Tag Archives: ultralights

Flying Low and Slow Over a Lava Flow

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This September, Larry Crumpler, a research colleague at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, and I were able to fly in the back seats of two weight-shifting ultralight aircraft during a two-hour flight over the McCartys lava flow in central New Mexico. This flow is 3,000 years old and over 47 km (29 miles) long, one of the longest fresh lava flows in the continental United States. It has been the subject of on-going research by Larry, other colleagues, and me as part of my research grant funded by NASA through the Planetary Geology and Geophysics program.

ultralight

Geologist Jim Zimbelman and pilot Jeff Gilkey flying above the McCartys lava flow in New Mexico.

Larry made contact with the ultralight pilots through his museum in Albuquerque, and following some field work on the McCartys flow this past April, Larry and I were able to make the first ultralight flight over the lava flow. Pilots Jeff Gilkey and Paul Dressendorfer are very experienced ultralight pilots, both having flown hundreds of times over the many natural wonders that abound in New Mexico and neighboring states. The April flight convinced both Larry and I that ultralights could represent a wonderful platform from which to obtain low-altitude stereo photographs, which should show much more detail than could be obtained from either commercial aerial photographs or satellite images.

For the September flight, I attached a Canon Eos Rebel digital camera to a monopole, with a remote trigger taped to the pole, plus two separate safety lines that attached the pole to me in a way that still allowed for easy movement. As we flew over the lava flow, the camera was held out from the side of the two-person open cockpit, oriented to point straight down. I was able to collect over 1,800 vertical photographs, including ones taken while following several GPS-specified lines to provide aerial coverage of places that we have investigated extensively on the ground. Meanwhile, Larry took photos from the second ultralight (for safety reasons, the pilots prefer to fly in pairs), providing context information of the mapping ultralight.

McCarty's Lava Flow

Vertical photograph of the McCartys lava flow in New Mexico.

A quick check of the vertical photos has confirmed the great scientific value contained within low-altitude, low-speed aerial photographs. The stereo photographs should provide many new insights about the McCartys lava flow during the coming months, and they will also be included in future proposals to support research of lava flows in the New Mexico area.

Jim Zimbelman is a geologist in the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies at the National Air and Space Museum.

Ultralights Are for the Birds

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Operation Migration ultralight flying with whooping cranes.

Add wildlife conservation to the growing list of special jobs that only ultralight aircraft can do. Right now, a volunteer group called Operation Migration is using Cosmos Phase II ultralights to lead a flock of endangered whooping cranes on the first migration of their young lives, from Wisconsin to Florida. The excellent control and performance of the ultralight at speeds much slower than more conventional aircraft makes this possible. After months of intensive training, the Operation Migration staff have trained the birds to follow the ultralight as though it were another crane. The birds were born in captivity to bolster the wild population which has fallen alarmingly in recent years.

For LIVE video of the migration, check CraneCam each day from 6:30am to 10:00am and then in the afternoon from 3:30pm to 4:30pm just before sunset. TrikeCam is also available LIVE whenever the migration is airborne. These majestic birds are large and slow, and the distance they can cover in a day, or whether they fly at all, very much depends on good weather.

Cosmos Phase II ultralight, used by Operation Migration and featured in the film "Fly Away Home", on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.

To find out more, please visit the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. The Ultralight Exhibit Station on the southwest side of the aircraft hanger, explains with words, photographs, and artifacts, how ultralights evolved from hang gliders, and what research led Operation Migration to develop the complex ultralight migration protocols, with help from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Canadian Wildlife Service, Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership, U. S. G. S. Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, and other wildlife conservation groups. The exhibit shows the special techniques and hardware developed by Operation Migration to train the birds. Displayed nearby is a Cosmos Phase II ultralight aircraft that led birds in past migrations, and appeared in the Hollywood film, Fly Away Home starring Anna Paquin.

Russell Lee is a curator in the National Air and Space Museum’s Aeronautics Division.