Quad Copter Crash Cam Homage to David Letterman

Yesterday David Letterman ended a 33-year run as the host of one the most popular late-night television talk shows.  There are lots of memorable interviews and skits throughout his long career, but one I fondly remember is the ‘crash cam’ from Letterman’s Late Night show in the late 80’s and early 90’s.

In the crash cam skits David would drive a radio controlled camera straight into stacks of fragile objects like wine glasses, plates, etc. and capture the spectacular crash on video.  This kind of quirky and offbeat humor typified Letterman’s show, and as an homage I’ve tried to bring the crash cam into the 21st century with a modern quad copter drone.

Watch in the video above as a Hubsan X4 quad copter, with these excellent 3D-printed prop guards, flies straight into a stack of red cups and captures a first person view of the crash.  If David Letterman could go on hosting his Late Show for another 30 years perhaps the crash cam could have made a similar return (although crashing a cupcake car into a Christmas tree was pretty close!).

If you missed the last ever Late Show with David Letterman broadcast be sure to check CBS’ website as it might be available to stream online.  You can also watch the Foo Fighter’s performance from the show and its amazing photo montage of David Letterman show memories.

Farewell David Letterman, enjoy your retirement and thanks for all the laughs!

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Filed under: drones, NYC, random — by Tony DiCola

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