Great job. I've been on several helicopter trips, you can see a few of them on youtube, and I always come away with an awe and respect for these machines and the people that operate them. The machines themselves are inherently unstable, yet, conducted by a capable operator can be run safely. Amazing.
Brian, The scope would be fine but the tower does 'move' in astronomy terms in a slight pattern with the waves and wind. We just last night were watching a waning moon with our tower scope (cheap one) and were amazed at the clarity. There just isn't any light pollution out here. When the moons down, the milky way and everything else is clearly there!
We check the flag to see if it's in good shape or if it needs replacement. The winds out here are consistently strong and tear a flag apart over time. It's also why there are several lease blocks for offshore wind turbines nearby! We expect to see little pinwheels of these massive turbines in the next few years that would be about 8 miles away (therefore pretty small to view)
@FirefighterJohnM the helicopter flight from Southport's airport KSUT (Cape Fear) is only 30 minutes. A typical boat ride is 1:30 to 2 hours depending on port.
If I can hook my girlfriend on the idea that this would be a get away? Any stargazer types been out there with any feed back? Would love to bring a 4.5" Newtonian telescope and tripod out - I wouldn't expect it would cause payload problems, but what are the limitations for a visit?
Great job. I've been on several helicopter trips, you can see a few of them on youtube, and I always come away with an awe and respect for these machines and the people that operate them.
The machines themselves are inherently unstable, yet, conducted by a capable operator can be run safely.
Amazing.
Brian, The scope would be fine but the tower does 'move' in astronomy terms in a slight pattern with the waves and wind. We just last night were watching a waning moon with our tower scope (cheap one) and were amazed at the clarity. There just isn't any light pollution out here. When the moons down, the milky way and everything else is clearly there!
We check the flag to see if it's in good shape or if it needs replacement. The winds out here are consistently strong and tear a flag apart over time. It's also why there are several lease blocks for offshore wind turbines nearby! We expect to see little pinwheels of these massive turbines in the next few years that would be about 8 miles away (therefore pretty small to view)
@FirefighterJohnM the helicopter flight from Southport's airport KSUT (Cape Fear) is only 30 minutes. A typical boat ride is 1:30 to 2 hours depending on port.
If I can hook my girlfriend on the idea that this would be a get away? Any stargazer types been out there with any feed back? Would love to bring a 4.5" Newtonian telescope and tripod out - I wouldn't expect it would cause payload problems, but what are the limitations for a visit?
just curious . why did the pilot hold his hand up blocking the camera right as they landed? Or was that just coincidence?
Why do you need to check the American flag on top? Is there any risk of invation? Just curious.
just coincidence, nothing special happening...