These are the highlights for me from my college career. For the most part, these are just grouped by topic and aren’t in any sort of order. With graduation coming up in a little less than a month, I thought it would be fun to take a look back at some of the most memorable things I’ve done and photographed. Hopefully I’ll be able to continue my documentary-style photography with my future career. Until then, here are my favorite moments from university!
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I’ll round out the law enforcement stories on the ramp. Nearly all of my time with police was spent in the air unit. I love flying and hope to one day join the unit. It’s one thing to chase someone from the ground but bringing in a machine that shouldn’t be flying down low and slow is a game changer. Watching all of the tactical stuff they’ve done as well as hearing stories of search and rescue missions keeps me excited for my future career.
The Christmas Break before my last semester at FAU, I came up to Jacksonville. While I was figuring out how the transfer was going to work, I started to get into flying with the aviation unit. On a very crisp afternoon, before we put the OH-58 away for the day (it’s not night certified since it’s military) I got this shot of the sun peaking over the tail boom. For a while, this was the first picture you saw when visiting the website. The 58 is like an old Ford pickup: she’s old, not the fastest, not the prettiest, but she’s reliable and easy-going. The longer, fatter, slower main rotor means the controls are a little sluggish but makes for a much easier learning experience. Contrast that to the 407, the much larger helicopter the SWAT guys load up in, the 407 is a Ferrari: fast and powerful but takes a much more advanced pilot to fly it smoothly. The OH-58 would be retired from the unit a few years later due to old age.
During my last spring break at FAU, I came back again. Storms were on the horizon in the middle of the shift. With a dirty tail boom from the jet exhaust, it made for a nice and gritty photo. The 206 up until recently was the workhorse of the unit. Two civilian models plus the OH-58 meant pilots spent significantly more time in here than the 4-bladed 407. On this day, we would pull in the helo early to keep it from getting rained on; nothing like having to jump in to go to a call with a wet seat. The doors stayed off almost year-round, especially during day shift. The air temperature can easily be 20 degrees cooler than the cockpit; the bubble-shaped plexiglass acts like a magnifying glass which can be great in the winter but summers will see temps well above 120F in the cockpit on the ramp.
Day shift starts at 0700 which can be… early… but when the sun comes up like this, with a thin layer of fog across the airfield and clear skies, it’s worth it. We got there a little early to roll the 407 out on the ramp just for this shot. The 407 just looks fast when it sits on the ramp. The main rotor has a pretty severe forward tilt (and slightly left because engineering reasons) so when it cruises, the fuselage is level. When it picks up off the pad, though, you’re leaning pretty far back; the front skids are about a foot off the ground before the back pick up.
The final picture for this section. I miss the flying and want to get back to it badly. I’ve been able to see a lot of cool things as a spectator and photographer with the air unit. The engineering side of me loves looking at the preflight procedures, the checklists, and watching the maintenance crews work. So much is going on to make helicopters work. Sikorski was a madman for figuring this stuff out. Watching the police do their thing with them is impressive. Some of things I’ve been able to watch first hand with them include patrol, SWAT training, many formations from both the ground and the air, diver insertions, looking for people and cars on the ground, and that’s just the tip of what they do. SAR missions, looking for missing kids, flying evidence techs for crime scene photos (until the recent deployment of a drone unit), static displays, and more.
Maybe one day I’ll be able to fly in the right seat instead of the left.
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