Ultralight Airplane Chase Cam Test

[@PJHEATERMAN]

My father is the designer and builder of the Sunseeker. I have fond memories of flying that bird. Nice to see one out there flying. It's a very durable machine.

[@ScootLex]

This is IMMENSELY cool! I've been thinking of something like this for years. Very exciting to see you implement it, and I look forward to seeing more of what you do with it.

[@19sloper]

This is great! Thanks for sharing how you did it. I am going to try it. Also, you a a lucky guy to have a Sunseeker! Can't be many of those around. I have an ancient magazine with an article on it, but have never seen one in person.

[@PJHEATERMAN]

My father is the designer and builder. They are rare as only 10 where built. It was way ahead of its time for an ultralight. The goal was to build it using aviation grade materials and design.

[@olaffer]

Love it! This crazy stuff proves to me that humans have a soul!! No machine would ever invent/make this!! Fantastic! ;)

[@danielfager7543]

Hi Dan from Ohio , I am an old ultralight pilot , restored , cut my teeth and still flying (17yrs) my 84 Chinook Wt-ll . It is very custom and probably the nicest still flying . I absolutely luv your antique Sunseeker , don't believe they ever made it as far east as Ohio . Do you know where there might be one to restore ? If you are interested in seeing my 2 videos of the Chinook type in ezflyer54 here on KZbin . Luv to talk ultralights and let me know how I can contact you.Thanks Dan

[@PJHEATERMAN]

My father is the designer and builder. Only 10 came out of the factory. A design way ahead of it's time and very relevant all these years later.

[@mojaveclimber]

Hey you have one of the few Sunseeker aircraft in captivity. There were 21 built, you are flying one, a second in Corning California and I own a third. Great ultralights, excellent design and craftsmanship.

[@wakataka53]

Jim - Mine is the one in Corning (serial number 6). There's another one at Red Bluff with a damaged wing and there used to be one down near Fresno somewhere with a damaged empennage. I agree, it's one of the best UL's around. Is your's airworthy? Where is it based?.

[@ИванТрипуть-ш7л]

Hello! I am interested in the design of the aircraft, the Sun Seeker, want to contact you, please write to my mail, I fly to L13. My mail [e-mail]

[@PJHEATERMAN]

Actually only 10 where built To my knowledge. My father is the designer and builder. I flew the pre production prototype with clipped wings. It was a hot rod. Yes they are rare.

[@Kolbra2004]

That's ingenious!

[@okiedoak201]

Oh yea.....that's great thinking...and way to go....was the camera on a gimbal or just a mount....very smooth..thanks for sharing and will be looking forward to a build vidio

[@jimmyboy163]

that's awesome!!! I like that a lot. great idea! i'm gonna have to steal your idea...lol mine is mounted on the narrowest part of the landing gear on my Rans S12 (only place the clamp would fit), just so I could get some footage without making all sorts of special clamps.

[@Trike.]

So do you think i would get the same results with my weight shift trike? And would would happen if I placed the tow line on the very edge of the wing tip ? Would there be much turbulence with wing tip placement?

[@Rotuma1260]

I wondered what happened to the SunSeeker company. Seemed like a great aircraft -- a clean design without a lot of cables and struts everywhere. Maybe you can buy the design rights and put it back into production. :)

[@wakataka53]

After spending something like $200k developing the aircraft and all the tooling, the original designers found they couldn't obtain product liability insurance and they decided to sell the project to someone who was going to manufacture it in Mexico. That never came to pass. I'm helping a friend of mine here in Northern California develop an airplane based on the SunSeeker but with folding wing capability. We're just starting to build a prototype wing for static load testing.

[@Rotuma1260]

Please keep us informed, especially if you go into production. Wing folding is a huge benefit. I know of another California ultralight (cantilever wing) that seems great, but the lack of a folding wing or quickly detachable wings makes it necessary to keep at an airport.

[@Slumberjacksix]

Nice video. Why not construct something more like the conventional configuration of an airplane? Wing, fuselage, tail assemblage. Consider scale. Make it more like a dart? Notwithstanding the holes in the bottle the bottle will produce too much drag without creating stability? Just my two cents.

[@wakataka53]

Walter - In order to make the camera trail behind the airplane rather than drop down below it, you need to have a drogue that produces more drag than the weight of the camera. So drag is a good thing when designing a chase cam. You don't want anything with wings that will create lift or catch wind currents because that tends to whip the camera around. So when designing this thing I tried to emulate a badminton shuttlecock, which was the most drag producing and stable shape I was familiar with. I'm sure there are other shapes that would work, but drag is your friend in this case. I built the first one using a one liter bottle and the camera hung down so far that the plane wasn't even in the frame. I suppose with too much drag the camera might get up into the prop wash, so there is a happy medium. For the weight of my camera, this two liter bottle is just about right.

[@Slumberjacksix]

Thank you, sir. Great job of explaining things I had not considered.

[@RichParkerflys]

very fun ... check out quicksilver sport 2s Rich Parker channel... how does it not spin?

[@extremeultralightaviation]

I notice the plane stays centered, but the edge of the video moves quite a bit. Is that the editing software you are using? Which one?

[@wakataka53]

As I recall, I used the You Tube anti-shake option for this. it will reprocess your video to keep the center of the frame stable by moving the off center parts of the image.

[@erniep8214]

cool unti-shake been looking this for my handheld hyperlapse

[@bluestudio67]

Maybe a silly question, but what keeps it from spinning?

[@wakataka53]

The camera hangs below the centerline of the drogue, so the weight of the camera stabilizes it.

[@bluestudio67]

Ahhh...Makes sense! Thanks :)