I took down the old VOR antenna near KPIH the other day, my day job being crane service, and I thought the person in Oklahoma I've been dealing with would appreciate an overhead shot of the project. It gave me a great excuse when I called the tower (it's within their turf) to say "I'm working for the FAA on the VOR, and will be doing some low level maneuvering over it," preceded by me also identifying as an experimental. This no doubt gave the tower crew something to think about.

Tom,
You're just having too much fun!!

What VOR ?

Kurt

In a few years, the question will be, "What is a VOR?"

What VOR ?

Kurt

flattie45 wrote:In a few years, the question will be, "What is a VOR?"

What VOR ?

Kurt

Sort of like, what is an ADF or radio range

What was the skinny fenced part for. Pointer to the airport????

180Marty wrote:What was the skinny fenced part for. Pointer to the airport????

Had not noticed that, but now that you mention it, yes KPIH is thataway.

I don't know the VOR name, but it's about 3-4 miles from the tower, shouldn't be hard to find!

Presuming it's this one?



From a neophyte pilot, why would you being an experimental doing maneuvers over the VOR give the folks in the tower something to think about?

Within the 5 mile radius, class D airspace, that's why.

Thanks. I figured as much but I didn’t know if it had something specifically to do with you being experimental, just inside the class D, or some combination of both.

Experimentals cannot generally be used for "commercial" use (anything involving compensation - with a few exceptions), thus the "I'm working for the FAA on the VOR, and will be doing some low level maneuvering over it" statement to Tower, following the use of an "Experimental" call sign could invoke some "head scratching" in the tower... Of course what CG was doing is perfectly legal, because the "work" part (and thus the "compensation") is for work done with his crane – he's not getting paid for flying his experimental airplane...

Cool story. I would have loved to be a fly on the wall in the tower during the discussion that likely followed that radio call...

Don’t think the tower guys are the rule guys.

JP256 wrote:Experimentals cannot generally be used for "commercial" use (anything involving compensation - with a few exceptions), thus the "I'm working for the FAA on the VOR, and will be doing some low level maneuvering over it" statement to Tower, following the use of an "Experimental" call sign could invoke some "head scratching" in the tower...

Makes even more sense now. Thanks for the added color!

I had been expecting a letter from the FAA (that right there is something I don't want to say again, ever) with a check for the crane work I did for them a few months ago. Apparently I had sent my bill to the wrong address, the wrong department in OK city, and it got mislaid. So after a couple months (I've waited much longer to get paid....) I made an inquiry and was told a check would be on the way. So, the last few days I was bracing myself for a big scary looking envelope with FAA all over it....a cheap thrill. Oddly enough, it came in a standard plain envelope, with a hand written return address, even the check seems to be from some one's personal account, not a computerized official looking guv check. Just seems a bit odd, but I'm not complaining, the amount will pay, converted into E-0 mogas, for about 73 hours of flight time. Thank you FAA! I guess it's good to see they are not wasting our money on fancy stationary.

I worked for them this summer in AK. Paid via credit card a few hours after the bill got sent. Beautiful thing! I bet my bill was more than yours. Hahaha.

I remembered what you said about them paying quick, so after 2 months+ I was a little disappointed. When I emailed my contact and (politely) inquired about payment, I then learned I had snail mailed it to the wrong department, and WHAM, she said email it to me and I'll get it right out, and she did. I'm still a little baffled as to the lack of official stationary, or a computer generated/printed check, hell my own biz stationary is more official looking than what I got.

I did a separate deal with another sub, who still identified himself as "the FAA", and he paid via CC the next day. All involved got a laugh about me a crane guy who was also a pilot, and how I would spend the money, flying!