Ops-Normal.org

My life today
Tis what happens when the two senior pilots in a company fly together...
"Which way ya wanna go?"
"I dunno----what does your I-pad say?"
"I dunno----how about yours?"
"Tell ya what....how bout we just follow the road?....."
"deal"
"Kewl"...

Was the purpose of the flight to go somewhere specific - or just a leisure/training exercise?

Isn't this a perfect example of airmanship? Two senior pilots decide to use the most effective way to navigate around

G-CPTN wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 06, 2021 6:54 am

Was the purpose of the flight to go somewhere specific - or just a leisure/training exercise?

We were taking the aircraft from our base in Northern California to Southern California for some additions. It was just over 4 hours flight time. The shot was taken as we weere climnbing up over the Grapevine. Here is our route:

Rwy in Sight wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 06, 2021 7:35 am

Isn't this a perfect example of airmanship? Two senior pilots decide to use the most effective way to navigate around

You know it....

An enjoyable case of IFR... I follow roads...

TheGreenGoblin wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 12, 2021 10:54 pm

An enjoyable case of IFR... I follow roads...

As opposed to this Lidar patrols I did in December--about 14 hours worth over a couple days, went from 500'MSL upto 7,800'MSL and all over Northern California:
And here is a zoomed in piece to give more persective:

At least you had a better a/c for that mission.
What agency?

PP

IFR ? Early BOAC 707 flight across the USA from New York to Los Angeles. CAVOK day but none of us had actually flown the route before, and the skipper bought an AAA road map and was looking at, and pointing out, places of local interest as we enjoyed the view. A passenger visiting the forward toilet and the flight deck door being open, as it was in those days, looked in and said " Jeez, don't you guys know how to get to Los Angeles ? " Happy Days.

On that first flight, why did you choose SR-99 over I-5? Less traffic? Less kinks in the road?

Well, what's wrong with following the roads? The buses and cars do, don't they?
On second thoughts, people often want a second opinion, maybe that should qualify as a textbook case?

I assume you are using LIDAR as part of a power line survey for a utility company or is it a detailed mapping of all the local nudist colonies for the USCNP (United States Committee for Naturist Protection)?

PHXPhlyer wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 13, 2021 12:33 am

At least you had a better a/c for that mission.
What agency?

Lidar patrols were with Aetheon, but the ultimate custommer was Pacific Gas & Electric Company. It was in a "D" model Astar.

llondel wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 13, 2021 4:51 am

On that first flight, why did you choose SR-99 over I-5? Less traffic? Less kinks in the road?

Actually we did not follow the roads till we hit the Grapevine....we veered more East after departure due to vally fog, which sitss in the Sacramento Valley during winter.

TheGreenGoblin wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 13, 2021 5:17 pm

I assume you are using LIDAR as part of a power line survey for a utility company or is it a detailed mapping of all the local nudist colonies for the USCNP (United States Committee for Naturist Protection)?

Correct, although the camera does have "other" uses.....

This was the aircraft: This is the equipment in the back---although I could not find the Astar set up---this is in the sister aircraft working Lidar, a 407 And here you can see the set up in front. The white triangles on the I-pad on the right are my markers to aim for, once we get close, I switch to the screen on the left and it is just like a video game---fly the helicopter thru the markers on the screen.