Advice sought for R22 photo flights.

[R22DRIVER]

Im now at 600hours TT in the R22 and my boss has now asked me to take over the photo flights from our current pilot.

Ive squeezed out all the info i could get from him but was wondering if any of you guys out there have got and good tips for staying safe, pleasing the photographer and keeping ATC from yelling at you.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

R22 :ok:

[gwelo shamwari]

This is what I do. (US don’t know about the UK)

Explain to the photographer what you will and what you will not do, flight wise, before you fly i.e. i will not hover down wind over a congested city block at 300ft.
Go over the intended sites with the photographer.
Plot them out on to a terminal/sectional (terminal preferred) and label them in intended sequence.
Make a photocopy making sure that when faxed it will be legible to the approach and control towers guys i.e. that they can identify the locations.
Faxing them a copy, then call tell them that you will be doing a commercial photo mission in their area.
Give them your tall number and the approximate time of flight.
Ask their advice as to what time best suits them (traffic flow) to get to the sites - within reason to your schedule.
Ask them to advise their controllers.
Be appreciative/polite with the controllers on the radio – they normally will have your fax to work with.
If they give you stick, remind them that the plan had been discussed prior and that you are on a commercial flight - politely.

Don't screw them around!!!!

At end of the day call them up and thank them for their help.

Do this a few times and they will get to know you and things will get even smoother.

Corrected Spelling :8

[TwinHueyMan]

I've done a few flights as the picture taker, and my best advice on the overall "doing the job right" side is to talk to the photographer as much as possible before the flight to get an idea of what exactly they want. It's always a good idea to keep in mind that so long as you wiggle the sticks and don't crash, you did your job and get paid... but if the guy with the camera doesn't get "the shot" he's looking for, he stands a chance of not making his money (especially true for freelancers).

And make sure you get him to tether his equipment to him! I dropped a $$$ lens once and have tied everything to me in some way since then.

Mike

[spinwing]

MOST IMPORTANT ......

TIE THE PHOTOGRAPHER TO THE AIRCRAFT in a way which will be idiot proof but still allow for an emergency escape from the aircraft should it become necessary!

I'm told that if you drop the photographer out of the aircraft the paperwork that follows can get a bit excessive!!!! :E

Cheers :(

[800]

I agree with the above, and add;
Brief Yourself
know where you are going because quiet often the photograher doesn't
make a photocopy of the street directory of where the shots are & if time prior and convenient drive past the sites so YOU know what they look like
Set yourself a minimum speed and DON'T go below it. Invariably, as shoots happen, the photographer will always want you to hover downwind. Its just part of what they do!
Allow yourself to say NO, but explain why so they understand
Have fun.
800

[Revolutionary]

If it's real estate or construction 'progress' photography you're going to be doing then there's no need to hover; just fly a kind of 'squared off' orbit around the property at 300 to 500 feet, slowing down to 30 or 40 knots or so at each corner. If you're lucky, the photographer will have been doing this for years and will know exactly where you're going. He'll have a book of all the jobs laid out in a logical order. If he doesn't then you may need to arrange the order of jobs for him. Contacting ATC ahead of time, especially in busy airspace, is great advice; establishing a rapport with them will pay off in terms of being allowed/tolerated in all kinds of normally off limits places.

[IntheTin]

Know where the wind is coming from at all times.

[FH1100 Pilot]

Go out and practice flying a constant-radius circle at 500 feet and 30 knots (or slower, maybe just above ETL) around a specific site. Go out and practice holding a really stable hover at 500 feet agl downwind. We all assume that we can do these things, but the reality is that we don't do them all that often.

