Erickson S64E Air-Crane N243AC Marty Fire Bomber Walk Around

For three weekends (6+ hours a day in blistering heat) I turned up and waited to see Mary the Air-Crane take off. On my third visit the crew, who have seen me putting in the hours, invited me through the gates to walk around Marty whilst answering any questions I had. They were also happy for me to take photos.

I was thrilled. Not only have I driven considerable distances to stake him out but i have tracked him across the fire seasons and I have had him fly low over my house on many occasions.

Here are some selected shots from my up close and personal meeting with Marty.

Comments and feedback, as ever, more than welcomed.

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nicely done.. see - stalking does pay off!

Excellent pictures. I've never seen close ups of these fire fighting helicopters. Where I'm from we use De Havilland CL 215 water bombers. We have thousands of lakes and this makes it easy for the bombers to pick up a load.

I can see the advantage of a Copter though in tight situations. Often thought that big city fire fighting forces would benefit from having a fire fighting copter in their fleet.

Precision drop ...from overhead....think would be very helpful.

These are very nice images of it. Keep it up! ; )

EXCELLENT. Nicely framed with great colour. Really like the photo of the swash plate / rotor hub.

Loved the clean detailed shots! Excellent images.

The engineering in that head is amazing!

What I love the most about the air crane is obviously the engineering team had full control over it's design and final look. There's not a single skivvy wearing designer to be seen in this one!

shame a few are on the shadow side when they could have been on the sunny side and a few are too close or cropped.

Thanks very much for the feedback guys. Much appreciated.

reole wrote in post #16733026
shame a few are on the shadow side when they could have been on the sunny side and a few are too close or cropped.

Many thanks for the feedback. They were shot deliberately on the "shadow side" as otherwise I would have had some shipping containers and the crew outside area, water tanks and a generator in the background, and I didn't want that as it would have been too cluttered and would have made an unpleasant backdrop and taken away from the intended focus of attention - the airframe.

Non of these are crops. As for some being too close, whenever taking close detail shots I will endeavour to remember to stand further back and zoom in more next time.

Very well done. Excellent series.

Excellent series... persistence does pay off. What lens were you using?

Lesmore wrote in post #16731104
Excellent pictures. I've never seen close ups of these fire fighting helicopters. Where I'm from we use De Havilland CL 215 water bombers.

. . . I think you meant Canadair CL 215 water bombers ?

Great shots of a big, fire fighting helicopter - up close 'n personal !!

Extremely jealous of the opportunity you had. Excellent shots.

Looking good, nice clean pictures and good angles.