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Touring Motor Gliders Association (TMGA)

"TaxiCam" - a nose camera for the Phoenix


Eric Greenwell

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I've temporarily mounted a small "bullet" camera under the Phoenix, just ahead of the landing gear. It displays the image on the Dynon SkyView monitor, using the Dynon video adapter. It's nice to see ahead of the plane while taxiing, and I think it will be a help for maneuvering into thermals, because I'll be able to see where the dust devil is below me. The image is shown 50%, with the other 50% being the engine page (shown), or the PFD or Map page; it can also be shown 100%, so it almost fills the screen.

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Edited by Eric Greenwell
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Eric, would you tel us the name of the bullet camera you used, please?

It's the "BOSCH SECURITY VIDEO VTC-206F03-4 Indoor/Outdoor Mini Camera" that I bought on Amazon for $72. I tried a few car "backup cameras", which are attractive because they are $15-$30, also waterproof, smaller and lighter, but all had at least one issue: poor image quality, too wide a view, color washed out in sunlight, reversed image (standard for backup cameras - a couple units had a setting to change that), or guide lines on the image. The Bosch unit avoids all those issues, but it is a bit harder to mount.

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Thanks Eric. Coincidentally I am trying to decide between the Phoenix and the Bristell as Carrells and I's next airplane. In the comparison (I will post my chart in another thread) I was giving more points to the Bristell for the Site Picture on landing and take off. Your nose camera may be the answer to the difficulties I had landing the Phoenix. Have you used it for landing purposes? Steve Chase

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Your nose camera may be the answer to the difficulties I had landing the Phoenix. Have you used it for landing purposes? Steve Chase

No, I haven't tried to use it during the landing. I suspet that would be quite scary and difficult, and I wouldn't even consider it without a safety pilot.

In the beginning, I had a lot of trouble with landings with my Phoenix. I outline the problem and it's solution for me in this posting:

http://www.touringmotorgliders.org/forum/showthread.php/1851-Landings-a-bit-uneven-Maybe-you-need-2-quot-of-white-tape-in-just-the-right-place

I still had problems remaining centered on the runway, especially with a cross-wind component; eventually, I realized wide runways (>70') made it hard to notice the drifting, and that I did a better job on 45'-50' wide runways (probaby because the edge of the runway was easy to notice). The solution was to land just to the right of the center line (left wheel on the line), so the line was always visible and any drifting was immediately noticed.

The most recent tweak is using a slip-to-landing instead of a crab-to-landing. I've always landed my sailplanes with a slip-to-landing, and that seems to work well for me in the Phoenix.

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  • 2 years later...

Any updates on your Taxi Cam?  Today, I had a major screw up and hit a plastic runway marker cone while taxiing.  It ended up destroying my prop, which is another expensive lesson.

A Taxi CAM (or more aggressive S curves) would have saved my bacon.

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  • 4 months later...
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I just purchased a "4K Action Camera" (a "faux GoPro")from Amazon for $70. The major attraction besides the low cost is the selectable field of view (FOV) from 70 to 170 degrees in four steps. A 70 degree FOV sees the dust devils ahead much better. Also, it connects to a smartphone for the cockpit display, and the FOV and other things can be changed literally "on the fly" from the smart phone. After I mount and test fly it, I'll post a report.

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A couple of months ago, I purchased a cheap backup camera on ebay ($6.99):

http://www.ebay.com/itm/272716474441

My game plan is to drill a small hole in the front of the lower cowling for the camera and use the Dynon video interface module ($195) to display the video on the Dynon display.

This camera has a 130 degree field of view that is not adjustable.  The resolution isn't great (480p), but I am hoping that it is adequate for a taxicam application so that I don't run into anything on the ground (learned that lesson the hard way).

This is going to be my winter project.  I'll report back when I have some operational experience.

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  • 6 years later...
On 10/2/2017 at 5:59 AM, Eric Greenwell said:

I just purchased a "4K Action Camera" (a "faux GoPro")from Amazon for $70. The major attraction besides the low cost is the selectable field of view (FOV) from 70 to 170 degrees in four steps. A 70 degree FOV sees the dust devils ahead much better. Also, it connects to a smartphone for the cockpit display, and the FOV and other things can be changed literally "on the fly" from the smart phone. After I mount and test fly it, I'll post a report.

Hi Eric, I trust you are well and enjoying your Phoenix. Are you still using your camera? Did you wire the camera for power supply? Is it using bluetooth?
Thanks!
Best, Robert

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