Tag Archives: autumn

Another Clouds Time-Lapse

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With clouds in the valley before dawn, I set up a time-lapse camera to capture the cloud movement throughout the morning.

I don’t know about you, but I absolutely love time-lapse movies. They make it possible for us to see movement that is normally too slow to perceive.

On October 31, 2024, there were thick clouds in the valley below my home. I know from experience that our winter thermal inversions can put on a good cloud show and those inversions are happening earlier and earlier every year. I set up a GoPro in Hyperlapse mode and let it run all day. Here’s the first few hours of the cloud show, sped up with the hyperlapse as well as a 400% increase in speed in video editing. The result is a smooth, high-speed look at what the clouds did that morning.

Enjoy!

Clouds and Shadows Time-Lapse

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A time-lapse movie from a late autumn day.

I’m a huge fan of time-lapse movies. To me, there’s nothing that does a better job bringing what looks like a motionless scene to life.

So I make a lot of time-lapse movies. You can find a bunch here in the Time-Lapse playlist on my personal YouTube channel.

The one here was shot a few days ago on December 1. I used one of my GoPro Hero 8 cameras in time-lapse mode, set to take a shot every 10 seconds. When you do the math, this means each second of video is 5 minutes of real time. The video here covers from just before dawn to just after sunset.

What’s most interesting about this video — honestly, there wasn’t much cloud activity — is the way you can see the shadow of the cliffs south of my home move across the landscape. The sun rises beyond those cliffs and this time of year I don’t see it on my home at all. I blogged about this phenomena, which I call the Shadow Time; this is a chance to see it in action.

I hope you enjoy this quick video. I’m hoping to share a lot more videos over the coming months as I travel south in Arizona and California. If you haven’t subscribed to my personal YouTube channel, please do. Once I get 1,000 subscribers, I can do livestreams from my cellphone and I’d really like to do live presentations at some of the places I visit. I’m only 18 subscribers short of this goal!

Helicopter Flight: Autumn at Mission Ridge & Wenatchee

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Two videos from the Flying M Air YouTube channel.

COME FLY WITH ME as I take a flight in the Wenatchee area to show off the autumn colors. There are two versions of this video, as I explain in both videos:

The cockpit POV version of my Autumn at Mission Ridge & Wenatchee flight enables you to reference the instruments as I talk about them:

If you check out this video at 7 AM PT on Sunday, November 3, 2019, you’ll be able to participate in a “Premiere,” which includes live chat as I watch the video with multiple viewers. (It’s fun!)

The nosecam version of my Autumn at Mission Ridge & Wenatchee flight gives you a complete, unobstructed view from the nose of the helicopter

Some notes about this video (one of which applies to the cockpit POV version only):

Start to 4:20 – Yes, the carbon monoxide detector light is on during the beginning of this flight. I had been idling on the ramp for a while before the flight and when the wind blows just the right (or wrong?) way, it blows enough exhaust into the cockpit to trigger that very sensitive detector. I had opened the main (front) vent prior to starting the video and later, at 3:20, opened the vent on my side door. The light went off at around 4:20 and I closed that side vent. It really was cold!

9:50 – Hear the difference in the sound of the helicopter? I’ve reduced power and slowed down and what you’re hearing is called “blade slap.” It goes away when I pick up speed beyond around 80 knots as I start my descent.

12:40 – I’m descending at 1700 feet per minute! That’s about the same as an autorotation.

14:30 – The top end of Pitcher Canyon is on my right.

15:08 – Sorry about the throat clearing sound. I thought I edited them all out.

19:30 – There is no control tower at Wenatchee. Pilots use the Common Traffic Advisory Frequency (CTAF) to report location and intentions in flight. This is NOT required but is highly advisable. (Technically, a radio is not required at all for Part 91 operations at Wenatchee.)

20:15 – Yes, I can make what’s called a “quick stop” or turn very sharply away from the runway to avoid traffic there. I always look both ways and make a call before crossing the runway. If a plane is landing or taking off, I’ll usually alter my course to pass behind it.

