Sydney Heli-Meet

[thaddeus]

In the spirit of all the other meets going on in Sydney I was wondering if anyone was up for a "Heli-Meet"?

As some of you know, I like to fly the chopper and figured that it would be a bit of fun to do a photographic run of Sydney. There are some great spots...
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<td>We could go down the Parramatta River</td>
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<td>Or perhaps along the coast:</td>
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<td>Or buzz the 747s at Sydney looking for defining moments!</td>
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(Please excuse the quality of the photos - it's hard to fly and photgraph at the same time!)

If people want to, we could also fly in for lunch somewhere.

We could do this at cost which is about a third of the cost of a commercial flight. For example, Sydney Helicopters charges about $230 per person for a half-hour flight (their grand tour) and we could do it for about $150 per person per hour. We could do as much or as little as people want. Having flown around Sydney quite a bit I think the most spectacular places are the rivers and the coast, so we could do those. If people want to fly over their house or something, we could do that too.

Let me know what you think!

[leek]

Sounds great... I'm in...
Hope the weather's good...
Damn... I might have to buy that 12-24 earlier than I'd planned...

[kipper]

Lol flying and taking photos. Aren't there some regulations against doing things like this?

[sheepie]

Would love to do this - and at that cost, it's hard not to say yes! If you can let us know some more details, that would be great

If you're simply looking for people to help share the cost of one of your flights, then that sounds cool - and no doubt a lot easier to organise than ten people going on a joy ride all at once!
Let's know!

[Hlop]

Haven't been in chopper for a long time ....

I'm most probably in. Depends on "where" and "when"

[gstark]

What a fantastic idea.

How many pax per filght?

I presume you're the pilot?

Birdy, are you also licensed to fly a chopper? If not, what's the cost of renting a 172 for a couple of hours?

[JordanP]

Now I wish I was in Sydney - don't want to run one of these at the August meet perhaps ???

[thaddeus]

Leek:

We can wait until the weather is good. Most days are good enough for flying but given that we are doing photography, we should wait until a good day. What about we pencil in the first and third Sundays in June and try for the first but if it's not a sunny day on the first Sunday, delay until the third?

Sheepie,

We would depart from Bankstown. If we are doing coastal stuff, it's best to go in the morning while the cliffs aren't in shadow.

gstark,

It's a four-seater chopper and I'm the pilot. Here we are at a winery in the Hunter Valley


If Birdy is licenced we could go "in company" (loose formation) which is really cool fun! Here we are racing the cars at Oran Park


JordanP,

I could do this in August as well depending on if there are three people who want to

[JordanP]

put me down as one in August - weather depending of course

[sheepie]

I'd be in - just depends on timing.

Thanks heaps for the offer!

[MCWB]

That's deadset awesome thaddeus, thanks for the offer! $150 for an hour is ok with me, so pending my availability on dates/times convenient for others I'm in.

[christiand]

How cool is that !

I'd love to do this.
I'd come up to Sydney overnight on a weekend for that and kill two birds with one stone:
meet at Birddog's and go flying.

Please keep me posted.

Cheers
CD

[MHD]

What would be really cool:
A flight out of canberra during winter over the snowies

(Cool idea thaddeus!)

[johndec]

Thaddeus,

Sounds great, count me in, although I think you may be making several flights over several weekends to satisfy demand

[sheepie]

Looks like your weekly flights for the next six months are half paid for

Wonderful idea, and I look forward to taking you up on this one. Are you thinking of doing this all in one go, or split over a few months?

[Matt. K]

Sounds great! Count me in, time and date pemitting, (usually are). By the way...I think you could easily squeeze 8 forum members into that bird. Participating members should be aware the doors will be off and it's very important you don't let the wind snatch anything, (lens or camera etc), out of your hand. It may end up going through the tail rotor and everyone will die.

[fozzie]

If you are considering offering this for the 'AW', please count me out. I have a fear of heights. I have enough trouble on a Boeing 737, even with good looking air hostess on Virgin Blue.

[LOZ]

What can I say count me in August would be great LOZ

[mudder]

Woah that would be a blast! I think the queue's gonna start somewhere about woolongong

If there's a spot I'd love to join you guys, but I think it's gonna be pretty well booked

Cheers...

[Glen]

Thaddeus, I would be keen too.

[Paul]

If there's still space left I would love to come along.

