DIY GoPro Mount for PA-28 Tie-Down Ring

[MickYoumans]

I have been looking for a way to mount my GoPro camera to the outside of my Cherokee, but was not happy with the commercially available options I could find. I made a DIY GoPro mount for my Cherokee that bolts through the tie down ring under the passenger side wing. My mount cost less than $15 for all parts including the metal plates, hardware and tape. I thought I would share my idea with everyone here. It is very easy to make and only requires two cuts with a hack saw. It is also super easy to install and remove, plus the mount fits very nice in the case I have for my GoPro.

The first picture is of the metal used to make the mounting plates. I took a picture of the description label so you would have the size and thickness of the steel strip. It is just wide enough to accommodate the width of the flat GoPro stick-on mount that came with the camera. I would not recommend going with a thinner steel stock because I think it would be to flimsy and potentially vibrate. I didn’t want to go any thicker to hold down on the weight. I cut two 8” pieces with a hack saw out of the strip of steel. I sanded the burrs from the edges and taped the edges with electrical tape to help prevent accidental scratches to the plane. After sticking the GoPro mount on the steel plate, I went ahead and clipped in the mating GoPro arm. I also put a couple wraps of electrical tape around this for added insurance to securely hold the GoPro stick on mount and arm to the steel strip. I then assembled the two strips of metal together using the largest diameter bolts that would fit the holes in the steel strips. It worked out that I needed to mount these bolts in every other hole with the middle bolt going through the tie-down ring and the other two bolts to the front and back on the outside of the ring. I used flat washers on the outsides of the plate followed by a lock washer and wing nut. When installing the mount on the tie-down ring, it works best to leave the two outside bolts in place but loose enough to slip the tie-down ring between the two plates then run the middle bolt though the plates and tie-down ring. When the three bolts and wing nuts are finger tightened, this bracket is very secure. The GoPro mounting arms are the ones that came with the camera. I did not buy any additional GoPro parts. You will need to install two GoPro arm joints so the camera will hang down at a right angle from the mounting plates. If you have the GoPro app on your iPhone or iPad, use it to see how your camera is aimed and adjust the arms accordingly and tighten. You will also need to go to the settings and flip the picture so it will be correctly oriented since the camera is hanging upside down. With the wi-fi enabled on the GoPro camera, I was able to start and stop my GoPro from inside my airplane using my iPhone and monitor what was being recorded on it.

If anyone else gives this a try, let me know how it works out for you.

 

[MickYoumans]

A few more pictures

 

[SmashTime]

Pretty neat, no adverse effects noticed?

 

[MickYoumans]

Not really. When I went up to try it out I could not tell any difference in the way the plane handled. I'll be flying back to work in the morning and will record my flight to give it more than my local 20 minute test flight.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

Have you (or anyone else, for that matter) ever done anything to get FAA approval for such a thing? I'd very much like to make some recordings but would rather not risk my ticket on it when the FAA sees my tail number (one of the places I'd like to mount that would work well is near the wingtip, facing in).

 

[CFI AandP]

Compact camera installations do not require any approval. See the memo published by NFlightCam.

http://www.nflightcam.com/faa-okays-gopro/

 

[flyingcheesehead]

Compact camera installations do not require any approval. See the memo published by NFlightCam.

http://www.nflightcam.com/faa-okays-gopro/

WOOHOO!!!!

The only thing that gives me pause is the first line of page 2 - "The use of these type attachments however are not supported by the FAA." In the context of the rest of the letter, what the heck is that supposed to mean?

 

[eetrojan]

Hi Mick, thanks for the photos.

As some food for thought, here's a photo of another one that I built using RAM mount connectors. I bought the finger screw at the hardware store, and then enlarged and threaded the hole in the back of the RAM mount to match.

The finger screw clamps the tie-down ring between the RAM mount's base flange and the elongated washers. Like yours, it's positively secured because the screw passes through the hole in the tie-down ring.

 

[MickYoumans]

That looks pretty neat! Do the RAM fittings tighten up enough to prevent vibration in the recorded video? I do like the finger screw. Looks like it would be very easy to install and remove.

I think I could have gotten away with making the rail plates a little shorter and used just one bolt instead of three, but the weight difference would have been so negligible I opted for the extra strength and rigidity.

 

[MickYoumans]

Have you (or anyone else, for that matter) ever done anything to get FAA approval for such a thing? I'd very much like to make some recordings but would rather not risk my ticket on it when the FAA sees my tail number.

As Cory pointed out in his post, FAA approval is not required since it is not a permanent installation. It is a very temporary attachment to the plane that can be installed or removed in less than a minute. It takes more time to align the camera to get the shot angle you desire and flip the picture upside down than it does to install. I have not weighed the bracket but it is pretty light and sturdy.

 

[eetrojan]

That looks pretty neat! Do the RAM fittings tighten up enough to prevent vibration in the recorded video? I do like the finger screw. Looks like it would be very easy to install and remove.

I think I could have gotten away with making the rail plates a little shorter and used just one bolt instead of three, but the weight difference would have been so negligible I opted for the extra strength and rigidity.

