...don't you love the internet?
I sent an email to the photographer. He wrote straight back and has kindly allowed me to post it.

Thanks for your kind words about my helicopter elk photo.
Here's the background:
The Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife were rounding up a large herd of elk that had overgrown their farmland valley, and transplanting them to a national forest near Mount Rainier.
The helicopter pilot is Jess Hagerman, a former Vietnam combat pilot who later flew rescue missions in the Mount St. Helens volcano eruption in 1980. He apparently has worked a lot with the wildlife agent who is hanging out the doorway, and they have perfected their technique at shooting elk.
I was amazed that a helicopter could do the things these guys were doing...sideways, backwards, almost upside down at times...it was amazing to watch.
When I was editing my photos later I discovered that I had caught the tranquilizer dart flying through the air in several of my shots. That was the icing on the cake...something I never could have anticipated.
I've heard from a helicopter pilot in the United Kingdom that there was talk about my photo being a Photoshop composite...not a real photo. I assure you, it's a real photo.
The picture won 1st Place in the National Press Photographers Association's Best of Photojournalism competition in 2003...as well as a slew of other awards.
It's certainly one of the best photos I have ever taken...and one of my all-time favorites.
By the way, I'm auctioning off a 12" X 20" print of the photo next weekend at a photojournalism workshop in Eugene, Oregon. We'll see how popular the photo is with other photographers...let's hope it's as popular as it is with the helicopter crowd.

Thanks for your interest,

Tony Overman
Vice President
National Press Photographers Association

Thank you!

Regards,
Kopter

Are you talking about Australians now, or are we still on the subject of 4 legged animals?:O :O

H.

Need more than that
 

It would definately take more than just our 44 and an SLR for that problem. Maybe two. :} There are a few places that i could think of that it would benefit....... but enough of that.
Its alright Hemac...we never forget where we come from.....just glad we never have to go back.... :D Sometimes you wonder who got the raw end of the deal......the convicts or you guys......:p
I know where I'd rather be.
And its not there.

:eek: ;)

Why don't we take this thread a bit further for the benefit of any newbie pilots who may want to think about sortie preparation.

Utilising the the empty weight of an R22 that you R familiar with (name the model as well) and using the following parameters:

Pilot = 80 Kg (empty) + helmet + jeans + longsleeve cotton shirt + Gloves + boots = 88Kg

DPI shooter = 90 Kg + headset + jeans + shirt + Boots + 2 x SLR Rifles + 500 Rounds amo = 110Kg

2 x 5 litre water bottles

5 Litres oil in engine

1013Mb

800 AMSL

40oC

85% humidity

Reserve fuel required = 20 mins

How many Litres of Avgas can U carry and can U hover OGE at 20 Ft AGL no wind condition?

At 33 Litres/hr - what is endurance (with reserve)

Then do it again with a 90 Kg pilot to see the criticality of extra weight in an R22 and its relationship to fuel load.

Last - but not least - what should the MR auto Revs be at 50 kts stabilised IAS in the above 2 conditions.

Got U thinking? If so - you will be a safer pilot.

[terminal sad g*t alert]
:ok: tcamiga, good idea to get people thinking.

However, using your figures and given the following:

- weight of 7.62mm x 51mm round = 550 grains, or a tad under 39.64 gms

therefore weight of 500 rounds = 19.82 kgs (does seem a bit heavy - anyone got 500 rounds plus some scales?)

= 0.18 kgs for headset, jeans, boots and 2 of the lightest SLRs ever produced, eh?
[/terminal sad g*t alert]

The DPI guys must have got bigger in the last year or three. Be buggered if any of them were even close to 80kg! More likely 90-100. Hence the reason we now use the 44 for most of it, and most of the time the pilot of the 22 is the skinniest bloke we can find. (If you want good job security, about 65-70kgs is a good weight.... :O ) What you also have to take into the calculations above, albeit not a measurable quantity as such, is that every single machine has a different strength engine...especially some of our older mustering machine. When the engine is near the end of its life, the whole of which of it has been mustering in the heat and the dust, they just don't pull as much. We have 14 R22's, and know the characteristics of each. Its important to be very familiar with each machine when you are spending so much time on the boundary of the envelope. Never get comfortable, or cocky. Cos then you get dead fast. Some of our R22's are over 10,000 hours on the airframe...... and whilst they get rebuilt every couple of years..about 2 and a half on average for 2200 hours..... they still have their little idiosyncrases (sp??) Like wiring harnesses that mean that you need a soldering iron and electrical tape to start and shut down each time..... but it does make you a better pilot. Learn the machine, then learn how to fly. I have no problem with the slave system that i had to go through simply for all the knowledge i now have about the machines which comes in useful when you are stuck out on the flat, 300km from the homestead. Anyway...sorry for drifting off thread..its still early in the day.....:D

i've seen a video that is a few years old,ie. from the great venison days in NZ, where a guy had his left knee jammed against the collective and the cylic trimmed into his leg in a 500D model hovering and holding an AR15,223 rifile and hit 9 out of 10 beer cans on the bank!!! i would have to say that it was bloody impresive to see!!:ok:

7.62 155gr ammo weighs just under 25g per round. I can just get 200 in my hold baggage within the 5kg limit.

Sven

I know a loadmaster who was able to group 200 7.62 rounds into an area of about 30 x 45 cm from a door gun at night on NVG. :confused:

He dropped his ammo box out of the door while trying to reload!!

:O

box of 200 rounds 7.62mm in a box linked for machine gun = 12.5 lbs if memory serves me correctly ( about 20 years ago now )