Are there any airplanes made today with external cameras?

RussR

RussR

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(I mean for viewing the airplane itself, not aerial photography or Youtube.)

As I look at the camera on my phone and realize how tiny it is, I began to wonder why you don't see cameras permanently mounted on new aircraft, and displaying on the MFD, as a safety aid.

I'm thinking a couple obvious uses are one or two on the belly to verify the gear is down in event of a malfunction, and one or two on the tail to determine if you have tailplane icing.

It just seems like such an obvious thing. I did some searching, and came up with a company that sells them for business jets, but they all looked pretty substantial, requiring fairings and such. And I know some airliners have them. But I think the actual camera on my phone is something like < 1/4 inch diameter. Meaning it could fit anywhere. Run some wires to it and display it on the MFD. Seems like an easy obvious thing for the manufacturer to build in for light airplanes. I quickly searched through Cirrus, TBM, and Pilatus's websites but didn't see anything (I picked those as being representative of "modern" airplanes with continuing innovation).

Or are there airplanes sold today like this, that I'm just not aware of? Or are there engineering challenges I'm overlooking (like perhaps you'd need a small heating coil)?
 
Some Garmin glass displays (like the G3X Touch 10.6” display) have a video input that you could feed with a camera. I haven’t seen this input actually used for something useful in person, but I believe some people have installed infrared cameras on their E/AB airplanes and fed the video into their MFDs.
 
My Comanche has a crap ton of external cameras.

Joking aside, I have had this same thought. From time to time, I will use a tiedown camera to get that shot of the gear going up / down.
The camera I use transmits to my phone so I can see what it sees live. I can turn it on and off with my phone.

I have seriously considered keeping it there on every flight for this exact reason.
 
I have an ancient Sony HDR AS20 that will wi-fi to my phone for looking at the outside if needed. There was also a function on the older iFly 720 to connect a camera to display on the GPS screen but I never used it. Heard that some others did. I have a 740b now and I haven't looked to see if it will support that function.
 
Some home builders are doing it. I remember a recent vid by Social Flight on youtube. He's putting one on the belly of his P-51 replica build.

That's the thing about about certified aircraft that's troubling.... any of the small GA singles currently built. These are relatively simple machines and even the fanciest (as far as I know) don't have anywhere near the comfort and convenience tech that even a basic compact car now days has....but yet they cost as much as a mansion!
 
I remember seeing a video where an owner installed cameras inside the wheel wells of a lancair, nothing hanging in the wind.
YouTuber Trent Palmer with the kitfox mounted one in the front so he could see in front during taxi, displayed on his PFD or MFD.
 
Just throw a couple of these in there!

upload_2022-12-24_8-29-54.jpeg
 
RussR said:
are there airplanes sold today like this, that I'm just not aware of?
Click to expand...
Don't know about airplanes but there are a number of helicopters that offer cameras as factory standard or optional equipment. There are even a few 3rd party kits available. Most are geared to cockpit areas and the tailboom view.
 
With as small and inexpensive as these little cameras are, why not put them under the cowling in critical areas, at inspection points for control surfaces, etc.? In some cases, the camera could be mounted to the backside of the inspection port cover.
 
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