2015 The State Of Sasquatch Science

[Lake County Bigfooot]

I have permission to call William, and I would specifically like your questions in writing, this way we can clarify

some of these issues, I will ask William for permission to record the conversation in an interview format so please write back quickly!

 

Question 1.  What are the special permissions afforded the project concerning the FAA regulations that do not permit unmanned craft above 400 feet?

Question 2.  What is the intended use of the craft, will it be able to see the forest floor in densely forested areas, or will it be used over more open areas?

 

Please feel free to restate these questions in a better fashion, or more technical terms, as I specifically have no knowledge of FAA regulations or Optics.

 

I have gained his permission to conduct the interview, I will limit the conversation to 15 minutes so I will only be asking the

most important questions.

Edited February 15, 2015 by Lake County Bigfooot

[SWWASAS]

I would welcome hearing what he says Lake Country.      I wish I had someone with the project in my airplane with me the last time I went over the Cascades on a BF search from the air.    If anything it would give them some perspective of what they are going to be dealing with flying an airship of any kind over the same terrain.    Even though the winds were not forecast to be very strong,  I was getting East winds that were so violent that I was getting severe turbulence that was tossing me around in the airplane like a rag doll.   I was concerned about the airplane coming apart.    That kind of turbulence would destroy an airship or force it down into the trees.    Increased altitudes help, but turbulence effects can be significant up to 2 or 3 times the height of the ridgeline that produced it.    So their 4000 AGL will simply not be enough in a lot of cases.  Higher to protect the equipment just makes resulting images smaller. 

 

I wonder if it has occurred to them that modification of an existing aircraft for aerial photography would be a lot cheaper than creation of a large airship.   You do not have permissions issues,  design and control issues,   altitude restrictions,   and many of the regulatory nightmares they will be facing.     As those that drive the Mars rovers around know,  distant control of any object in real time is very difficult.    A person is the cheapest and most flexible computer you can install in any flying machine. 

[SWWASAS]

Do they intend to fly at night?    Will the FAA allow night RPV flight?    What is their intended area of operation and will it be in mountainous regions?  Will they fly in controlled airspace?    Are they aware of the qualification requirements of RPV operators who fly in controlled airspace?  Finally have they done a cost / benefit analysis of building the Falcon airship vs modification of an existing manned aircraft for the installation of the same aerial camera systems?  

 

I just looked at the principal people involved in the project on their website.    None of them reports any experience at all in aviation.   Other than the stated objective, this is an aviation development project.  They mention engineers, but as any aviator knows who has had to deal with aviation development programs,  sometimes engineers need to be guided.    The history of aviation and space development is pilots butting heads with engineers.   "The Right Stuff" movie portrays that quite well.    Barnes even mentioned training the pilots himself. 

Edited February 15, 2015 by SWWASASQUATCHPROJECT

[Lake County Bigfooot]

I will lump some of the flight questions into one overall question, but highlight the different aspects you mention above.  I have posted 

another thread to garner more questions, but rest assured we will tackle the permissions and regulations first, then move on to the projects

intended uses of the airship, and where, when, and how it will be used. I am very new at this so please feel free to offer suggestions or

rephrasing of the questions, I will post a final question list, and we can edit as needed.

Edited February 15, 2015 by Lake County Bigfooot

[SWWASAS]

Reading through the Falcon Project web site this morning,    I have concerns for the project.    As some one that has done military flight test and project development in the Air Force,  butted heads daily with engineers during several development projects,   flown professionally all of my adult life,  built and developed my own radio control aircraft designs,  and built and fly my own full sized aircraft,   I am not seeing indications on the web site that the project has aviation advisors with enough depth for this project.  I see no reference to them at all.    I hope the project has them in place but just has not acknowledged them yet.   That in itself demonstrates to me some lack of focus.    As I said before, beyond the intended purpose, the Falcon Project is an aviation development program.     If the airship is not successful the best cameras in the world will be of little use or last very long.             

[Lake County Bigfooot]

^^^^Very good points, I could ask him specifically about aviation advisers, and how they view the project in terms of aviation development?

[SWWASAS]

I would welcome any contact about this matter in private from the principals if they want that.      Like I said, I hope they have good people in place already.    They need that through the design stage or the engineers will hand them something un-flyable as engineers have been known to do throughout aviation history.   They will even need chase airplanes with people to monitor test flights before they field it.    All of these things need to be considered throughout the entire development program.  

Edited February 15, 2015 by SWWASASQUATCHPROJECT

[Lake County Bigfooot]

The question list is growing, most questions I will ask will be concerning the airship, but I would like a few concerning the deployment of the field team as well.

[SWWASAS]

Doing more research I have found that with special use FAA Certificates of Waiver or Authorization or issuance of a special airworthiness certificate Unmanned Aircraft System flights may be conducted in geographical boundaries and altitudes with FAA coordination and issuances of notices to airman (notam) describing the operation to be conducted. This requires observers to avoid conflict with manned aircraft. Flights may be flown up to 18,000 feet so the unregulated 400 feet is not a factor if FAA restrictions are met. If they operate in geographical boundaries they loose some flexibility but that should not be prohibitive.

[SWWASAS]

With this information my questions about controlled airspace and night operations are not pertinent. For all purposes the Falcon airship will share airspace with manned aircraft. They best have a lot of liability insurance. Since part of the concept is to operate unnoticed, the navigation and strobe lights required will impact night operations. Then again I doubt BF this day and age pays much attention to aircraft lights at night.

Edited February 16, 2015 by SWWASASQUATCHPROJECT

[Lake County Bigfooot]

I know that William mentioned a COA he was granted or applied for, I will be interviewing him tomorrow early afternoon as long as he is available.

I will stop fielding questions tomorrow morning around 8 am, and should have the interview posted later tomorrow afternoon.

[SWWASAS]

The national news this morning (CBS)had an announcement relative to commercial use of drones. Finally the FAA has issued a notice of proposed rule making. That can take years but at least there is some movement. I do not know how this could effect the Falcon project because of the associated COA but some rules may apply to both. The news mentioned several points: a drone cannot be out of sight of the controlling pilot (that stops UPS package delivery), 500 ft max altitude, pilots have to have a drone pilot certification, and drone operations cannot be conducted within 5 miles of an airport. This is for commercial purposes but the FAA often changes things to make similar rules for other similar operations. They mentioned hobby use still being limited to 400 feet. So as far as rules of operation, things are certainly in a state of flux.

Edited February 16, 2015 by SWWASASQUATCHPROJECT

[Lake County Bigfooot]

Well the 15 minute interview turned into 84 minutes, some of which I must edit, so give me a little time to complete the editing and I will figure out how

to post it, probably way to big to upload, hmmm... I will figure it out...But I think we covered the questions pretty well, and William was more than happy

to answer the questions, and then some.

[SWWASAS]

Sounds good. Looking forward to reading it. Thanks for doing that.

[Lake County Bigfooot]

Anyone got a suggestion to upload the interview it wound up being 84 mg or so after editing and coverting to mp3 format, without 

having to break it up into 9 parts?