heli wars

Rarely does the forecast in Alaska predict sunny skies, not to mention
forecasting a week of blue bird, but that is exactly what we saw on the
horizon. Each person slowly confirming with some one else, “did you
check the sat? The Roner forecast looks good. ” The “Roner forecast” is
really just the weatherchannel.com’s super basic prediction, Roner
constantly checked and called out blue holes with amazing accuracy
during the first part of the trip. So we focused now on this becoming a
reality, with only a week left in our trip we needed a break. Sure
Enough just as projected the storm glassed off, moon came out and we
kept our fingers crossed it would be clear in the morning.

To add to the pressure we decided to implement our secret weapon, a
second helicopter with a Tyler mount camera rig shooting super 16. We
had enough budget for three filming days within a 10 day window, and
since we were entering crunch time we decided to bring it in. The Tyler
was mounted into a Jet ranger and flown by Coastal Helicopters top
pilot Jim Wilson, or as CG would exclaim, “OLD MANNNN WILSON!” The
Helicopters only passenger, Todd Jones camera operator extraordinaire.



** the Jet ranger arrives **


** the Tyler mount**


** checking out Todd’s view! triggers operate the zoom and focus.**





** parked in the shade**


** Mike wilson one of our pilots and I at the end of the day**