I just picked up the new Garmin VIRB at Osh and man oh man is it easy to use and operate. Not taking anything away from the GoPro (GoCrazy) as I have tried and tried to utilize it now for several years with really not much luck.

After seeing this camera in person and then Shawn Holly getting one and producing an edit in all of about 10 minutes or less I was sold.

I can say that the features are fantastic and it has more options than one could use really ever. It shows airspeed, altitude, heading direction, pitch attitude, G forces and a location finder built in, in the event you lose it. The display shows all of this and honestly I learned how to use it in about 5 minutes and produced the following edit in under 10 minutes. Simple.

So now to the video your about to watch. Do not try this at home. Keep it at the river or lake and away from people. Its not something I encourage but it is a technique that many of us use to obtain a beach, gravel bar or what ever you see fit. I also dont utilize this technique with passengers on board ever. This is not meant to be a stunt video or a "look at me" "check me out" type clip. Really, its an example of the new Garmin VIRB but also shows you what a glassy water landing (very difficult for your perception) is like compared to a rippled water effect that allows you to see the texture on the water for the application at hand. This was shot at lake early morning and there was no one around except for my other pilot buddy Aaron who just happens to building an SQ as well. Here we are on the way down to Stead to see his project in progress.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Djl1dtEMO6s&feature=youtu.be

AKT

aktahoe1 wrote:This is not meant to be a stunt video or a "look at me" "check me out" type clip.

I believe you

Your funny Greg[emoji15][emoji23]

Seriously, the details you can put on the screen are pretty cool...check me out..[emoji41]



You can put an attitude indicator center screen if you wish. Lots of options for certain.

AKT

That is so cool seeing flight data! I want one.

Nice looking Scout on the left.

So is it easier with flaps or no flaps? In my citabria I always used flaps.
Thanks for the PIREP on the VIRB. Cool features for sure!

A1Skinner wrote:So is it easier with flaps or no flaps? In my citabria I always used flaps.
Thanks for the PIREP on the VIRB. Cool features for sure!

Depends on how fast you want to go on the surface.

Flaps help to keep the tail higher and give better forward visibility in my experience. But every plane is different and weight distribution can be different for each flight, so it just depends on CG and speed.

Good report Kevin, sounds like my IFLY GPS, pretty much just took it out of the box and intuitively started using it. Some of the geeks designing the products we hope to use get a bit carried away with how trick they can make it, and forget us mere mortals just want an easy to use product above all else. My damn Nikon camera, don't get me started on how many features it has, it's way smarter then me.

That glassy water makes me vertigoish, I like a little ripple with my tire cleaning.

I'm just gonna come right out and say it: I've NEVER been happy with my GoPro. But I was afraid to come out and say for fear of ridicule. I figured I was the only on since they sell so damn many of them. It takes me forever to edit and share. It hasn't been out for a long time. I just use my iPhone.
I want the VIRB too. Thanks for the report.
And I've always wondered about that tire cleaning thing. Is it bigger the tire the better? Do you allow the tires to spin? It looks like the water provides quite a bit of support based on the flex of the landing gear.
Cool stuff.

Alpina23 wrote:I'm just gonna come right out and say it: I've NEVER been happy with my GoPro. But I was afraid to come out and say for fear of ridicule. I figured I was the only on since they sell so damn many of them. It takes me forever to edit and share. It hasn't been out for a long time. I just use my iPhone.
I want the VIRB too. Thanks for the report.
And I've always wondered about that tire cleaning thing. Is it bigger the tire the better? Do you allow the tires to spin? It looks like the water provides quite a bit of support based on the flex of the landing gear.
Cool stuff.

I've only done it on my 31s but heard of it being done on smaller tires. I always let my tires spin when doing it.

Alpina23 wrote:I'm just gonna come right out and say it: I've NEVER been happy with my GoPro. But I was afraid to come out and say for fear of ridicule. I figured I was the only on since they sell so damn many of them. It takes me forever to edit and share. It hasn't been out for a long time. I just use my iPhone.

Which model is your GoPro? Do you want to sell it?

Alpina23 wrote:And I've always wondered about that tire cleaning thing. Is it bigger the tire the better?

[/quote]

I've only done it on my 31s but heard of it being done on smaller tires.[/quote]

I'v seen in a AV-mag of mine an ad with two Pitts doing it... With wheel pants!

I want to get a virb because I like the GPS based data available on the screen. My question is: if you edit the footage in a different program, other than Garmin's free editor, will you still have that telemetry information available to you?

Is it the new XE or Elite? I was at AS looking to pick up the XE and it was pretty impressive, good to hear about the ease of use.

Zenithguy wrote:Is it the new XE or Elite? I was at AS looking to pick up the XE and it was pretty impressive, good to hear about the ease of use.

XE. Great little camera

aktahoe1 wrote:

Zenithguy wrote:Is it the new XE or Elite? I was at AS looking to pick up the XE and it was pretty impressive, good to hear about the ease of use.

XE. Great little camera

Great, my wife will really enjoy it for Christmas…..

Nice video ak, thanks for posting.

Here's another with some glassy water, just to show the laws of physics are the same this side of the pond. Earlier version of VIRB, and camera under the wing is subject to some GPS altitude errors:



As for the other questions:

I don't see any reason not to carry a passenger. It's not difficult and the laws of classical mechanics are on your side, just like any other part of the flight envelope of a bushplane with conventional gear. The aircraft will tell you when it is getting too slow, as it does when approaching a stall - you just need to know what to feel for.

CG is important. Obviously, the CG MUST be behind the main wheels. Somewhere near the middle of the usual CG range is good. Please don't try it in a tricycle airplane.

Minimum hydroplaning speed is primarily a function of tire pressure, as determined empirically by NASA in 1963 and since then by finite element analysis. It is also affected by tire construction - radial tires hydroplane a bit slower. In my MX-7-180 with 12 psi the minimum is around 20 knots (see end of above video). YMMV. Calculate the speed for your airplane, add a safety factor, then practise and work down from there. Just like perfecting any other STOL procedure.

Braking the wheels reduces the minimum speed a little but the downside could be arriving at the water's edge with locked-up wheels or, as one Husky driver did in order to get into the NTSB database, landing back at home with his parking brake on

Oh, and we don't need bushwheels to water ski with a Tiger Moth:

Just got a Garmin VIRB XE (aviation edition) for Christmas and had a completely different experience.
After 15 hours of charging on the USB we found out through youtube that it won't charge from a computer, but didn't know
this when the battery ran out after 10 minutes.

I strut mounted the camera on my Sport Cub and then it took 10 minutes to get the Iphone to talk to the camera so that
I could use the remote. Then the camera went to sleep and the iphone wouldn't wake it up while flying.
The user manual is sorely lacking and compared to our Contour cameras found it not very user friendly.

I agree that the graphics and GPS data is cool to add to the videos, we have had this for quite awhile on our Contours.
It is the best video quality of all the cameras we have used, even at 720 to try and save battery life.

After not getting any video from the VIRB XE due to the battery running out after 45 minutes, I have moved it to the cockpit
where I can turn it on and off by hand.

I love the stabilization and the auto lens correct, which the Contours don't have. So far have not been successful with the
Remote operation or battery life.

Is there something we haven't figured out that you are doing to get such great videos?