| P-MAN XV Update #08 - Shipwrecks, mangroves, and hexacopters. 27 March Today was nother day on the water. But not for Stockbridge. We knew they had developed a problem with the vehicle at the end of day one. They suspected it got overheated. All of their testing and troubleshooting showed that last year's water intrusion problems were solved. When they got to the dock today, a few new issues popped up and the student team leader decided to scrub the day's activities so they could work on the vehicle. The faculty advisor, seeing how tired the team was, ordered team naps. We, on the other hand, had a plan B. Dan stayed behind to review SSS files with Scripps. The rest of us took the boat along with Josh Nichols and his fourth grade UROV (Okay, we commandeered him and his bot.) to a latitude/longitude that Scripps said was "interesting." From our morning briefing, we had the students use trigonometry to get us a heading from a known point to our target via a 3D path that we were told about. Our plan was to hook the boat onto this point, go down the anchor line, find a ship that was newly discovered, swim 350 degrees from the stern for 50 meters and there should be an arc-shaped object as big as the stern of the ship. Joe hooked the point of interest and set the anchor. Down we went. No ship. Pat led us uphill a bit, turned left, found ship. Swam to the stern to start our search. Headed out and did not see anything interesting. Turned around, found the arc-shaped item. Turned out to be a coral shelf with a very vertical component. That's what the diver-portable SSS had seen. We kept swimming but did not see the ship again. Came up and compared notes with Joe, who also went down but on independent duty.
We motored home, got cleaned up and took the entire Scripps team out to dinner. They truly are a great bunch of folks to work with. They have great toys, great personalities and a great mission of their own. And in their spare time, they help us with ours. A great collaborative effort. We're getting close to the midpoint of this year's mission. And so far, Casey has not had a milkshake. No one has used a challenge coin in a challenge. And no one has required medical attention from Pat. 28 March We pushed off the dock a bit tardy today. But we had all of us plus Evan Walsh from Scripps with his hexacopters. Our mission today was to walk into the mangroves and look at a target that he saw on his last hexacopter mission. We have seen in the past that aerial surveys from a helicopter can find things that are in the mangroves. The autonomous hexacopter is a very inexpensive way to get eyeballs onto the tops of the mangroves. Then if you see something, and only then, would you mount a mangrove expedition. As Palauans like to tell us, "Nobody goes in where you guys go." You have a choice when entering mangroves: go at high tide or go at low tide. The advantage of high tide is the boat can get a lot closer to where you want to go, you can float into your search area, but you could be up to your neck in water. Low tide is sometimes easier to walk in, if the mud flats don't suck your feet down at every step, but you will have a longer walk. And it's much hotter. We went at high tide.
Logan, our boat captain, took us into the mangrove and within 50 feet of our target. We went in, and found what Evan had spotted. A bleached-white, fallen-down tree trunk. Not exactly what we are looking for, but the methodology did find something worth investigating and really helped us cut down the search time. And Derek coined us. For those that don't know, you're supposed to have your challenge coin on you at all times. If challenged to show it, you must do so. If you don't have it, you lose. If you lose, you're subject to a penalty, such as maybe buying a round of drinks. We all lost, because no one but Derek had his coin with him. I hang my head in shame. We went up north to a mangrove area that has a Corsair crashed in it. We found this crash site several years ago, but so far we've only located a small percentage of the airplane. We did (real) helicopter searches a few years ago, but we want more eyes on the tops of the mangrove. Evan flew four missions over the mangrove from a half-mile away. It really is a nice bit of technology that this hexacopter can guide itself throughout its entire mission, so long as it is programed properly. We even had a peanut gallery, as a group of Taiwanese tourists came to the same jetty for lunch and they got a floor show as well.
We went back to our southern location to fly one more search pattern over the mangrove with the tree trunk in it and then we called it a day. We're back at the house, cleaning up and getting ready to meet up with Paul and Kathy Hughes for dinner. Paul is a fellow Delta pilot and Kathy is an Air Force A-10 pilot and Flight Surgeon in the U.S. Air Force. We met her out in Palau two years ago when she was in a medical rotation doing some work at the local hospital. Turns out she and Paul lived in the next town over from me in Michigan. So we've all bonded. They will have their kids with them and her parents. Should be a grand time. Casey couldn't stand it any longer so he went out for his milkshake. Without any adult supervision. - Flip Colmer |
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