Pretty Cool Formation Shot - UK

[KiwiNedNZ]

Yesterday had the privilege to work with some very long time friends over at Starspeed and shoot a few of their machines in formation. Well briefed a number of times before we did it and nailed it :D:ok: I know many of you mil and ex mil guys will say yes but X is out of position etc but for a bunch of civvies I personally think it looks **** hot :ok::ok:

Love the English countryside to shoot over, some amazing scenery with all the old homes and properties. Well done to everyone involved.

http://i.imgur.com/Rk6nJe9.jpg

[Ascend Charlie]

Ned, you can tell they are civvies because the rotor blades are a little out of phase. Close, but no banana.

[andytug]

How would one arrange for a four bladed rotor and a five bladed rotor to be in phase? :)

[212man]

Nice shot. Flown two of those personally...

[[email protected]]

I've been in a lot worse military formations than that.. Nice photo:ok:

[oldbeefer]

Me too. Great bit of flying.

[HeliboyDreamer]

Nice picture indeed.

[RMK]

Great photo.

What's do you use as your "go to" setting for aerial helicopter shots; Shutter Priority with speed set to something like 1/250sec?

... I'm an amateur/hobby photographer and just curious.

[soggyboxers]

Another great photo Ned

[mickjoebill]

Good job, easier seen than done:)

At £200? a minute not without a time pressure.

What is the largest number of rotary types flown in formation in UK? Is this it?

Mjb

[rotorspeed]

Fabulous photo - must have taken a lot of planning and careful execution. But then Starspeed are an outstanding operation!

[KiwiNedNZ]

RMK - I shoot always at either 80th or 100th of a second, nothing faster than 1/125th as then you stop the blades and thats something I personally hate.

Rotorspeed - yep lot of planning, good briefs and very careful execution.

[gulliBell]

Excuse my ignorance, but if as mentioned all these aircraft belong to the same operator, why are they all painted differently?

[OvertHawk]

Because they all belong to separate private owners, for whom Starspeed are the operator. Some are on the AOC - some are operated privately only.

[SASless]

I've been in a lot worse military formations than that.. Nice photo

Military....and the RAF I believe Crab meant to say!:E

[Two's in]

Not only is it great formation flying, but in the military we generally cheat by using the same aircraft type whenever possible, so all the position keeping cues are the same. There aren't 2 aircraft the same here, so extra points for the difficulty factor!

[[email protected]]

Military....and the RAF I believe Crab meant to say! Ow, harsh banter:ok:

Actually the massed approaches with the AAC was what I was thinking of - 80-ship line abreast anyone?:ok:

[oldbeefer]

Actually the massed approaches with the AAC was what I was thinking of - 80-ship line abreast anyone?:ok:

Only a little bit worse than the 24 Wessex and 12 Pumas in line astern at Odiham donkeys years ago. I should know - I was Puma No 12!

[diginagain]

Ow, harsh banter:ok:

Actually the massed approaches with the AAC was what I was thinking of - 80-ship line abreast anyone?:ok:

They may look good from the POV of the crowdline...

[Sloppy Link]

How would one arrange for a four bladed rotor and a five bladed rotor to be in phase? :)
Easy, they'll be in phase every 20th....

[nomorehelosforme]

Great picture! what was the reason to put this together?

[gulliBell]

Easy, they'll be in phase every 20th....

Only if they are all at the same RRPM...maybe they missed that aspect in the pre-flight briefing.

[[email protected]]

Only a little bit worse than the 24 Wessex and 12 Pumas in line astern at Odiham donkeys years ago. I should know - I was Puma No 12! Ah - that must be where the Sqn Cdr in NI got the idea in 85 when all 26 Wessex were serviceable. Fortunately never got it airborne thanks to the objections of loud, old and bold Scottish QHI:ok:


diginagain - yes the punters liked it but it was unpleasant to be in the middle of:)

[oldbeefer]

Crab it was a shambles - the first Wessex flared a bit, the second a bit more and so on. By the time the ripple got to the Pumas, the only option was to break out, which we all did.

[[email protected]]

Yes, no-one likes being tail-end charlie in a line astern.

A chum of mine who did his BFT at Church Fenton on the JP5 was in a student formation, line astern, with the Stn Cdr as lead when he suddenly decided to call 'Airbrakes, airbrakes, Go!' A similar result to your Wessex formation:ok:

[diginagain]

The post Op Granby flypast over London was a memorable mixed-type formation. I think most of us managed to log a bit of 'actual' IF, as well as trying to match speed with the element somewhere ahead.

[KiwiNedNZ]

Question for members here. Someone told us thats the largest civil formation shoot thats been done in the UK, as you know I am not from here :) so have no idea if thats correct or not. Anyone here know if there has been a larger formation of civil machines. Thanks.

[OvertHawk]

Bristow did a bit of formation stuff with some Super Puma's a while ago (mid 90's?) - If i recall they were doing type training for a foreign military (Japan?) and there was a requirement for formation. There are lots of photos floating about of those formations. They certainly had four-ships plus the camera platform - not sure if there were any five-ships.

[helimutt]

why not just photoshop them? cheaper and quicker. :E

[Self loading bear]

why not just photoshop them? cheaper and quicker. :E

What is the biggest flight of drones pictured by another drone?

O sorry wrong forum, taking cover for incoming flak.

Cheers SLB

[RVDT]

Question for members here. Someone told us thats the largest civil formation shoot thats been done in the UK, as you know I am not from here :) so have no idea if thats correct or not. Anyone here know if there has been a larger formation of civil machines. Thanks.

Ned,

Toyota Prado unveiling stunt - Sydney Harbour NSW ~ 21 machines? - June 1996.

I think I was number 20 in a 3fiddy. Like a Who's Who of idiots. :rolleyes: Took a lot of organising for sure.

The Prado was on the hook of a 212 flown by Tim Joyce who actually organised most of it.

Since then I think there have been larger civvy formations for sure.

[KiwiNedNZ]

RVDT - Thanks but was referring to here in the UK, not globally.

[OvertHawk]

There was a Bristow five-ship on the North sea many moons ago - Picture on this thread about three quarters of the way down the page.

http://www.pprune.org/rotorheads/287207-bristow-photos-58.html

So you've maybe equalled the UK record but not broken it Ned ;-) Your Photo's still great though!

[HeliboyDreamer]

Anyone knows if the S92 is on the AOC or operated privately? Is this the one used previously by PremiAir? I wonder what use they make of it?