Mounitng a camera in the cockpit

[Papa Bravo Delta]

Have any of you ever mounted a video camera in the cockpit?

If so how did you do it? All ideas and suggestions will be gratefully received!!

The passengers I have taken up with me don't seem to be up to the challenge of filming, especially during spins!!!:E

[NT42]

Hi,

You can get G-clamp things which can be attached on the top of the dash-board type area (providing theres a little lip).

I think you can get them from dixons and places. If you look on the bottom or the camera, there should be a little hole which allows the clamp to be screwed in. You then attach the clamp to the 'plane wherever you can, and thats it.

I was a bit unsure at first whether it would be strong enough to keep a good hold, but I took it up in a Jet Provost doing rolls and things, so it does!

Hope this helps.

JW

[Genghis the Engineer]

Professionally, I've several times had to sort out the mounting of a video camera in a cockpit for spinning or other extreme manoeuvring work. But, you need it to be VERY secure, and this usually necessitates some form of modification to the aircraft (which may need approval from somebody).

- Best place is usually in the rear of the cabin, looking over the pilots shoulder.

- The field of view should either be about 90% instrument panel, or about 90% view out of the window - you'll rarely achieve a successful mix of the two.

- Aways have a backup strap/lanyard which is short enough (and secured in such a place) that the camera, should it come loose, cannot hit anything human!

- Always ensure that the basic mounting is at-least as strong as the basic structural requirements for your aeroplane. For an aerobatic aeroplane, that is (probably) 3xweight upwards, 18xweight forwards, 4½xweight sidewards, 9xweight downwards. If in doubt, grossly over-engineer your mount then check it by pushing and pulling with a spring balance.

- Easiest way to get a mic feed is to use either a tie-clip mike, or a magnetic pickup coil (a couple of quid from Maplins) tucked inside your headset. (The latter is not very comfortable, but works extremely well).

G

[omcaree]

Hey,

I can't say I've done any professional filming, but I have done some filming with a camera mounted in the back of a cessna 150.

Camera mounted on a tripod, weighted down and strapped to the floor behind the pilots. Arranged in such a way so that should any of the straps come undone the tripod couldn't fall forwards (towards the pilots). By zooming a bit I managed to film 90% window, 8% panel and 2% compass, although never succeeded in having the camera mounted straight (compass was always off centre).

While in flight, passenger looks after camera, making sure its not about to fall over, pressing play/stop, etc.. Managed to film a few general handing manouvers, step turns, stalls etc.. as well as a spin or two. but as a C150 isn't cleared for much i dont know how this mounting technique would hold up under more vigerous flying conditions. However, under the conditions I used this method, and will use it again once i get a new camera, it works fine, never once had the camera fall over and playing back the videos there is very little vibration/wobbling, if any.

Hope this is of some use.

Cheers,

Owen Mc


PS. if you're filming landings, use a digital camera.... easier to delete the bad ones :ok:

[Papa Bravo Delta]

Thanks for the responses. It gives me some options to think about.

It is nothing too serious I will be filming and it is only amateur stuff - I haven't ahd my licence that long!!!!!. The most extreme will be spins. I wish to mount my digital video camera in a Cessna 152 hired from the club so modifying it will be out of the question. Later I will want to mount it in other aircraft such as a PA28.

I do like the idea of positioning the camera over the pilots shoulder to get a better view!:ok:

I also love the idea of the mic feed. Thanks. I have also thought that it is a shame none of the cockpit chat or RT chat can be heard on the few videos I have that have been filmed by passengers. I thought of turning the cokpit speaker on but decided this would be more distracting.

I wasn't sure whether the G-clamp arrangement would be strong enough but I will look in to it now.

Any more ideas anyone?

Thanks!

[FlyingForFun]

I have never tried filming, so probably can't add much to the thread. But one thing springs to mind when discussing mounting cameras in the rear of the aircraft whilst spinning, and that is that every spam-can type aircraft that I've ever flown which is certified for spinning specifically prohibits spinning with anyone or anything in the back. I would guess that it must be possible to mount a camera sufficiently far forward that it's weight can be counted as a "passenger" for W+B purposes, but please be careful - if your CofG is too far back, I suspect you may not be able to recover from the spin. Genghis, do you have a view on this?

FFF
--------------

[Three Blades]

I noticed that Transair now sell a little adaptor that plugs between your headphones and the socket and permits you to link in a mobile phone for 2-way conversation.
I would suggest that it would require very little work to adapt this to give you a full mic/RT feed for your video

[Genghis the Engineer]

I have never tried filming, so probably can't add much to the thread. But one thing springs to mind when discussing mounting cameras in the rear of the aircraft whilst spinning, and that is that every spam-can type aircraft that I've ever flown which is certified for spinning specifically prohibits spinning with anyone or anything in the back. I would guess that it must be possible to mount a camera sufficiently far forward that it's weight can be counted as a "passenger" for W+B purposes, but please be careful - if your CofG is too far back, I suspect you may not be able to recover from the spin. Genghis, do you have a view on this?
It's much more complex than that. The aircraft has three rotational inertias, called A, B and C (yes, really!). They are respectively the inerta about the longitudinal (e.g. rolling), lateral (e.g. pitching) and normal (e.g. yawing) axes. It doesn't take much thought to realise that C will always be much bigger than A or B.

So, what matters is the ratio of A/B, and that is fundamental to how an aeroplane spins, and how it responds to control inputs during the spin. That is quite fundamental, and is a constant issue when fitting spin safety chutes in flight test aircraft - inevitably putting something down the back, but on the centreline, it'll increase A but have hardly any effect on B.

CG is also an issue, but to be frank so long as you remain within CG limits (and check that you don't have a different CG range authorised for aerobatics or spinning), I'd not worry unduly about that - A/B is the big player, plus of course that very few spamcan baggage compartments are designed to take things trying to fly around during aerobatic manoeuvres - however well tied down.

That said, the modern digital camcorders that we tend to use for such tasks weigh hundreds of grammes rather than kilos plus the optimal position is usually less than half a metre behind the pilot, so I think that either A/B effect or CG effect will be tiny.

G