From the Flying M Air Archives…
I just found this old video from July 2016! In it, you’ll see me landing my old helicopter on its platform on my driveway, shutting down, and dragging it into my garage. The footage was shot with a GoPro mounted on my deck. Not the best quality video, but something you might find interesting.
And I’m interested to see how many people comment about the bounce!
You can find more helicopter videos on the FlyingMAir YouTube channel.
Another video from the Flying M Air YouTube Channel.
Join me and fellow helicopter pilot Dave as we fly from Falcon Field in Mesa, AZ (FFZ) to Sedona, AZ (SEZ) along the Salt and Verde Rivers and through the Verde River Valley. I’ve cut this hour+ flight into multiple parts, each highlighting a specific area of our flight. In this video, we begin at the southern end of the Verde Valley and fly past Camp Verde, Mingus Mountain, and the former ghost town of Jerome, AZ. You’ll also get to see the open pit copper mine that Jerome was built for. The video ends when we leave Jerome for the red rock cliffs of the western edge of Sedona. Along the way, you’ll hear our in-cockpit conversation about what we’re seeing.
Dave is an airline pilot who was working through his helicopter rating. At the time of this flight, he was a private helicopter pilot; he got his commercial helicopter rating a few weeks later. Dave and I split the cost of this flight; I flew to Sedona and he flew back.
Many, many thanks to channel members and Patreon patrons. It’s your membership dollars that made this flight in Arizona possible.
—
NOTE: This is the 1080 HD version of this video. An ad-free 4K UHD version of this video is available to YouTube Channel Members and Patreon Patrons at the Access Premium Content level. You can become a YouTube Channel member here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLGD_GbGsS6YKK_Ekx0QMqQ/join
Another video from the Flying M Air YouTube channel.
Here’s something completely different. I decided to experiment with the GoPro Hero 8’s “hyperspeed” feature. It’s basically a smoothed out automated timelapse. I had the camera set up in the nosecam position and went flying. It was late in the day and a huge rainstorm had rolled through. All of my clients wanted service. The three of us took off, intending to get it all done. But the wind was howling. Turns out that another thunderstorm had formed behind the one that had just passed. Between the lightning and high winds, it was too much to fly in. We all set down to wait it out. The nosecam caught the lightning stikes.
Although I set down over an orchard almost immediately, I had to pick up and move away. My phone kept ringing and there’s no way I could answer it while hovering over the trees. To make matters worse, there’s no cell signal in the canyon I was flying in so I had to come out to the mouth of the canyon each time I answered a call. I finally got back over the trees and managed to dry one whole block before the lightning spooked me enough to land.
I landed at another orchard. One of my crew landed where he was flying and the other landed with me. We waited it out, then departed to dry one more block each before it got too dark to fly. Overall, the mission was pretty much a failure, but I know my clients understood. I got no complaints. We wound up flying the next day, too.
—
Note: This is the 1080 FHD version of this video. An ad-free 4K UHD version is available to channel Members and Patrons at the Access Premium Content level. It’s my way of thanking them for their financial support to this channel.
—