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Monument Valley

wacarlton

Active Member
Flight through Monument Valley

I just got back from a guy's fly fishing trip. We took about 4 hours of in flight video over Shiprock, Monument Valley, Grand Canyon, Zion, and Bryce Canyons. Here's our flight through Monument Valley.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=in7jyFYgpJk

We stopped at UT25 for water and snacks. They will waive the $20 landing fee if you either stay at Goulding's Lodge or buy stuff from the convenience store.

Our trip summary:



More to come...
 
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Very enjoyable video! I sent the link to some friends, as we should be down there, in 10 days or so.

L.Adamson
 
Nice video! At the beginning I thought you were taking off on a road. Must be a pretty long runway there.

cheers,
greg
 
Great Video Will, looks like a really fantastic trip!

Now quit fooling around and get back in the barn, that 7 ain't gonna get built with you galavanting all over the country :D
 
Most of the runway used to be dirt

Most of the runway used to be dirt except up by the parking ramp. There is a slope and it is a one way in and the opposite way out situation.

Bob Axsom
 
Most of the runway used to be dirt except up by the parking ramp. There is a slope and it is a one way in and the opposite way out situation.

Red Bull made an agreement to pave the rest of the runway, when their races were held there.........for those who don't know.

And RV's at least won't have a problem with a go-around. Some spam cans may, with a 500' rock at the end...

L.Adamson
 
I was happy to see you used a Drift Stealth since I just bought one and am getting used to it...until I read that Drift is coming out with a smaller model.

GREAT video. I've been planning a round-the-country trip and you just secured Monument Valley on that route. Eager to see the rest of the clips.

Indy

RV-4
O-320/3-blade Catto
 
And RV's at least won't have a problem with a go-around. Some spam cans may, with a 500' rock at the end...

L.Adamson

I'd urge caution here. Using Google Earth to measure height and distance, that cliff is more like 750' tall. If you initiate a go around at mid field you have 3/4 mile to complete your climb. If you initiate from the South end of the runway, it's more like .4 mile. You are at 5000' plus field elevation and if we factor in a hot day, airplane packed with vacation luggage and high density altitude... it could be scary or tragic. I do believe a go around can be successful in "some" RV's but the sight picture and the temptation to turn hard to the left at low airspeed to miss the rocks concern me. If you aren't on a stabilized approach with a pre-planned early go around point it could get ugly or at least scare your passenger... especially if the engine hiccups. The pilot's ability and judgement are going to be very important. Don't get me wrong, I'd go back in a nano second. Just think things through before you go.

Oh yeah, loved the video and music. The place is magical.
 
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I'd urge caution here. Using Google Earth to measure height and distance, that cliff is more like 750' tall. If you initiate a go around at mid field you have 3/4 mile to complete your climb. If you initiate from the South end of the runway, it's more like .4 mile. You are at 5000' plus field elevation and if we factor in a hot day, airplane packed with vacation luggage and high density altitude... it could be scary or tragic. I do believe a go around can be successful in "some" RV's but the sight picture and the temptation to turn hard to the left at low airspeed to miss the rocks concern me. If you aren't on a stabilized approach with a pre-planned early go around point it could get ugly or at least scare your passenger... especially if the engine hiccups. The pilot's ability and judgement are going to be very important. Don't get me wrong, I'd go back in a nano second. Just think things through before you go.

Oh yeah, loved the video and music. The place is magical.

No..............this wouldn't be the place for a normal full pattern go around.
On the other hand, with an RV, you wouldn't have to commit to a less than desirable landing. Happily, my RV has never been "spam can" like, even on hot days at high density altitudes. It resides at 4600' to start with.

L.Adamson
 
Camera settings and mount

I got a few questions about the camera settings and mount via PM that I thought I'd try to address in public ...

