Helmet cam mounted

I went to Lowes early-ish this morning to get a few nuts and bolts to mount the little lipstick camera to my headsets. It cam with a little swivel mount that will let me aim it just about anywhere I want, and it tightens down so that it won't drift around under G loads or tension on its cable.

I don't have the microphone yet, but I was able to narrate over the video later using a little passive microphone that I had stuffed into a drawer. The sound quality isn't terrific and the narrator really didn't have much of interest to say, but it's better than nothing. I'm hoping that the microphone I have on order will fit neatly up inside one of the ear cups on my headsets so you can hear the engine sounds and the radio transmissions.



The mount worked out great and I was able to get it set to a good aim point. I might lower it down just a wee bit next time to get a sliver more of the panel in, though.

After the landing at MadCo I went around again to try another, and mercifully ran out of tape in the camcorder. It was pretty windy so I tried a no-flaps wheel landing. It was pretty dismal so it's a blessing that there's no video evidence of it. With the cleaner wing and touch more speed of the no-flaps approach, the ensuing bounce was pretty healthy. As I arced through the foot high parabola of the initial bounce I couldn't help thinking "she's a sprightly mount when she has her wind up!" These landings went great last week when there was no wind to deal with, but this 7 knot crosswind was giving me fits!

The wind was right down the runway back at Bolton, so that landing went well enough. I rushed home with the camcorder to get a look at how well the camera worked and was pleasantly surprised. It doesn't do long distance stuff well, but I think it's clear enough that you would get a good idea of what it's like to fly out to the islands, or to do some formation flying if I ever get around to learning how to do that. Not bad for $30.