May 18, 2015
CO Pilot Jason Jensen (Brainerd) reports a week of mostly missed flights due to weather. Two Lake Vermilion boat surveys were conducted and some anglers were checked via floatplane upon completion of the survey. Some watercraft violations were found with a citation issued for insufficient PFDs on watercraft. Flights were rescheduled for this week dependent on better weather.
NR Pilot Brad Maas (Brainerd) continued working on the northwest sandhill crane survey. Poor weather conditions postponed many of the flights. Hopefully better weather will allow completion of the remaining 52 plots.
CO Pilot Bob Geving (New Ulm) reports the nesting waterfowl survey was put on hold over the week due to inclement weather. Geving spent the down time completing the department’s yearly mandatory “Employee Right To Know” training and reviewing other aviation related topics.
NR Pilot John Heineman (Bemidji) flew fisher and wolf telemetry. Heineman also a Lake Vermilion creel survey, helped reposition aircraft, trained for instrument flight and arranged for maintenance on the aircraft.
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CO Pilot Chris Lofstuen (Bemidji) reports that generally poor flying weather caused the cancellation of scheduled survey flights resulting in time spent on operational tasks. Despite the weather, DNR aircraft were ferried across the state in preparation for maintenance. A night currency flight was flown and several training flights were flown with NR Pilot John Heineman.
