When ancient humans looked to the skies, they dreamed of flight. When modern birds look with jealousy and annoyance to see who’s making them look like a bunch of chumps, they see RC helicopter stunt pilot Alan Szabo Jr.
This is behind the scenes footage from some commercial that Hyundai shot that basically toured the world. I have no idea what the final commercial looks like and I don’t really care because I’m totally obsessed with this truly spectacular footage they got of cities around the world from the vantage point of a…
There is a new trailer for SPECTRE, the upcoming Bond film, and it seems the quartermaster has been very busy arranging all sorts of vehicles for scenes from Mexico to Morocco, including planes, trains, and (mostly British) automobiles. Here is a handy breakdown with plenty of pretty pictures.
Mike Kelley specializes in industrial and architectural photography, but his real distinctive difference is his choice for a studio. Over the last two years, Kelley has taken to the skies above LA in a helicopter to obtain a sometimes eerie and other times breathtaking collection of images unlike anything we’ve ever…
Five, but they all have to be on the staff rotor! Sorry, that’s an awful joke. Actually, this image shows a team fast-roping from a helicopter:
Just look at this photo. On the highest mountain in North America, surrounded by stunning snowy scenery and beneath a sun halo, sits a 50-year-old tandem rotor heavy lift helicopter equipped with ski landing gear.
The US Marines says this photo shows a MV-22B Osprey preparing to take off on top of a mountain in New Mexico. I think the picture is fantastic, the rear shot makes it look like the Osprey is being contemplative and its rotors are splitting the Sun at the perfect angle. Everything almost looks peaceful.
This photo of a HH-60H Sea Hawk Navy helicopter, taken on April 12th, is virtually flawless. The whole scene is like a well executed model diorama: the sea surface like broken sheet glass; the Sea Hawk hovering, still on its rope ladder stand; and those two tiny navy technicians clinging on for dear life.
It is always a pleasure to see the Kopps-Etchells Effect in such perfect form. The sparks from this U.S. Marines helicopter form a starry ring around the edge of the blades—a the result of static electricity created by friction between the dust and the metal blades moving through the air.
These night photos of an AF Puma Mk2 helicopter being loaded onto a C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft, illuminated by runway lights at Brize Norton, the largest station of the Royal Air Force, are simply too good to handle.
The V-22 Osprey has dominated the rotary wing, vertical take-off market for years, but its only available to the military. Now, AgustaWestland is on pace to begin production of the AW609, the first civilian tilt-rotor, at its plant in Philadelphia while moving most of the flight test activity from Italy to the U.S.
In this spectacular and dramatic long-exposure night shot you can see a Eurocopter AS365 Dauphin helicopter—Dolphin, to its friends—being towed into its hangar aboard Ventôse, a light monitoring frigate of the French Marine Nationale.
Helicopter rides are fun and fast; and ridesharing apps are booming. These are the core ideas behind Gotham Air, a helicopter rideshare service that promises to get you from helipad to airport in six minutes. Do you need it? Definitely not. Is it amazing? We tried it — and yes, it absolutely is.
Listen to this video of a helicopter ditching into the sea while trying to land on the research vessel Viking Vision. I say listen because you can't see much but you can hear all the scary noises—the screaming engine sound and the water getting into the helicopter. It feels even more terrifying than seeing it.
Once again, it's time buy dead trees. Once again, we should marvel at the way they harvest them: Using insane helicopters pilots flying at full speed, ferrying trees from one side of a hill to where the trucks are. It's crazy.
When I was a kid, I had a small laser pointer. It chowed down on single cell batteries and did little more than annoy my pets. Now, modern laser pointers, such as the Wicked Lasers that exist for whatever reason, can burn through stuff and shoot a beam all the way into space.
I think it's safe to say that this picture is better than most Michael Bay movies. Taken by Cpl Neil Bryden of the British Army, it shows an Apache attack helicopter flying away from a gigantic fiery Godzilla smoke monster explosion. So damn cool.
The race to build ever-faster helicopters has seen some rather, um, unique designs take flight in recent years, but nothing quite like this Frankensteined airship from the AVX Aircraft Company. And though it may look strange, this concept chopper could soon be setting some new airspeed records.
Here's a US Army Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopter dropping a US Navy boat into the sea while a guy—apparently Navy SEAL—is descending into the boat from the chopper. A reader gave a description in the comments:
Watch this helicopter pilot trim trees with a giant 10-blade saw right by a power line. Apparently, it is the only practical way to cut back vegetation in isolated, hard-to-access locations. Amazing skills and courage.
