Southwest Circle in a Blur

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That’s what happens when you compress a 6-day trip into 3-1/2 days.

Just got back from a 3-1/2 day version of Flying M Air‘s Southwest Circle Helicopter Adventure. I won’t do that again. A photographer and I rushed around from Tuesday morning until Friday at noon, trying to visit and photograph or video all of the destinations and the flights in between. I’m talking about Sedona, Grand Canyon, Lake Powell, Monument Valley, and Flagstaff. In 3-1/2 days. Should make your head spin just thinking about it.

I have some stories to tell about the trip, as well as photos and video taken by me and by my companion for the trip, Richard Noll. If you’re a Bigfoot follower, you may know of Rick — he’s done documentaries about monster hunting for Discovery Channel and cable networks.

Rick’s job was to take photos and videos while we were in flight — which is something I can’t do — as well as on the ground where permitted. He left me with about 3 hours of video and close to 900 12-megapixel digital photos. My job, over the next few months, is to turn our raw footage into slideshows, video podcasts, and a DVD to show people some of the things they’ll see on the excursion.

But they’ll be lucky. They’ll be able to see it over 6 days, which is far more reasonable.

Flying in PhoenixRick took the photo you see here as I was flying into Phoenix yesterday at around noon. As helicopters enter the Phoenix Class B airspace, they’re instructed to stay below 2,000 feet (Sky Harbor is at around 1,200 feet, I believe) and normally approach the airport by flying down the west side of Central Avenue. That’s what you see here out the front windows. The red thing on the left (that’s reflecting on my window) is one of the back doors. We took a door off each day so Rick could take glare-free videos and photos. This photo will probably be the opening shot of the first video podcast I put together.

More later. Got a bunch of stuff to do this morning.

Easy Travel Reservations

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I’m not sure how Travel Agents can continue to exist.

We’ve been thinking about making a Thanksgiving trip out to Florida to visit some friends and my parents. We did some research online and discovered that the tickets would cost anywhere from $600 to $1200 per person depending on travel dates. The low end was about our budget for the trip, so we weren’t thinking too hard about it.

But we both have frequently flyer miles. Mike has them from his many, many flights between Phoenix and Newark on Continental. I have them through my many, many years of charging up a storm on my American Express card. This morning, I told Mike I wanted to make a decision. Yes or no — were we going to go? It would all hinge on whether we could use miles for travel during that holiday week.

We already had a printout of the dates and flights we wanted from our Web research on CheapTickets.com (Mike’s preferred travel booking company). We picked the combination that was best for us and I called Continental’s OnePass service center to see if we could use miles for those dates. We could — but it would take 50,000 miles for each of us. We had plenty to spare — heck we seem to earn them but not spend them. So while Mike reserved our tickets and used his miles to pay for his flights, I got online with American Express and put in the point to miles transfer request for the number of miles I needed in my OnePass account (45,000). I paid $18 for this privilege and was told it would take 1 to 5 days. I did all of this while Mike was still on the phone. We got the Continental reservation number and instructions for me to call back when my miles were in the OnePass account.

That turned out to be about 30 minutes later. I logged into my OnePass account and the miles were there. I called Continental, gave them my OnePass number, and the person on the phone pushed the necessary keys to apply miles to the flight. She took a credit card number for $10. Then switched me over to Budget so I could reserve a car. Within 3 minutes, that was done, too.

So we booked two tickets from Phoenix to Ft. Myers one day with a return flight from Jacksonville to Phoenix 8 days later and got a rental car for the one-way drive. It took less than an hour to do all this and it cost us a total of about $300 and 100,000 miles.

(Since my miles are based on dollars spent and I transfered 45,000 of them, I’ll be sure to tell my Mom that my plane ticket cost $45,000.)

The trip is now officially on the calendar. That makes all the difference in the world in our household. If it’son the calendar, it’s a commitment. Until then, it’s just wishful thinking.

