow the X-wind vector. Seems to work really well. Only time I'm using other settings now is 40º for short-field, but at the recommended, lower landing speed. I find 30º landings quite quirky for some reason.

 

Thanks for the footage ... really useful to see that stuff.

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That's what it looked like. I've been using using 60kts @ 15º flaps for longer runways to narrow the X-wind vector. Seems to work really well. Only time I'm using other settings now is 40º for short-field, but at the recommended, lower landing speed. I find 30º landings quite quirky for some reason.

 

Thanks for the footage ... really useful to see that stuff.

 

I find 60 knots at 15° to be just a little fast, and it's much easier to balloon in the flare and then you have to cushion with a little throttle.  Of course that could just be my ham-fisted flying.  55-57 knots works best for me, but if this site shows anything it is that there are many ways to skin the "how to land a CT" cat.  ;)

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Also, curious to know if anyone adds speed for landing in gusty conditions.

The rule of thumb is to add 1/2 the gust amount.

 

So, with 12G18, you would add about 3k - half of 6.

 

And that's just the gust amount - in general a steady crosswind does not require extra speed.

 

My experience is many pilots tend to add too much rather than too little. No harm with a long enough runway, but many overrun accidents can be traced to a little added for this and a little added for that and pretty soon one can be set up for either a LOT of float or a plane forced onto the runway with lots of extra speed, setting the stage for bouncing and/or porpoising.

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