17 Header Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org Member Spotlight A 2024 training conducted with members of the 173 Civil Engineers explained how to operate a Robotic Total Station to quickly gather topographic details and locate aircraft pieces for accident reconstruction in the case of a catastrophic aircraft mishap or crash. “When they showed a picture of the land surveyor, he was standing outside next to a total station with a big old smile on his face,” he recalls. “And the civil engineer was sitting behind a computer with an engineer scale. I said, ‘that‘s it, I'm going to be a land surveyor, not a civil engineer.’” This decision launched Young into a field he previously knew little about. “Even in high school, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you what a land surveyor was or did,” he admits. After graduating from OIT in 2005, Young’s surveying career took off in multiple directions. He spent two years with the Bureau of Land Management as a student, conducting cadastral surveys in Northern California. “We marched all over Northern California looking to survey monuments that were allegedly set by the infamous Benson Syndicate, and in reality, probably never existed, but we had to still do the full in-depth investigations,” he says. Following graduation, Young joined a local engineering and surveying firm in Klamath Falls. “That’s when Oregon was really booming,” he remembers. “We did everything, every facet of surveying. It was a great place to be an LSIT and gain a ton of experience and be armed to pass the PLS (In California).” However, the economic downturn in 2009 forced Young to step away from land surveying temporarily. He transitioned to full-time orders with the Air National Guard, where he started as a jet engine mechanic before commissioning as an aircraft maintenance officer. Later, Young’s earlier decision-making came full circle when he had the opportunity to return to OIT and earn a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. “It‘s kind of funny,” he reflects. “In the beginning of life, I was like, ‘No way I want to be continues
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