And with so many travel tools available on the Web and by simply calling the airlines and car rental places directly, how is it that the travel agent business survives?

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Night Flight Around Phoenix

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Good practice for me, great fun for my passengers.

When a Phoenix-based helicopter tour company began the slow spiral of death (for the company, that is), its owner canceled at least one charter. That customer tracked me down and called in a near panic, looking for a replacement flight.

He said the flight was for his aunt and uncle for their anniversary. He’d planned it months ago and now the tour company he’d booked it with had cancelled it. He was anxious to get another company to do the trip. Could I do it?

The trip was an hour long, nighttime flight around Phoenix, starting from Scottsdale Airport.

I live in Wickenburg and my helicopter lives there, too. It’s about a 30-minute flight from Wickenburg to Scottsdale. But since most of my work has been coming from the Phoenix area these days, I have special pricing for that area. The first hour of the flight is enough to cover my ferry time plus a profitable hour of flight with passengers. In other words, it covers two hours of flight. There’s a one-hour minimum, so the flight is worthwhile for me. Every subsequent hour is at a reduced rate more in line with my local rates. This seems to work just fine with people down in the Valley. I’m still the least expensive game in town, so they’re satisfied. And I get what I need to make money. Everyone is happy.

Mike and I flew down to Scottsdale to arrive at 5 PM. We locked up the helicopter on the ramp and walked to P.F. Chang’s for dinner. I brought along my Terminal Area Chart for Phoenix and studied it with Mike as we waited for our food. Where would I take them for an hour? Which airports would I have to communicate with? Which frequencies would I have to monitor or speak on? Who would I contact for Phoenix Sky Harbor airspace? Where would we go?

I decided on a route that would take me north from Scottsdale and then west, on the north side of the Deer Valley Airport airspace (so I wouldn’t have to talk to the tower there). From there, we’d continue west, then southwest and follow the Loop 101 from the Arrowhead Mall area to the new Glendale Arena, in Glendale Airport’s airspace. We continue down to I-10 and turn east. That’s when I’d have to talk to Sky Harbor and enter their space. We’d follow I-10 to Central Avenue (that’s the main road in Phoenix where the tall building are) and turn north up Central, flying only a few hundred feet off the building rooftops. We’d exit Phoenix airspace near Camelback Mountain, turning east to pass on the north side of Camelback. At that point, we’d be within 10 minutes of Scottsdale Airport. I’d check the remaining time and, if I needed to fly more, I’d head south toward Falcon Field and spend some time over Mesa before flying back to Scottsdale.

I was nervous but not terribly so. Sky Harbor was the big challenge. I didn’t know how busy they’d be and whether they’d grant a request to a helicopter. Light wasn’t an issue. I’ve done a good bit of night flying and have never had any doubt about which way is up. Even though it would be dark at 6:30 PM, the flight time, the moon would be rising soon afterward and the city was already full of light from the ground. I just had to be careful north of Deer Valley where it wasn’t very developed and there were a few small mountains that would look like pools of blackness in the night. I’d learned on other night flights in the Phoenix and Wickenburg areas never to fly into areas that were completely black — they were usually desert mountains.

We finished dinner and walked back to the airport. The terminal, which was open until 10:00 PM, was completely empty. The restaurant there was closed — it has changed hands yet again — and the charter plane and car rental desks were deserted. This was at 6:15 PM on a Saturday night. We waited. I admired the photos in the waiting area: poster-sized blowups of aerial photos taken throughout the state. Nice. The Lake Powell photo was similar to one Mike had taken only a few weeks before. But there was a lot more water in the photo in the terminal. There was probably a lot more water in all of Arizona back on those days.

It was 6:40 and I was just about to call the customer to find out where my passengers were when a car pulled up in the parking lot. Two surprisingly young people literally ran into the building. Both were dressed up as if ready to go out for dinner. He was excited and talked a mile a minute. He told me that he hadn’t known about it until just a while ago. Everyone else knew, but it was a surprise to him.

