MY SECOND ATTEMPT TO FILL MY ASSIGNMENT FELL SHORT, TOO!!! For those who do not know, my assignment was to shoot a picture of the train from approximately 100 feet in front of it, looking over the top all the way back to the last car. Within the city of Wasilla itself, the longest stretch of rail is this one alongside the lumber yard of Spenard Builders Supply. Perhaps if I had taken Sancho up another 100, 200, 300 feet up or even hit the legal drone ceiling of 400 feet, Sancho’s eye could have peered all the way back to the last car. It would have been tiny in the frame, minuscule, hardly even a sliver, but it would have been there and my assignment would be complete. The problem I faced is this location is only a couple of miles from Wasilla’s main airport (there are dozens, if not scores, of tiny airstrips in and around Wasilla and every lake is an airstrip, too). It is not a controlled airport and I was flying in legal air space. As it always does, the caution warning to look out for aircraft did appear on my iPhone drone control app.

I spent close to an hour waiting for the train and in that time at least half a dozen small planes few by under 500 feet, a below 200 feet. I picked out a spot alongside a tree about 40 feet tall just off to the Spenard side of the tracks and hung Sancho there to wait. I figured even a pilot approaching the airport from a super low altitude - and, believe me, many do - would not want to fly into that tree. This is why I did not complete my assignment. 8/19/20