First Helicopter Ride

Posted on May 29, 2013 by Arnie Lee

Aerial Photography the Easy Way

For forty years I’ve traveled extensively for work, mostly by plane. For some, traveling is an exciting part of the job but for others it represents an unpleasant necessity.

For me, the “good” part is that I’ve accumulated enough frequent flyer miles to reach the 1 Million Mile Club. This means for the rest of my life I can travel on United with certain pleasantries. The “bad” part is that to achieve this milestone, I’ve spent way more than a full work-year(2000+ hours) on their aircraft – not counting the time at various airports. But since my occupation was related to flying, all of this traveling affords me a way to keep in contact with the aviation industry. Along with the miles, I’ve accumulated a sizable collection of aerial photographs. As a window seat passenger, I’ve enjoyed viewing and capturing some magnificent sites passing by at a one mile every six seconds clip.

Lately, I’ve scaled back on business trips. However, While vacationing in Hawaii last week, I couldn’t resist the chance to view the lava flows from the amazing Kilauea Volcano by air. With all the time I’ve spent in aircraft, you’d think that this would be just another routine trip. But this being my first flight by chopper, I was quite excited.

Our helicopter, a Eurocopter AS350 seats six plus the pilot. This aircraft has a generous amount of windows thereby offering a very good view out the surrounding.

We were happy to learn that our pilot was quite experienced. Before migrating to the Big Island, she flew Grand Canyon tours from Las Vegas for several years.

The flight begins at the Hilo airport on the east side of the Big Island (Hawaii). We pass over stands of macadamia trees. Macadamias are the main export of the Hawaiian islands.

It’s a 12 minute flight from Hilo to the volcanic coast. A few minutes before, we pass over a dreary, smokey, grey landscape. These are a few of the notable features of Kilauea Volcano.

Upon reaching the coast, our pilot maneuvers the helicopter so we can have an off-shore view of the volcanic activity.

The smoke is the result of 2200-degree lava emptying into the ocean. Since 1983, the lava flow has added about 500 acres of new land to the island.

We’re told that the lava solidifies very soon after it reaches the water.

The red areas of this photograph are the hot lava pouring into the Pacific.

These two hot spots are lava tubes which have poked their way through the caldera to the surface.

These are spent (expended) lava tubes which have crusted over.

Of course it’s possible to photograph the same sites from a small private aircraft. But shooting from a helicopter is certainly a superior way of accomplishing the same. With a skilled pilot such as ours, we were able to easily maneuver to locations that would require multiple passes with a private plane. And unlike a helicopter which is able to hover, an aircraft introduces 80 knots or more of shake to the photos. I’m happy to have taken the tour and capturing an unforgettable set of travel photographs.
 
 
 
 
Written by Arnie Lee
 
 

 
 
 

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Do the Birds Know Something We Should Also Know?

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Arnie Lee

Earth Day “it’s for the birds”… and us too

Today is Earth Day. I’m guessing that many of you haven’t a clue as to what it’s about. Maybe you can get a glint of Earth Day here.

I recently completed writing what has become an annual article about Earth Day. Yesterday morning as I was having coffee and reading the Sunday NY Times, I was quite surprised that I didn’t find a single mention of Earth Day throughout the entire newspaper. But I did run across an interesting article that has a similar theme.

As a lover of the outdoors, I’m an avid participant in nature photography. Having spent more than five decades with camera-in-hand, I’ve collected my share of wildlife images. Along the way, I’ve found that the most challenging parts of this favorite activity is capturing the varying graceful, delicate or powerful movements of birds in flight.

Yes, I like birds but I don’t consider myself a bird-watcher. Yet according to Brian Kimberling[1], there are some 5.8 million bird-watchers in the US. I’m not sure where he derives this number but his mention of The Audubon Society most likely accounts for a good share of them.

Last December amid our holiday festivities, I recall hearing about the start of Audubon’s annual Christmas Bird Count. During a two week period, participants take a census of birds in their geographic area with a main goal of studying how bird populations have changed in time and space. After reading Kimberling’s article, I have a better understanding of what these studies are telling us about the environment of all the non-bird species, i.e. us humans.

According the Audubon Society’s report, there has been a noticeable change in bird migration in recent years. The report says: we were able to look at the winter distribution of 305 species to see if their winter range had shifted over the last 40 years. We discovered that 177 of these species showed a significant shift north and this northward shift was correlated with an increase in mean January temperatures in the contiguous 48 states of almost 5 degrees during that time. You can find more details on the Audubon’s website.

Five degrees in 40 years. This is a pretty large increase within the lifetime of many of us. Obviously it’s a big deal to the habits of the birds.

Shouldn’t we be concerned? What do you think? I’d like to hear from you.

Written by Arnie Lee

[1]”What Do Birders Know”, NY Times Sunday Review Section, April 21, 2013

 

 

 

 

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Earth Day 2013

Posted on April 19, 2013 by Arnie Lee
Earth Day 2013

…moving forward at a snail’s pace

 

“Monday, April 22 marks the 43rd anniversary of the first Earth Day.


This topic has been on my mind so much so that I’ve written and rewritten this article several times over the years. Here’s a recollection of some of the thoughts that have followed me since this movement was in its infancy.” – Arnie Lee

 Earth Day

As April arrives each year I’m reminded of Earth Day. Follow along as my mind becomes unstuck in time.

From the time I first started reading his black humor, novelist Kurt Vonnegut has been one on my favorite authors. He died in April 2007 shortly before the original version of this article was published. The news coverage of his life and death took me back to the late 60’s when I was a student at the University of Michigan (U of M) in Ann Arbor. Vonnegut was invited to be “writer in residence” and as one of the most widely read authors of the day, he was sure to have a large, welcoming audience at U of M.

He sometimes frequented “The Brown Jug” – a small, local campus restaurant where he’d have breakfast and smoke lots of cigarettes. Vonnegut claimed that smoking was the slowest form of suicide. My wife Kris, also a student at the time, waitressed at The Brown Jug and on occasion would wait on him. But owing to her hearing difficulty she wasn’t a very good waitress and frustrated the celebrated writer with her (lack of) service. More to the point, his purpose on campus as writer in residence ended when he prematurely left declaring something to the effect: “I’m leaving Ann Arbor since I have nothing more to teach you about writing.” So it goes.
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