Touch-and-Go at Raco

We went to Raco to fly the drone and film. Dan and Britt were both directors and drone operators. They each got their own battery. I got to be the stunt driver, on a closed course. It was my car after all. Anne didn’t want to drive, so the best position that she could snag was that of a PA, but she did bring good bagels. Filming consisted of me driving back-and-forth over a quarter mile section of the tarmac at Raco, while being led, paced and pursued by the drone. I did about a dozen passes all told. Normally, I drove at thirty miles-per-hour, which the drone could easily handle. There is no audio with the video, if there was any, it would just be the buzz saw sound of the drone. Raco is located in the Hiawatha National Forest. It started as an airfield during World War II. Later, during the Cold War, it doubled as both an interceptor base and a dispersal base for the nearby B-52 bomber base at Kincheloe. Smithers, has a government concession now to manage the airfield. In the winter it is used a a cold weather automotive testing facility. This time of year, he just tries to chase away the drag racers. On our way out, we had to wait for a caravan of about a dozen ATVs to pass, I don’t know how Dan got the Prius in-and-out of there before. We’ll likely go back and use one of the longer runways to get longer takes. For next time, I’ve been told by wardrobe to wear darker clothing, no more red t-shirts. 

4 thoughts on “Touch-and-Go at Raco

  1. Good enough to be part of various commercials!

    Hard to reconcile this with the “Die Hard” movie portion that was shot at that site in the middle of winter, eh?

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