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AERIAL MAPPING

Blue Skies specializes in aerial photography and remote sensing for mapping and surveying. Its expertise includes primary data acquisition, systems integration, and remote sensing applications. The company's projects include the acquisition of vertical, high-resolution imagery for the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service National Resources Inventory, five national parks and monuments in Colorado and Utah, riparian studies in New Mexico, and a resource management evaluation in California and Nevada. Please click here for a list of selected projects. Please click here for information about our capabilities and expertise. 

Aircraft

Blue Skies has two aerial camera platforms.  A turbo-charged Cessna T210, N5382A, is a 1979 "N" model equipped for large-format aerial photography and remote sensing applications. It has a 17"x19" camera hole and contains a real-time kinematic-capable GPS system for flight-line navigation.

The aircraft can stay aloft for up to 4.5 hours between fuel stops. An average cruising speed of 180 miles per hour gives it an effective range of more than 800 miles. The aircraft is certified for continuous operations at altitudes up to 27,000 feet mean sea level. It is maintained and operated in accordance with all applicable regulations of the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

 Cessna 210       

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Blue Skies also utilizes a turbo-charged Cessna TU206.  The aircraft (N756JA) is a 1978 "G" model equipped for large-format aerial photography and remote sensing application.  It uses real-time kinematic GPS system for flight-line navigation.

The aircraft can stay aloft for up to 4 hours between fuel stops.  An average cruising speed of 130 miles per hour gives it an effective range of more than 520 miles.  The aircraft is certified for continuous operations at altitudes up to 27,000 feet mean sea level.

      

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Aerial Cameras

Our image acquisition systems are comprised of a Microsoft/Vexcel UltraCam Lp digital photogrammetric camera, the only one in New Mexico, and two Leica RC30 aerial cameras with Leica Universal Aviogon /4-S lenses. Please read the calibration reports below for more information (requires FREE Adobe Acrobat Reader software).

Blue Skies' digital camera is one of the latest generation of photogrammetric digital aerial mapping systems.  The Microsoft/Vexcel UltraCam Lp camera simultaneously captures panchromatic, RGB and near-infrared imagery in a 92 megapixel format.  The 11,704 x 7,920 pixel frame-format sensor uses a 6-micron physical pixel size to produce pan-sharpened imagery at a 1:2.2 ratio for brilliant color.  The camera system uses a Novatel SPAN-SE Inertial Measurement System and sits atop a Leica PAV30 gyro-stabilized camera mount.  Operation of the equipment is controlled with a Track'Air flight management system that uses the L1/L2 GPS and INS solutions for flight-line navigation and to control the camera firing and camera mount gyro-stabilization, including automatic drift correction.  The tight system integration improves the quality of the images and allows direct georeferencing of imagery for a streamlined orthophoto production process.

BSC's film camera is a Leica RC30 precision photogrammetric mapping camera with a 110 AWAR, 152mm focal-length Leica Universal Aviogon /4-S lens.  The RC30 is equipped with forward motion compensation, electronic data annotation, and an automatic exposure control system.  In the aircraft, the camera is mounted on a vibration-isolated, gyro-stabilized Leica PAV30 camera mount that is fully integrated with the Track'Air navigation system and the NovAtel SPAN IMU system to automatically correct for tip, tilt, and drift.  The camera (lens #13243) was recently calibrated by the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS's) Optical Calibration Laboratory (OCL) on October 4, 2012.

Calibration Reports               

Film Cameras Digital Cameras
Primary camera     UltraCam LP 

Aerial Film Scanner

Blue Skies owns and operates a Wehrli RM-6 AutoScanner for aerial film scanning. The only one of its kind in New Mexico, the RM-6 is a high performance photogrammetric scanner with superior radiometric and geometric accuracy. The scanner allows for roll film as well as individual frame scanning and can accomplish scan resolutions of 8-128 microns. Please see our Scanning Brochure for more detailed information about our scanner's capabilities.