We’ve all noticed it: In the last year or so there has been an exponential increase in the number of pilot-shot videos on YouTube thanks to the popularity of portable HD cameras from companies like GoPro, JVC and Pure Digital Technologies, maker of the Flip. Some pilots are even using suction-cup mounts to affix their cameras to the fuselage for spectacular views that must be making the certification folks at the FAA cringe.
An unintended byproduct in the video-is-everywhere age is that we’re seeing more crashes being filmed from inside the cockpit. There was that suddenly famous video shot a couple of weeks ago by a passenger in a Stinson 108-3. It shows the pilot struggling to take off from an Idaho airport with a density altitude of well over 9,000 feet but never making it more than about 70 feet above trees before crashing into them.