About Me and the Helicopter

  • I have been flying for about 20 years. My nearly 4,000 hours of flight time is in Robinson R44, Robinson R22, and Bell 206L (Long Ranger) helicopters.
  • The helicopter is a 2005 Robinson R44 Raven II — the same one that appears in the photo at the beginning of the video. You can learn more about them here: https://robinsonheli.com/r44-specifications/ I own this helicopter. It is the third helicopter I’ve owned since 2000.
  • My helicopter has ADS-B Out and is picked up by radar facilities. You can see my track for recent flights on Flightradar24: https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/n7534D This is a great site for tracking any almost any flight, including the airlines.

About the Video

  • The video was recorded with a pair of GoPro Hero 7 cameras (https://amzn.to/2Lxyzwl). The cockpit POV view comes from a camera mounted on the bar between the two front seats, which is part of the helicopter’s frame, using a MyPilotPro (https://mypilotpro.com/shop/?wpam_id=13) Helicopter Mount (https://mypilotpro.com/product/helicopter-gopro-mount/?wpam_id=13) in conjunction with a few customized RAM mount components. (I’ll do a show and tell about my camera mounts in another video.) The nosecam view comes from a camera mounted on the nose of the helicopter. That camera contributed ambient sound to both versions of this video, which includes wind, engine, and rotor noise, from the camera’s built-in speaker and has been incorporated into this video at 25% normal volume.
  • Narration was done using a Røde Podcaster microphone (https://amzn.to/2IFnbNr) connected to a Macintosh. I recorded the narration while I was watching the video in the editing software because the in-flight audio feed did not work.
  • The video was edited on a Macintosh using Screenflow software. Learn more about it here: https://www.telestream.net/screenflow/overview.htm
  • The intro music is by Bob Levitus, famed “Dr. Mac.” You can find him here: http://www.boblevitus.com/

I try to drop cockpit POV videos every Sunday morning and “extras” with more info about owning and operating a helicopter midweek. (Some channel members get early access to some of these videos.) I also host occasional livestreams with Q&A chats. Subscribe so you don’t miss anything new! And tell your friends. The more subscribers I have, the more motivated I am to keep producing videos.

Some links on my channel are affiliate links, including all links to Amazon (https://amzn.to/32PLHTD). If you click one of them and buy something, I get a small referral reward. It doesn’t cost you anything so I hope you’ll shop with one of those links. Thanks.

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Helicopter Flight: Autumn at Rock Island Creek

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A cockpit POV video from the FlyingMAir YouTube channel.

COME FLY WITH ME as I take my Robinson R44 Raven II helicopter (Mr Bleu) and Penny the Tiny Dog for a flight over the fall colors at Rock Island Creek, north of Wenatchee. This is a narrated cockpit point of view video that starts and ends at Wenatchee airport. Along the way, I’ll be cruising at about 100 knots and flying close to treetops in a deserted canyon.

This video was shot after recording some footage for other videos about helicopter flight controls, so I’ve already got the engine running as I’m sitting on the taxiway at the beginning of this video. Although audio was recorded using the camera facing me, that camera also cut off the top of my head — I think it shifted during my final adjustment — and you don’t need to see me anyway, so I didn’t include much of that video. (Except at the end, for those who watch the whole thing.) Instead, I use all footage from a single camera mounted over the passenger seat with a new camera mount. I had a little trouble with the cameras before the start of the flight so they’re not aimed quite the way I like them to be. Sorry.

About Me and the Helicopter

  • I have been flying for about 20 years. My nearly 4,000 hours of flight time is in Robinson R44, Robinson R22, and Bell 206L (Long Ranger) helicopters.
  • The helicopter is a 2005 Robinson R44 Raven II — the same one that appears in the photo at the beginning of the video. You can learn more about them here: https://robinsonheli.com/r44-specifications/ I own this helicopter. It is the third helicopter I’ve owned since 2000.
  • My helicopter has ADS-B Out and is picked up by radar facilities. You can see my track for recent flights on Flightradar24: https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/n7534D This is a great site for tracking any almost any flight, including the airlines.

