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n5lp

n5lp

fugio ergo sum
RVs are delightful and versatile airplanes. They are good for aerobatics, rides, travel and throttling back to 4 GPM for local scenic flights. When you think of a reconnaissance and photography aircraft, the RV with its low wing combined with a non-opening canopy isn't what would immediately come to mind though.

Surprisingly I find mine is used a lot for those purposes though, and really works fairly well. When something interesting is happening I like to be in on it but normally you can't go to those interesting sites from the ground. From the air, you almost always can see what is going on.

The missions are many; perhaps a forest fire, where your Garmin 496 shows you exactly where the area of interest is. Just go right for the center of the TFR and stay above the restricted altitude.

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The TFR for this fire in the Sacramento Mountains went up to 12,000 MSL. The photo was taken from 12,500.
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This fire was in the Guadalupe Mountains a few weeks ago. Notice how the slurry bombers make fire lines. The non-resident fire fighters complained about all our plants and animals that stick or bite. At one point an airtanker was called in for a drop on bees that were bothering the fire fighters.


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Or maybe your mission would be to capture a photo of a bunch of friends kayaking the Pecos River.
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In a small town, people know who has the airplanes so sometimes you get a call involving a lost hiker or a cave or an escapee. This Wednesday I got a call about a sinkhole. A guy servicing a well heard a rumbling and got out just in time. The county emergency coordinator called and wanted to look at the sinkhole from the air as they couldn't tell anything from the ground from the distance they were willing to get from it. So we went then and have been monitoring it since.

Its fun to be in on the action!
 
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I have heard many pilots use the term "smoking hole in the ground" before, but:eek::eek:
 
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Carlsbad...where all the action is?

Neat post, Larry. It is fun to check out these things from the air. I'm especially anxious to see the sinkhole tomorrow. See you at CNM!
 
sink hole

Is that thing real? or really good paint shop work? If real that is something else, how far across is that?
 
airguy said:
Next question - where is it? Do you have the coordinates?
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32 degrees, 43.9 minutes, -104 degrees, 7.685 minutes. It is about 25 nautical miles NNE of the Carlsbad airport. If you come to look, please broadcast on 122.95 as there is a fair amount of air traffic. There is a bigger, but older one, near Wink.
 
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bergroup said:
What camera do did you use in these shots? Very clean look.
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A Sony a100 digital SLR with a 18-200 zoom lens. The key thing is that the camera body has image stabilization. I find that IS along with taking a bunch of photos and picking the sharper ones really makes a big difference in typically rough air.
 
Flying dangerous? Looks to me like servicing wells if far more so! THAT is scary.

BTW, just got an 18-200 Nikon VR and expect to do some good aerial work with it. It will be so nice not to have to stop props on flying planes.

Bob Kelly
 
how much of an angle do you fly when you take the pictures? i have only flown in an rv7 once, i don't remember how much down angle you can see when in level flight.

nice bunch of interesting photos though.

i was returning from Reno when i spotted a fire that had just started, there were thunderstorms all around me, enough that i landed at Christmas valley airstrip (hate to call it an airport). when i got back in the air there was a new fire on the north end of Paulina peak.
 
Danny7 said:
how much of an angle do you fly when you take the pictures? i have only flown in an rv7 once, i don't remember how much down angle you can see when in level flight...
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The RV7 has a good look down angle over the nose but ground photos are normally taken out the side. Photos out the side can be taken at any angle down to directly under the airplane, with proper maneuvering.

jrsites said:
I have the opposite problem. I find it difficult to to find a shutter speed slow enough to get a nice prop disc blur, but fast enough to get a nice sharp image.
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I think that is what Bob was talking about. Stopped props look distinctly odd on flying airplanes, at least to me. The dilemma is using a slow enough shutter speed to get good prop blur but fast enough to get a sharp picture. Image stabilization helps with that task. Now Doug Reeves is able to get a complete blurred prop disk.

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Doug Reeves photo
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My calculations indicate that takes around 1/40 of a second shutter speed. Not easy for we mere mortals to get a sharp photo at that speed.
 
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Up the Pecos...

I grew up in Santa Rosa, New Mexico...up the Pecos from you Larry. There are sinkholes all over that country, as well as some very deep lakes associated with the karst topography around there, would make some nice photos for your Pecos/Sinkhole collection:)
 
Use extreme caution when around fire TFR.

Great pictures Larry. . .

Just a gentle reminder. . . please, please, please, use caution when you are flying near a TFR for Fire Fighting. . .

I am very familiar with fire fighting operations. . . Even though the TFR is for a specified area, there is likely to be a lot of traffic coming and going. Especially if the fire is an active and growing complex. The flight crews working in and around the Fire Traffic Circle are working in a very complex environment. They are sometimes monitoring many radio frequencies. Traffic, terrain, and preparations for their drops. They are busy and don't need any "extra" traffic to worry about. Fire fighting TFR's can be changed rapidly, and that information may not be readily available to ATC of FSS. In some cases, there isn't enough time to get a TFR up before the area is swarmed with resources.

