Brandon Fugal

Very cool! I love truth and getting to the bottom of things :) @mickwest have you verified who the people were & confirmed that it was simply for a power line survey? It would also be interesting to see why their transponder would be turned off.

The transponder almost certainly was not off - it was not being received by the ADS-B network because it was low and away from ADS-B stations. It did pass near the ranch, as it was on one side, and then later the other - tracking the powerlines that are 1 mile north of you.

I find it interesting that our avionics receiver in the command center on the ranch did not pick it up. Why turn it off when coming over the ranch? How do you know they were surveying power lines? Did you confirm this? Who were they?

Did you ask Corporate Helicopters if they were actually employed by a power company to conduct a survey? I’m sure it did fly around power lines. I have flown around those same power lines, many times. It doesn’t mean I’m conducting a survey of the power lines. Or does it? Hmmm

Why would you suspect otherwise? What were they doing the previous day? Just flying over power lines south of Provo to establish a cover story?

I find it interesting that it appears that they purposely turned off their transponder over the ranch, coupled with an obvious detour from power lines. Flying over power lines south of Provo (where they departed from) would be a fantastic cover story!