No
Go. . .But a Good Try Before Turning Back
(+0 Miles)
November 9, 2009: Migration Day 25
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| Photo Heather Ray, Operation Migration |
Yesterday's
WSE winds did indeed swing around
to come out of the NNW during the wee hours of this
morning. After doing a test flight, the team decided to
give it a try with Joe
as lead pilot (photo). A crowd at the flyover site
watched the trikes circling and got a glimpse of Joe
with a string of birds (photo) off his wing. But little did
they know the difficulties the birds were battling on high: At 200
feet
altitude
the air got
rough and, at 58 degrees F, even warmer than it was on the
ground. The warm and humid air made it tough for the cranes to breathe
and keep
themselves
cool as they worked hard at climbing to catch the aircraft. Adding
to the problems, the rough air meant they couldn’t get any
benefit from the ultralight’s wing. Joe later wrote, "We
circled several times gaining altitude on one
pass,
and losing it all on the next. For 20 minutes they formed on the
wing, then broke for home, then reformed over the pen as the swamp
monsters paraded below. We made another attempt, but as they climbed
to catch the wing all of them were breathing with beaks open. Even
if we could work them
up another 400 feet to smooth air, we had an hour to go and the conditions
were deteriorating quickly. Eager to follow if we were heading home,
they all formed on the wing and landed with the aircraft in perfect
unison." Instead of celebrating
Stopover #6, they had to turn back for down-day in #4 in Winnebago
County,
Illinois.
Using a cellular aircard to broadcast the feed on the CraneCam means limits. On down-days, the camera will be on for about 3 hours each morning, beginning soon after sunrise and 1 hour each late afternoon (between 3:30 - 4:30) for roost check. The rest of the time you can watch the archived clips that are captured each day.
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