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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

The " SCARLET AIR SHIP " Im so EXCITED!!!

B

Bill Clary

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Hello All,
My name is Bill Clary and I just wanted to introduce myself and express how incredibly excited I am for the release of the "SCARLET!!"

Let me start off by saying that, if any of you are interested in building your own similar type system to lift your camera, please feel free to ask me any questions! Also, in no way am i trying to promote my company but simply express that once I own a Scarlet and combine the two, ooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhh.

Ive owned and operated an unmanned aerial film company for the past 8 years and have carried nearly every camera under the sun, and let me say "Finally a camera I want to carry"
You might be familiar with unmanned companies similar to mine, but like RED, we have taken it to the next level. Simplified, we operate an unmanned 2-man, live first person view aerial filming platform, equipped with a 3 axis gyro stabilized camera mount that can operate within a 20mile range, feet off the ground or water, or up to 17,000 feet in the air :yesnod::yesnod:

we recently did a shoot for a show called the "Harvest" airing on the "History Channel and if your curious about just what im taking about, take a look at some of the clips or my aerial demo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUSV3CbTwLY
http://vimeo.com/30438106

Ive often learned timing is everything and we just received the newly released super heavy lift air ship from "Droidworx" the SkyJib (picture below), which has a camera lift capacity of 20lbs!! From what I can tell so far, the Scarlet is going to be about 10lbs with lens, so that should be perfect. Im hoping for about 10-15minutes of flight time.

In just thinking about the kind of quality the Scarlet has and the access I have, gives me goose bumps. Cant stop thinking about flying around a volcano, feet off skiers/snowbaorders going down chutes or playing in the park, rally car races, dirt biking, etc... and one shot ive been dreaming of "flying inside a wave", can I get a water proof case :banghead:

I understand you all might have some questions, so allow me to answer some of the most common ones

1. What about the FAA Rules and Applications at various agencies? - Currently there is no standardized process specifically addressing these types of aerial vehicles, but to operate ANY vehicle in the AIR, you must have a private pilot license, Insured, and paperwork filled out with the FAA along with state and local security agencies. (My client/portfolio includes, History Channel, many ski resorts, Denver State Capital, Homeland Security, etc..., so yes it can be done, you just have to do it right)
2. How much does one of these ships cost? - $7000-$15,000, depending on the type of camera mount, avionics, auto pilot systems, etc...
3. Where did I learn how to do this? www.rcgroups.com
4. Is it easy? - hmmm, flying around a dangerous $15,000 piece of equipment with an even more expensive $20,000-$50,000 camera over water, through trees, around skiers/snowboarders or people in general will never be easy.
5. How long did it take to learn? - I started flying rc planes when I was 10yrs, flew rc type drones in the military 82nd Airborne 3/325 as an infantry solider, have been operating my business for 9 years, one of the top in my industry and im still learning. Or should I say "pushing myself"

LIke i said before, if you have any questions please ask! Im sure ill have a bunch for you all

Thank you,
Bill C
www.gotaerial.com
 
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Oh cool. I've got loads of questions for you.

I was looking at doing this for Asia, but have been rather stuck with what kind of kit to get . I'm happy to risk a GH2 or some Panasonics to start off with, but I tend to purchase once only, so whatever I buy to start with has to be something that won't require upgrading. Within a year I hope to be confident enough to put a 5D in there, depending on how my flying skills have improved.

Given that I can get Droidwork skyjibs in Singapore, what would you recommend as a gymbal and air-to-ground monitor system for camera control?
 
I would recommend the "HoverFly" flight control board. Its very stable in high winds, has GPS return to home and position hold. As far as gymbal, the Photohigher AV200 or the larger AV 320 is good so far. The best frequency for wireless video I've used is 1.2ghz for Pilot and 900mhz for the camera operator. There are cheep video systems that will cause problems with your controller communication so make sure you purchase quality products.
 
Matt Johnston said:
Hey Bill,


I guess we will see who lifts a Scarlet first.

Been waiting years. Literally. Lifted SI-2k a bit ago. That was fun....... . . . .
Click to expand...

Matt,

did you lift that camera with your quad? and will you be lifting the scarlet with the quad?

Also, i would like to correct my first post since MATT is here and leave Rally Car Racing to him :) !!!

Bill
 
Bill Clary said:
Matt,

did you lift that camera with your quad? and will you be lifting the scarlet with the quad?

Bill
Click to expand...

No, not usually. I have 2 quads, and 3 Y6's. The quads I use smaller cameras on mostly. The Big Y6 is the Scarlet/Epic/Big Camera lifter:

311989_10150429796984810_611789809_10432151_252357044_n.jpg
 
Bill Clary said:
4. Is it easy? - hmmm, flying around a dangerous $15,000 piece of equipment with an even more expensive $20,000 camera over water, through trees, around skiers/snowboarders or people in general will never be easy.
Click to expand...

I looked at the video and it looked very good (not the youtube quality of course but the camera movements). We have been flying around here with smaller cameras (5d, 550, gopro and more) with similar "aircraft" but 4 motors instead of 8. I will not let my friend fly with my Scarlet until I have one spare. Do you fly by gps also?
 
