ORIGINAL: Witterings
Correct me if I'm wrong but the way it reads at the moment we're going to have a complete newbie that's never flown taking off the fat end of $1500 worth of 12 ft wingspan plane weighing 23 lbs with an expensive camera strapped to it flying at 50mph very precisely to be able to follow the bikers and "get the best shot" whilst watching a screen on the ground to see where the camera's facing and adjust acoordingly - don't know about you but I wouldn't fancy being one of the guys riding the bikes underneath !!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry but some of the experienced people on here actually recommending planes for this situation I just can't believe the irresponsibilty of it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But that's exactly the point...
Often people come in here with things like this where all of the details have not been thought through.
Telling them from the start, that they don't know what they are doing and that they should set their sights lower doesn't work, so discussing the actual requirements MAY let them "see the light".
You have the scenario exactly right, this is NOT a project for anyone without experience.
The best a relative newbie will do is with a slow small platform and say a FlyCamOne ver 2, which I don't think he had in mind...
It's not "irresponsible" to help someone realize what they are getting into by telling them what they ACTUALLY may need to accomplish what they want.