Week 12 Field Outing

Introduction

In the second half of AT319, students participated in field outings. The field outings allowed students to get experience in using GCPs and performing data collection missions. Week 12 was the first week that students in the Wednesday lab section of AT319 went out to Purdue Wildlife Area (PWA) for a field outing. PWA is a few miles outside of Purdue campus and outside of the Class D restricted airspace. This was ideal for class operations because flight crews did not have to request LAANC authorization to fly.

Strong winds were present during the duration of the field outing. Winds were gusting from 15 to 25 knots. Students in the class were unsure if the weather was good enough to fly, but the Mavic 2 Pros handled the weather fine. Before the class setup for flying, ground control points had to be placed. GCPs need to sit for at least 45 minutes for the GCP data to be accurate. When placing the GCPs, students learned that GCPs need to be spread out within the flight area. They also need to be picked up in reverse order at the in of the mission. For this field outing, only 5 GCPs were placed.

After placing the GCPs, the class setup their Mavic 2 Pros and prepared for flights. Each flight crew did one flight during this lab and flights took place one at a time. My flight crew flew our mission second. The missions created for all PWA flights in AT319 were grid flight missions. At the end of our mission, wind speed picked up while the Mavic 2 Pro was returning to home. The Mavic handled the wind and landed without problems.

Study Area

The study area that we flew over, PWA, contained a few different features. To the North, there are several field plots that Purdue forestry students burn for research purposes. The field plots were not yet burned during the week 12 field outing. To the West, there was a construction area where workers were starting to excavate the area. The construction area contained an area for the construction trailers as well as the area where construction was starting. The other area of interest is South of the field plots. There are many rows of tanks here that hold salamanders and other wildlife. The salamander plots do not change much over the three-week period that field outings occurred, but the construction area and the field plots provide a good area to study.

Metadata

General

Location: Purdue Wildlife Area

Date: 04/07/2021

Vehicle: Mavic 2 Pro

Sensor: -----

Battery: ----

Approval # (LAANC, COA, WAIVER): No LAANC approval.

 

Flight Information

Flight Number: 1

Takeoff: 2:22 p.m.

Landing: 2:33 p.m.

Altitude (ft): 400 ft

Sensor Angle: nadir

Overlap: 85%

Sidelap: 85%

 

Geolocating

System Used (GCP Type/PPK): Aeropoint GCPs

Coordinate System: NAD83 (2011) UTM Zone 16N

 

Weather

Metar: Our crew did not record or screenshot the metar for this flight.

 

Crew

PIC: Jeff Hines

VO: Ethan Hood

 

Notes

Locator Map

Figure 1 - Purdue Wildlife Area Locator Map (4/7/2021)

Insets

Figure 2 - Inset of GCP 2 (4/7/2021)

Figure 3 - Inset of Salamander Tanks (4/7/2021)

Figure 4 - Inset of Construction Trailers (4/7/2021)