Will, thanks for the reply. Another question: how do you prevent the 'jello' effect? I flew today with the settings you described, and during the climb the video is great. However, once I leveled off and the airspeed built up, the jello appeared. I think it's from the camera shaking ever so slightly in the mount. I used foam tape at various spots in attempt to dampen the vibration, but it didn't work too well. Thanks
xxx

The Drift HD Stealth supports 1080, 720, and 480 resolutions at 25-60 FPS. I typically use 1080/30 because I don't like the 170 degree FOV at 720p. It looks to "action cammy" for me. I think the FOV is about 120 deg at 1080p.

Regarding the mount: I fabricated it out of 1/8 x 2 aluminum angle. I was in a bit of a hurry, so I intend on redoing the mount and extending it another inch or so in order to allow me to point the camera down a little more. The current mount doesn't allow that. I'll try to take some photos of the mount when I get out to the airport this weekend.

I originally had the camera mounted on the vertical stabilizer (where the beacon used to be). However, I didn't like the wings being in the photo all the time - it was very distracting. Also, when flying at 160 kts or so, there was some oscillation (or "jello effect"). It sort of looks like you are shooting through distorted glass and slowly moving the glass back and forth. The current mounting location is on an access plate under the leading edge of the left wing. The camera is very stiff when mounted and does not show much tendency to oscillate while in flight. There is a minor amount of jello at 160 kts, but nowhere near the amount when the camera is on the tail. I think the jello effect could be handled in post processing in the video editor.

I intend on mounting the camera on the outboard access plate under the wing of our RV-7. I suspect I will have to extend the mount 4-5" in order to clear the FOV for the camera which may also introduce some undesirable oscillation but we'll worry about that next year.

BTW, I shot the MV video at about 110 kts.

Hope this helps.
 
Re: Fishing

Great video, thanks for posting it.

PS. How was the fishing?

All of us spent a day on the Snake fly fishing with guides. It was a lot of fun and we caught quite a few, but had to throw them back (the guides said they didn't want "dead fish in their boat"). I think it was more like they didn't want to upset the relationship they have with their business partners.

Three guys went fishing on Wednesday and caught enough trout for us to have a fabulous dinner on our last evening together. I flew the others up to Glacier National Park for the day. It was a win/win for me... Got to fly, spend time with new friends, and got to eat fresh trout for dinner!
 
Nice video! Was the air that smooth, or did you use digital image stabilization with your editing?
 
Nice video! Was the air that smooth, or did you use digital image stabilization with your editing?

Have you ever flown a Super Viking? No digital image stabilization needed. :D

Seriously - it's a rock solid airplane and a joy to fly. We were also blessed with great wx all along our entire route with very little turbulence anywhere except over the mittens and some of the ridges in Wyoming/Montana.
 
Will, thanks for the specifics with your camera settings. That really helps.

I originally tried to use the plastic mount that came with the camera, mounted at the wing tip with wingtip screws, similar to what others have done. That produced a jello effect at higher airspeeds due to camera shake. Today I fabricated an aluminum mount that spans three wingtip mounting screws. I covered the wing and wing tip in packing tape, and then used bondo on the underside of the aluminum angle mount, to produce a mount contoured to the wing curvature. I was in a hurry today fabricating the mount, and will replace the bondo with epoxy at a later time. I also placed a piece of teflon tape on the underside of the mount, and also on the top of the wing in an effort to prevent damage to the paint from the mount.

I went flying and the new mount is very steady with just about zero jello effect, even with indicated airspeeds as high as 170 kts. This is a very nice camera and to me offers a better mounting solution than the GoPro, which I also own. I think the GoPro might produce a slightly better picture than the Drift, but overall I think the Drift has more plusses and fewer minuses than the GoPro. I also really like the remote control of the Drift camera which allows you to start and stop filming while in flight.

I think I'm going to have fun with this thing! :D
 
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I also really like the remote control of the Drift camera which allows you to start and stop filming while in flight.

Hi! Nice video.
How does the remote control work?
You don't need to see the camera?
How can you verify if the camera is filming?

