Category Archives: Flying

Stories about flying — for pleasure or for hire — and the things I’ve learned.

Cross-Country Helicopter Flight from Malaga to McMinnville, Part 4

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Another video from the FlyingMAir YouTube channel.

Join me for the fourth part of my cross-country flight from my summer base in Malaga, WA to McMinnville, OR. In this video, I make an attempt to cross a dinky little mountain — really a hill! — that separates me from my destination. That takes me from my precautionary landing site in Woodland, WA over Scappoose, OR and almost all the way to Portland before turning around and returning to Scappoose. There’s a lot of footage that includes the Columbia River. Although the weather isn’t horrible, the ceilings are low — too low for me to get anywhere. I had three cameras rigged up for this video, but only used footage from two of them. Audio is from direct connection to the intercom so you can hear me narrate the flight and make radio calls, plus dialed down volume of the helicopter’s engine/rotor noise.

You can see all of the videos for this flight here:
Part 1: https://youtu.be/pgKDciGP4eA
Part 2: https://youtu.be/CmupuFDXa4Q
Part 3: https://youtu.be/vyveMEm_MhQ
Pups in a Helicopter: https://youtu.be/eEVq9sRlJK8
Part 4: https://youtu.be/3KXR_D3SliA (this video)
Part 5: https://youtu.be/eghRyzhPigg

I should mention here that “cross-country” in the world of aviation is any long flight. For airplanes, it’s 50 miles or more; for helicopters, it’s 25 miles or more. This is only part of a 178 nautical mile trip.

Cherry Orchard Tour by Helicopter

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Another video from the FlyingMAir YouTube channel.

Hop on board with me for a quick tour of the cherry orchards I was responsible for drying this past season. This video continues where I left off with my tour of the Colockum Fire damage (https://youtu.be/HT4jT_CG0yU), on what might be my last scenic flight of the season. I start at Jumpoff Ridge and continue over Stemilt Hill, Wenatchee Heights, and Squilchuck Canyon. Then I take a detour past the east side of Saddle Rock before descending down over downtown Wenatchee. Finally, I head up Stemilt Creek past a few more orchards and from there into Malaga for landing.

I had two cameras rigged up for this video and I switch from cockpit cam to nose cam for most of this flight. Audio is from direct connection to the intercom so you can hear me narrate the flight and make radio calls. You can also hear helicopter engine/rotor sound and rushing wind from the nosecam camera enroute.

Wildfire Damage Survey by Helicopter

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Another video from the FlyingMAir YouTube channel.

Hop on board with me for a quick tour of the July 2020 Colockum Fire wildfire area in the hills near my home. In this video, I take off from my summer cherry drying base and head downriver to the mouth of Colockum Creek. I head up the creek and follow the path of the wildfire that sped up a few canyons and up onto Jumpoff Ridge. We’ll see traces of fire retardant dropped by DC-10 and MD-87 aerial tankers, as well as the burn damage that occurred over a few days in mid July.

I had two cameras rigged up for this video and I switch from cockpit cam to nose cam for most of this flight. Audio is from direct connection to the intercom so you can hear me narrate the flight and make radio calls. You can also hear helicopter engine/rotor sound and rushing wind from the nosecam camera enroute.

Cross-Country Helicopter Flight from Malaga to McMinnville, Part 3

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Another cockpit POV video from the FlyingMAir YouTube channel.

Join me for the third part of my cross-country flight from my summer base in Malaga, WA to McMinnville, OR. In this video, I cruise from near White Pass in the Cascade Mountains southwest past Mt. St. Helens toward the Columbia River, dodging low clouds that force me to wander off my desired course and even getting into a tiny bit of scud running. Along the way, you’ll see remote forest with lots of logging activity, mountain lakes and rivers, rocky cliffs, snow-covered ridges, and even Mt. St. Helens. Along the way, I tell you about other flights, flying at the Grand Canyon, and what’s going through my mind as I try to get through the weather in front of me. I also bitch about my radar altimeter. Eventually, weather conditions get so bad in the direction I want to fly that I make a precautionary landing at a tiny airport I almost couldn’t find. I had three cameras rigged up for this video and I switch from cockpit cam to nose cam with occasional inset views of me looking at the camera. Audio is from direct connection to the intercom so you can hear me narrate the flight and make radio calls, plus dialed down volume of the helicopter’s engine/rotor noise.

You can see all of the videos for this flight here:
Part 1: https://youtu.be/pgKDciGP4eA
Part 2: https://youtu.be/CmupuFDXa4Q
Part 3: https://youtu.be/vyveMEm_MhQ (this video)
Pups in a Helicopter: https://youtu.be/eEVq9sRlJK8
Part 4: https://youtu.be/3KXR_D3SliA
Part 5: https://youtu.be/eghRyzhPigg

I should mention here that “cross-country” in the world of aviation is any long flight. For airplanes, it’s 50 miles or more; for helicopters, it’s 25 miles or more. This is only part of a 178 nautical mile trip.

Pups in a Helicopter

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A FlyingMAir YouTube channel “extra” featuring 7-month-old Lily & Rosie.

Here’s a little extra video featuring my two seven-month-old puppies, Rosie and Lily. They flew with me on a long cross country flight from Malaga, WA to McMinnville, OR and we made a precautionary landing due to weather at this minuscule airport in Woodland, WA. I shut down the helicopter and left them to take a pee; they realize they’re alone and start getting worried about it before they settle down. Happy ending, of course. This was their second time in a helicopter.

You can see all of the videos for this flight here:
Part 1: https://youtu.be/pgKDciGP4eA
Part 2: https://youtu.be/CmupuFDXa4Q
Part 3: https://youtu.be/vyveMEm_MhQ
Pups in a Helicopter: https://youtu.be/eEVq9sRlJK8 (this video)
Part 4: https://youtu.be/3KXR_D3SliA
Part 5: https://youtu.be/eghRyzhPigg