Aerial survey DHC-6

newcavanman

I saw the aerial survey twin otter today . I was out walking the dog, and he flew across the road at about 150-200' , doing about 120kts , heading straight north . Im just wondering , what is there normal pattern . As we live on a hill i was abloe to see him up to about a mile away . He followed the undulations of the ground . its drumlin country here in Cavan, and he kept dropping into the dips then climbing over the hill and dropping back down . Does anyone know if they fly these tracks, how far apart are the tracks etc?
cheers

xflyer

Was it French registered by any chance? There was a French survey aircraft operating all weekend although up near Roscommon and Knock. Based in Galway airport. They were flying a bit higher than 200 feet though.

Every photo and survey aircraft seemed to out and about this weekend. G-BHAW and the two OSI aircraft Emerald 23 and 24. Taking advantage of the clear conditions.

Oscar Bravo

The twin otter is C-GSGF.The F registered aircraft is a Piper Aztec i think,F-BVTP.G-BHAW was operating in the Connaught zone yesterday before heading North.One of the Emeralds dropped into Galway yesterday afternoon for fuel.

xflyer

Ah, C-GSGF, thanks OB, I'm guessing he's based in Enniskillen like G-BHAW. They almost got into trouble with Shannon when they climbed into controlled airspace near Enniskillen without a flight plan a few weeks ago. The excuse was that they were told they didn't need one. Maybe not in Scottish airspace:o. The same thing happened to a British heli pilot near Shannon yesterday.

They must be doing a similar survey to the Basler DC3 which was here a couple of times. Very low level survey.

The French Aztec was up in Connaught too on Saturday. Flights in an out of Knock were disrupting his lines. So that was a total of five survey aircraft operating at the same time. Every square inch of this country must be mapped and photographed by now!

Those survey aircraft work long days. G-BHAW was moving to another area the other day. ATC asked how long they would be there. 'Four to five' hours was the reply. Talking to the crew of another photo aircraft during the summer, they told me they could fly eight hours a day. They check in with ATC every hour to make sure they're still alive. Sometimes they're at such low level that another higher aircraft is used to relay the message. I was asked a couple of times to do just that.

Tough gig as a pilot job. I'll bet the pay isn't up to much either.

EchoIndia

C-GSGF is indeed based at Enniskillen.

C-GSGF DHC-6-300 Twin Otter by Irish251, on Flickr

Oscar Bravo

I think there was some survey aircraft(4)based in and out of Cork this weekend.Anyway they gave a very big thank you to the ATC in Shannon today and told him to pass it on to all who helped organise their work and to Scottish control too.Ya they sure do work long days with a "Comms check" every hour as you say.Im sure BHAW'S endurance must be much longer than the Aztec's with that engine in it? On a side note there was a nice TB-20 doing ILS/VOR approaches at EIKN on Saturday too-G-TBSV(altho he kept going to say "Uniform Fox",as in (EI-BUF).

Fishtits

The Twotter is up there on my best friends list, versatile, durable, relatively cheap to operate and a hoot to fly in. Last flew in the rear most seat of an otherwise empty one through Java in 2005.

Eight seconds from brakes off to rotate

Anyway, I wonder if all this survey activity is connected to this rumoured gas field/fracking and all that jazz?

Oscar Bravo

A survey aircraft operating over Castlebar(and surrounding area) this morning and early afternoon,Cessna 172,F-GOAP.