A new exciting thread for helicopters (crew and passengers) to show backcountry Landing Zones!

Today we were looking for surf along the coast and I landed the R44 (desperately needed to relieve myself) and snap a picture. There is a smoke haze that starts at about 1.5K MSL. The sea breeze kept the dunes nice and smoke free, however.

Name: LZ.RS.Pen01

Hughes 500. The LZ is a meadow near Blewett Pass in Central Washington. The guy with the bell bottom blue jeans is the pilot. The other guy is the helitack Crew foreman. September 1974.

The LZ is Lester Washington. Hughes 500. A railroad and logging town on the west side of Stampede Pass. I don't know when the photo was taken. The guy standing in front of the helicopter is my neighbor and is 75 years old now. This helitack crew was assigned to the North Bend Washington Ranger Station and based at Alpental on the summit of Snoqualmie pass so they would be above the fog common on the west side of the Cascades in the mornings.


The whole crew at their base up at Alpental. This is a different helicopter. It has the long legs on the landing gear. The other one has short legs. The guy with the blue overalls is the foreman. The pilot on the far right. Notice a couple of orange fire shirts. It was about 1972 they changed the color to yellow. The orange looked too much like a spot fire from the air.

First picture is a knoll we landed at to make some smokies for lunch. Place call Sheep Meadows. Then we cruised over and landed on a glacier just below the summit of Mt. Sir Alexander. Last picture is just up from the opening of an ice cave we found to go exploring in. Last picture is from in the ice cave. Pretty awesome and all within an hr flight from home. R66 was our ride.

Very Cool A1 Skinner.

Eurocopter A star bringing a load of rappellers To Cinnamon Butte Lookout, near Diamond Lake Oregon, to initial attack a small fire nearby.


Pilot in the chopper, Foreman on the right, rappeller on the left. She is checking to be sure he is all hooked up correctly. The helicopter is from Hawaii. Thus the paint job.


The foreman and pilot come back to hook up a Blivit (75 gallon bag of water) to take back to the reppellers on the fire.


Hooking a Long Line to the blivit.


Elk on the helispot the next morning.

McGrath Alaska heliport, August 1997.


Flying up the Innoko River looking for a place to camp. This gravel bar looks good. Our job is to keep this 1000 acre spot fire from reaching the historical mining town of Ophir. It is a stop on the Northern route of the Iditarod sled dog race.


Going back for another load.


Hooper bay crew fishing for grayling. The guy with the long pole is the Crew boss, Elmer.


Alaska Permafrost refrigerator. To keep our fresh food in.


Hooper Bay Crew camp.


Alaska DOI helicopter manager

The guys in flight suits are pilots. Two Yellow shirts on the left are Alaska Fire Service strike team leaders, one on the right is BLM Heliport Manager.


The two track is used in the winter by miners to pull cat trains. There were Iditarod signs on the trees along it.


"The Last Supper" he was sure the bears were going to get him in his tent that night so he asked me to take this picture and send it to his wife.

Spruce Bud worm spray project, Tietion Airstrip 1987. They are called spruce bud worms because they look like a spruce bud. They eat fir tree needles. Hiller 12-E Soloy turbine conversion. Pilot in the helicopter, Guy in dark blue is the spray truck driver, the other guy is the helicopter owner.

They are spraying Bacillus Thuringienis (BT). IT is a natural occurring bacteria that attacks the digestive systems of moths. It has to be sprayed on the trees when the moths are in the larva stage and eating the fir tree needles.

Love it. Keep the helicopter pictures coming.

Hughes 500 at Little Bald Mountain lookout on the Naches Ranger District west of Yakima WA. Sept 1972. Pilot on the left, District Fire Control Officer (FCO) on the right. Photo taken by my wife from the lookout tower.

A secret LZ in friendly territory:

In August 1973 we got a call from Olympique helicopters who had the contract on the Hughes 500 stationed at the Naches Ranger Station. He said a load of jet fuel would be delivered by Chinook that morning. We assumed it was coming on a truck over Chinook pass. Then this showed up. Turns out, A couple of Olympique's pilots were in the Washington National guard and it was their weekend to fly so they made this their mission.

CH-47 Chinook, often confused with the Boeing Vertol. The Chinook is much larger than the Vertol. You can easily tell the difference between the two. The Vertol has a single nose wheel.


On the ground


55 gallon drums of jet fuel are unloaded. They told us they once flew a 3/4 ton pickup over to Idaho. They unloaded it, drove it to town, and filled it up with cases of Coors Beer. Coors couldn't be sold in Washington back then because it wasn't homogenized.

Alouette 3, Trout Lake, Washington, Gifford Pinchot National Forest, 1975.


Headed to a fire with the water bucket.


The Fixed wings. Cessna 185s Each plane flew two aerial fire detection flights over the forest per day. I got my first ride in a tail dragger in one. Mount Adams in the background.


Mount Saint Helens Aug. 1975.


Spirit Lake. The South shore on the right. Private summer holes, the old Spirit Ranger Station, and Harry Truman's (no relation to the president) Mount Saint Helens Lodge were here. The North side of the Mountain and 1400 feet of the top blew out and covered the area with about 200 feet of mud when it erupted on May 18, 1980. Harry had refused to leave. Geologists estimate he had about 22 seconds before it hit him.


Spirit lake google earth today

Sky Cranes working on the Aspen Fire, Coronado National forest, July 2003

Catalina Dip


Approaching Catalina Dip

A lonely Summer day:

Army MAST UH-1 (Huey)

Logging road LZ during a cold dark winter day:

Another day at the office:

Ramp check!

(Actually, they just wanted to sit in it and go for ride. Really nice guys)

The daily customer deliveries at the RHC facilities in Torrance, California. This ramp is where the first R22 flew (year 1974) and the first FAA certified R22 was delivered (year 1979). My old hangar is in the background.

Spruce bud worm spray project Wallowa-Whitman (W Bar W) National Forest June 1992. Bell 212 filling up. Chase truck driver and pilot.


50 feet above the tree tops at sunrise.


I'm an observer in a Jet ranger watching to make sure none of the spray nozzles are plugged or drooling and the spray is falling. By about two hours after the sun hits the tree canopy the heat causes the spray to rise.


Looking right up the exhaust pipes of a 212. He had a chip light on so banked over to this meadow to land.


Ruckel Ridge heliport


Jet Ranger Pilot and wife/chase truck driver.


Electric spray nozzles spin at 20,000 RPM to make an extremely fine mist.