Field Report Week 10

AT 409: Field Report Week 10

Aaron Varnau, Treston Russell, Tristan Bungen

Mission Statement: 

    Crew 3 will use our knowledge, attention to detail, and teamwork to successfully complete this mission to the best of our abilities. 

Mission Purpose: 

    The purpose of our weekly flights is to monitor and record the changes that happen to the trees in the Northwest and Northeast plots at Martell. This research is being done to assist the Purdue Agricultural department and their research. This research is also being done to show the usefulness of the UAS department and give the department a strong reputation for great research. Other research is being conducted to help a graduate student William Weldon with his research thesis on finding missing persons. 

Mission Location Summary:

    Martell Forest was acquired to provide research and outdoor lab teaching opportunities close to the West Lafayette campus. It is named for Dr. Eldred R. “Shorty” Martell, who was head of Purdue's Department of Forestry and Conservation, now known as the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, from 1940 to 1957. It was originally called Shidler Forest after the family the land was acquired from. Throughout its history, the forest has been central to the education of hundreds of natural resource professionals as well as a center for diverse research activities.

Martell Forest is the site of the John S. Wright Forestry Center, a research, teaching and conference facility located at 1007 N 725 W, West Lafayette, Indiana.​​​​

• Acquisition date: 1958 (additional tracts acquired up to 2008)

• Total acres: 477

• 70% forested

• 21% plantations

• 12 acres of prairie

• 2.4 acres of open water

• 2.6 miles of stream

• 4.5 miles of road

Credited Source: https://ag.purdue.edu/fnr/Pages/propmartell.aspx

Martell Plot Maps:

No Flight For Week 10 Explanation:

Aaron was unable to join the crew for any missions during Week 10 due to a potential exposure to COVID-19. Two of his housemates gave a friend a ride back to Lafayette from the Indianapolis airport and two days later that friend tested positive. Fortunately no infections came out of this exposure, we took the precaution of having him stay home to be as safe as possible. 

Our Plan For Week 11: 

We did not fly this week due to an incomplete crew, with two out of three members being out of commission. Aaron had his COVID-19 exposure, Tristan was sick, along with the weather being bad caused us to cancel our flight. The weather specifically was not ideal due to the high winds and on and off raining throughout the day. We, as a crew, feel that winds over 10 mph affect the flight too much by pushing the M600 around and ultimately drains the battery life quicker. For this reason along with the on and off again raining through the day lead us to the decision of canceling. 

For next week, week 11, we plan to fly on Friday due to our crews availability and the nice predicted weather. The weather is predicted to be a high of 70 degrees Fahrenheit, sunny, and 10% chance of precipitation. A downside of flying Friday is that the winds are predicted to be at 5 to 10 mph. Although these predicted winds are on the high side, we believe we will be able to squeeze the flight in before the winds pick up. It is important to get our flight in this week because most of the flights scheduled were canceled due to weather conditions, or data was not collected properly.