Joel Arvidsson said:
I looked at the video and it looked very good (not the youtube quality of course but the camera movements). We have been flying around here with smaller cameras (5d, 550, gopro and more) with similar "aircraft" but 4 motors instead of 8. I will not let my friend fly with my Scarlet until I have one spare. Do you fly by gps also?
Click to expand...

No GPS flying only FPV.. I rarely fly by actually looking at the aircraft any more

Bill
 
Cool, cause my "pilot" here dont like to fly to far away with the quad. For that he likes more ordinary rc choppers.
 
Joel Arvidsson said:
Cool, cause my "pilot" here dont like to fly to far away with the quad. For that he likes more ordinary rc choppers.
Click to expand...

I know exactly how your pilot feels, trying to fly multi rotor copters far away by looking at it is asking for trouble. Ive learned how to fly close FPV and since multirotors are much safer then rc helis. It looks like im going to be using multi rotor copters for a while.
If you get a chance check out these 2 videos. One of of me flying FPV like a Red Bull Air Racer, with our one of a kind ground station (2 tv monitors which the camera operator and pilot control the craft from, and the second is super version of a rc multi rotor copter flying around a real man!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gbvdFwZN48
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=L75ESD9PBOw
 
Bill Clary said:
I would recommend the "HoverFly" flight control board. Its very stable in high winds, has GPS return to home and position hold. As far as gymbal, the Photohigher AV200 or the larger AV 320 is good so far. The best frequency for wireless video I've used is 1.2ghz for Pilot and 900mhz for the camera operator. There are cheep video systems that will cause problems with your controller communication so make sure you purchase quality products.
Click to expand...
K, thx, I'll check these out.
 
Hate to rain on anyone's parade but the proposed FAA rules applying to any flying vehicles over 2lbs, put not only these types of applications in question but threatens all recreational model aircraft flying. Most of the pro remote helicopter companies in the US have closed their doors and in spite of the warm fuzzies for these vehicles...there have been a few injury accidents.
Don't get me wrong I wish there could be wonderful perfectly stable cameras floating safely around beautiful people but at this point there are major issues with safety, insurance, the FAA etc.
 
I have a droidworx hexa that I will likely lift a Scarlet with.
 
Jeffrey Loewe said:
Bill! Cool story!

I was looking into trying to learn how to do this as well. I'm going to follow your links and hopefully ask be allowed to ask you questions as the arise!

I'm sure we could share some Ft. Benning stories. I was an 18x and got hurt in training.

Love your reel!

best,

Jeffrey
Click to expand...

Hi jeffery,
Not a problem, feel free to ask me anything.
 
Ron Goodman said:
Hate to rain on anyone's parade but the proposed FAA rules applying to any flying vehicles over 2lbs, put not only these types of applications in question but threatens all recreational model aircraft flying. Most of the pro remote helicopter companies in the US have closed their doors and in spite of the warm fuzzies for these vehicles...there have been a few injury accidents.
Don't get me wrong I wish there could be wonderful perfectly stable cameras floating safely around beautiful people but at this point there are major issues with safety, insurance, the FAA etc.
Click to expand...

Hi Ron,

I am fully aware of what you are saying and that is why i have asked for permission to sit on the ruling council in regards to the outlining a specific application and rules process. Regardless, those rules are not expected to go into effect until 2013,
I have no doubt there will be some some type of "HIGHLY INFLATED APPLICAITION COST PROCESS" but just like anything else that is profitable, the "Man" wants a higher cut.

Bill
 
We build Ready to fly UAV,s for any job or camera.
remember this , it is best to make a Airframe suitable for the weight the camera is.
anything else is a waste of money or energy for that matter.

and so give some comment on the previous posts:

a Hexa skyjib wont be a very safe aircraft to lift any red product with.
and the engines like the 4120 wont help eather.
if one engine fails , on that total weight it wont return safe , to much power loss
all you read are theoretic setups,but not flown
as for the aircraft shown that lift 20 lbs , yes sure but have a look at the wapping 300 amps it pulls :-)
not to mention the total batterys it would need or destroy just on hover.


so we also engineered one for RED epic or RED scarlet same weight less costs.
we builded a Skyjib 8 that uses 51 amps in hover lifting 8 LBS.
so with one 8000 mah battery this will give you about 8 minutes max on this setup.
most television productions or any other filming 8 minutes is plenty for one shot , return to home and replace battery.
if your interested send me a mail or have a look on www.digitech.nl
the hoverfly looks interesting , but they have not a good reputation on any octo setup.
they are not freely to program , you are dependant on the given setups by the factory.

Sandor
 
Quite simply, operating an aerial camera platform for hire is ILLEGAL in the U.S. point blank. The poster mentioned that he has flown in the past with FAA permission meaning that he has gone through the proper COA certifications? How is this possible when there are currently no official ruling on regulations? The poster also states on his site that he flies the RED yet there is no footage from the RED on his site. Be smart and keep your illegal business operations to yourself like all the other SMART aerial operators. All it takes is for someone to report you to the FAA not to mention you actually fly your rigs via FPV beyond line of site....this is a double whammy and very very dangerous to the public and illegal in the U.S. These craft are NOT professional grade and failures are guaranteed. What people don't see are the many catastrophic crashes behind closed doors.

Were you paid by the The History Channel for your work in the "Harvest?"
 
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