Life Through Your Camera

[Rooster Cruiser]

Awesome shot cotejy!     Man, that village is way the hell and gone from anywhere!

RC

[cotejy]

RC, you don't know the worst, this village is inside the "dry zone". The trade of alcool is not allowed there.

[Rooster Cruiser]

RC, you don't know the worst, this village is inside the "dry zone". The trade of alcool is not allowed there.

 

I'm never going there!!!!!!!!!!!  Got ta have my 

RC

[G-man]

this village is inside the "dry zone". The trade of alcool is not allowed there.

Spent some time in a "dry town" in Kentucky a while back---they allowed one restaurant to serve beer on a Friday night---it is the one and only time I have been "heckled" on my way into a restaurant....

[Skid Kid]

Haven't been around these parts in a while, so I brought a couple small peace offerings to try and excuse my absence...

...now if only I could remember where I hid my real camera from myself.   

[Rooster Cruiser]

Great shots, Skid!  Can you elaborate a bit on the subject of your pics?  The first one appears to be a Russian design, am I correct?  Which carrier were you on on the second shot, and what part of the world might you have been sailing through?

Thanks for sharing.

RC

[Skid Kid]

Can you elaborate a bit on the subject of your pics?

The things you forget to do after a night's work and a couple beers...

The first one is a Cambodian Mi-17 taxing a bit too low over one of our Hueys at Phnom Penh International Airport.  That reminds me to go threaten to break someone's legs since there are a couple Mi-26s and MiG-21s half a mile out of frame to the left that someone got close ups of...

The second one was taken in prison aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6) in Hong Kong harbor.

These are just quick shots a took with my phone camera, I really need to go find my real one...

[Mike]

Yes, you do!
Even those pics are great!

Those Mi-helos make a ton of downwash (ran into a few in Mexico).
I'm sure you guys weren't happy with that idiot.....

[YawningMan]

Hey, I've been on the Bonhomme Richard! I didn't deploy, but when I was in A school in Pensacola, it docked there for a short while, and they let people board for tours. I was able to come on in civilian clothes, so I didn't have to do the whole flag/fag dance. I probably knew how to do it back then, though. Shoot, knowing my memory, I might very well have been in uniform and DID have to do it.

For that matter, I was on a gator freighter. Is that what the Bonhomme Richard is?

No, seriously. There's a statute of limitations on things I remember beyond ten years.

[Skid Kid]

I'm sure you guys weren't happy with that idiot.....

He's lucky no one was on the minigun at the time.

For that matter, I was on a gator freighter. Is that what the Bonhomme Richard is?

Yup, that's exactly what it is.

So, here are some "pics" from life on the flight deck.  I say "pics" because they're really screen captures from video I was shooting with my GoPro.
1 is the view from the starboard elevator, 80 ft or so above the water.
2 is from a replenishment at sea, I can't remember what type of helo that is in the upper left corner, but he's dropping pallets off.
3 is the starboard elevator again, this time lowered and with a Lawn Dart™  on it.
4 is a pair of Cobras and a CH-53 in the background waiting for clearance to launch.  You can tell they're ready because the chains have been removed and are on the deck in front of me.

[Skid Kid]

More life on the flight deck, same type of "pics" as previous post.

5 is a UH-1Y taking off, there are 2 CH-46s and a CH-53 ready to launch behind him and the empty spot to the right was vacated by another UH-1Y about 10 seconds prior.
6 is a Lawn Dart™ doing a FOD removal of the flight deck, otherwise known as a takeoff.  Either the engine eats the FOD or it gets blown into your face, usually the latter.
7 is another Lawn Dart™ doing an imitation of a dropped piano, otherwise known as landing.  The 2 AH-1Ws and single UH-1Y are waiting for takeoff clearance.
8 is the UH-1Y that is missing from pic #5.
Hope you enjoy!  Also, I really hate Lawn Darts™.

[Mike]

Cool!

Awesome pics! Love them!

 

[Rooster Cruiser]

Way cool stuff, Skid!  Brings back memories.  In another life I was a Snipe aboard a Perry Class Missile Frigate.  We had a Helo Pad on the fantail of the ship and two hangars for Helos but never had any stationed aboard when I served.  We did make use for the flight deck though.  During Flight Ops I was in the Tower cab above the Helo Deck to ensure my gear (the meatball) worked properly.  Nothing made me more nervous than looking at those whirling rotor blades right at my eye level just a few feet from my face!     I knew if a wheeled helo had brake failure and rolled forward on landing all three of us in the tower cab would be toast!

RC

[Skid Kid]

Dang RC, at least I always had the option to run...

More? More!

Pics 1 and 2 are from the flight from prison the ship to Phnom Penh International, done low, fast, and in formation.  (We were -2, and -3 was never really in a good spot for photos like the lead bird was.)
Pics 3 and 4 are not from the flight of anyone around here in the front seat of an AH-1W from Basa Air Base in the Phillipines up in to the caldera of Mt. Pinatubo and back.  Where did these even come from...

[Mike]

MORE!