We used a lot the GoPro. The quality is really good, but Liliana don't like to jump out of the plane and turn the camera on and off during flight.

See our trailer here: www.DL-pictures.com

Always blue skies

Detlef
 
Hi! Nice video.
How does the remote control work?
You don't need to see the camera?
How can you verify if the camera is filming?

We used a lot the GoPro. The quality is really good, but Liliana don't like to jump out of the plane and turn the camera on and off during flight.

See our trailer here: www.DL-pictures.com

Always blue skies

Detlef

Hi Detlef,
Great trailer! I'll be ordering a copy.
Regarding the Drift:
The remote uses RF and can be paired to different cameras, so you can use multiple cameras. There is an LED indicator to show the status of the camera: green=pause, red=record. However, it's hard to see in bright sunlight, so you are better off just pressing and holding either the record or stop button on the remote for a while. The range is about 15 feet. I've heard that the video quality of the GoPro is slightly better, but I love the Drift so far.
 
Great video Will - we're going to have to swing through Monument Valley next time we head to Nevada.

And now I know why you guys missed the last RV-1 work day - with a video like that, you're excused! ;)
 
RF controlled Drift

Hi Detlef,
Great trailer! I'll be ordering a copy.
Regarding the Drift:
The remote uses RF and can be paired to different cameras, so you can use multiple cameras. There is an LED indicator to show the status of the camera: green=pause, red=record. However, it's hard to see in bright sunlight, so you are better off just pressing and holding either the record or stop button on the remote for a while. The range is about 15 feet. I've heard that the video quality of the GoPro is slightly better, but I love the Drift so far.

Thanks Will, for the fast answer. If I understood you right, this LED is on the camera. That means you never can be sure if it is really ON or OFF, right?

The Contur has a reed contact switch. I'm trying modification this with a wire and a LED for insight the cockpit. But the quality is not the same as the GoPro.

I also put our big professional Camera ,Canon XH-A1, under the wing. But it is very hard to stabilize the mount and prevent it from vibration.

Thank you also that you like our trailer ON THE WINGS OF DREAMS.

Detlef
 
LED indicator

Thanks Will, for the fast answer. If I understood you right, this LED is on the camera. That means you never can be sure if it is really ON or OFF, right?
Detlef

The LED is on the camera. If you mount the camera on the top of the wing, you might be able to see the LED (its on the on/off/record/pause button). The remote does not have any indicator. I usually press it a couple of times when starting or stopping a recording session. That seems to work OK.

BTW, you and Liliana have a place to stay and keep your plane if you are ever back in the Dallas/Ft Worth area.

Where are you these days? What is your next adventure?
 
With the mount I fabricated, the LCD and the led face the cockpit. So I can see if the camera is recording or not. The LCD is too small and too far away to be readable.
 
BTW, you and Liliana have a place to stay and keep your plane if you are ever back in the Dallas/Ft Worth area.

Where are you these days? What is your next adventure?

Thanks Will, it sounds good. Momentary we are in the Dominican Republic and finishing our film. A lot of work. Like building a plane. How many times told we our friends: "We are almost ready to fly...." You know the rest of the story. 90% done, 90% to do.
The film should be ready end of November. On time for X-mas and we will do a really good movie.
Today a William from Dallas ordered a film, was it your order?

Anyway, thanks for the invitation. Please send us an e-mail. Next year we will fly to Europe and than to South Africa if possible and than..... Not so much planning.
In about three years we will be back in USA. If it works as planned, then we will arrive from Japan via the Aleutian Island again to Texas.
Then we have a lot to tell and as you can read in our website www.flight-around-the-world.org the most important for us is, to meet pilots all over the world. Have fun together and share experiences.
Sure we will also do a lot of filming.

Thanks for your hints.

Detlef
 
Hi Jim!
Do you have a picture from your mount. It would be great if you can share it with the RV filming community.

Thanks
Detlef
 
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