I left Mike in the terminal to find his way to the FBO where a plasma TV with the Mets game on awaited him. We made our way out onto the ramp, which was terribly dark. I took photos of them in front of the helicopter with a disposable camera. I gave them the safety briefing and strapped them in. He sat up front. She sat behind him. She was wearing lots of perfume and it smelled nice.

While I started up, he flipped open the phone and let the light from its screen illuminate my hands. He started asking questions as I started the engine. We warmed it up and I answered them the best I could. His wife, who didn’t speak English as well, asked questions in their language. He explained in English and whatever language it was that the spoke. Indian? Arabic? Pakistani? Iranian? Heck, I had no clue. Something middle-eastern.

I talked to the tower and we lifted off, heading north as I’d planned. The moon, full and round and bright, rose just as we departed. Coincidentally, we flew right past the housing development where they lived, east of Deer Valley Airport. They tried to see their house from the air, but it was too dark. We were too high for my landing light to help them.

They asked lots of questions. I answered them. I pointed out landmarks I knew — highways, malls, airports, stadiums. He pointed out where his first business had been and told me how the area had changed since he’d first moved here in 1970. When I had to talk to a tower, I flipped the pilot isolation switch so I could communicate without interrupting them (or letting them interrupt me). There was some confusion with Sky Harbor — I made the mistake of contacting Phoenix Approach when I should have called Phoenix Tower — but when I got the right guy on the radio, my request was cleared without problem. Sky Harbor — and all the other Phoenix area airports, for that matter — were pretty dead. I could see all the other aircraft — planes are actually easier to see at night than during the day, especially when you’re flying below them and their lights are bright against the night sky.

We flew east on I-10 and then up Central Avenue. Flying right through downtown Phoenix was a real thrill for all of us. I’d only done it twice before, and only one of those times was at night many years ago. Of course, Phoenix isn’t like New York — it’s pretty dead at night. I couldn’t imagine flying up Broadway in Manhattan at night but would love to try it sometime.

When we got to Camelback, we had some time. So I headed southeast, passing just west of Falcon Field’s airspace. It was dead there, too. I got a few miles south and started my turn. The controller game me permission to cross midfield. I hadn’t flipped the isolation switch, so my passengers heard the whole exchange. As we passed the tower there, he said to his wife, “She just to talked to a woman in there” — he pointed at the tower — “and she told us we cross the runways here.” I never realized how cool it might be to a passenger to see and hear what goes on between pilots and air traffic controllers.

We crossed the darkness of the indian reservation just southeast of Scottsdale and I called the tower. It was dead there, too. The controller told me to report 1/2 mile out. I relied on the rotating beacon to find the airport — it’s nearly impossible to make out among the lights when approaching from that direction, day or night. I called a mile out (per my GPS; it sure looked closer) and he cleared me to land. I touched down right in front of the terminal building.

Mike met us and helped my passengers out. He took some photos of them and I gave out my card and a few postcards. He escorted them to the terminal while I waited, engine running. I didn’t need to shut down with Mike along. He returned a moment later, climbed in with our dinner leftovers, and strapped in. Moments later, we were on our way home in the moonlight.

It was a great flight. I hope I get more calls for nighttime flights around Phoenix soon.

Helicopter Rides at Old Congress Days

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A great event for all.

It was a good day for all involved. Nice weather, calm winds, and a great little small-town event out in the desert.

Old Congress Days was sponsored by the Congress Senior Citizen’s Association. It was a revival of the old Old Congress Days event they used to have in Congress, AZ, annually. If you’re not familiar with Congress, it’s a small, unincorporated town on route 89 about 15 miles north of Wickenburg. If you drive from Wickenburg to Prescott, you’ll go right through it just before climbing the Weaver Mountains.

