Air-to-Air Shots

O.k. here's some eye candy for you aviation enthusiasts.  The rest of you might find this post a little boring.  Last month while some folks were here from MAF UK, we took the opportunity to do some air-to-air photo shoots and video here in Tarakan.  Below is one of the "generational shots" I took, representing the three aircraft type that we fly here in Tarkan.  

The video guy, Jonathan, and I were sitting in the back of the lead plane, a Cessna TU206, shooting out the open double doors (the doors can be removed and a spoiler kit installed to deflect some of the wind.) Just below and aft of us was the next plane, PK-MPX, also a Cessna TU206.

Next in line was our Quest Kodiak 100, PK-MEB.  (In February I'll be heading off to Spokane, Washington for a few weeks of training in the Kodiak.)

And finally, PK-MAE, our Cessna 208 Grand Caravan.

The main reason for and star of this photo shoot was the Kodiak.  So after grabbing some formation shots of all three planes, the 206 an 208 headed home, while I focused my lens exclusively on the newest member of our fleet, MEB.  Here's a few the shots I snagged.

There's a whole lot more, but you get the idea.  Here's a shot that Layton Thomson took from the Caravan window.  You can see Jonathan and I squeezing into the open door frame of the lead 206, trying to get that perfect shot (or in Jonathan's case-video.)

Earlier that day we also spent some time shooting photos and video of the Kodiak in action on some of our exciting strips in the Apo Kayan region.  This is not something we normally get to do here...but it was a lot of fun!  The MAF UK guys (and a gal) were here to grab stories and images of how the Kodiak is used to impact the ministry in Northeast Kalimantan.  In order to communicate that, you need to get some shots of the "horse" at work, and that's often hard to do when you're the only one out there--thus the unusual move of sending a group of us out to do nothing but shoot action shots.  

Of course, we had to grab a "tough guy" shot of the five of us before it was all said and done.  Here, in the village of Long Nawang, pictured from left to right, Layton - photographer, Dave H. - pilot, Jonathan - video, me - video/photos, Paul C - video.  In this case, all of us were mostly shooting full 1080p HD video, with the exception of Layton, who was taking pictures.