A View From Above

My youngest son and his family had a photo shoot recently, and they asked me to tag along and get a couple of drone shots.

My drone has an aircraft warning system, and just as I got the drone above the group, I get a warning from my remote controller, telling me there was an aircraft in the area. Sure enough, a helicopter was flying high overhead!

Since he was so high, and I wasn’t flying higher than the power lines and were close enough to them that the helicopter could not land near us, there was no way for me to interfere with his flight, nor he with my flight.

I inadvertently scared my son’s family though. They had arrived late for the photo shoot, and I only had a couple of minutes before it was time for the next group. I wanted to get closer for a photo and lowered the drone quickly. They thought it was falling out of the sky, screamed, and quickly scrambled off the pickup!

I guess I should have told them what I was doing!

On the tailgate
In the pickup bed

Union Pacific’s 4014 ‘Big Boy’ Steam Locomotive

The Union Pacific’s Engine 4014 ‘Big Boy’ Steam Locomotive was passing through Arizona this week, so I thought I’d take my drone out to video it. The largest steam engine built, weighing in at over 1,200,000 pounds, it is the only one functional today. Only 25 were built and they were retired in 1961 when diesel-engine locomotives became prominent. Restoration on this engine began in 2014 and after it was completed in 2019, it was sent out touring the country.

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