Congress was a mining community and the old Congress Mine is still being worked a little. But that’s not the big business in town. There are a few shops, including a restaurant, a market, and a dollar store, and a brand new gas station is coming soon. The Trading Post is a fixture on Route 89 and a number of other businesses have sprung up on both sides of the road just south of there. There’s also a great K-8 school (which invited me to do a helicopter demonstration a few years ago) and a relatively new post office. Homes range from single- and double-wide manufactured homes on lots up to 10 acres to stick-built homes in a brand new subdivision.

When I heard about the Congress Days event, I called one of the organizers, Jane Summers, and asked if I could participate by offering helicopter rides. She remembered me doing rides at Yarnell Days (another 9 miles up the road) a year and a half ago. We discussed arrangements and the local volunteer fire department very kindly allowed me to use their truly wonderful helipad. The helipad is used to airlift local emergencies down to Phoenix; no helicopter is based there, but one can get there within 25 minutes when needed. I had to be prepared to land elsewhere if the medevac helicopter was inbound. No problem. I’d already landed on the opposite side of the tracks a few times for visits to the Trading Post and was prepared to land in the lot behind the dollar store if I had to give them more space.

We arrived at about 9:30 AM on the day of the event. Across the street was the swap meet that was part of the event. I shut down and Mike and I took out the few supplies we’d brought along: a folding table, tickets, Helicopter Rides banners, a flag with a collapsable pole (we’d had two but the other pole broke at the Mohave County Fail last month). We put up the banners and set up the table, then went for a walk to check out the swap meet and watch the parade.

We ran into our friend Jeannie along the parade route and watched the parade with her niece and her niece’s 9 month old son. The boy looked cute in his cowboy hat. The parade had a few classic cars and lots of miniature animals: horses, burros, and mules. I don’t think think I’ve ever seen so many minis in one place. They were mostly pulling carts. The people in the carts looked very large, even though they really weren’t.

When the fire trucks came, marking the end of the parade, we walked back with them to the landing zone. Our ground crew, Darlene and Dave, arrived and introduced themselves. Darlene had answered an ad I put on wickenburg-az.com for ground crew. She and her husband turned out to be among the best helpers we’ve ever had. Darlene is a great salesperson and Dave understood the importance of safety and did a great job helping Mike load.

Flying M Air at Old Congress DaysLet me take a moment to describe this landing zone, since it’s the best one I ever had for an event. First of all, it’s a helipad. That means it’s laid out and designed specifically for helicopter traffic. It’s 60 x 60 feet and concrete. It’s surrounded by gravel, so there’s no dust. That’s surrounded by a 3-foot high chain link fence that has only two gates — both on the same side. The fence made crowd control very easy — no one gets through the fence unescorted. Beyond that is a parking lot that was blocked off, the firehouse (a one-story metal building with a wind sock on top), and a lot soon to be occupied by a longtime Wickenburg business that is moving from Wickenburg to Congress. Behind the helipad are some palo verde and mesquite trees — perhaps 10 feet tall and beyond them is the railroad tracks for the Santa Fe railroad. No wires near enough to matter. My approach was over some empty land east of the railroad tracks, then over the tracks and onto the pad. My departure was over the tracks and up some more empty land, then over the tracks again to start the tour. On the one time a train was moving through, I made a slow approach and landed behind the last car after it had passed. Everything — including its location — was perfect for the event.

The loading started almost immediately. We’d decided to go with $20 rides around Congress. We figured that the low price would make it affordable to everyone. Congress is not a big place so the ride took 5 to 7 minutes. And from 10:40 AM to 1:10 PM, I flew nonstop, with two or three passengers on each flight. Darlene sold the tickets (and took photos) and the people lined up along the outside of the fence. (It reminded me of my Papillon days, when the passengers for my next flight were often right on the other side of the fence when I landed, waiting to be loaded.) Every time I landed, the line seemed as long — if not longer — than it had when I took off. Mike kept telling me to make the rides shorter and I tried, but I wanted everyone to get the same experience. No one complained about the wait, which got up to 30 minutes at one point. Everyone was happy and friendly and genuinely excited to have a chance to fly over town. And I guess the price was right for them.

