Black
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Blue The company had it's early beginnings back in 1978 when
I left my job as a systems engineer for Digital Equipment Corp to venture out on
my own. The newly formed company performed aerial photography, planimetric mapping,
remote sensing, infrared thermography and image processing - all aerial based.
The first three years were "rough sledding" ! (We nearly starved .......
not quite the way it was "planned" ! .......). Looking back,
starting Air Image Technology was initially created as means to fund my love of
flying along with a passion for emerging Digital technology and early image processing. The first aircraft acquired was an ancient
(1964) Cessna 172 "Skyhawk" -which was lovingly referred to as the "Slowhawk"
(a far cry from a DC-9)...
Mounts were fabricated for mounting aerial cameras, and later a wing mounted
stabilized platform was added for some of the very first hi-band broadcast quality
aerial video footage - some of which is still currently being aired ! One
of our aerial photo's made the front cover of the 1976 "Boston White Pages" phone
directory. However, the company's first "big break" came in landing a contract with
the American Petroleum Institute (a consortium of oil companies) by employing infrared
thermography and extended ultra-violet sensitive film in the detection and tracking
of ocean oil spills. Out of that, came business for all the separate member oil
companies...... Energy Surveys, Tank surveys, underground steam distribution
surveys, power line electrical distribution surveys, infrared roof and power
plant mechanical surveys.
Up until that time, thermographs were recorded on Polaroid film
which did not lend itself to a moving aerial platform. Engineering skills were put
to good use and we were one of the first commercial operations to scan convert the
infrared images to standard videotape. 1978 was well before the advent of the personal computer.
The computer system we had then, was a Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-9, running
at a blazing speed of 1 MHz. It was fully loaded with 32 k of core memory
- each 8k "module" about the size of 4 mid tower cases " glued" together and weighing
about 100 lbs a piece. Each 8k memory "module" sold for a staggering
$18,000 back then ! The system consisted of 14 full height bays that filled
a good size room. Air conditioning was a necessity even in the dead of winter,
and a minimum of about a dozen 30 amp 240 volt circuits was required to power it.
The hard disk was a Burroughs RD-10 ..... about the size of a large refrigerator,
weighing about 300 lbs, and held an "enormous" 1 Mb of data. Archival image
data was stored on 3600 ft reels of "Mag-Tape". There were no graphical interfaces
back then - no mice either ! The software of choice (or more accurately:....
about the only choice) was Fortran IV®..... Being a machine level programmer
and hardware engineer was simply a necessity. Computers have come a long way since those early days......
What now takes but a few mouse clicks and a few hours to image process an enormous
.PNG file, would have required the PDP-9 to run literally for days and nights, to
process not even 1/10 th the content ! About 1978, one thing led to another, and we suddenly
found ourselves in the video production business. Within two years, a full
post production studio was added. Markets were the industrial as well as broadcast
community including TV commercials. Separate divisions of rental equipment as well
as broadcast repair services were added as well. Amazingly enough, NOTHING was ever
planned ....... we simply fell into it, and the marketing strategy was
nothing more than "word of mouth" ! Drove our banker "nuts" as we never had
a business plan.... (perhaps in retrospect: a good thing !) Twenty one years later, I decided to retire, sold the company,
but decided to hold on to & store the older "vintage" equipment that had been acquired
over the years that no one else wanted anyway... (I've always been a "packrat" !
)
My Mom was diagnosed with uterine cancer, and subsequently left CR England to
come home to take care of her in her final days. After her passing, I decided
to pull up stakes and move to Maine - (the "Way Life Should Be",
as the road signs proclaimed !). Here I drove for Bathgate & Sons, pulling for Bisson Transportation of Bath,
Maine. I would always haul heavy paper loads from the International Paper
mills in Jay, Maine as far west as Iowa and south to Atlanta . Then find whatever loads that would run
me back home. One of the most pleasurable experiences I ever had ! I
finally gave up the road to be home..... I suppose in retrospect, everything came full circle..... Everything
ended back up at the starting point: - the initial love of audio and video
images..... Perhaps mostly being "on my own" today, stems from the
fact that no one would ever believe my resume anyways ! In all honesty; still some things I'd like to try though......
Train Engineer and a life at sea .... even an Ice Road
Trucker ! ..... At my age; too late now......
Life is too short to experience anywhere's near all it has to offer....
I figure I've given it a good shot on this "go around" though..... Maybe
on the next "Go Around", I'll get to experience those as well...... But for this life & all that "out of my system", I returned to my first love of audio and video
which is really nothing more than a continuation of where I had left off.
I spent nearly a year rebuilding the collection of vintage audio/video equipment,
and this time decided to take advantage of all my experience & concentrate almost
solely on vintage transfers and damaged video recovery. Video Interchange Bob Pooler
Last Modified: June 20, 2006 Since 1978 - Copyright © 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 Video Interchange Made In Maine Video Interchange 207-832-5064 Northeast Region - New England
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History
(highly condensed)
Though
deemed the "Slow Hawk", the little 4 passenger Cessna was incapable of going low
and slow enough, so a Bell Jet Ranger helicopter was then used to fulfill low altitude
survey work, as roof/electrical power line surveys required operation below 500
feet. A "memorable" trip to Washington, DC - meeting with the friendly folks at
the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) in regards to obtaining a waiver for low
altitude operations is still recalled...... In any event, the business finally
"took off" !
"Retirement"
ended up taking 5 years off to pursue a little known childhood dream......
My Mom back in the early 50's, was the book-keeper for Reliance Motors in
Cambridge, Ma...... Saturdays, she would "drag" me into work. Guess at the
age of 4 or 5, I was a bit of a "pain" !....... so rather than risk
my dismantling the boss's office typewriter when her head was turned to see how
it worked, she
used to "dump" me off with the mechanics and drivers out in the shop. I would spend
hours sitting in the 18 wheelers "pretending" to drive ! I think
in retrospect I had become "adopted" in part by the drivers and shop mechanics !
Guess it stuck...... So went and got my Commercial Drivers License and
went to Work for CR England out of Salt Lake City, Utah..... I landed
an easy dedicated run where I'd run Idaho potatoes eastbound from Twin Falls, Idaho
to Louden, Tennessee.... and often Maine potatoes westbound back to SLC where
a relay driver would then deliver them to the LA markets..... Then back to
Twin Falls for another load. Potatoes are potatoes is the
way I see it..... I suppose everyone wants something "imported" - as
somehow being "imported", somehow implies they are something special & being much
better ! Go figure....... (anyways, kept me
busy !)
92 George Luce Rd
Waldoboro, Maine 04572