About the Video

  • The video was recorded with a pair of GoPro Hero 7 cameras (https://amzn.to/2Lxyzwl), one of which is connected to the helicopter’s intercom system with an NFlightCam audio cable (https://amzn.to/31syLTm). Both cameras record audio, but I dialed down the helicopter sound to about 25% of normal volume so it wouldn’t be annoying.
  • The camera mounts are new in this video. They are MyPilotPro Spider Mounts (https://amzn.to/2BnbcQv and https://amzn.to/2Muou3N) which are made specifically for aircraft operations. Utilizing 3 suction cups, they make it possible to mount cameras on rounded surfaces. You can see one of the mounts in the video near my vertical compass. For more information about camera mounting options for aircraft, visit https://mypilotpro.com/; I will be reviewing these mounts in an upcoming video.
  • The video was edited on a Macintosh using Screenflow software. Learn more about it here: https://www.telestream.net/screenflow/overview.htm
  • The intro music is by Bob Levitus, famed “Dr. Mac.” You can find him here: http://www.boblevitus.com/

I try to drop cockpit POV videos every Sunday morning and “extras” with more info about owning and operating a helicopter midweek. (Some channel members get early access to some of these videos.) I also host occasional livestreams with Q&A chats. Subscribe and turn on the notification bell so you don’t miss anything new! And tell your friends. I’m trying hard to deliver good videos and grow my subscriber base.

Any Amazon links on my channel are affiliate links (https://amzn.to/32PLHTD). If you click one of them and buy something, Amazon sends me a few pennies. Enough pennies make a dollar. Enough dollars buy new equipment. It doesn’t cost you anything so I hope you’ll shop with one of those links. Thanks.

If you’re not a subscriber, please subscribe and click to turn the notification bell on. Then share the videos you really like with your friends and family so they can enjoy them, too.

Still reading? Thanks! Maybe you’ll consider buying something from my Etsy store to help support this channel? Start here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/FlyingMAir

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Out My Window

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How do I get anything done?

Today was probably the last nice day of autumn. After an early morning drizzle, the sky cleared and the sun came out. I came out, too — I had a bunch of work to do in the yard and inside my big garage in preparation for moving my RV.

But time and again I found myself stopping just to look out at the view from my shelf in what I’ve taken to calling “Malaga Heights.” The fall colors are peaking right about now with yellow aspens and willows and red and orange orchard trees. The sky was blue with white clouds, the Columbia River was that incredible blue it so often reflects from the sky.

Small View
Here’s the cropped view of what I saw today. Click it to see the full panorama. It’s big.

I remembered what a friend said to me the other day. She’d come to keep me company while I worked on my wiring and wound up helping me run wires from the circuit panel to the second floor. We worked until around 2 PM that day, then stopped for the day. We both wanted lunch and I needed to vote and visit Home Depot. While I took care of a few things inside to prep for my trip into town, my friend wandered down to the bench at Lookout Point. I met her there a while later. She was sitting on the bench, looking out over the view.

“I don’t know how you get anything done,” she said. “If I lived here, I’d be looking out at this view all day long.”

I get things done because I have to get things done. My home won’t be finished by itself.

But I can’t tell you how much I look forward to sitting up on my deck with a cup of coffee in the morning or a glass of wine in the afternoon — or maybe both — just taking in the view in front of me.

In the meantime, I’m enjoying these final days of autumn. The weather will turn cold on Tuesday and there’s a chance of snow on Thursday. At this point, I’m planning to spend the winter here, working on my home, spending time with my friends, and maybe even getting in a little skiing. It’s nice living in a place with four seasons and such beautiful scenery.

I’m so glad I’ve made this my home.