Experimenter is a magazine created by EAA for people who build airplanes. We will report on amateur-built aircraft as well as ultralights and other light aircraft.
Issue link: http://experimenter.epubxp.com/i/271000
38 Vol.3 No.3 / March 2014 LIGHT PL ANE WORLD WE ARE LUCKY TO be alive at a time when we have the freedom to fl y for fun and when so many dif erent kinds of aircraft are available. We are also lucky to be fl ying when it is so easy to document our experiences through video and share them with others. The ease with which we can shoot, edit, and quickly publish videos of fl ying has increased dramatically with the advent of the latest tiny video cameras. Video photography brings more fun to sport fl ying and is quickly becoming the primary way for newcomers to learn about fl ying. Video is everywhere and in all our devices, and aviation is perfect for the medium. Anyone who has explored videos on YouTube knows how much can be found there and how quickly one video leads to others. Video is the way to go if we want to attract youth to aviation. EAA Vice President of AirVenture Features and Attractions Jim DiMatteo talked about the importance of video during a meeting with the EAA Ultralight & Light-Sport Aircraft Coun- cil in November 2013. A retired Top Gun aviator and organizer of international Red Bull Air Races knows what it takes to ap- peal to the youth. Jim said we are pilots, and we all tend to look at ultralights as an entry point into aviation. He fi guratively "put on his Red Bull hat" for a second and looked at ultralights from the viewpoint of a young person. It looks like an extreme sport that could lead to aviation later, but for now the appeal to those interested in snowboarding or motocross is the fun of making videos with a GoPro and other small video cameras. The draw is not the desire to be a pilot. Instead it's the ap- peal of doing fun, cool things and making videos to share with friends. He thinks fun fl ying videos have an appeal to the youth that can attract major commercial sponsors. I have long felt that ultralights are a signifi cant factor in attracting people to aviation. Ultralights can draw people into aviation who would otherwise not consider aviation accessible. They come for the ultralights, but they will learn more about all the other aspects of sport aviation and may try one of them. MAKING AND EDITING LIGHT-SPORT VIDEOS For video newcomers like me, a great place to start is with a set of three helpful videos by Richard DeHaven, the pilot of a StingSport light-sport aircraft (LSA) in Davis, California. His video "How to Make Videos From Small Aircraft" should be required viewing for anyone posting fl ying videos. He has advice on choosing and mounting helmet cams such as the well-known GoPro Hero or the newly released Garmin VIRB cameras. Please check out his nearly 40 videos of fl ying around scenic California for examples of his work…if only everyone fol- lowed his advice to keep it short and to add music or narration to the fi lm. A long video with only the drone of the engine and the wind noise can be less than exciting for everyone except the original pilot. Even if you never plan to publish videos, it's wonderful to view and replay your own fl ights on those cold, dark winter nights when you can't fl y. I should have started doing it sooner. The great thing about these tiny cameras is how easy they are to mount almost anywhere on the airplane. In the distant past, I have mounted a full-size 35-millimeter camera of the wingtip of my trike. Landing and taxiing was a nervous situa- tion. I recently watched a pilot attach a tiny helmet camera to the metal tail surface of a Sonex airplane with packing tape. He simply taped it on and went fl ying. It was so easy; it's amazing. The Lure of Video Enjoy our fl ights over and over BY DAN GRUNLOH The new Garmin VIRB compact video camera can be controlled remotely and previewed on a Smartphone using the latest version of the Garmin Pilot app for iPhone and Android. E A A E X P _ M a r 1 4 . i n d d 3 8 EAAEXP_Mar14.indd 38 3 / 3 / 1 4 1 0 : 3 4 A M 3/3/14 10:34 AM