Tag Archives: Columbia River

Helicopter Flight to Twisp

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A “nosecam” video from the FlyingMAir YouTube channel.

This is the third of several videos I’m releasing from a flight with a friend from the Wenatchee, WA, area to Twisp, WA and back. In this video, Cyndi and I depart her home on Wenatchee Heights and head almost due north to Twisp, WA. Although it starts with a cockpit view with viewers looking over our shoulders, I quickly switch to the nosecam. I also cut cockpit audio in favor of a narration added during editing. There’s some great scenery along the way: the Columbia River, Wenatchee, East Wenatchee, the Rocky Reach Dam, the Entiat River, a hanging valley, Lake Chelan, Manson, the Methow River and Valley, and finally Twisp.

I’ll probably release one or two more videos from this day of flying. Subscribe now and turn on Notifications so you don’t miss them!

Helicopter Flight: McMinnville to Yakima, Part 2

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Another video from the FlyingMAir YouTube channel.

Join me for the second part of my cross-country flight from McMinnville, OR back to my summer base in Malaga, WA. In this video, I descend down into the Columbia River Gorge to fly upriver below the clouds. As the clouds lift, the wind picks up. Along the way, there’s lots of rain on the windscreen, an airplane passing in the opposite direction, and waterfalls along the oregon cliffs. This part of the flight goes from Columbia River east of Troutdale and ends after a “left turn” into a valley across the river from Hood River. Audio is from direct connection to the intercom, so you can hear radio chatter and me narrate the flight and make radio calls, plus dialed down volume of the helicopter’s engine/rotor noise. I included a bit of “nosecam” video, too.

Here are the videos in this series. I’ve already published videos that cover the last part of this flight, which was done a few days later:

McMinnville to Yakima, Part 1: https://youtu.be/6x6XY3-uZjo
McMinnville to Yakima, Part 2: https://youtu.be/3mmyOMzN0Ls (this video)
McMinnville to Yakima, Part 3: to come
Yakima River Canyon: https://youtu.be/1HZi_UHjK0I
Kittitas to Malaga: https://youtu.be/cRuUhyCQWMA

I should mention here that “cross-country” in the world of aviation is any long flight where you land at a different place from where you started. 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.