24 July 2008

Sky Watch Friday - "Bombs" away

A Puma helicopter of the South African Air Force giving a demonstration, at the last airshow, on how they drop water when fighting fires.


The drop. That is a lot of water and it is probably why this is such an effective fire fighting technique.


Away he goes. I believe it requires a lot of skill to fly a helicopter with a heavy weight dangling below, because of having to compensate for the constant swinging.

The next Port Elizabeth Airshow is in October and I'm counting the days.

For more Skywatch pictures visit the team of Tom, Sandy and Imac, who are our hosts.

31 comments:

Firefly the Travel Guy said...

The next airshow is going to be awesome. Although the planes are taking off at the airport (duh), the airshow will take place over the beachfront. Its going to be a free show with activities along the beachfront. This includes navy ships coming and anchoring off shore. As soon as I have more info, I will post it on MyPE.

SandyCarlson said...

That's amazing to see. I can't imagine managing a helicopter and a swinging bucket of water and dealing with a fire. My hat's off to the ones who do it.

Maria said...

Interesting to see how that works! The second picture is really beautiful with the water pouring down!

bobbie said...

Pretty darned neat! I dated a guy who was a helicopter test pilot (about 50 some years ago) Got a ride in his plane, but never in a helicopter. I'd like to do that.

Pat - Arkansas said...

Great shots, Max! Thanks for sharing.

EG CameraGirl said...

Wonderful shots! I bet that air show was GREAT!

Petunia said...

Marvelous!!!


Petunia's SWF

Tom said...

Fantastic SW post... now thats a sight to have seen Max..

Julie said...

I love the water shwooshing in that middle image, Max. I bet you took quite a few pictures until you got the one you were happy with! Indeed the skill required to manoeuvre one of those laden beasts would be mega ...

Snap Catch said...

Happy weekend! Perfect one for SWF! We all live under the same sky, but we don't all have the same horizon.... Mine's up too hope you can drop by...

me ann my camera said...

Thank you for the educational skywatch! And the pilot must have to be very good to do such work.

Anonymous said...

Cool pictures!

Anonymous said...

That is fantastic! So brilliant for you to capture that great pictures!

Hope you can hop by my SWF post HERE. Happy weekends!

Rose said...

Very interesting series...wouldn't that be a heck of a water balloon!

I agree with whoever said they couldn't imagine flying a helicopter with that swinging from below!

Raven said...

Impressive shots. I'm with Sandy - I can't imagine how hard it must be to manage the helicopter and that bucket of water. Incredible.

Anonymous said...

Amazing photos. Very interesting post!

Louise said...

Great pictures, but I certainly wouldn't want to be in that helicopter!

Lilli & Nevada said...

Those are some cool shot

Neva said...

I am not sure I would like to be in that helicopter...must take a great deal of skill to do this.

Anonymous said...

Very pretty and nice capturing. Happy SWF and weekend too.

Andrea said...

Great capture. Interesint watching this done

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Max: How very cool shots of the firefighter helicopter in the Sky.

Kim said...

Oooh fun. I bet it is hard when they drop the water too. They have to compensate for the change in weight. Great pictures!

AphotoAday said...

With all of our wild-fires here in California, those helicopters have been working overtime! Great shots.

Bob Johnson said...

Great shots, and very interesting, it would be cool to ride in one of those, I bet you can feel the swinging motion caused by the water.

Kelly said...

absolutely awesome!!! I can't believe it!!

Katney said...

I have seen helicopters dipping water from Rimrock Lake in the Cascade Mtns. when there were forest fires in nearby areas.

Kerri Farley said...

Fabulous skywatch shot!!

amanda said...

Seeing pictures of helicopters dropping water bombs brings back not so great memories for me living in California. We are once again in the midst of a horrible wildfire season where seeing and hearing the helicopters adds to the anxiety of wondering whether your house will survive the onslaught of mother nature.

Heather said...

sigh..living in California, I have seen this too many times ..for real!!

Great pics!! Thanks so much for the visit!

myonlyphoto said...

Wow Max-e these are great. It's been long time for me since my air show here in Toronto. Great shots again, Anna :)