It would be my suggestion, take it for what its worth, to stay well clear, horizontally and vertically.
 
n5lp said:
The dilemma is using a slow enough shutter speed to get good prop blur but fast enough to get a sharp picture. Image stabilization helps with that task. Now Doug Reeves is able to get a complete blurred prop disk.

My calculations indicate that takes around 1/40 of a second shutter speed. Not easy for we mere mortals to get a sharp photo at that speed.
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Most air-to-air photgraphers (including Doug, I believe) use gyro stabilizers attached to their cameras, such as those offered by Kenyon Labratories. These make it a lot easier to get that classic "blurry prop disk."

Aerial photography is definitely an art, but the right tools certainly help. And you don't have to have super powers.

Shhh... Don't tell anyone. ;)
 
videobobk said:
BTW, just got an 18-200 Nikon VR and expect to do some good aerial work with it. It will be so nice not to have to stop props on flying planes.

Bob Kelly
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You'll find you need two hands to use it if pointing substantially up or down. The lens lacks adequate drag in the zoom mechanism and it will extend or retract all by itself depending on where it is pointed. Rather disappointing for a Nikon and something they describe as 'normal' at their support page. The problem is at its worst in the most used zoom range. I've never before had a Nikon zoom with such a 'feature'. The optical performance itself is superb.

Question
What is Zoom Creep?

Answer
Zoom Creep is the effect gravity can have on your zoom lens under certain circumstances. The 18-200 lens tends to slowly zoom in or out under its own weight if pointed straight up, straight down, or at a sharp angle and nothing is touching the zoom ring. Most of the creep occurs between 30mm and 130mm in the zoom range. This is normal and the zoom action can?t be tightened to eliminate creep.
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Checking the Shutter Speed...

Hello Folks!
With modern digital cameras, the shutter speed and aperture combination are just a few of the details embedded in a digital file at capture. In most software applications, there is a way to access this metadata. In Photoshop, go to File, File Info, and then Camera Data 1. This will give you date, time (make sure your camera is set to your time zone, or whichever one you are shooting in...), aperture, shutter speed, lens, lens focal length, camera (including serial number), etc.
There is more info there than you'll probably ever need. And, coming soon to digital cameras near you, gps coordinates too.
That brings to mind all sorts of possibilities, both good and bad. Use your imagination...:D:eek:
John Slemp
 
presidio said:
You'll find you need two hands to use it if pointing substantially up or down. The lens lacks adequate drag in the zoom mechanism and it will extend or retract all by itself depending on where it is pointed. Rather disappointing for a Nikon and something they describe as 'normal' at their support page. The problem is at its worst in the most used zoom range. I've never before had a Nikon zoom with such a 'feature'. The optical performance itself is superb.
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I just got this lens and haven't had a chance to try it in the air. After Oshkosh, I guess. It seems pretty stiff to me. Perhaps they have had complaints on this, and I know it can be a problem. The build quality isn't what Nikon was years ago. Anyway, I don't like to shoot and fly at the same time, so I can probably handle it even if it creeps. Shooting takes a bit of concentration, and I believe flying does too. Too much for air to air work. I agree with the 1/40th second for two blade props, 1/60th for three. On a CS, I would think it would pay to keep the blue knob forward. I'll let everyone know how it works out.

Bob Kelly
 
Wrong coordinates

It was just pointed out to me that the coordinates I gave for the Loco Hills Sinkhole, in an earlier post, were incorrect. I picked up the wrong piece of paper. The coordinates have been corrected.
 
Size

I did a little "interpolation" on Google Earth (before the sink) and figure it's around 260 ft.+ across.
...very fortunate well service guy.
 
Good job

7A_@ABI said:
I did a little "interpolation" on Google Earth (before the sink) and figure it's around 260 ft.+ across.
...very fortunate well service guy.
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Sam, pat yourself on the back for a real good estimate using a clever method I sure didn't think of.

I have taken several trips up there with experts to observe and photograph. A couple of days before the photo you used, the estimate was about 220 feet and a couple of days after that photo the estimate was 300 feet. Looks like you agree. I don't know all the methods they used, but do know they put 100 foot marks on the nearby paved road.

It looks like the last couple of days have been pretty quiet as far as sinkhole expansion.
 
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Sink hole diameter

Guessing that the width of the roads leading to it to be around 10 to 12 ft, I would think that the hole is a little over 200 feet wide.
 
Three weeks ago

The hole gets bigger daily, but this is it about three weeks ago, right before my airplane went down for the annual.

This was taken from my RV. Kind of tricky getting the vertical photos from a low wing airplane.

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Lewis Land Photo​
 
I see the water in it has dried up and the edges aren't as "clean" (straight down). Pretty cool sight to behold!
 
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