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Monday, July 11, 2011

Magnetometer

This aircraft has been flying around Box Elder County for the last couple of months.  The local paper even ran an article telling residents not to worry about the strange aircraft flying low in back and forth patterns.

I was at the airport and snapped this photo and came home and looked up the Canadian registration. (enter C-GCMD)  The plane is owned by Firefly Aviation Ltd in Calgary.  Apparently, they use the magnetometer on the rear of the aircraft to perform aerial geophysical surveys.  I wonder who hired them and how the science works?  I mean, I think I know how a magnetometer works, but does a positive or negative magnetic anomaly signal a potential oil or gas field, or is it more complicated than that?

Here is what Wikipedia says about it.

Magnetometer equipped aircraft (notice boom sticking out the back of the plane)