[thaddeus]

okay let's pencil in Sun 5th june at 10:00am at bankstown airport
leek and i are in, so we have two spare places.

we can decide where we go on the day. i expect we will go down the paramatta river at 500 feet then out to the coast, either northern beaches or eastern suburbs.

to avoid reflections, please wear dark clothing and bring a circular polariser
maximum passenger weight is 136 kg per person. other weight limits may apply but i can make those adjustments with fuel.

if the day is looking bad i will pm you that morning at 7:00am to call it off and we can reschedule for another day.

[Glen]

Thaddeus, I would be very keen for one of the places but also note that there are a few who said yes before me. I will let you sort it out (or do two trips) but I would definitely take one of those spots if it was available on the 5th. Thanks




ps I am under 136kg, even with camera!

[johndec]

I'll take the last seat Thaddeus unless, like Glen, I'm queue jumping.

Mmmm, 136kg. Might have to leave a couple of lenses and breakfast behind, but I'll make the weight

[MCWB]

In all likelihood the 5th will be problematic for me, but I'll be in it some other time though if you're doing another run.

[Matt. K]

thaddeus
Are you able to fly with the doors off?

[thaddeus]

ok 5 june it is: myself, leek, glen, johndec

let's meet at bankstown helicopters, link road, bankstown airport at 10:00am. leek, i can give you lift out if you come to my place. others: sorry, it's a two-seater.

can you please pm me your weights so i can make sure we won't hit any weight and balance limits once we get there. the 136kg weight limit i mentioned is a per-seat limit but there are other limits involved. if we blow the limit i may have to swap out johndec (being last to reply) for someone lighter.

if you pull out can you please try to arrange a replacement person

matt, yes i can take the doors off but it depends on my assessment of the passengers' responsibility. the risk is that something gets blown out the left hand doors into the tail rotor. i generally don't take the doors off unless i've flown with the people a few times and they are familiar with the risks of helicopters

lens selection is up to you. a mate of mine has used a 300VR from the chopper with good results, however most of the tmie we'll only be at 500 feet so it's up to you. most people don't change lenses mid-flight because it's too bumpy but you guys will probably be happy to. i might bring my body along to save someone swapping lenses. if someone has a fisheye, can you please bring it along to see if we can get some good cabin shots in flight?

[Geoff]

I am VERY keen for this, but not on the 5th of June, even as a back up person..wow..this is something I have ALWAYS wanted to do..amazing! Maybe in August? I would be willing any time, just need a little bit of notice to request days off at work, as I'm a shift worker and sometimes work on week end...wow thaddeus, amazing offer! Thanx!

[thaddeus]

i forgot to say that for other people we can do a flight a few weekends after.

i suggest we do this flight, post some photos from it and iron out any kinks. then i'll propose another day and see if three other people are available.

[Hlop]

thaddeus,

I'm in the queue for the next flight!
Thanks a lot for this great opportunity!!!

[gstark]

Anyone care to join me for a diet ?

No more of Mrs Birddog's lunches!

[Glen]

Thaddeus, will do my best not to eat anything between now and then so Johndec can make it I am 85 kg without camera so that may help Johndec. I have a 12-24 if no one has a fisheye. Looking forward to this, thanks for organising

[johndec]

Thaddeus, will do my best not to eat anything between now and then so Johndec can make it I am 85 kg without camera so that may help Johndec. I have a 12-24 if no one has a fisheye. Looking forward to this, thanks for organising

Great Custard Tarts Batman I'm a fair lump of a lad, but even if a swallowed a sheep the night before, I still wouldn't go close to the limit

Just dont put me and Leek on the same side or all we'll do is go round in circles

[Glen]

John, Leek hasn't stuck his weight up yet, those Welsh rugby players are no lightweights

[johndec]

OK, it appears that unless Thaddeus,Leek and Glen all develop bizarre eating disorders in the next couple of weeks, I'm on the flight

This leads to my query. What is the best lens to use, given that most of the flight will be relatively low at 500ft. I'm thinking VR would be a smart idea on a helicopter

24-120? 70-200? 80-400? I've never done this, but would imagine the 80-400 would be the most versatile (given sufficient ambient light). Opinions and experience welcome

Of course, of the listed lens, I only own the 24-120 so the lower we fly the better

[birddog114]

The 12-24 will help too, the 12-24 can do much shooting inside cockpit same as landscape.

