Trish and Matt's Web Log: Jun 04


27 Jun 2004
Racing camels at Circus Circus.

racingcamels
We went there to celebrate Trish's 24th Birthday.  Circus Circus sports a complete circus midway and free circus acts every 15 minutes.  What a country.


15 Jun 2004
How many pilots does it take to change a tire?

pilotschangingtire


14 Jun 2004
Pilots making good use of their time.

pilotssittingaround

12 Jun 2004
The Road to Mt. Charleston

roadtomtcharleston

We spent the day hiking up Cathedral Rock in the Mt. Charleston area, not 20 miles from our house. Isn't that something.  20 Miles to downtown Vegas, 25 miles to my airfield, and 20 miles to spectacular hiking.  What a country.

mattgearingup

Of course, I can't do anything without lugging around 38 pounds of gear.  Because hey, you never know.


trishovercome
Trish found the hike invigorating.


mattwithgps
I must know where we are!

trishandmattonpeak

We made it to the top.  Hurray.

02 Jun 2004
First Predator Full-stop Landing.

predator01video

The Predator is a difficult aircraft to land.  It is an remotly-piloted aircraft and so you have to rely on the video feed as your visual reference and the telemetry as your instruments.  Since you're using a fixed camera, you can't see anything but what's right in front of the aircraft.  Which means if you have to crab a bit into the wind, your view is skewed.

In the above video (captured by the payload camera) you'll notice that I come in a bit steep.  Then later, I flare too early and end up dropping it in, which makes for a very firm landing.  Still, I got it down undamaged.  With a bit more practice, should be no problem.

Towards the end of the video, you notice the video slew around.  That's the sensor operator using the camera to make sure there's nothing on the taxi way for us to run into.  This is not the camera I'm using to fly the aircraft.




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macmade