Let’s head back to the summer and the Olympic Air Show in Olympia. This is a show that often has a helicopter theme but this year it had an extra rotary element that was cool to watch. Earlier in the day, I had been looking across the field to where a selection of Hueys were parked up. These belong to the Department of Natural Resources for the State of Washington. What I hadn’t realized was that they were going to be part of the flying display.
Two of the Hueys took part. They undertook a demonstration of aerial firefighting techniques. While both helicopters were fitted with the underfuselage tank, one was configured to use the tank while the other was set up with a Bambi bucket. A large water container – looked like a giant paddling pool to me – had been set up at the far end of the field. Why they chose to put it so far away from the public I don’t know.
The helicopters took it in turns to fill up with water, either with a snorkel or by dunking the bucket. They then went to the opposite end of the field and demonstrated different techniques for dropping water on the fire. These would include a direct run overhead, a vertical drop, a toss maneuver and so on. Each Huey would use the technique with the only variation for each cycle being the difference between the integral tank and the bucket.
Everything was a bit distant from the crowd so it was stretching the capabilities of the lenses (and the dope holding them) but it was one of the times that you were grateful for it not being too sunny since the heat haze was barely an issue. It would have been fun to have it all a bit closer to the crowd but it was still a good demonstration of the capabilities the Department has for dealing with wildfires, something that was, no doubt, put to good use later in the year.
I was at Boeing Field for the arrival of the Blue Angels for Seafair. It was a work day so I was sitting in the car and actually presenting to some colleagues via a Teams call. My presentation was underway as they were getting close but it was almost done. I was hoping that it would all wrap up before they got there. Sadly, I was wrong. I was on the final section of the presentation when they flew overhead in Delta formation. I was shut in the car but still had to explain why it had suddenly got so loud at my end.
Fortunately, that was the end of the meeting and I was able to get out of the car in time for the arrival of the individual jets for landing. I did get to see the Delta arrival again later in the weekend but I am not sure whether it is my imagination or not but it seemed lower and closer on that first occasion when I was sitting in the car with no camera.
