Uber Thnkr

Jun.02
2

Fly ALL the routes …

Posted by in ACRE, Flying

(Note: Due to various things coming up and this post being delayed, this post refers to events occurring on May 24,2013) It’s become a routine now where we sit on the ground for a few days due to terrible weather, and then fly the living daylights out of the one or two days that we have great weather. Today was no different. We’d been kept on the ground by several days of thunderstorms and low ceilings and were now finally given one great day. I think “great” might even be…read more

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May.21
0

Of Nuts and Bolts …

Posted by in ACRE, Aircraft Maintenance

Video Note: Video of me doing the takeoff on runway 19 towards the wires. The turn is to avoid the wires until you clear them. Video courtesy of Shane Cassell. By now we’d gotten pretty used to the drill. Arrive at the airport, pick up the equipment, preflight the plane and the equipment, sign off with the boss, and then take off. The only difference today was that the boss noticed a fuel stain inside the cowling (He keeps this thing immaculately clean … so you notice if there is…read more

May.21
0
May.19
1

The Struggle … It Is Real …

Posted by in Uncategorized

I’m getting a bit backlogged in posts so I’ll probably just have to post multiple posts at once. Without much further ado, day two. Our second flight day was started off with us having much greater respect for the weather. We were now even more aware of how fickle it can be and how quickly it can change. We started off the flight in very hazy but VFR conditions and were soon making our way southeast. We got a few fields done before some clouds started building on the horizon….read more

May.15
4

Storm Runners …

Posted by in ACRE, Flying

Early Wednesday morning, filled with excitement, we prepared to head off on our first non-training survey route. After our usual commute to the airfield, we got started on our pre-flight of the plane and the equipment. At random we would get these showers of rain that were very light and would last anywhere between 10 and 30 seconds. Seeing that storms weren’t expected to start building till late afternoon we thought nothing of it and continued our preparations. As we were finishing up I suddenly heard the faint rumble of…read more

May.15
4
May.14
2

Recon Pilot

Posted by in Uncategorized

So on this fine Monday afternoon we took to the skies to try our hands at flying an actual survey route. For practice we did the fields belonging to the company owners which keeps us pretty close to home base. The route was pretty short with a lot of quick turns and surprisingly wasn’t as difficult as we thought. Granted my technique could use some refinement but that is something that will come with time as I get to know where the fields are and can line them up further in advance….read more

May.13
0

Master Map Maker …

Posted by in ACRE, Stuff and Things

Another part of our job is to put together the routes that we’ll be flying. To get an idea of what that’s like just image someone threw about 20 Jigsaw puzzle pieces randomly on a map and told you to find the best route to connect all of them. The fields are spread across Indiana and Illinois and we generally pick a path that would allow us to fly over each of them in a specific direction (Either East/West or North/South) in the shortest, most efficient way. A lot of the fields…read more

May.10
0

Week One: Weird Weather and Lot’s of Sleep

Posted by in ACRE, Stuff and Things

*Title image by Cyclonediesel at www.motortopia.com* And thus ends my first week out of Berrien Springs and the great state of Michigan. First off, the weather here in West Indiana/East Illinois is not quite what I’m used to. I’ve been here a week and it hasn’t warmed up quite past 75. In fact today it stayed a cool 45 degrees … it’s as if I stepped back a month or two into March. Not complaining though, it’s not snowing (yet) and it isn’t 90 degrees (yet). On the work side things have been…read more

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