Tag Archives: Mesa

A Huey Trip at the Last Minute

During our Arizona trip, Mark and I stopped by at Falcon Field.  Our friend, Joe, is involved in a group, the Army Aviation Heritage Foundation, that maintains and operates historic army helicopters, and they were having a flying event that day.  We wanted to see the Huey that they operate as it was taking people out on rides.  We saw a couple of runs and then they stopped for a break, and we could wander around the helicopter.  When they were getting ready for the next flight, they had a spare slot and asked if I wanted to take a ride.  The funny thing is, while I was happy to make the contribution, I often am more interested in seeing the flying from the outside rather than being inside.  However, since it was a good cause, I said yes.  I am so glad I did so.  I had a good spot looking forward between the two crew up front and next to the open door giving me plenty to see.  I decided that video was more likely to be a good way of recording such a trip so that is the majority of what I took during the trip.  I did get some stills, of course, but the video then got edited down to the following piece.  I thoroughly enjoyed the flight and the brief time to see some of the surrounding landscape.  I will not be so reticent in future.

Japanese Government Comes to Town

I was sitting at the gate waiting to board a flight when the sound of a heavy jet reversing thrust outside caught my attention.  It was a Japanese 747-400.  JAL retired their 747s a few years ago and that made an appearance on the blog here.  That meant this was a Japanese Government 747.  I was really annoyed to have only seen it at the last minute.  However, I was on the right side of the plane on takeoff to try and get a look.  I did get a shot but looking through the camera made me lose the wider view.  The Japanese 747s tend to travel as a pair.  Sure enough, a second jet was parked up and I didn’t spot it was there until too late.