Bearhawk in the backcountry

[Chewie]

I was lucky enough to do some filming with a French crew, who are running a new "360" camera which films in every direction at once. Picture a globe made of camera lens', and then stitching the films together so the viewer has full control of where they look, while the video is playing.

I am still waiting for permission to share it, but I can say initial edits of the results are pretty damn awesome!! Mounted on the wing, it makes for a whole new perspective on a take-off, or cruising through the mountains. Another Bearhawk-first!

Is that sort of like google street-view?

[N942VT]

Beautiful country you have there Battson, love keeping up with your adventures.

[Battson]

Is that sort of like google street-view?

Imagine Google street view but you're viewing a moving video, you can still pan in any direction (including up and down) at any point in time during the video; or re-watch and look in a different direction at the same moment in time. The video is hugely data intensive, but modern internet seems able to stream it nicely.

You can view and control the video on your phone, tablet, computer, and maybe even a modern home TV controlled by a mobile App.

It's definitely going to be part of the future of digital video, especially for extreme sports, it makes regular video seem pretty mundane by comparison!

They have attached it to everything from aircraft, to extreme skateboarders, unusually work environments, and travels through stunning landscapes. Anywhere people might like to control the camera in 360 degrees while the video is rolling. I think I get about 10 minutes of their 52 minute TV show, once it goes to air.

[Chewie]

Very cool. Now what you need are visors that play video with inertial sensors so you can look around! In 3D...

[Battson]

Here are a couple more scenic snaps from our earlier flights:


My lovely wife, now starting to look slightly pregnant :P

[Battson]

As you can see, we got quite a mixed bag of weather!


An early morning trip with friends, this one's the approach about a 1 mile final. Lots of windshear. Airstrip is on the hard left-hand side of the valley, with a dog-leg turn on short finals.


Goin' hiking

[marcusofcotton]

My lovely wife, now starting to look slightly pregnant :P

Congratulations!!!

[Battson]

[Battson]

Photo from same location

[Battson]

Been a bit slack lately about photographing our backcountry flying trips. After a while the novelty wears off! I need to get back into the video....

Here are a few snaps from a recent trip down the river to the seaside, there is a rough riverbed take-off video to match, which I will upload later.



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[Chewie]

Thanks for the motivation! Back to stiffeners I go...
Is that 360 video available as a sneak peak yet?

[Battson]

I've heard nothing from them for ages, it was recording in January...
I did have a link to the video under development - it's pretty cool, but this link was broken months ago.

[Battson]

Here's a crumby mobile phone video of the take-off I mentioned before. You'll have to excuse the dirty windscreen too, bugs are a fact of life at certain times of year.

[Battson]

Here's the latest - and possibly our best depiction yet - of backcountry exploits in the Bearhawk, after much ado.

This captures the best of accessing the range of backcountry environments in New Zealand for fishing, hunting, tramping, and just for flying's sake! Some of the landing places are as short as 500ft, although the Bearhawk makes short work of them.

I hope you enjoy it.

[LukeS]

My new favorite Bearhawk video. Thanks for the motivation!

[mswain]

wow! Fantastic video.

[Battson]

Here's some video from the other weekend, we just went and did a few short spots in the riverbed for practice.
There's no substitute for currency, and it's a great excuse for a fun time.