Recently I have been watching many Youtube videos trying to learn everything I can before I begin my IFR flight training. While watching these videos I realized how valuable it will be to rewatch my flights to evaluate and learn from my mistakes. Being able to watch my flights will also give me an opportunity to make the most of my flight instructor time, being able to pay close attention to what he is teaching me in the air while I’m not focused on flying.

Another thing it will allow me to do is to film my flights with my family. Now that I am flying with them, being able to capture these memories will be pretty amazing.

After a great deal of research I have decided on the route I plan to take to capture these videos. The first step in this process was to have access to the audio. I am interested in good quality however, I am more concerned about not having big money tied up in recording equipment. So cost, ability to slowly build up my equipment inventory and functionality are all factors in what I choose for my equipment.

The first purchase I made was a good interface to be able to gather audio. This cable connects between my headphone and the airplane audio panel.  Keeping in mind that I am building this equipment up slowly, I needed a way to capture the audio now and later improve on the quality and how I capture it. We had an old digital audio recorder laying around the house which for the time being will work perfect for this. Although it is not ideal and if I was purchasing one it is not the one I would purchase again… I can’t pass up free! The real qualification for this recorder is that it has a mic input. This is a 1/8 inch audio female socket that can accept an external microphone.  These days 512MB does not seem like a lot however, it will record many hours of audio provided the AAA batteries hold up.  All in all it works OK.  It is easy to use and does the job however the quality is not perfect as you will see in a later video of my sons first flight.

This is the cable that I purchased to match up with my existing recorder.  Although a bit pricy for what it is, it works great.  It is made of high quality components and I received it quickly.  It is shipped in a padded envelope and comes with brief instructions although it is not hard to figure out.  The great thing about this is that later, I will purchase a GoPro adapter and this will work for that as well.  The cable comes with one male 1/4 inch plug (this plugs into the audio panel of the airplane), a 1/4 inch female plug (this accepts your headset plug) and a 1/8 inch male plug which is for the input to the recorder, camera, etc.)

It is important to note that if you are planning on using your phone to record the audio, this is NOT the cable you want.  The same company sells a cable that looks the same however, it is designed to work with your smart phone (Android, iPhone, etc.)

For those that know you will use a GoPro consistently,  they also offer a cable with a GoPro adapter with a power plug.