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Immersive Video for Aviation… 360° Panographic Cockpit Video

by on December 3, 2011 in gadgets, general aviation, technology

Hit play… and then click and drag on the video. Do it now.


Steep Turns from the Cockpit via GoPano

A soon as I saw the GoPano micro from EyeSee360 I had to try it for myself.

We had a nice day to fly, so within minutes we were headed to the airport to try it out in the cockpit.

GoPano Micro

This was just the first test. This was shot with my buddy Pete simply holding the iPhone 4 S up on the glare shield of the Cutlass. No mount, no external mic.

Next I’ll need to figure out an easy way to rig a mount for it there. The iPhone / lens combo is so small that it really doesn’t get in the way of forward visibility, so I could leave it hooked up the whole flight and just grab video when something interesting is about to happen. I also have to figure out a way to pipe in the audio from the intercom. (Still waiting to hear back from GoPano on that.) If I could do that, this could be an amazing way to debrief a training flight.

What’s even more amazing is viewing the video on your iPhone using the free VideoWarp app. The player changes your perspective using the phone’s accelerometer and really puts you inside the action. It. Will. Blow. Your. Mind.

BONUS: This test seems to have avoided the video artifacts that typically makes the propeller look all goofy. We seemed to get a nice blur of the prop arc out in front, which was a pleasant surprise. (My guess is the post processing here counteracts the effect of the iPhone’s rolling shutter.)

Resolution is still a bit limited with the GoPano Micro. It’s nowhere near the quality we get with GoPros or the venerable Nflightcam. I don’t see much reason to step up to the bigger and more expensive GoPano Plus, since I don’t see much of a bump in quality.  It’s pretty amazing what $80 will get you these days.

I’ve been thinking about immersive video since my time working on the Jeep brand in the late ’90s. With the the hardware and processing power we now carry in our flight bags, I expect we’ll be bringing many more folks into the cockpit this way in the future.

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Flight Line Radio on your iPhone

by on October 25, 2008 in gadgets, general aviation, technology

Having been inspired by Capt’n Chris of the PlaneMadness Podcast… I started tinkering around and have managed to get Flight Line Internet Radio to stream directly to the iPhone. No jailbreaking required.

Chris used Tuner Internet Radio, which is very fine app. (Tuner costs $4.99 US which I didn’t mind) So following the Captain’s directions… (Live ATC on your iPhone) I’ve successfully loaded Air Traffic Control audio streams from around the world, and they stream just fine over 3G. But as turns out the FLR stream won’t work with Tuner.

So I gave the FStream a try, which is a free alternative to Tuner. After some hacking about, I figured out how to get FLR’s audio to play.

Here’s how to do it:

  1. Download and install FStream on your iPhone or iPod Touch.
  2. Tap “Favorites,” whcih is the star at the bottom.
  3. Tap “Edit” at the top left of the Favorites screen.
  4. Add Flight Line Radio in the “Name,” field
  5. Add mms://win.2.c3.audiovideoweb.com/2c3winlive6516 in the “URL” field
  6. Tap “Save.”

That’s it, nothing there’s else. You can leave the “Format” and “Bitrate” fields blank. Listen, go back to the “Play” screen and tap the play button or the title. Enjoy.

In addition to rescuing the random stranded stuffed Koala bear, (OSH08 story, ask Steve) the guys from Flight Line Radio are good guys doing cool stuff. There is some excellent aviation content on the channel.

You can track down Don Constanza‘s profile , or connect with other FLR fans in the Flight Line Radio group on myTransponder.

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