As for me, well, I love giving rides at events like these. It lets me introduce people to helicopter flight — after all, this was a first helicopter flight for more than half the people. I gave the kids helicopter toys with the Flying M Air logo on it. I even gave out a few to dad, since the toys are almost as popular with them as they are with the kids.

When the crowd thinned out, I gave Darlene and Dave the “deluxe” ride and Darlene took some more photos. A few more passengers waited while we were gone. I took them up while Mike paid Darlene and Dave for their time and they went on their way. We did a few more rides, then packed up and headed home. We landed at Wickenburg at 2:00 PM.

It was a great day for me and for Flying M Air. We figure we flew about 55 people that day. Many thanks to Jean and Virgil for making the day possible. I look forward to coming back next year!

More Restrictions on Using Our Land

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More bull from our lawmakers.

This country — especially this part of this country (the American Southwest) has an abundance of public land. It comes in the form of state parks and forests, state trust land, national forests, BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land, and National Parks. It’s basically safe to say that if the land isn’t owned by a specific person or indian tribe, it falls into one of these categories of public land.

Public land belongs to the public. That’s you and me. Or at least every American citizen. But don’t think that you can use public land the same way you use your backyard. There are rules. And some of the rules are not only very restrictive but they’re downright stupid.

The main thing the government seems to be worried about is that someone will make money on public land without the government getting a piece of the pie. With state and national parks, that’s pretty understandable. These are normally above-average pieces of land that are heavily managed and have a great deal of costs associated with them. If a person or company is going to make money using these lands, they probably should pay a portion of the costs.

They way they collect these costs is through a permit system. You apply for a permit, sending all the required paperwork to the proper office with a non-refundable application fee. Then you wait. And wait. And wait. Eventually, after enough follow-up calls, you get a request for more info. You provide and and wait some more. Then, maybe if you’re lucky and the stars are aligned just right, you get a call telling you you’re going to be approved and how much each operation will cost you. You wait some more until the final paperwork — the permit you wanted — is sent to you. Now you’re good to go.

Swansea Town SiteI went through this for a permit to take passengers in my helicopter to the Swansea Town Site. It’s a ghost town in western Arizona, that’s pretty close to the middle of nowhere. A 4-hour drive from Wickenburg, you can get there in 40 minutes by helicopter. While I can land there all I want by myself or with people who aren’t paying me, as soon as I collect a penny from a passenger, it becomes a commercial flight and I need a permit. I coughed up the $90 application fee and waited 18 months to get the permit. I have to pay 3% (I think) of the gross revenues for these trips with a minimum of $90 per year. Of course, I got the permit right before my season ended, when it started getting too hot for desert day trips. So although I’ve had the permit for more than 6 months now, I haven’t taken a single passenger.

What bothered me most about the whole process is that they said they needed to do an environmental impact study before they could give me the permit. If I paid for the study, the process would go faster. This pissed me off because the site is a common destination for people on quads with gnarly tires that eat up the terrain. My helicopter touches the ground in only two places on each visit: two eight-foot by 3-inch strips under my skids. Environmental impact? What environmental impact? I didn’t pay for the study and waited 18 months.

Now I have a new gripe. It concerns taking photos on National Forest land.

I’m in the process of putting together a promotional DVD for Flying M Air to advertise its Southwest Circle Helicopter Adventure. I’m going out with a professional photographer next week to trace the steps of our passengers on all of their tours. We’ll take photos along the way to use in promotional material or for the photographer to sell as stock photography.

The problem began in Sedona. The Jeep tour company (which will main nameless) told me we couldn’t take pictures for commercial use while on National Forest land. The man I spoke to was rather insistent and told me that if we did, his company could lose its permit. He was willing to give (or possibly sell?) me some stock footage. But I wasn’t interested in that. I wanted to show potential passengers exactly what they would see then they took the tour.

