AirCam: A $50,000 Homebuilt Airplane Kit for Serious Aerial Photographers
When it comes to aerial photography, things are getting more and more complicated. Setting up a drone business in the US is getting to be a major headache in some states, and other options (e.g. paragliding) might just get you arrested if you fly over the wrong thing or take off from the wrong place.
AirCam is a solution, albeit an expensive one, that frees serious aerial photographers to do their thing — and do it in style.
AirCam is a kit plane (that is, you build it at home) that is designed specifically with aerial photography and “low and slow exploration” in mind.
Sure, you need to have a pilot’s license and $50,000+ to spend (plus an average of 1,100 hours of build time), but if all of that sounds doable, the AirCam is a great way for aerial photography buffs to explore hard-to-reach places — National Geographic has even used one on a few assignments.
Here’s a video intro to the AirCam:
As you can see, the AirCam is wide open and built to be as stable and easy to fly as possible. Short field take-offs and landings, low-and-slow flying abilities, and the AirCam’s ability to operate (even take off) with only one of the two engines running, are all aerial photography selling points.
Of course, not a lot of people can just spend that kind of money, but when you compare the price of an AirCam to that of a typical small plane, it’s downright cheap.
To learn more about AirCam and possibly look into getting one yourself, head over to the AirCam website to stock up on information from the company, or learn more about the planes from the people who actually fly them on the AirCam forums.
