Helicopter Shooting

[Alwaysnfocus]

I've done a bit of shooting of handheld variety from a chopper. The recent job posting made me wonder if shooting in a wescam/flir style chopper in a full time gig would still be cool in like six months of if it gets cramped, monotonous, loud, etc?

[(Sin)ical]

Everything looks better from up there, but it's kind of like skydiving. The more times you go up, the closer you get to being the statistic. I love it up there, but it only takes one emergency auto rotation to change your mind.

[f11vid]

It has its ups and downs ;) Gives you a unique perspective,no heavy lifting.Doesn't pay much except maybe in LA.Most of the unions have de-facto given up jurisdiction on the ships,so you are unlikely to make more than the pilot,and pilots don't make much.If you are a real,live skilled terrestrial cameraman,you will have learned as much as you are going to learn aerial camera wise in the first month.Still, it is fun and interesting.I did it full-time for two year in Chicago.But I had a sweet deal.I had my own Beta rig,but managed to break my foot. Doc said it would take forever to heal if I didn't stay off of it.So I took the helo job with the caveat that I could shoot freelance gigs when we set down.After my foot healed,I'd buzz around from 0430 to 0830,set down,and go shoot a regular job.So I had a regular paycheck (42k) plus whatever freelance stuff I got.I finally decided to stay on the ground.
Make sure you get a good pilot and stick with them. The profit margin is slim on helo work,and some companies get low time pilots and pencil whip their time to match the assignment.Or they get guys with high time in a lesser type and shoehorn them in to a high perfomance aircraft.You won't know the difference until the little yellow light starts flashing which kind of pilot you have.

[SimonW]

I love it up there, but it only takes one emergency auto rotation to change your mind.

This keeps cropping up whenever heicopters are mentioned in association with video cameras.

I know that people here have lost friends in helo accidents, and I can see that in some cases it was sometimes due to an overzealous pilot. But are cameras and helicopters really that much of a risk? Do they really crash and suffer emergencies *that* often?

I'm due to go up in one myself soon, and all I seem to get from people I have mentioned it to is "You wouldn't catch me up in one of those things".

[f11vid]

You're more likely to be injured while driving your car to the airport.Statistically,they are the safest single-engined aircraft that is flown.Some mistakes will happen if a pilot disregards his own judgement to try to accomodate the needs of the cameraman or producer.I always tell a pilot," Don't try to impress me...If you want to say " No,we can't do that..say it."Same with weather.If he thinks you should avoid some weather or land,don't say," One more shot."I've twice been caught in sudden zero-zero weather ( no visibility) and it is not pleasant.That would be doubly important in the UK with your weather.Of course,the nice thing about a helo,if you can find the ground, you can set down anywhere.
Overall, very safe.But I've had a few anxious moments.

[Tapeape]

helicopters are pretty safe. See, they're so ugly that the ground repels them, so it's pretty hard to get one to crash ;)

[schlagdrg]

I fly 5 days a week, 10-15 hrs/week, and with the company that is advertising. Mind you, I work for the station and not for them.

Aerial photography is a different breed. Some like it, some don't. I find it ok. I flew in choppers in the army, and have enough respect for them and the dangers that are involved. I'm responsible for alot of things in the aircraft. Microwave, do not like the new Troll system. Running the four cameras. All the audio. And listening to the scanners. Most importantly, being a 2nd set of eyes.

Flying is fun, and covering breaking news is a blast. Traffic coverage is not the most exciting thing out there, especially when there is no traffic.

I'm lucky, I shoot enough on the ground that I have job satisfaction. But I like the variety of both situations.

I would not fly in a Robinson R-22 or R-44. My personal opinion (there is nothing wrong with either of them). The company that is advertising, down here flies 407b and long rangers. Both nice aircraft. There is not a whole lot of leg room in the aircraft, and it can be cramped back there with alll the equipment. It's loud, but you have headsets that help.

It's up to you to decide. Mind you, if you get called back for a interview, the pilot will make the decision if he/she wants to work with you or not.

[Dave Putnam]

I did helicopter duty day-in day-out for a couple of years back in the early 1980s. No gyros, Wescams or Flirs back then, just plain-old on-the-shoulder-door off flying in a Hughes 500C in all kinds of weather conditions. It was a good gig but on some days, I just don't feel like doing it. Back then, the work was covered by union jurisdiction so if I didn't feel like flying, someone else got the call. I was usually only flying for about half my shift but over time it did tend to get a little boring and monotonous. If you don't enjoy flying to begin with, this is probably not a good line of work to step into. If you love hanging out at the airport and the smell of Jet-A, by all means you should probably sign up.

As for the safety issue, I never felt threatened. Our pilots all had previous experience flying in tougher conditions with police and sheriff departments or in Vietnam. They knew the limits of their abilities and also the limits of the aircraft and never pushed them. I've done a couple of auto rotation landings and know what a chip light warning sounds like in the headset. I also know what it feels like when you hit a seagull head-on at 90 knots. I'm not sure about the statistics mentioned above but I'm pretty sure you do have a better chance of being involved in an accident on your way to the airport than you do once you're airborne.

My take on helicopters and television news is that they are great tools but they tend to be overused sometimes. I've seen some pretty questionable calls when the decision was made to air video of something that really should have been shot from the ground. This is a obviously a larger problem in the markets where the desk has a helicopter available at their call all the time. In fairness, I've seen assignment editors who've used helicopters as a quick way to verify whether or not a tip is worth sending a crew on.