So I called up the National Forest ranger district office. Of course, they were unable to connect me to anyone who knew what I needed to know. They were all out in the field doing what it is that rangers do when they’re not in the office. The last person I spoke to was married to the person I needed to speak to. He assured me that she’d call me back and let me know if I needed a permit.

In the meantime, I got on the Web and did some research. I wound up downloading a 22-page PDF from the Federal Register that covered the government’s policy on photography in National Forests. And what I learned that you can take still photos in national forest land without a permit as long as the job does not:

  • Use models, sets or props that are not part of the site’s natural or cultural resources or administrative facilities;
  • Take place where members of the public are generally not allowed; or
  • Take place at a location where additional administrative costs are likely.

Well our photography shoot met these requirements, so we are indeed allowed to take photos on national forest land. We just can’t take any photos of the Jeep or driver or either one of us (props and models) once we cross over into national forest land. So we’ll stop the Jeep just before we get into the land and take the photo there.

Take a picture of the Jeep here, you’re breaking the rules. Take the picture 12 feet to the west and you’re fine.

Does that sound as stupid to you as it does to me?

I canceled my Jeep tour with that company and booked with another company. I like to work with people who know what they’re talking about. And I don’t like people who insist on rules without really knowing what the rules are.

Now oddly enough, the rules governing video or film photography (moving images) are different. From the document:

A permit is required for all commercial filming activities on public lands. Commercial filming is defined as the use of motion picture, videotaping, sound recording, or other moving image or audio recording equipment on public lands that involves the advertisement of a product or service, the creation of a product for sale, or the use of actors, models, sets, or props, but not including activities associated with broadcasts for news programs. For purposes of this definition, creation of a product for sale includes a film, videotape, television broadcast, or documentary of participants in commercial sporting or recreation event created for the purpose of generating income.

Well, although I am not creating a product for sale, I am creating a product to advertise my service. Thus, I’d need a permit to videotape on public land.

This is not a major setback, although I admit that it is (1) a disappointment and (2) just plain stupid. You can take photos of the land, but you can’t take videos? What the hell is the difference?

So for my DVD, I’ll create moving images from the still images using the “Ken Burns Effect” built into iMovie HD. Since the rocks and trees don’t really move anyway, there really won’t be a difference between simulated motion (by panning a still image) and moving a video camera to pan over the terrain.

Which makes me say again, what the hell is the difference?

The rules actually make my job easier. Working with video is a pain.

And since they don’t have any rules about photographing public land from an aircraft — at least I couldn’t find any — we can still take photos and videos as we fly over or past stuff that’s scenic enough to photograph.

Of course things got weirder when dealing with the Navajo Nation for photography in Monument Valley. This was an ordeal. But I can understand it better. The Navajo Nation is a nation — a separate country within our country. They own the land. I am a foreigner passing through. They have the right to make the rules over the land. I don’t own any part of it and my tax dollars don’t pay to maintain it. So I can understand them wanting to get as much money as they can from anyone they can get it from.

Monument ValleyI had to work with the Navajo Nation Film Commission. I had to write a letter and fill out forms. I had to answer questions over the phone. I was told that I’d have to get permits from them and from the Monument Valley Tribal Park people. And the cost of the Film Commission’s permit was simply over my budget. I told the person who gave me this bad news that we’d just cancel our trip to Monument Valley. Canceling would save me about $2,000, including the cost of the permit, lodging, meals, and transportation costs for the overnight stay and half-day photo shoot. She told me she’d talk to her boss again. When she called back, the price had gone down, but we weren’t allowed to use the photos for stock photography. Sheesh. I wrote a check, faxed a copy of it to prove that it existed, and mailed it later in the day.

What’s weird about all this is that I can include the photo shown here in my blog — see? — but not on my Flying M Air Web site or brochure. More people are likely to see it here — after all, this site gets way more hits than Flying M Air’s site — but because this picture is not for sale and not trying to sell anything, I don’t need a permit to take it or show it.

Go figure, huh.