iPhone at 100,000ft

Conor108

Saw this excellent video of a father and son who built a weather baloon, stuck a HD camera on board and an iPhone to transmit GPS co-ordinates for recovery. 7 mins but well worth the watch!:)

joewicklow

Very clever. I would love to try it.

shedweller

Thats a very very cool thing to do with your kids!

lord lucan

Great little experiment,i'd love to try something like that myself.

zefer

That is very very cool

Saaron

That was fascinating! I wish I had the option to do something like that.

Kidchameleon

Id love to try that. Actually I had a similar thought to this a few years ago. Is there a danger that the parachute could fail and the thing could go hurtling into a person? That's what Id worry about most...

digme

That's unreal,one of the best things i've seen in ages,thanks for posting it !!!!
Can't wait to try this lol

thecommander

Wonder what the iPhone app is?

Probably have to launch somewhere in the midlands, otherwise risk it getting caught in winds and end up in the sea.

namloc1980

Kidchameleon wrote: »

Id love to try that. Actually I had a similar thought to this a few years ago. Is there a danger that the parachute could fail and the thing could go hurtling into a person? That's what Id worry about most...

I'd say the biggest obstacle to doing this in Ireland would be the amount of red tape you'd have to go through to get pemission.

thecommander

namloc1980 wrote: »

I'd say the biggest obstacle to doing this in Ireland would be the amount of red tape you'd have to go through to get pemission.

just go ahead and do it. Just not near airport or flight paths.

namloc1980

thecommander wrote: »

just go ahead and do it. Just not near airport or flight paths.

It's against the law to launch a large weather balloon in Irish airspace without permission from the IAA unless you work for Met Eireann. I've looked it up. Plus it's hard to predict where a balloon might go.....it could easily stray into a flight path.

Conor108

namloc1980 wrote: »

It's against the law to launch a large weather balloon in Irish airspace without permission from the IAA unless you work for Met Eireann. I've looked it up. Plus it's hard to predict where a balloon might go.....it could easily stray into a flight path.

Next volcano eruption then so

Shulgin

That was really cool. Tnx

Prenderb

Great find, fantastic video! Not sure I'd do with with MY camera/iphone though!!!

Kidchameleon

namloc1980 wrote: »

It's against the law to launch a large weather balloon in Irish airspace without permission from the IAA unless you work for Met Eireann. I've looked it up. Plus it's hard to predict where a balloon might go.....it could easily stray into a flight path.

Id imagine the laws are similar in the states where this was done. Wonder what the penalty would be...

kippy

Kidchameleon wrote: »

Id imagine the laws are similar in the states where this was done. Wonder what the penalty would be...

It does seem that this was done under the auspices of the "brooklyn space program" - which may be how permission was gotten for the flight.
A really cool thing to do though.....

namloc1980

Kidchameleon wrote: »

Id imagine the laws are similar in the states where this was done. Wonder what the penalty would be...

From looking it up it seems all you need to do in the US is ring the local FAA office a week before and let them know where you're launching from and the expected trajectory. The main reason to notify the authorities is so they don't get a surprise when something unexpected shows up on radar.

This video has inspired me so gonna contact the IAA and I'll let ye know the story.

Stargate

That was just brilliant great video Conor Tnx

Stargate

namloc1980

Can't get any answers from the IAA about how to get permission to do this. Will keep trying.

thecommander

namloc1980 wrote: »

Can't get any answers from the IAA about how to get permission to do this. Will keep trying.

Are there any indications from them, or elsewhere that you can't do it?

kippy

Would the MET office or some one in it (perhaps over at the weather forum) be able to assist with the query?

namloc1980

thecommander wrote: »

Are there any indications from them, or elsewhere that you can't do it?

Yes it's in statutary law that you can't release a large free baloon in the state without permission from the IAA (unless you are working for Met Éireann).

Here it is:
(3) An unmanned free balloon which exceeds two metres in any linear dimension at any stage in its flight, other than a balloon used by the Meteorological Services for the purposes of upper air observations, shall not be flown by any person within the State without the permission in writing of the [Irish Aviation] Authority and other than in accordance with any conditions subject to which that permission may have been granted.

A high altitude balloon will reach over 6 metres by the time it bursts.

thecommander

namloc1980 wrote: »

Yes it's in statutary law that you can't release a large free baloon in the state without permission from the IAA (unless you are working for Met Éireann).

Here it is:
(3) An unmanned free balloon which exceeds two metres in any linear dimension at any stage in its flight, other than a balloon used by the Meteorological Services for the purposes of upper air observations, shall not be flown by any person within the State without the permission in writing of the [Irish Aviation] Authority and other than in accordance with any conditions subject to which that permission may have been granted.

A high altitude balloon will reach over 6 metres by the time it bursts.

Time to get onto someone in the Met office about a student project.

kippy

Surely the people who fly blimps at events (galway races for example and I think there was one that got away at the ploughing championships would know how to go about getting permission..........

murrayp4

Swampy

That was sooo cool.