(Video) Amazing Las Vegas Photo Flight: Phenom 300

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 driving into Las Vegas that night and saw the photo shoot for about 20 minutes. Took me a while to figure out what was going on!

Fantastic work.

Great job by photo platform pilot Melissa too! Also, the music was kick ass and worked perfectly for the shoot.

That's a couple of nice planes and P6SM

Nicely done! Not only are the photos great but it is nice that you brought us along for a very small bit of the briefing.

Good work !

That was amazing! Great Job!

good Job

Reminds me of of the days (evenings and mornings) doing the same kind of photography for Piper Aircraft.

I think my friend Melissa flew the photo aircraft. She's amazing and so are the photos.

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!

Absolutely brilliant video!

Appears to be a photo from this shoot:
http://flightaware.com/photos/view/135286-da68e3c1717b658084d8ece697affcbb7c7d98d6/aircrafttype/E55P

this was simply amazing. gorgeous airplane and gorgeous backdrop. just awesome

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 !

Absolutely awesome

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. !!

As a guy who loves photography and flies also this is really coo.

Awesome video. Did the AP fly the Phenom around the "track"?

Beautiful.Thanks for sharing.

Wow, some of the shots are so great I would have thought the Phenom was photoshopped into them if I had not watched the video. Great job!

Impressive !

Why is it some people ruin a great video by adding absolutely putrid "music"!

Interesting..

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.

Way too many pix of the people and the cockpit!

Stunning piece of video. Plaudits must go to the skillful pilots and the superb photographers.