This morning’s Aurora Winter Train and official sunrise were both scheduled to arrive in Wasilla in Wasilla at 9:55 AM.

As I do not yet have anti-collision lights visible from three miles away, this put me in a bit of a predicament. I wanted to put Sancho the drone back to work, but if the train arrived in Wasilla ahead of schedule, it would be illegal for me to launch. I thought about getting Sancho linked up to my remote controller, ready to fly at exactly 9:55 and keep my Canon on standby to shoot from the ground if the train came too early. If this was one of the days the train stopped to pick someone up in Wasilla, then I figured that even if it arrived early, by the time it left my launch would likely be legal.

I sent a message to my friend  Mike Gerenday of the Alaska Railroad who always knows the Aurora’s status at departure time. He informed me the Aurora had left Anchorage right on time and had no passengers to pick up in Wasilla. It would roll right on through town.

So I drove a couple miles up the Parks Highway to Pittman road and Three Bears grocery store to give the train and sunrise a few more minutes to coincide. I parked where I could see about a mile down the track. At 9:50,  I placed Sancho on the cardboard launch pad I had brought and connected him to the remote controller. At 9:54, I flew Sancho from the pad up to four feet, did the 360 degree turnaround inspection, saw all was good and launched the moment my iPhone clock struck 9:55. I slowly and carefully maneuvered Sancho to avoid wires and poles. I could see the train coming down the tracks. I positioned Sancho in this position a good 30 seconds before the train arrived.

Remember how early phone cameras suffered significant shutter lag? How many pictures you lost because it took so long for your phone camera to actually take? Sancho’s camera is like still like that. I had set the reached the approximate spot where 4322 is in this picture. This is the first frame. The nose is cut off just behind the headlights above the guard rail in frame 2 and in frame three, just past the lights over the windshield. My Sancho adventure on the first day sunrise and Aurora United.