Tag Archives: MH-65E

The Dolphin is Nice and Close

Leave a Reply

The location I choose to go to for watching Seafair is very close to where the Coast Guard keeps their MH-65 Dolphin.  They participate in the display, but I guess they can also be used if any emergencies occur.  They park the helicopter on an area that juts out into the lake.  It is normally a sparking lot but is closed off for their use during the show.  There is fencing around the area to keep us out of the way.  During the show I was slightly further north but had a good view of them as they crewed up and departed and then returned after their display.

One everything was over, I moved close to the location because I knew that they would be heading off for the overnight before returning for the following day’s display.  This was a good opportunity to get a closer view of them as they crewed in, started up and took off.  The fencing was a bit of a nuisance, but the uneven ground meant it was possible to find some gaps where the fence elements were not tight together.

It was nice that, unlike during the display itself, when they departed away from us towards the south end of Lake Washington, this time they turned around and head north along the lake shoreline.  This gave us a great view of the helicopter as it climbed away.

MH-65E Hanging Out By The Lake

Leave a Reply

I went to see Seafair itself for the first time this year.  I had been to Boeing Field to watch launches and recoveries before but this was my first time down by Lake Washington for the show.  I was down close to Seward Park and, on one of the small bits of land jutting out in to the water was the location that the Coast Guard had parked their MH-65E Dolphin.  It was part of the display but I suspect it was also on duty if there were any issues during the show.

I was looking forward to getting shots of it moving but, as a result of a re-planning of a presentation to a client which had been originally scheduled for the day before, I needed to take this call on my day off at the show.  The call coincided with the Coast Guard demo.  I was sitting on a Teams call on my phone as the Dolphin lifted off right next to me and did a dynamic low transition.  Oh to have been able to photograph that!

I did get shots of it on the (sloping) ground and, at the end of the show, they took off to head back to wherever they were overnighting.  At least this time, I was able to get shots of them starting up and taking off.  Sadly, the departure was far less dynamic than the one for the show.  However, there was nothing I could do about that.  It was still cool to watch them from relatively close quarters.