Whooper
Finn Field Report No 2
Now in week two, the aircraft has
been settled in and so has the Ground Crew! The research work is
at last underway and we are 600 miles south of Indiana. The
flying is usually good in the morning before the big thermals get
going in the middle of the day and the aircraft is bounced around
a lot.
We are surveying sites that are suitable both for Cranes and
Ultralights. The Operation Migration team have a major concern
that the migrating birds might get too tame through contamination
from contact with humans. The imprinting team wear puppet
disguises and go to great lengths to avoid obvious human
behaviour so that the birds bond to the aircraft and not to the
pilots.
We look for those sites that have a good landing strip, are very
quiet, and have no major obstacles such as power lines or radio
mast guy wires close by - these are difficult for the birds to
see and a collision would have lethal results. Water in the form
of a shallow pond is a bonus and earns extra points as far as we
are concerned.
Our adventures have started! We came to the rescue of an
unfortunate Lear jet pilot, Larry Berne at Bardstown airport,
Kentucky. We were sleeping in the Lear jet hangar (with the
jets), a privilege to be there given the spotless nature of the
hangar - better than most homes! Larry was sleeping upstairs and
during the night got up to go to the bathroom, but unfortunately
missed his footing and fell down one flight of steel stairs
breaking his wrist severely in the process and waking us with the
noise of the impact. The exercise preparation was put to good use
and our First Aid skills put to the test as we took him to the
nearest hospital.
Poor weather has started to make an impact on our progress, and
we flew around storm systems to relocate further south at
Lebanon, Tennessee about 30 miles east of Nashville. Having been
expecting a one-day delay, this expanded into a two-day
interlude. Fortunately, this was made bearable by meeting Bill
Sattler, who owns one of the hangars at Lebanon, and keeps his
toys in it. These include a Rutan Defiant, a Push-Pull twin
engine Long Eze type aircraft, a motor home the size of small,
two storey house back home, and a number of home built aircraft
including a 2/3 scale Thunder Mustang P51 kit which is faster
than the original! Bill took us flying in the Rutan and gave us a
tour of the homes of the Country Stars around Nashville including
Reba McIntrye and Johnny Cash. I must admit to enjoying flying
this aircraft when Bill gave me the controls.
An evening was spent sightseeing in Nashville, but we generally
found it catered for tourists and was relatively expensive after
the places we had been so far. We had a great time in Lebanon and
will visit again if time permits.
The weather finally cleared enough to let us away and we have
been very busy on the research work. The period between 1100hrs
and 1600hrs gets very warm. Temperatures reach the high 80 degs F
and thermals make flying the aircraft very bumpy indeed. We
sometimes climb above the clouds to cooler, more stable air and
so far, we have climbed to 8,500 feet. The forests and woodlands
produce the worst thermals and while there is a lot of farmland,
there is a great deal more forest. Southern Georgia has been a
big surprise with forests as far as the eye can see at times with
a lot of pine trees. (Good old reliable four stroke helps).
Conditions are very dry in places with no rain reported since
January in some localities.
Monday 17 May saw our first sighting of a UFO. a bright light at
the same level as us 5000 feet agl, probably a couple of miles
away, out to the west of Atlanta. There was no relative motion
between us and it, which in flying terms usually means that the
object is on a collision course, which as you can guess, gets
your whole attention! Try as we might we couldn't shake it and it
stayed in the same relative position for what seemed 5 minutes,
getting no closer nor further away. It just faded away. We think
it was probably the reflection of the sun off another aircraft
but it is still somewhat of a puzzle given our attempts to lose
it. The truth is out there!
Since then I have been negotiating with the USAF at Moody AFB,
Georgia for permission to fly into their bombing range to check
out possible stopover sites for the Cranes. The locals tell me
that this area is swamp and contains some big alligators so we
might see some of them in our early morning approved flight.
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