MAIDEN FLIGHT SUCCESS!
This evening I conducted the maiden flight for the concept of the Mavic Air carrying a Seek Thermal Compact Pro in a manner that allows for the drone pilot to view what is being recorded by the Seek Thermal as it occurs.
For those that are just skipping to this point in the thread, the stock landing gear extension was modified into a frame that holds a Galaxy S4 (the lightest Android phone that supports the Seek software), the Seek Thermal camera, a mirror (to reflect the S4 display to the drone's camera, and a reading glass lens (for focus). Hot melt glue holds the assembly together. This is the concept assembly and it is considerably heavier than needed. Once any issues are resolved with the assembly, the hot melt glue will be removed and the assembly held together by lighter adhesives. Note that the flight was brief. It was raining and I didn't want the drone to get soaked.
Although it was a brief flight, I consider the test a success. The Mavic Air flew sluggish, but okay. I expect that to improve when I lighten the assembly. I expect that I can easily cut an ounce, perhaps two. It was very easy to move the Mavic's camera down to catch the image from the S4 or up to view normally what is ahead of the drone. The compass calibrated normally. The S4 was run in airplane mode, but the Seek software was still able to use the phone GPS to integrate with its recording. I'm hoping for drier weather tomorrow, so I can try a more extensive test, but so far I'm quite encouraged with the results.
You can find the maiden flight video
here.