Go Back  Airline Pilot Central Forums > Airline Pilot Forums > Cargo
UPS MD-11 Venus Transit >

UPS MD-11 Venus Transit

Search
Notices
Cargo Part 121 cargo airlines

UPS MD-11 Venus Transit

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old 06-29-2012, 08:46 AM
  #1  
Line Holder
Thread Starter
 
Flying Dog's Avatar
 
Joined APC: Aug 2008
Position: Bus driver
Posts: 34
Default UPS MD-11 Venus Transit

This is very cool.



Prints can be ordered at:

Flight to Venus Prints - Bob Fugate's Photos | SmugMug

D800 Venus Transit Shoot - Bob Fugate's Photos | SmugMug

From the photographer, Bob Fugate:

“Flight to Venus

This is a United Parcel Service MD-11 aircraft UPS Flight 4911 en route from Ontario, CA to Louisville, KY flying at 37,000 ft and was 71.3 miles from the camera. Elevation was 3.5 degrees.

After a week of inquiries, I have made contact with the crew -- Captain David Kantor and 1st Officer Dean Burke. I have made two large prints and will be mounting, framing, and sending them to David and Dean.

See next photo for a map showing the locations of the camera and aircraft.”


From Captain Kantor:

“So....I get this call from my first officer this afternoon and he says, 'Hey, the FAA and UPS thinks this is OUR flight #4911 from ONT-SDF the other day!' It was...
I asked the photographer, 'How did you figure out we were 71.3 miles away from you?' He said that once he found out we were an MD-11, he looked up the dimensions of the aircraft, he estimated the heading we were on (the FAA confirmed his calculation was within 5 degrees), he knew angle he shot the picture at, he then calculated the distance based on the known length of each pixel in the photo, ABQ Center told him that we were at 37,000'....and came up with 71.3 miles.
Fly Safe,
David Kantor
MD-11”
Flying Dog is offline  
Old 06-29-2012, 10:09 AM
  #2  
Gets Weekends Off
 
johnny150's Avatar
 
Joined APC: Jan 2012
Posts: 110
Default

that is crazy cool!!!
johnny150 is offline  
Old 06-29-2012, 11:09 AM
  #3  
Gets Weekends Off
 
Riddler's Avatar
 
Joined APC: Jul 2006
Position: Left Seat, Toyota Tacoma
Posts: 593
Default UPS MD-11 Venus Transit

Very impressive photo!
Riddler is offline  
Old 06-29-2012, 11:26 AM
  #4  
Gets Weekends Off
 
Twin Wasp's Avatar
 
Joined APC: Oct 2007
Position: Sr. VP of button pushing
Posts: 2,730
Default

So what, we can now report traffic 71 miles away "in sight?"
Twin Wasp is offline  
Old 06-29-2012, 11:30 AM
  #5  
Gets Weekends Off
 
Senior Skipper's Avatar
 
Joined APC: Jan 2008
Position: the correct seat
Posts: 1,422
Default

Very cool photo. I guess the guy didn't do too poorly in math class either!
Senior Skipper is offline  
Old 06-29-2012, 12:44 PM
  #6  
Gets Weekends Off
 
Joined APC: Sep 2009
Posts: 231
Default

Actually by my calculations the airplane was more like 71.4 miles from the camera with a 3.6 degree elevation.

Cool image, especially if you were the crew!
Flightmech is offline  
Old 06-30-2012, 07:10 PM
  #7  
Gets Weekends Off
 
Joined APC: Feb 2007
Posts: 2,483
Default

Originally Posted by Flying Dog View Post
From the photographer, Bob Fugate:

“Flight to Venus

This is a United Parcel Service MD-11 aircraft UPS Flight 4911 en route from Ontario, CA to Louisville, KY flying at 37,000 ft and was 71.3 miles from the camera. Elevation was 3.5 degrees.

After a week of inquiries, I have made contact with the crew -- Captain David Kantor and 1st Officer Dean Burke. I have made two large prints and will be mounting, framing, and sending them to David and Dean.

See next photo for a map showing the locations of the camera and aircraft.”


From Captain Kantor:

“So....I get this call from my first officer this afternoon and he says, 'Hey, the FAA and UPS thinks this is OUR flight #4911 from ONT-SDF the other day!' It was...
I asked the photographer, 'How did you figure out we were 71.3 miles away from you?' He said that once he found out we were an MD-11, he looked up the dimensions of the aircraft, he estimated the heading we were on (the FAA confirmed his calculation was within 5 degrees), he knew angle he shot the picture at, he then calculated the distance based on the known length of each pixel in the photo, ABQ Center told him that we were at 37,000'....and came up with 71.3 miles.
Fly Safe,
David Kantor
MD-11”
Ok, correct me if I'm wrong but once you know the altitude and the elevation it's a simple trigonometric problem?

And once I plug in 3.5 degree elevation and 37,000 feet of altitude I get a distance 114 miles.....

Regardless, cool shot.
TallFlyer is offline  
Old 06-30-2012, 07:16 PM
  #8  
Gets Weekends Off
 
Joined APC: Nov 2006
Position: 767 FO
Posts: 8,047
Default

Maybe the camera was on top of a mountain.
FDXLAG is offline  
Old 06-30-2012, 07:31 PM
  #9  
Gets Weekends Off
 
Joined APC: Aug 2006
Position: leaning to the left
Posts: 4,184
Default

You mean, like on the Continental Divide in New Mexico? I think he was hypoxic.
Busboy is offline  
Old 06-30-2012, 07:41 PM
  #10  
Gets Weekends Off
 
Joined APC: Nov 2006
Position: 767 FO
Posts: 8,047
Default

Yeah but how tall was the tripod?
FDXLAG is offline  
Related Topics
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
Flying Dog
Your Photos and Videos
2
06-29-2012 04:41 PM
Priority 3
Cargo
6
04-12-2012 04:02 AM
jungle
Cargo
0
12-10-2008 06:55 AM
Freighter Captain
Cargo
3
10-20-2006 09:29 AM
Freighter Captain
Cargo
23
07-10-2006 06:19 PM

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On



Your Privacy Choices