[leek]

John, Leek hasn't stuck his weight up yet, those Welsh rugby players are no lightweights

By hook or by crook, I will make the weight... I might have to leave the 80-400VR at home though... It's a little heavy...

Johndec,
It depends what you will be trying to shoot from the helicopter, but I know that the majority if not all of Thaddeus' photos were done with the kit lens...
While VR might help, I'm not sure how useful / practical the 80-400VR would be... I would think that the 24-120 would be ideal, kit lens or 12-24 for landscapes...
As Thaddeus has said, the majority of our flight will be at 500ft (which is not very high)...

[birddog114]

As Thaddeus has said, the majority of our flight will be at 500ft (which is not very high)...

Can do a "free style jump"

[birddog114]

Airframe vibration is the one problem which you need to pay attention to.

[Glen]

Airframe vibration is the one problem which you need to pay attention to.

Sounds like VR will help

[birddog114]

"Active" VR will be used on this case with the 70-200VR.

[thaddeus]

we had a great day buzzing around the harbour, the cliffs down to bondi, then up to the northern beaches. the day was a bit hazy, but there were a few floatplanes around, so we followed one in for landing at rose bay, and also dodged some around the harbour bridge.

leek said he had never filled a compact flash card before but filled two today! i can't wait to see his shots, eh leek?

[birddog114]

Looking forward to see few pics from Glen and johndec.
I knew you guys have lot of fun.

[johndec]

Looking forward to see few pics from Glen and johndec.
I knew you guys have lot of fun.

Unfortunately you won't be seeing any from me this time. Thaddeus couldn't get a helicopter with enough capacity for a decent flight time, so as last on, I had to miss out Leek kindly offered me his seat, but by that time I'd already made other arrangements. I'll just catch the next bus

[MCWB]

Awesome guys, looking forward to hearing all about it and seeing the pics!

[birddog114]

So only 3 pax. including pilot?

[embi]

Photos guys, photos. I want to see them

Any tips? I am flying with Thaddeus next weekend to Dubbo and would be greatful for any things I should know.

(btw thaddeus. We are doing our weigh in tommorow so I'll be able to give you final weight info then).

[leek]

Unfortunately, Thaddeus was just rubbing salt very deeply into my weeping wounds... Luckily I know him and his sense of humour well and only take a little bit of offence...

As I'd already informed him, the vast majority of my shots were write-offs as my camera accidentally got bumped into Manual mode at 1000s & f7.1 near the beginning of the flight... Most of my shots were therefore vastly underexposed and after correcting are full of noise... They look like they were taken at 6400ISO... Due to the spacial limitations of the back seat of the cabin, I was hardly using my viewfinder so failed to notice the problem until it was far too late...

I do have a few reasonable shots and I'll do my best to salvage some of the noisy ones tomorrow...

I did enjoy the experience enormously though and will be booking a retry trip a.s.a.p... I particularly enjoyed the fact that thaddeus took a lot of time to explain all the pre-flight checks and procedures and some of the theoretical aspects of the flight... I would heartily recommend it to anyone if you have the money available...

Learnings for next time:
- wear all dark clothing to avoid reflections...
- while the 12-24 and the 80-400VR both worked well for me, the 12--24 was maybe a little too wide for some shots and the kit lens would probably have worked better for me... The 24-120VR would probably be the ideal lens for this trip...
- There is so much to see and the scenery all moves by so quickly you really have to think about your shots... I made the mistake of shooting quantity without paying attention to the basics...
- check your camera settings regularly... :-S
- lose a lot of weight so that I can get in the front seat...

One thing did work for me today and that was the GPS log I took of the flight... Here's where we went:

[Geoff]

Fantastic flight path John, sorry to hear about your settings mishap, but mistakes make us wiser for next time eh? . I would love to go on this heli-tour as well, will have to check with the finance department and book in hopefully. What kinda GPS thing do you have? That's a great toy! Look forward to seeing some of your better shots tomorrow

[leek]

Fantastic flight path John, sorry to hear about your settings mishap, but mistakes make us wiser for next time eh? . I would love to go on this heli-tour as well, will have to check with the finance department and book in hopefully. What kinda GPS thing do you have? That's a great toy! Look forward to seeing some of your better shots tomorrow

Yes... very frustrating... I hope Glen got some decent shots to make up for my misfortune...

I have a Magellan Meridian GPS (a fairly old model now, but it works well... That's coupled with the Magellan Discover Australia software that supplies the maps...