Coolest.Dad.Ever

[Hoss]

My dad imparted his knowledge of RC aircraft on me, eventually getting me to start working towards my PPL.

This guy, who I believe is a cinematographer, uses an HD camera, an iPhone, a large balloon, a parachute and some packing foam to send a little capsule nearly 100,000 feet (yes, that is one-hundred thousand feet, or about 19 miles) into the lower stratosphere, all the while including his children in on the fun.  They had the knowledge to put the iPhone in to use as a tracking device.

[custosnox]

My dad imparted his knowledge of RC aircraft on me, eventually getting me to start working towards my PPL.

This guy, who I believe is a cinematographer, uses an HD camera, an iPhone, a large balloon, a parachute and some packing foam to send a little capsule nearly 100,000 feet (yes, that is one-hundred thousand feet, or about 19 miles) into the lower stratosphere, all the while including his children in on the fun.  They had the knowledge to put the iPhone in to use as a tracking device.

iphone?  That is a new twist on it.  Last time I read the article on this little feat, it was a camera and a gps tracker seperate

[Hoss]

iphone?  That is a new twist on it.  Last time I read the article on this little feat, it was a camera and a gps tracker seperate

That was different.  It was done in Britain and I remember seeing him on the Today show.  This guy released it from somewhere near NYC, and it landed just 35 miles from the launch point, which is pretty spectacular given how the winds can be at those altitudes (in some cases they can be upwards of 150 - 175 mph).  Pretty remarkable feat.

Jobs should be contacting this dude straight away.

'iPhone.  Works in space'....LOL

[sgrizzle]

The iPhone camera has a lot of dynamic range, good lens, pretty good storage space, GPS and can stream over the internet. I've seen some other applications where an iPhone 4 was mounted to various flying objects. Never in space, though.

[Hoss]

The iPhone camera has a lot of dynamic range, good lens, pretty good storage space, GPS and can stream over the internet. I've seen some other applications where an iPhone 4 was mounted to various flying objects. Never in space, though.

And in this case, it was an iPhone and camera separate.  They were using the iPhone as the GPS tracker.

[Conan71]

That is really cool.  Thanks for sharing.