(the travails of an aerial survey pilot)
The morning starts with the daily intention
Fly production, watch weather, RTB, just don’t mention
Maintenance issues, whose capricious soul
Can take us down a rabbit hole
The hotel breakfast is part of the deal
Not much for vegans, all hail the oatmeal
Snag bananas for lunch if you’re ever so thrifty
Avoid the coffee, if you’re over fifty
Grab the rental and get up and go
Get the planes from the hangar at the FBO
Pre-flight complete and filled up with gas
The tech checks the camera, and cleans off the glass
The sensor process can seem quite opaque
Feet on the pedals are beginning to shake
Never rely on the parking brake
Just how much longer will this take
“Chill out dude I’m on the final section”
Start again, lost the IP connection
Cables are fine, I’ll need to reboot
Headset is on and you’re going on mute
A lot of time sitting on the ramp
Heating up and beginning to cramp
I wouldn’t mind if I could log the time
But the Hobbs only ticks when we’re starting to climb
All this to say it’s a bit of a gamble
Predicting the timing and making sun angle
The 206 lumbers and finally embraces
The air like a bird, and we’re off to the races
Lines locked and loaded, the camera is rolling
Left a bit , too fast , pretend that you’re bowling
Straight down the middle and not in the gutters
The tech looks concerned and the pilot just mutters
Crew ages diverse as you’ve ever seen
Millennials, boomers and those in between
One HR suggestion I’d like to tender
Hire more folks from the fairer gender ?
Flying LIDAR will measure your talent
Wasted miles become apparent
On Flightaware they are easy to view
How to fly a line that says eff you ?
Eight hours in feeling worn and torn
Sky still clear, where’s the popcorn
When you need it, none to see
Still plenty of fuel and needing to pee
Last line is done, not off by a smidgen
And back to base like a homing pigeon
Forecast is in, plan the next endeavor
Looks like to tomorrow we’ll be monitoring weather