Formation Flight

[allardjd 1,853]

This is more avian than aviation, but some of both, I guess.

This morning Pam and I went to the nearby Dunnellon Airport (X35) to see an overflight of ten endangered Whooping Cranes, being led in their first winter migration by ultralight aircraft. Whooping Cranes are now recovering from near-extinction, but are still heavily endangered and only exist in quite small numbers. They are more or less the US Poster-Child bird for endangered species interests.

This program has been in place for a number of years. The birds are hatched in captivity and are eventually released to the wild, but not before having to be taught how to migrate for the winter.

The group we saw this morning is part of the "Class of 09", hatched in May of last year. They are somehow acclimated to the presence of the ultralights and think of the white coverall-clad pilots as "Mom". Eventually they will follow Mom anywhere (so much for the theory that birds are intelligent). I'm sure the young cranes have a full expectation that they will eventually grow propellers. Unlike geese, who are a noisy bunch when migrating, these guys seem to be silent during flight.

The migration begins in far north Wisconsin and takes about two months. There are four ultralights involved, and a 172 that flies "top cover". The route and stopover points are pretty well published and it's a big-deal media event. There were about 500 people present this morning at a remote, un-controlled airport in central Florida on a coolish weekday morning. I'm thinking what I said about bird intelligence might also be applied to guys who fly ultralights on cold mornings wearing white coveralls, even if it is for a good cause. It looked mighty cold up there. There was no hot coffee concession at the field, but if there had been, it would have made a killing - just on me.

At the stopovers, the birds are penned for the night and released again in the morning to form up on Mom again for the next flight leg. The propaganda has it that once they've made the escorted trip once they do fine on their own thereafter.

This morning the flight appeared low on the NW horizon. I heard the top-cover C-172 come up on the 122.8 Unicom frequency and announce the overflight in the blind to "Dunnellon Traffic" from nine miles out. There was no traffic; a straight-tail Bonanza had landed about ten minutes before, but was no factor.

There was one ultralight far in the lead. He buzzed the field, did a 360 for the crowd at about 100' and exited stage right. Next came Mom with ten big birds, more or less in right echelon, tucked close into his wingtip at times, ranging a little further out at others, but clearly following wherever she went. Mom overflew the field at no more than about 200-300', right in front of the crowd. After the first pass she executed a long, lazy, descending 360 out over the open part of the airfield, making another pass directly over the crowd. The other two ultralights were in attendance but the birds seemed to be only interested in Mom and dutifully stayed in fairly tight on her wing during the 360.

It was a really neat thing to watch and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

If you'd like to read more about this project, they have a site at...

[ddavid 149]

Good old Bill Lishman! And my Pam and I thoroughly enjoyed 'Fly Away Home' - some magic moments there.

Thanks for the H.U., John!

Cheers - Dai. :biggrin:

[mutley 4,498]

:biggrin:

Some sight John! I see from a map that it's not that far from KOCF.

We have an air show regular, a Frenchman Christian Moullec who often visits the Shoreham airshow http://www.airshows.co.uk/reports/uk/2008/shoreham-airshow and a local airfield at Middle Wallop http://www.military-airshows.co.uk/press06/musicintheairprjun.htm and think he has flown at Duxford too.

Not such a noble cause but fascinating to watch and I enjoyed Bill Lishman's site, thanks for the link.

Joe

[allardjd 1,853]

Mut,

It sounds like he's doing much the same thing. The linked site claims he's saved an endangered species of goose. I didn't know that there was anything else like this going on.

John

[wisemanp 0]

Looks amazing John! I'm pretty sure I've seen this documented on a t.v programme a few years ago. It's amazing how one year they stick religiously to the ultralight, then the next they make it from Wisconsin on their own!