One of our first missions, right after reaching the camp, was to join Cathy on a search and rescue mission of a missing buoy. The buoy was deployed within a 2km radius from the camp but it was no where to be found within that distance and since the buoy did not have an RF transmitter, it was impossible to track it, other than by sight. So,thus began our chopper exercise, a pretty expensive affair (gas cost is 12$ per gallon and I am not sure how much we might have used for the 1 hour flight) for finding the buoy.
Nevertheless, the chopper ride was cool, flying at a couple of 100 feet from the ground. The best part was the in-place hovering of the chopper, while the next direction of search was being planned (The first two images are taken by Scott).
But by the end of the hour, the circular flight pattern that was being executed by the chopper had got me pretty woozy and was pretty happy to reach land.
Despite all our attempts, we could not locate the buoys. But later we heard that the dynamics at the camp was so strong that, instead of the typical 2km drift, the buoys had actually traveled 7km away from the camp.
Nevertheless, the chopper ride was cool, flying at a couple of 100 feet from the ground. The best part was the in-place hovering of the chopper, while the next direction of search was being planned (The first two images are taken by Scott).
But by the end of the hour, the circular flight pattern that was being executed by the chopper had got me pretty woozy and was pretty happy to reach land.
Despite all our attempts, we could not locate the buoys. But later we heard that the dynamics at the camp was so strong that, instead of the typical 2km drift, the buoys had actually traveled 7km away from the camp.
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