Tag Archives: helicopter video

Orchard to Orchard

Posted on by
Comment

Do you see now why I love what I do and where I do it?

This one video should give you not only a glimpse of what it’s like to fly in a helicopter in one of the most scenic areas of Washington State, but it should give you a good idea of why I love doing what I do.

It shows the entire flight — all one minute and 47 seconds of it — from the time I depart one orchard at the top of Wenatchee Heights to the time I settle in over the trees at another orchard in Malaga. I’ll admit it here: this is my favorite orchard departure path.

Enjoy this in full screen at high resolution if you can.

Wine Tasting by Helicopter

Posted on by
2

Let me be your designated driver.

I started doing wine tasting tours by helicopter in North Central Washington’s wine country back in the summer of 2011, but really got into full swing in the summer of 2012. Back then, I offered two-, three-, and four-winery tours. I’d pick passengers up at one winery and fly them to another. Then I’d wait around for them to finish and fly them to the next. Repeat until done.

I soon learned that doing a three- or four-winery tour was a really good way to waste an entire day of my time for very little financial return on that time investment.

And I don’t get me started on the couple from hell, who managed to turn a four-winery tour into a full day that included five wine tastings, forced me to do four deadhead flights, and pushed me over the edge when my nerves and emotions were already frazzled.

Still, it wasn’t until nearly a full week of seemingly nonstop cherry drying in June that I realized I really didn’t want to do wine tasting tours like that. I wanted a quick and easy day where I’d be compensated properly not only for the helicopter’s flight time but for for my time. A full hour of flight time with just one destination.

After doing some research, I realized that the best destination would be Tsillan Cellars Winery at Lake Chelan. I’d do scenic flights there and back with time on the ground for my passengers to enjoy a wine tasting and a meal in their very nice restaurant. The flight was outrageously beautiful and the destination was someplace I really wouldn’t mind spending a few hours of down time. Perfect.

On Sunday, I took three passengers to Tsillan Cellars. They were the same ladies who were supposed to do a four-winery tour late last summer with me. Unfortunately, the destination winemakers had pulled the plug on the scheduled date — for reasons I still can’t comprehend. (That was an eye-opening experience that taught me to be careful about who I partnered with for winery visits. I do not like disappointing my clients and won’t do business with people who disappoint me.) I offered this trip as a long overdue substitute and they agreed. I picked them up at Wenatchee Pangborn Memorial Airport at 11 and we made the flight in beautiful weather.

I had the helicopter’s nosecam set up with my new GoPro Hero 3 Black camera and it was running for the entire flight up there. On Monday, I edited the video down to a 2:45 promo with music and captions. I put it on YouTube. Here it is:

I haven’t finished updating Flying M Air’s website with information about the Tsillan Cellars wine tasting flights, but I hope to do it soon. And I hope to be doing lots of these flights throughout the rest of the summer and into autumn.

Please Don’t Hit the Owls

Posted on by
3

Another close encounter.

Some of the orchards I dry with my helicopter in Washington state have resident owls. This is great for the orchardist — owls kill and eat the smaller birds that feed on cherries. Unfortunately, owls tend to wait until the last minute to take flight when I’m flying over.

Today, I happened to have my GoPro mounted and running and I captured this encounter. (It’s more impressive in HD, so click that button when you play it if you have the bandwidth to support it.)

And no, I’ve never hit one. (At least not that I know of.)

Aerial Views of Cherry Drying by Helicopter

Posted on by
4

A video clip.

I am particularly proud of this little video clip — mostly because it was my very first attempt to video another helicopter drying cherries.

While this might not seem like a big deal, understand a few things:

  • The camera, a GoPro Hero2, was mounted on the helicopter.
  • The only way to point the camera was to point the helicopter.
  • There was no video monitor in the helicopter to see what the camera was seeing.

So while it’s true that you can get much better footage from a helicopter, this is pretty damn good for the setup I had.

I especially like the footage I got as I flew around the target helicopter, keeping my helicopter’s nose pointed at it. I was about 150-200 feet up, slowly hovering sideways to get it. So glad it wasn’t windy.

Anyway, enough patting myself on the back. Here’s the clip: