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.

at

31 comments:

  1. Firefly the Travel Guy24 July 2008 at 20:59

    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.

    ReplyDelete
  2. SandyCarlson24 July 2008 at 21:13

    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.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Maria24 July 2008 at 21:38

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

    ReplyDelete
  4. bobbie24 July 2008 at 21:55

    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.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Pat - Arkansas24 July 2008 at 22:16

    Great shots, Max! Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  6. EG CameraGirl24 July 2008 at 22:20

    Wonderful shots! I bet that air show was GREAT!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Petunia24 July 2008 at 22:38

    Marvelous!!!


    Petunia's SWF

    ReplyDelete
  8. Tom24 July 2008 at 22:53

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

    ReplyDelete
  9. Julie24 July 2008 at 23:15

    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 ...

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous24 July 2008 at 23:47

    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...

    ReplyDelete
  11. me ann my camera25 July 2008 at 00:13

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

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous25 July 2008 at 00:28

    Cool pictures!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous25 July 2008 at 01:38

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

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

    ReplyDelete
  14. Rose25 July 2008 at 02:15

    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!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Raven25 July 2008 at 02:21

    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.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous25 July 2008 at 02:22

    Amazing photos. Very interesting post!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Louise25 July 2008 at 06:23

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

    ReplyDelete
  18. Lilli & Nevada25 July 2008 at 06:37

    Those are some cool shot

    ReplyDelete
  19. Neva25 July 2008 at 07:13

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

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous25 July 2008 at 11:36

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

    ReplyDelete
  21. Andrea25 July 2008 at 14:52

    Great capture. Interesint watching this done

    ReplyDelete
  22. This Is My Blog - fishing guy25 July 2008 at 15:44

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

    ReplyDelete
  23. Kim25 July 2008 at 15:50

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

    ReplyDelete
  24. AphotoAday25 July 2008 at 17:25

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

    ReplyDelete
  25. Bob Johnson25 July 2008 at 20:50

    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.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Kelly26 July 2008 at 05:21

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

    ReplyDelete
  27. Katney26 July 2008 at 05:50

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

    ReplyDelete
  28. Kerri Farley27 July 2008 at 02:59

    Fabulous skywatch shot!!

    ReplyDelete
  29. amanda28 July 2008 at 05:49

    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.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Heather29 July 2008 at 08:09

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

    Great pics!! Thanks so much for the visit!

    ReplyDelete
  31. myonlyphoto29 July 2008 at 10:32

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

    ReplyDelete