Can’t help you with any survey progress specifics, sorry. But in general, UTS (owned by Geotech) have >20 branded aircraft globally (includes fixed-wing). But it just depends on what’s happening, how busy things are, how many line-km are planned and the survey location…to know if its more cost effective to hire the platform rather than having an owned one come in from somewhere else. On several occasions in the past when I’ve been involved with VTEM surveys the helicopter was hired and flown through local sub-contractors. As long as it’s got an attachment to sling the loop wires from that’s it…I’m sure there is more to it than that when it comes to flying, but my point is the system is easily interchangeable and not restricted to one platform compared to say the Anglo Spectrem system.
Re the helicopter showing on tracking services, not claiming to know the specifics here…but the way it was explained to me (I’d often wondered the same) is that it all depends on the transponder system in use, the class of airspace and the flight level. Basically, what I was told was many helicopters don’t use the general transponders that commercial airlines use and that the flight-tracking apps rely on. The flight-tracking apps also use Multilateration (MLat) to track aircraft without the other transponders, but this is only effective above 1,500m-3000m depending on terrain and receivers…so that’s why many helicopters or smaller aircraft wont show on flight radar apps.
Working out of Esperance and flying low-level surveys, Id be surprised if it showed up on any apps. Any locals might be able to do a drive-by, would be pretty easy to confirm if there is one there with wires hanging off it.
Best of luck…I’m keen to see the survey results!
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