Help with catching swans, geese, and ducks!

[SwanWrangler]

Hi,

I'm a biologist who catches and bands waterfowl on the tundra to study their migration, ecology, social interactions, etc.

I often use a helicopter to herd and capture waterfowl, but it costs around $2300 an hour (!!!).

I could do a lot with a UAV, probably a helo platform, it has to hover, have good power, speed and quickness, and carry some kind of boom or apparatus that will actually be wat the birds interact with, and are herded by (about 3-5lbs).

Cameras, etc that could stream to a laptop would be great too.

I also need some help with getting good at flying this thing pretty quickly.


thanks!

John

[Connexxion]

I can borrow you my cat! :D

She will do it for fun,let alone for 2300 bucks.

This one loves to swim...

[goldeneye007]

start fishing they will come straight to you. as any fisherman will tell you

[rblilja]

A question... How do you capture a waterfowl with a helicopter (alive)? The herding thing a get, but not the capturing part.

Last time I mixed big machines and birds, was in the navy. Either they was nearly sucked up by the sub's snorkel (while resting there) or they got caught by the water flow heading to the propeller.

[daddyztoyz]

Hey SwanWrangler
Sounds like some interesting work to be involved in. 2300$ per hr does sound like an awful lot of money, but there is alot of maintenence on real helis and i imagine a good bit of danger doing the kind of work youre doing especially where youre flying . Learning to fly an rc heli proficiently enough to do what you want to do, have pontoons for working from/emergency landing on the water, and learning it "very quickly" is going to require a pretty steep learning curve. As you probably already know the tundra can be dangerous and unforgiving, even seasoned pilots in real helis have a hard time maintaining control with the gusty winds sometimes. One good gust and you could dump several thousand in equipment and your rc heli in the water pretty quick. That might make the 2300$ hr look a little better. Maybe you could hire someone that already has the equipment and does RC/AP cheaper than 2300$ hr, and they could teach you to fly also. But, there are co`s that specialize in the type of equipment you would need. Here`s one for the heli`s, there are others that will be mentioned in some of the forums.
http://www.bergenrc.com/
There are numerous forums on the subject , heres a few places to look at and you can do a search and come up with alot more. Real Flight makes a good simulator, but there are other good ones too.
http://www.rcgroups.com/simulators-172/

http://www.rcgroups.com/aerial-photography-128/

http://www.helifreak.com/forumdisplay.php?f=53
Good luck.
daddyztoyz

[Connexxion]

I just encountered a way to catch a bird without too much hasstle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HruH9yreGgQ

Seriously: If you want to get this plan a.s.a.p. in the air,I think it might be disappointing.

You'll have to take the time to learn how to fly the chopper and besides that,

prepare to invest at least 15.000 US dollar.

For choppers:http://www.vario-helicopter.de/trainer.html?&L=1

For tx (transmitters):http://www.futaba-rc.com/radios/helis.html

For an heli autopilot:http://www.micropilot.com/prod_mp2128heli.htm
Pricing---->> http://www.micropilot.com/autopilots.htm

[John O'Sullivan]

My helicopter and wildlife experience goes back to 1996 when I was supervising a large scale nickel/copper exploration program in nothrern Labrador, canada. Our pilot was a top notch wildlife photographer and carried out observations for a number of wildlife groups. He was also one of the most competent pilots I have had the privilige to have during my 48 years of mineral exploration.
Well, our bush camp was on a flat spot on a 300 ft steep sided fiord and he invited me to fly with him to photograph a Gyr Falcon nest high up on the cliff face. Well it was an experience - he flew the Long Ranger with the rotor blades within 6 ft. of the cliff while balancing his Hassleblad on his knee and photographing the young in the nest. He is only one of two helicopter pilots that I have flown with that I would have been comfortable to try something like that.
John

[logicquests]

I could dress up as a helicopter and chase the birds whilst making a whoosh , whoosh , whoosh noise. I wouldn't even charge you for that.

It would just be nice to get out for the day. :(

[SwanWrangler]

Hi everyone,

Wow, thanks for all the info, and thanks for the offers for help. If we had a swimming cat, and a guy dressed up like a helo , I think it would be the most unusual field crew I could muster.

I do fly a fixed wing (both RC and real (novice!) And have a few helo flight hours (real, not RC), so I'm not starting as a total rookie.

To answer a few questions, we use the helicopter to gently herd the birds out of the water and across the land towards people hiding that jump out and catch the birds. It's actually a very low stress and low impact method. The birds are barely concerned about the helicopter while it's flying. They only get worried when the people start chasing, and if the pilot does his job well then it's barely a chase at all.

A vehicle that is autonomous would be good too, as we'd have the helo some distance away, and have it fly to a pre-determined starting point, then once the swans are close enough to chase we'd want autopilot to get the heli up and out on its own.

Investing some $$$ here is not a big deal. We could buy an airplane a year for the amount we spend on heli time. Shelling out $20k-$30k once is a hell of an investment, especially over a couple years.

Keep the advice coming, and check out www.swanmigration.org



John

[ehx]

Nice, simple idea, but it's probably not going to be anywhere near as easy as it sounds or nearly as cheap.

First off, what type of weather do you expect to work in? RC helis aren't built to work in rain, sleet, and snow. They can handle a little of this, but add in 20 mph+ winds and the electronics need special protection and the airframe much greater maintenance. You may not actually work in bad weather, but just sitting on the ground the heli would need protection. The bigger helis can handle wind gusts, but working near the ground you have much less margin for error.

What type of range do you need to cover? Flying by eye most people would have trouble with anything approaching precision flying at more than a few hundred feet. Flying by video helps here, but flying by video close to objects takes a fair amount of practice.

An autonomous heli sounds good and while more heli autopilots are starting to show up at the ~$10,000 level none of them are anywhere near "plug and play". You can buy a heli with an integrated autopilot for about $50k and up, but would it handle your work environment? When you start investing this type of money what is your backup plan if something fails? Do you double your expenses and get two? The last thing you want to do in a remote work environment is pay to get people there and then have the failure of one critical piece of equipment shut things down.

There are a lot of other details that will determine if your idea has a shot at really working for you. Don't underestimate the time it takes to learn how to fly a heli fairly well. You also have to learn to tune and maintain it.

If you really want to try the full idea in ~ six months you would have to bring in someone with RC heli experience - meaning pay their salary and travel expenses - and have at least a $30K equipment budget. The other option is for you to spend a few $K on a heli or two and some equipment and practice. Maybe in six months you could test the idea in a small way and get a much better handle on if you should spend more time and money on the concept the next year.