Any RCer's out there.

[Jay Murakoshi]

I'm looking for a experience pilot. One who can fly a helicopter. I have a brain fart that I want to try. A friend of mine has tried this but I haven't seen the results yet.
OK, I want to hook up my GoPro camera to the bottom of a helicopter and fly it over some terrain and some water and get some aerial footage. Not worried about noise, I can edit that out
My buddy told me that an electric RC would be better to avoid the gas vapors.
Any pilots with a lot of flying experience and a RC helicopter that could carry a 14 oz camera. It would take some special rigging for the case and not to the chopper.

Thanks

Jay

[FISHEYE]

Jay, I thought you were a helicopter pilot? Phil

PS- Excellent idea!

[hikenfish]

Well, I am one, but probably not good enough with a heli for your application.
An electric heli big enough to carry a camera would be limited to less than 10 minutes flight time on even the best Lipo batteries
Here is the gentleman (Walt Ferrar) that mentored me over 20 years ago, and can do exactly what you would need-

http://www.skyeyephoto.com

[BobVP]

....on my computer already. It's called Google Earth. I can see the weir on the lower end of Hat Creek and every house along the Fall.
What kind of detail are you after Jay?

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Scott V has a big RC helo....I think?

[Ralph]

Jay-
Been there, it isn't as easy as you might expect. Lots of trial and error to get it right.
You might be better off with a fixed wing. Less expensive, longer air time, bigger payload, and you can get close to the water without rotor wash. The ability to hover with an RC rotary isn't as important as you might think - RC planes can fly so slow for all intents and purposes it may as well be a hover on your video. You can always go to slow mo if need be.
You might even get someone with an ultralight to do it for free - those guys are always looking for an excuse to fly. Put an ad in Craigslist.

[Scott V]

Scott V has a big RC helo....I think?

I have a couple heli's but not enough experience to fly with a camera attached, that is a whole different level of flying.

Jay what type of video are you trying to shoot, I have plenty of friends that fly both heli's and planes. The more info you can provide me the better I can find out who would be willing to do the flying. But it won't be cheap, fitting a camera to a heli or plane is not as easy as it sounds, there are stabilization issues that have to be taken into account as well as other factors.

You might want to look for a heli or plane RC club in your area.

[Dave Neal]

Jay-

Without a doubt these are the guys you should talk to... http://copterkidsllc.com/

Not sure how much $ you have or wanna spend...?

My buddy Jay Cockrum is a huge RC airplane nerd. He is way into it and showed me some videos this winter that these kids produced with their RC Helicopters. Some of the footage is INSANE!!!!

Anyone have some time to kill should check out their website, it's got some amazing videography.

[Mike O]

I think, and don't quote me on this, but I think there are R/C copters you can buy right now with cameras built in. Don't know about the picture quality, tho.

Looked for them. here are some models, but this place is outa stock on most of them
http://yhst-94582326164583.ecommerce-site-search.com/?query=video+camera&catalog=yhst-94582326164583&.autodone=nsearch.html

[Jay Murakoshi]

scott,

I'm trying to get some aerial footage of lakes, like terrain, structure, shoreline, etc. for the upcoming bass video. I would also like some air footage of either me or Ken fishing. This is just a thought and if it would work, I'd like to try it. I don't know if many videos have aerial footage. I know Bass the Movie has aerial but that's some thing that I could fly - I think.

Anyway thanks to all those that responded. I'll check into all the information

Jay