Air to Air Tips

by FliteTest | April 9, 2014 | (16) Posted in Tips

We do a lot of air to air footage for the show and some of you wanted some tips for shooting your own. Today, David and Alex go over what they've learned over the years. 

BALANCE

This applys even if you aren't shooting any footage. A well balanced craft is crucial for good performance. 

DAMPEN

Vibrations with give your footage the 'jello', which is no good. If you followed tip #1 and balanced properly this will be minimal, but even sometimes you can't get rid of all the vibration. If you want to build a vibration dampening rig, check out Chad's for some inspiration. 

COMPOSITION

Just like taking a pictue or shooting video on the ground, composing your shoot will make your footage look professional. This is why we don't use a board camera and a recorder separately when we shoot. 

SOFT CONTROLS

Slow smooth movement is your best friend. Even if you think your controls are already soft, once you go FPV everything is amplified. It's a good idea to get in the air, see how it looks, then adjust as you go. 

PRACTICE

As with any discipline, the more you do it the better you will become. As Bob Ross says, "Talent is a pursued interest. Anything that you're willing to practice, you can do."

WHAT'S IMPORTANT

One of the hardest things to do as a pilot is get over the fear of crashing. But as you crash and as you rebuild, and then crash again (it's going to happen,) you will become more and more comfortable with your abilities. Once this happens you will become fearless in your shooting allowing for more daring and ultimately more awesome shots. Don't worry about the craft. You can rebuild it. You can not rebuild that amazing shot you were too scared to get. 

We hope this gave you some insight as to how we get our air to air footage and even more importantly the inspiration to go get some yourself!

 

How do you like to shoot your air to air? Let us know! Chat it up in the forums!

COMMENTS

casehatter on April 9, 2014
Great Flying guys and some good advice Hey Scott thumbs up dude I've been there and it's tough you done a amazing job..!! I'd like to see some Planes FPV since I'm not a rotor man but hey they are the best filming plat form..!! I was wanting to see some FPV Pylon racing double dare..!!
Log In to reply
mrscale on April 9, 2014
airplane suggestion a 36" Budweiser jet small flat sided fuselage with a pusher motor
James Bond silverbullet
Log In to reply
rotorcrazy on April 10, 2014
David: Do you have some specs on your latest Ti-copter build, motors/ESC/props etc. The one shown in this video looks slightly different than previous iterations. I love the canopy/body and the clean wire free booms! Curious which motor mounts you are using, they look really clean and I think the ESC is mounted out there too but I'm not sure. The tri-copter looks like a really good camera platform and I look forward to building one.
Log In to reply
Capt Buscemi on April 11, 2014
+1 on an awesome video. Sums up a lot of info David and others have given us over time. Having just recently tried air-to-air using my tricopter, with VERY modest results, I doubly appreciate David's skills.

Like many others I can't wait for David's promised build video on his current tricopter. I'm guessing it will be when he goes back to Sweden.
Log In to reply
stevevm on April 9, 2014
David, What props are you using on your tricopter? They don't look like the slow fly props that are usually recommended.
Log In to reply
Sirglider on April 10, 2014
Great episode as usual!
What about putting a gimbal on copter and second man pilot the gimbal while flying.
Log In to reply
petedotnl on April 13, 2014
kudos to you Josh Bixler. reversing in mid air. Now THAT's a skill !! and kudos to Josh Scott too. lots of people would have crashed with reversed ailerons. looks like you're a pilot too.

Log In to reply
Pon-chyan on April 9, 2014
Another great video. Thanks guys.

I have two questions:

1. Is there any reason NOT to use your recording camera as your FPV downlink camera? I just bought a Mobius as my first step towards FPV flight and I plan to use it as my flight camera while it is recording.

2. David, have you lost weight?
Log In to reply
FlyingMonkey on April 9, 2014
1. Some people say yes. I found that flying through my Mobius is fine on sunny days, but on overcast days there's just too little dynamic range. (The camera's ability to see both bright and dark scenes at the same time.) I am able to see the sky clearly, but everything on the ground goes to black.

2. Yes, but only after he put it on because the USA has HUGE portions for food compared to everywhere else in the world… :D
Log In to reply
andre on April 10, 2014
Yes he's looking lean and mean.
Good for him. Takes a lot of effort to keep it off.
Log In to reply
andre on April 10, 2014
Love the video. Very informative. Maybe this fall I'll have to considering building a Tri-copter.
They do seem like a better platform to keep up with planes.

That said I can barely fly my little Proto-X in a straight line :)

Still one of my goals this summer is to "up" the production value of my videos.

Andre.
Log In to reply
brandx on April 9, 2014
Brilliant skill fantastic flying. I love the last 4 videos. You have found a second wind.
Log In to reply
Battershell on April 9, 2014
Thank you for the pointers. As always very informative!
Log In to reply
ScottyZ on April 9, 2014
David? Were you using your fatsharks without an antenae?
Log In to reply
MikeF74 on April 10, 2014
You can see in one of the photos above that he has a wire running down to his base station.
Log In to reply
Kenny9999 on April 10, 2014
:)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_P2xu-rCs_E
Log In to reply
Coman on April 2, 2015
that is what happened to me with the apprentice. but i had to land it reversed .
Log In to reply
jjimsbox on April 24, 2015
1st of all, your logo, nicely done. i'm new to this site and i'm finding it interesting. please, carry on.
Log In to reply

You need to log-in to comment on articles.


Air to Air Tips