Amazing shots during a behind the scenes video on a photo flight of an Embraer Phenom 300 over the Las Vegas Strip during NBAA 2013 (www.youtube.com) さらに...
I was on board the Beechcraft A36 as a safety pilot. The formation pilot on the Phenom 300 was a former USAF Thunderbird, and he coordinated extensively with Las Vegas Approach and the McCarran control tower. We had specific restrictions altitudes and the oval patterns we flew west of the strip. In general, we remained north of the centerlines of runways 25 to avoid conflicts with departing airline traffic, and we operated west of the route that the sight-seeing helicopters use along the strip. We were in constant contact with McCarran tower. At one point, during a lull in airline departures, we got permission to fly a track farther south so that we could get McCarran in the background. A photo shoot like this requires experienced pilots, thorough briefings, and coordination with the appropriate ATC facilities. That it went smoothly and produced excellent results, is evidence of that preparation and, of course, the skill of the photographer, Jessica Ambats.
I was watching the flying on my way back from the NBAA show that night and marveling at the precision. The video does a great job of capturing the preparation that goes into a safe and successful photo flight. Thanks for sharing!
That was an exceptionally enjoyable video! Sure, I might be biased since I'm Director of an Aviation Department that operates a 300, and a Phenom 100, as well! I might add that the paint job on the Phenom is really a nice design - well done on that, too - but the video turned out just great!
I've flown into KLAS a number of times in a Cherokee, and I always love departing over the strip and the turn back west over the surrounding mountains especially at dusk... Great shots and video, Thanks for posting !
Wow. You guys (and gals) are good. Congrats on a job well done. From all angles and from both aircraft it was a huge undertaking that with careful and complete planning came together perfectly. As a corporate pilot of a CJ3 I deal with KLAS and McCarren ATC frequently also. They are very professional and take pride in their work keeping us safe. Thanks to McCarren ATC for coordinating this photo shoot opportunity. Thank you Bruce for the additional information posted. Having a former USAF Thunderbird to work out the formation details was a great idea. And as always, Jessica, you make it look soooo easy, even when it is not. My ONLY regret is that I wasn't in either aircraft to witness this as it happened. I know it had to be a great feeling. Blue Skies ALL. !!
All of the flying was done by the respective pilots. You can't use an autopilot during formation work, and as you can see in the video, photo work requires many adjustments that are outside the norm for formation flying.
Awful racket. Why are so many otherwise interesting videos compromised by adding an annoying "soundtrack?" People gotta have noise it seems or it isn't real for them.
For this, they nearly killed the STAAV4 departures, but were low enough that their departure frequency is the same as LAS Tower for Helicopters. Luckily, they stayed low enough to stay out of the STAAV4 departure corridor, and east enough to not worry about the GA traffic into VGT.
Really good stuff here. Very very well done. I feel spoiled in living there, but really good stuff.