It can be a rattling experience when you're trying to hold a steady 500' downwind hover and the photographer is yelling at you to move this way or that way in increments of a few feet at a time. "OKAY, THAT'S IT! NO, BACK A BIT...THAT'S ENOUGH!! HOLD IT RIGHT THERE. NO, LOWER! GET LOWER!! FORWARD A BIT, NOW...NO, TOO MUCH!!! BACK UP!" (They always seem to yell, because the door is off and the ICS is really noisy and they think they have to.) And you're sitting there in this new environment, holding on for dear life, wondering how you got into this mess, and ATC is screaming at you about, "Just WHAT is it you want to do now?? And do you SEE that 747 at seven o'clock and a mile??" Holy cow, can your plate fill up fast!

Go out and practice making a tight left circle over a specific landmark, simulating a scenario in which the photographer wants to get the straight-down-directly-overhead shot. That's a tough one! (Whenever I have to do that I think of that YouTube video of the Hind doing that really steep, low-level turn and just "stalling" into the trees.) Just recently, some photographers for a scuba diving magazine were flying with me and had a series of locations to shoot. At nearly every one, they wanted the dreaded straight-down-from-above shot. Bear in mind that here in the tropics it is almost always windy. Tested my skills it did, that.

Your actual command of the helicopter must never be in doubt. If the photographer senses that you are inexperienced, or tentative, or wishy-washy, or don't know what you're doing, he will either exploit that to his advantage or he'll never want to fly with you (and worse, your company) ever again. You must always portray that you are in control...that you know what you're doing. And to do that, you must actually be and do (or at least be able to fake it).

Also, before you go up, set some limits with the photographer. Don't be a d*ckhead about it, just be professionally matter-of-fact, as if you've done this a million times. "Hey man, look. This helicopter has some limitations. There are some things it just can and cannot do. Plus, there are some FAA (or whatever) regulations that I must observe. I will absolutely try to get you your shots, but there are some things we may not be able to get." To which I usually half-jokingly add, "...Hope you brought your long lenses!" They often do not like hearing news of this nature, but if you deliver it right (i.e. with a positive attitude that your competence is not in question here), they will accept it. With experienced photographers you might not even have to get it all out before they interrupt you and tell you they understand. You'll have to discern whether they're serious and sincere or just being condescendingly agreeable. Experience will teach here.

Photographers generally only care about one thing: Getting the shot. They consider the helicopter to be merely another (highly mobile) camera platform. They don't know about H-V curves or tail rotor authority/weathervaning issues or regulatory issues or OGE hover performance issues. Those are for you to work out, Mr. Pilot. So you consider all these things, and have a plan to deal with them before you even walk out to the machine.

Photo flights involve more than just taking a door off and pulling pitch, as some might assume. They take an incredible amount of planning - some of which the photographer will be a part of, some of which he won't. The flights themselves can be interesting, fun and skill-sharpening. But in the end, it's just another flight. Please...please...do not go out and kill yourself or crash the ship in the name of "getting the shot."

Oh, and have fun!

[R22DRIVER]

Nope, never going back to the UK. Cant stand the place now ive had my eyes opened up to the rest of the world. Im moving on up to Canada to learn with the pro's!
Thanks all for your great advice. I will be sure to use all your suggestions.
:D:ok:

[vaqueroaero]

One more thing that I haven't seen mentioned: make sure that they have nothing on them that will go out the door. I've seen lense caps, film wrappers (before digital became the norm), batteries, all sorts disappear.

After you've done a few it will become much easier for you.

Good luck!!

[that chinese fella]

1 issue with hovering downwind in a 206 is that the exhaust can interfere with the lens/shot (plus it smells horrible). Aside from that I cannot understand the objection to hovering downwind. Apart from some extra drag due to fuselage shape the disk does not know where the nose is pointing, it only 'sees' wind across it and the direction it comes from is of no relevance. 15 kts (for e.g) is 15 kts no matter which direction. I have never noticed any appreciable power required difference.
Digital has made the whole exercise a lot easier IMHO.
Also give some consideration to the use (or not) of using a harness. All the old timers will want to, but as the strop is usually secured on the other side of the cabin I like to remind them that in an accident they will be like a cork on a string. Not many need to lean out that far that a standard belt cannot be used. My 2 cents worth.