Daily Pic

DA4C4B4D-DEC5-4F13-BBF1-44394C29250B.jpeg

Martin Steiner sent in the photo taken by Raven G. Coates and a note: The 'pot of gold' in this photo is Candler Field near Williamson, Georgia. The Peach State Aerodrome is a recreation of Atlanta's original airport from the 1920s and includes hangars, a restoration shop, and a museum. It was home to Ron Alexander, known as the "quiet giant" of vintage aviation. The field hosts a number of vintage fly-ins during the year, he added.
 
09A20089-4723-4983-8E19-AA87553F0D22.png Got to see this beaut overfly my house at pattern altitude. Going to be based at my homedrome for next month to do survey work. It’s a turbine DC-3. Took a 900 gal drink when she landed!! Going to be cool for next month seeing this baby work!
 
I remember when Warren Basler was killed in the crash back in March 1997.
 
This guy was doing pattern work today in some gusty winds:

e6e8b05d046e6ebec572a6eaac3b718c.jpg



aa10152a1e7dab3a8a2bac36e856ea4f.jpg
 
Excited because we got some snow on the Smokies, and I was going to take a picture while flying back from Charlotte today. But I guess it warmed up just enough to melt everything. Oh well.IMG_9490.jpg
 
Two photos of mountains from the same recent trip, taken <10 miles from the peaks:

Guadalupe Peak, the highest point in Texas, while flying westward from Midland TX towards New Mexico.
3596E565-9E7B-49ED-9928-42C5549A77B5.jpeg

Mt Hood, the highest point in Oregon, with another volcano ( Mt Adams, maybe) in the distance, while flying eastward from Portland to Boise.
E982AF57-72B8-4E95-A214-672841932218.jpeg
 
083313B0-D18F-4F30-9925-C4C3DF069719.png Got a chance to talk to these guys today. They fly 500’ AGL for hours measuring magnetic changes with that tail boom and other instruments merasuee changes in earths gravity. They seem to be flying back and forth over all the new natural gas Marcellus shale area just north of me. DA was so low here this am that thing was off the ground in no time.
 
View attachment 69295 Got a chance to talk to these guys today. They fly 500’ AGL for hours measuring magnetic changes with that tail boom and other instruments merasuee changes in earths gravity. They seem to be flying back and forth over all the new natural gas Marcellus shale area just north of me. DA was so low here this am that thing was off the ground in no time.

Do you know who 'these guys' are? Company?
 
Had a nice breakfast at Hemet-Ryan yesterday. Bambi's Hangar One Cafe...highly recommended!

Afterward, my friend and I walked over to check out the Cal Fire facility, and got a tour of the place by Scott, a young firefighter who's been with the operation there for three years. Love the OV-10 Bronco, and got to check out the Grumman S-2Ts up close. Turns out they are originally carrier-based submarine hunters. Cal Fire gets them as surplus for $1 apiece, and does numerous upgrades for fire-fighting duty. They mix up the Phos-Chek retardant on site in huge tanks...it arrives in powdered form and is made in nearby Ontario, CA. Pretty cool that Pixar used Cal Fire at Hemet-Ryan as inspiration for their animated movie Planes. Watch it and you'll see a very similar control tower, etc. They did lots of sound recordings on site too.

They are a selfless, hard-working crew, especially with all the blazes in California lately. We made sure to thank them all for their service.

IMG_3390.jpg IMG_3395.jpg IMG_3392.jpg IMG_3394.jpg
 
We got a walk around the helicopters at the Kern County Fire Station 11 (Keene / Tehachapi Loop) in 2016. There was a super nice guy who showed us around and patiently answered all our questions.

It was really amazing and I thought about that tour every time I saw the news about the wild fires in CA...


03BE03D8-F8FE-43DD-A3BE-5C18E1B12D07.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Back
Top