Flight coordination involves more than meets the eye
In their spare time , Jason Krueger and Aaron Sale probably could become pretty good jugglers . They certainly do enough of it in their work on behalf of the GIS Consortium .
Providing the GISC and its 27 member communities with geographic information systems data requires coordinating and conducting aerial imagery flights in what Krueger calls “ one of the most difficult airspaces in the world for doing this kind of mapping .”
Krueger , project manager for Ayres ’ work with the GISC , is referring to the area around Chicago ’ s O ’ Hare International Airport .
The vast majority of the GISC ’ s 206 square miles of territory falls within a 10-nautical-mile radius of O ’ Hare . That means the many flights Ayres conducts over GISC communities each year to capture updated aerial photographs and other data only can occur after much careful planning has been completed .
“ We can ’ t fly just whenever . The conditions have to be just right ,” Krueger said .
A successful aerial imagery flight “ is the culmination of a lot of pre-planning ,” said Sale , coordinator for all Ayres flights in the United States . “ We like to describe our flight seasons as ‘ preparation meeting opportunity ,’ ” he said . “ I know that ’ s a phrase people often use to describe luck , but luck has little to do with having a successful flying season .”
One of the major complications Krueger and Sale must juggle is the high volume of flights into and out of O ’ Hare each day . Over the 15 years it has been working with the GISC , Ayres has developed excellent working relationships with the O ’ Hare Air Traffic Control Tower , the Federal Aviation Administration , and the FAA ’ s Terminal Radar Approach Control Facilities , or TRACON .
“ As a flight coordinator I plan each flight with the flight crews , and I send the flight plan down to TRACON in advance of the flight ,” Sale said . “ We are fortunate to have excellent , experienced pilots and flight crews working for us . So TRACON knows that if Ayres is coming in for a flight , it ’ s going to be well-organized .”
“ Ultimately , it ’ s TRACON that tells our chief pilots when we can and cannot fly ,” Krueger said . “ Often that is a dayto-day or even hour-to-hour decision .”
Another critical factor to juggle when planning the flights is weather – on both a daily and a seasonal basis .
Successful aerial imagery requires flying when there are no leaves on the trees or snow on the ground , so most flights are scheduled for the spring .
Sale explained that on a typical late spring day , there is a four- to six-hour window during which the angle of the sun is optimal for the kind of aerial imagery Ayres needs to conduct . Each flight typically lasts two to three hours within that window of opportunity .
But springtime in Chicago doesn ’ t always provide enough days with suitable flying conditions , so flights may be conducted after trees shed their leaves in autumn , Krueger said .
Whatever the season , the ideal conditions for aerial imagery are clear , haze-free days when there is little wind , conditions that in the Chicago area are significantly influenced – daily , even hourly – by the proximity to Lake Michigan .
The volume of flights at O ’ Hare generally is lower on weekends , Sale said , adding , “ In the upper Midwest , we have relatively few opportunities to conduct these flights each year . So if you get a clear day on a Saturday or Sunday with not too much wind , you better be ready to go , because you need to take full advantage of every little window you can .”
Yet another factor to be juggled when scheduling aerial imagery flights around O ’ Hare is the dreaded temporary flight restriction , or TFR . For example , whenever President Barak Obama flies back to his hometown of Chicago , a TFR may result in the delay or cancellation of previously scheduled flights in the O ’ Hare airspace .
The planning for each aerial imagery flight begins three months ahead of time . So Krueger and Sale have been planning flights for this spring since January .
“ We submit our preliminary flight plans to O ’ Hare by the end of February ,” Krueger explained . “ Then we finalize our plans within the first week of March and we are flying by the middle of March and we ’ re finished by the end of April .”
Of course , Krueger concedes this is only a “ typical ” schedule he has described . He and Sale have been juggling long enough to know little is “ typical ” in the O ’ Hare airspace .
“ All of our flights are difficult for new and unpredictable reasons ,” Krueger said . “ Every year is difficult for a different reason . But every year , thanks to careful planning and great work by our flight crews , we get the job done .”
– Bob Brown
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