Recording cockpit voices

Cool. This is exactly what I want to do. I have a Sony camcorder and
have been video taping some flights, but wanted to have cockpit
voices. I will give it a try and see if it works for me. Can you
explain to me how you afix the camera to the panel? Or does it just
sit atop the sponge? I am renting aircraft, so I can't do any
permanent mounting.

Thanks again,

Glenn


On Sat, 24 Jan 2004 00:00:13 GMT, Newps wrote:



Marco Leon wrote:

"Glenn Westfall" wrote in message
...

After I posted this message I started thinking about it. Would this
work? Plug in a headphone adapter that goes from the big size to the
small walkman size in an unused intercom jack. Run an extension cable
from the adapter to the mic in on a recorder or video camera. That
shoud do the trick correct? The headphone jack of aviation headsets
are standard size and can be converted to the smaller size.

It works great with Sony camcorders for sure, that's what I have. I
have a length of elastic attached to the top of the glareshield. I put
an unused sponge under that and set the camcorder on the sponge. The
patch cord goes from the intercom jack to the audio in jack on the
camera. The sponge serves two purposes. First it eliminates vibration
and holds the camera in place. Second is it raises it up off the panel
for a better view. I have found the ideal view is to have the top of
the cowl just barely in the bottom of the frame for some perspective.
Get a camera with the swing out viewfinder window, makes it very easy to
make sure you are aiming at what you want. Make sure you adjust the
camera so it will not focus on the windshield, all cameras have a
distant focus setting. After that setup it works great. My next
project is to try and find a weatherproof, wireless camera that can be
attached to an inspection panel. Since I have no desire to try and get
it approved I want to be able to remove it when I am not using it. If
anybody has any ideas let me know.