Test Flight

Ever since I backed the balloon mapping Kickstarter project, I have been thinking about what to do with the matched pair of visible and infra-red cameras I will receive next month. I’m intrigued by the idea of making NDVI images by combining information from the two cameras. NDVI maps of vegetation can reveal new ecological patterns, but I still have no idea what I might learn with this tool. I have also been thinking about how to deploy the cameras to take aerial photos. The level of my Kickstarter pledge entitles me to a kit with cameras and other things, but it is not yet clear what other things will be included. So when it was 50° a couple of weeks ago and tolerable to work in the garage, I started playing with a piece of one of the aluminum storm window frames that were thrown behind the shed. The goal was to make a cheap, lightweight, self-leveling rig to hold two cameras pointing in the same direction: down.

A couple of days ago I took the result up the hill to the Hanging Delta Proving Grounds with the new Fled kite that I got for Christmas. I had tried to fly the new kite twice before without adequate wind, so this was to be a test flight of more than just the new camera rig. Conditions were so good for flying that I was able to hang the new rig from the kite line and fidget with it in front of a video camera. So there is no need for more words here.