[Stoney]

Gets to be boring. I actually fell asleep on one long two hour flight. It is cool the first 10 times you are up but then it is pretty same. Cameras are interesting and the capabilities great but if you want to be creative with your shooting... forget the helicopter work. It's like running a studio camera in the air sometimes.... but with a much better studio.

There is a lot of waiting around for a solid enough reason to fly, the desk where I was at used the helo sparingly due to costs. We sat around the airport hangar waiting for really big dumpster fires to cover...

And safety... I am sure there are bad pilots out there but the majority are pretty awesome at their jobs. I trusted our pilots all the way.

[shade]

anyone work for helicopters inc. feedback? safety record etc

[McQueen]

I find it very challenging.Helping the pilot get to the scene,positioning the ship for the best angle,dealing with the desk,getting good ,steady pics(some people fight the camera and it shows).It's something like a fireman...you wait for your call and your the first responder...or your washing and cleaning the firetruck(Bell L4)...Plus were our own boss in the sattelite office that no one wants to visit,nobody breathing down your neck. Boring to me is shooting a talking head for the 5th time today,I'd rather be ripping along at 120 knots and not stuck in traffic. I love the smell of Jet-A in the morning....

[shoot da parrot]

helicopters inc. is a great company. They are safe and have very thourough maintenece. When our shopped switched helo companies I decided not to fly with the new one. I didn't feel safe with them or their background. However it really is all about the pilot.

[dhart]

Old chopper pilot once told me in my younger days, "son, if you fly in a helicopter long enough, you will crash". I haven't flown that much, but it would seem I've had an extraordinary number of close calls, mainly with old Viet Nam pilots.

[shoot da parrot]

What scares me is these days the pilots are asked to do so much more than just fly. Some tune is shots, talk with the desk, and report while flying. You as the photographer should know as much as possible about their job. On many occasions me scanning the skies has avoided possible collisions.

[David R. Busse]

Everything looks better from up there, but it's kind of like skydiving. The more times you go up, the closer you get to being the statistic. I love it up there, but it only takes one emergency auto rotation to change your mind.

Actually, autorotation is the reason I feel safer in helicopters than I do in smaller fixed-wing aircraft...lose an engine in that plane, and you still need significant forward air speed to survive a dead-stick landing. Not so with a helicopter in most cases.

I'll bet many of you have auto-rotated without even realizing it. Next time you make a steep approach to an airport, watch the torque-meter on the instrument panel dip down to just above "0." That's showing no torque being delivered to the drive shaft, and your rotor blades are windmilling as gravity does it's thing. You're autorotating. In a high-inertia rotor blade system like the Bell JetRanger, a well-executed autorotation feels like a normal landing...even an engine-out auto should have enough blade inertia left at flare to execute a 180 pedal turn before touchdown.

Your bigger concern in helicopters like the Astar (the most common news helicopter today) should not be failure of the robust Turbomeca engine, but failure of the hydraulic system, which is not a redundant design. Astar helicopters experiencing hydraulic failure are a challenge to keep flying, and require significant upper body strength to maintain control in flight. They should be landed immediately when such failure occurs and yes, you can find a lot of stories about Astars and hydraulic failure by doing some googling.

If you are new to flying, you should ask your pilot if he or she has been to the factory school for emergency procedures in the aircraft you are flying. If it's an Astar, don't hesitate to ask about the hydraulic failure issue and the pilot's training in that particular procedure.

News flying is a great experience and adds much to your overall skill as a news photographer. It is not without risks, and anyone wishing to do this as a full-time assignment would be wise to seek expert advice on emergency procedures and get familiar on the various systems common to helicopter flight.

[f11vid]

My regular pilot experienced hydraulic failure last year in an AStar.I was filling in on our other ship and the whole "pack" was over a truck crash near the WI border.We all turned to go to a fire,looked for Mike,and he wasn't there.Called him,but he was a little busy.Luckily,Waukegan airport was right there,and he set it down safely.
I was allowed to "fly" the ship once,under his supervision.Usually the lh controls are removed so reporters won't trip them up,but we were taking the ship to another airport so a relief pilot could do safety training.I've handled the controls of small fixed wing craft,but a helo is VERY challenging.Kinda like patting your head while rubbing your tummy,while balancing on a one-legged barstool.I flew for fifteen minutes,did two simple turns,then some weather came in and he took over.I was frazzled.The tendency is to over-control.We now joke that I have .2 hours of Astar time. He offered to get me a log book,but I have too much respect for those guys to trivialize what they do.

[Murman]

I have been doing this for some time. My experience has tought me that one or two slow weeks often leads to a busy month. It all kinda evens out in the end.

As far as safety is concerned. I have never felt safer. I have Autorotated on a couple of occasions. I have also been aboard when our first aircraft had a transmission problem that protocal dictated an immediate landing,,, all this while flying a Twin Star several miles OFF SHORE. During these situations, I had every confidence in my Pilot.
This situation did however point out how important it is and was to have had Underwater Egress Training. If you have in your area large bodies of water which would be part of your flight paths, then I cannot recommend this kind of training enough.

Another situation that can be problematic are companies that use new or very low time pilots. Not suggesting that these low timers are not good , but there is no substitute for experience when an emergency happens.

David points out the physics of autorotation, and again I completely agree, there is no safer way to fly in my opinion.

Remember that ENG flight operations are a different kind of camera skill, be it hand held or using a joystick. The same basics apply. Wide, medium, and closeups. Try to tell the story visually as if your b roll was the only thing available to tell the story. I don't rely on a ground crew's pictures.

If heli shooting is something you really want to do, then do it! Good luck, have fun and it is fun by the way, and fly safe.