Hello everyone.  Warm weather and blue skies can only mean one thing; it’s airshow season once again.  And here in the Bay Area, the first major airshow of the year is Vertical Challenge at the Hiller Aviation Museum.  The largest all helicopter airshow in the United States bring some serious rotor power with it each year.  This years headline act was the Red Bull BO-105 CBS helicopter, flown by the incredible Chuck Aaron.  The only FAA licensed person to perform acrobatics in a helicopter, Chuck wows the crowds with his loops, rolls, and Cuban 8’s in an amazing display of precision and control.  And I had a chance to be one of the small handful of people to actually go inverted in a helicopter, and survive!

Today’s post is the first in a new series of entries entitled “Behind The Camera”, which will break down the anatomy of a particular shot.  This shot just happened to land on the cover of the upcoming issue of In Flight USA.

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The workhorse of the Air Force has gotten a fresh start in Afghanistan and Iraq. The once-discarded A-10 Thunderbolt II is proving its worthiness once again as a powerful asset to the JTAC (Joint Terminal Attack Controllers) community. Offering eyes and lethal strike capability, the A-10 is a key player at Atlantic Strike VII.

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Day 2 started out with the opportunity to learn more about the scope of Atlantic Strike VII as well as view some of the technology being used out in the exercise. I had a chance to sit down with Maj. Raymond Brennan, the Atlantic Strike exercise director, and have him give me some insight into the background of Atlantic Strike. “One of the things that is unique about this event is that it that it is primarily run by people with very recent combat experience. We have over 20 JTAC instructors from Air Force and Coalition partners; all of whom have recent combat experience in Iraq or Afghanistan. You are taking that experience to drive the training environment so it’s always updated every 6 months.”

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It was musty and humid after the rains stopped. But we drove on anyways down that narrow dirt road headed towards some small town. Nothing but bush and trees as far as the eye could see. Nothing except the Humvee in front of us; just watching the rocks and dirt being kicked up. But we were almost there. All of a sudden, to our right a loud explosion. An Improvised explosive device (IED) went off and took out the lead Humvee in our convoy. Immediately the Army soldiers jumped out and took up defensive positions as mortar shells were raining down on the convoy.

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Hey Guys and Gals,

Just a quick heads up, my article on my trip to Chile to cover FIDAE / NEWEN Exercise is now on the stands at a store near you! It’s in the June issue of World Airshow News.

Let me know what you think!

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The safety light next to the helipad turned from green to red and the HH-60G from the 129th Rescue Wing based at Moffett Field, CA circled in a tight left hand orbit overhead. JOLLY 96 and her crew were checking the landing zone for any signs of wires, poles, people or anything that would keep them from landing on the Regional Medical Center of San Jose’s HeliPad.

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I’ll have to admit, I have a pretty cool job.  I get to travel around, meet new people, have some amazing adventures, and take some breathtaking pictures.  And looking at it from the outside, it looks really cool and carefree.  But things aren’t always as perfect as they seem.  The reality isn’t always as nice as the images at the end of the day. Read the rest of this entry »

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So you’ve got your license or are a seasoned pilot, and are
wondering; now what?!? Well for those that want to take their flying to
the next level, they come to King City, CA and enroll in the Tutima
Academy of Aviation Safety. Whether it’s just learning how to control
an airplane during an uncontrolled spin or learning precision
acrobatics, people from all over the world come to Tutima. Yesterday, I
was invited by Ben Freelove, Director of Operations for Tutima as well
as an Instructor Pilot, to come fly and experience what a typical day
is like as a student and to get some dynamic shots.

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Today I got to be a part of a very special event that paid tribute to 11 local officers who have been killed in the line of duty since 1924. Every year, the San Jose Police Department honors these officers with a ceremony at City Hall with flags lowered to half staff and a fly over with their EC-120 “AIR 2″. And this year, neighboring law enforcement helicopters from the Santa Clara County Sheriff Office and California Highway Patrol participated in the flyover as well. I was able to fly aboard STAR 1, the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s helicopter and shoot the other two helos during the formation flight over San Jose’s City Hall.

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Well, I’m finally back home in sunny California. Although coming from being in the mid 80’s in Santiago to overcast and in the low 70’s is a bit hard. But I am very glad to be home. As much fun as I had down there, I do enjoy sleeping in my own bed. Especially after the long flight home. In my last entry, you’ll recall that I flew 10 hours, nonstop, on a KC-135R from Santiago to NAS JRB Fort Worth. Web seating is not my friend. But refueling those 3 F-16’s from the 457th Fighter Squadron made it all worth while. But unfortunately, after we landed late in the afternoon in Texas and checked into the Base Housing, I listened to my voice mail and got a pleasant surprise. My flight on American Airlines from DFW to SJC scheduled for the following afternoon had been canceled. And American had rescheduled me for a flight on Saturday. Not good. So as soon as I got to my room, I called up American. Of course I was on hold for over an hour and got disconnected twice, but eventually I did speak to a nice agent who rescheduled me on the first flight out in the morning at 0945. Which meant that I had to get up super early and catch a cab to the airport, which is approx 30 miles away. Luckily the 1st Lt that was traveling with me also had an early flight, so we split a cab. And we both got on our flights without an issue. Read the rest of this entry »

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