Aircam designer: Phil Lockwood

The National Geographic Society commissioned Lockwood to design and build the ultimate aerial camera platform in the mid-1990s, and it became the AirCam—an open-air, twin-engine pusher based on the ultralight Drifter design. Lockwood’s AirCam prototype first flew in 1995, and it was unique. It could take off from a standing start on one engine, and its in-flight endurance could be stretched to six hours. Lockwood had one shipped to Africa and flew it extensively over the Nouabalé-Ndoki rain forest in the Congo with wildlife photographer Nick Nichols.

“There was virtually no chance of being rescued if we had a forced landing in the places we flew,” Lockwood said. “That’s why the airplane had to have two engines, and it flew exceptionally well.”

When Lockwood returned home to Sebring, Florida, he built another AirCam, and it was a sensation. “I flew it to the Sun ’n Fun Fly-In and got mobbed,” he said. “I wanted the airplane for myself, and it became clear right away that other people were interested in having one, too.”

Since then, more than 250 AirCams have been built and flown as experimental category kit airplanes, and Lockwood has slowly and consistently upgraded the original design with bigger engines, amphibious floats, a third seat, and a canopy that allows year-around operation in cold climates.

Lockwood graduated from the Florida Institute of Technology in 1982 and obtained instrument and multiengine ratings as a student. His first aviation job was at Maxair, an ultralight company, and he started his own firm in 1989. He’s long had a deep interest in photography and worked closely with filmmakers Des and Jean Bartlett on their Emmy-winning 1993 documentary Survivors of the Skeleton Coast, in which they filmed rare desert elephants from the air over Namibia.

Lockwood has advanced the art of aerial photography from AirCams, and his annual owners’ gatherings in scenic locations such as the Everglades, Canyonlands, and the Bahamas are known for producing stunning photos and video.

Low-key, thoughtful, and a perfectionist by nature, Lockwood goes to extraordinary efforts to convey the feeling of flying an AirCam through scenic vistas in his fast-paced, splashy videos. During a trip to the Bahamas, Lockwood and his crew were swarmed by mosquitoes and biting flies on the ramp after they returned from an evening video flight. But they stayed at work, collected the cameras, and reviewed the images that night so that they could make improvements the next day.

“People ask us how we get such great imagery,” he said, “and a big part of the answer is that we just try really hard.”

Email [email protected]