Helicopters

This is the beginning of a monster series based on the keyword: Transportation. It covers Air, Land and Sea. I'll begin with air and hit on helicopters, planes and hot air balloons. 

This post is in honor of my sister, Laurie. I met her in person for the first time last August. We share the same birth father, who I never met. She became a pilot, then learned to fly helicopters; so Laurie, this one's for you!

My interactions with helicopters goes back to the last century...lol. In the late 1980's I was working for Northern Arizona University Athletics as their Women's Sports Information Director and resident photographer. Because of that I had the opportunity to fly from the rim of West Grand Canyon down to Supai, a native village, on at least two occasions. Once with men's basketball and once with women's volleyball. One one of those occasions we had to hike out the ten miles as the winds picked up and the birds couldn't fly. Sadly, I no longer have those images. 

In the early 1990's I was in Brazil for a year and at one point I took a tour around Rio de Janeiro in a chopper. I also rode, at least once, with a friend from Flagstaff back to Page, AZ, the home base of a flight for life outfit. Also no pics of that. 

But what I DO have pictures of are below!

Another type of helicopter that has been fun to "shoot" with my birding lens are these military gun ships. I tried to look up their names but am not sure how accurate my research is. So if you know something please share in the comments. 

The one above flew over us last March while camping at Catalina State Park near Tucson.

This one, as well as the one below, were flying together out of Floagstaff. We live near the airport and Luke Air Force Base in Phoenix prequently sends it's pilots up here for missions. As far as I can tell the one above is a AH-1W Super Cobra and the one below is a UH-1Y Venom. Please correct me if you know better. Here's the info on the Super Cobra:

• Maximum Airspeed: 315 km/h
• Cruise Airspeed: 281 km/h
• Branch: U.S. Marine Corps
• Capacity: 2 crew (pilot and co-pilot/gunner)
• First Flight: 1985
• Manufacturer: Bell Textron
• Rotor: 4-bladed main rotor and 2-bladed tail-rotor
• Type: Military Attack Helicopter

I believe this is a Leonardo AW109. It was flying around off the coast of San Diego during a Arizona Highways Photo Workshops Women's Retreat a few years ago. 

In 2018 my wife and I had the  opportunity to hike to Everest Base Camp, which we did. It took 12 days. The original plan was to hike up in eight and back down in four but we eventually hatched a better plan. We hired a helicopter to take us back to Lukla. A ride that took 30 minutes to fly and 12 days to walk! 

This is the face of our guide. The pure joy of his first ever helicopter ride can be felt in the image. We had to be ferried in two shifts as we were too heavy for the chopper to grab air at an altitude of 17,500 feet. So the girls (there were three of us) and gear went first. The the guys (there were four of them) followed. We had the only female pilot in the Kumbu region. So cool. 

Helicopters were a common sight on the hike. They ferried people and supplies on a regular basis. Many folks would get altitude sickness and need to be taken to lower altitude quickly and this was the best way to accomplish that.

Here are the helicopters in Lukla. Notice how close folks are sitting to the whirly bird. It's a part of life. Lukla has a busy airport and one of, if not THE shortest runway in the world. Pilots have to have special training to be able to land there. 

And finally, a search and rescue helicopter on a training mission on a recent trip to Lost Dutchman State Park in the Phoenix area. I love the mustache on the front and what fun it would he to sit in the door like these guys are doing.