I've only tried it once so far, but it seemed to work pretty good. Here's a link to a video from that flight, queued up for some outside shots:

http://youtu.be/lShqfB4Xoh4?t=11m9s

In hopes of shortening the distance between something solid and the camera, I tried to pre-position the camera-end ball joint so that it was pressed against the underside of the wing a bit when I tightened the finger screw onto the tie-down ring.

 

[Lindberg]

Compact camera installations do not require any approval. See the memo published by NFlightCam.

http://www.nflightcam.com/faa-okays-gopro/

I don't read that memo that same way the N Flight Cam people do. And their "Cliff's Notes" version seems very misleading. I would summarize the memo as stating that if you're temporarily attaching the camera, e.g., with suction cups, it is not a modification to the airframe. However, if you are permanently attaching a camera, the installer will need to determine whether it is a major or minor modification. I see no unequivocal statement in the memo that these installations are legal. I had previously understood the FAA to consider anything that requires a tool to remove to be "permanently attached," which would include all of the mounts discussed in this thread. But maybe that's an OWT.

What I do think is clear from the memo is that even if the FAA can't point to a specific reg that makes mounting these illegal, they don't like it.

 

[MickYoumans]

Eetrojan, I really enjoyed your video. I assume that was a second GoPro in the cockpit. How did you have it mounted? How did you do the sectional and Google Earth automations of your flight route? It was a very neatly produced video. Did you use the GoPro software or something else?

 

[MickYoumans]

I had previously understood the FAA to consider anything that requires a tool to remove to be "permanently attached," which would include all of the mounts discussed in this thread.

Neither of these mounts require a tool to install or remove. Neither is permanently attached.

 

[Stewartb]

Major alteration.

An alteration not listed in the aircraft, aircraft engine, or propeller specifications—

(1) That might appreciably affect weight, balance, structural strength, performance, powerplant operation, flight characteristics, or other qualities affecting airworthiness; or

(2) That is not done according to accepted practices or cannot be done by elementary operations.

End of discussion.

 

[eetrojan]

End of discussion.

But, in favor of what conclusion exactly?

 

[MickYoumans]

My mount does not appreciably affect weight. It weighs less than a half gallon of fuel. In a Cherokee you typically have a mismatch of fuel in the wings, so you can't say that it appreciably affects the balance either. As far as structrual strength, it should have no affect on the structure at all. It is mounted to a tie-down ring that is designed to hold a much heavier airplane in place during high winds. This little mount is nothing compared to that. It does not affect the performance any more than the wing step mounted on the fuselage behind the passenger side wing. It does not affect power plant operation in any way. I can't imagine the flight characteristics are affected enough to make a difference either. During my test flight with the mount I could not tell any difference at all in the handling of the plane. I don't see where the FAA would have a problem with this mount.

 

[eetrojan]

Compact camera installations do not require any approval. See the memo published by NFlightCam.

http://www.nflightcam.com/faa-okays-gopro/

WOOHOO!!!!

The only thing that gives me pause is the first line of page 2 - "The use of these type attachments however are not supported by the FAA." In the context of the rest of the letter, what the heck is that supposed to mean?

This memo is comforting to read because it CLEARLY states that an "alteration" (aka "modification") does NOT include "suction cups, or other temporary methods of attachment (not including permanent mechanical attachments to the aircraft)" (emphasis added):

On the other hand, as you noted, the FAA does not encourage ("support") these type of attachments and an in-flight detachment may be regarded as "careless operations.":

Basically, if you're gonna do it, don't ____ up.

An external suction cup would completely detach if it loosens during flight. That would never pass my risk/reward check. The external use of a suctrion cup would be crazy to me in almost all circumstances.

The mechanical connections shown here, however, seem fine to me. Although they are temporary in nature, they provide a sure and redundant connection. In particular, the solid, clamping nature of the connection is backed up by the fact that the pass-through screw is physically trapped within the aperture of the tie-down ring.

They should not loosen, but even if they do, they will not detach.

That seems reasonable (at least to me).

 

[eetrojan]

Eetrojan, I really enjoyed your video. I assume that was a second GoPro in the cockpit. How did you have it mounted? How did you do the sectional and Google Earth automations of your flight route? It was a very neatly produced video. Did you use the GoPro software or something else?

Thanks Mick. The GoPro in the cockpit is suspended from the canopy. It has a central rib, so in order to keep it centered, I built this contraption using a couple of RAM Mount suction cups, some other RAM Mount links, a block of polyethylene that I sawed to size and sanded somewhat smooth, a drill press, and some nuts and bolts:

The Google Earth animation started with ForeFlight's logging feature. After I downloaded the file, and opened it in Google Earth, I noticed that I could click "play" and the track progressed from start to finish. So, I changed the icon to a little plane, used a screen capture program to capture it as video, and then dropped it in.

I have been playing with Adobe Premiere Pro because I use several other Adobe products for work and have access to it as part of the subscription. It has a steep learning curve, but it's a lot of fun if you like playing with that sort of stuff.

Have fun flying and making your videos!

 

[JHW]

Ever have to change that skin that the pointed end at the back is almost touching? It ain't fun. I'd trim that puppy a little further away from the aluminum.