Tuesday, September 25, 2007
"Up, Up, And Away!".....with the "Canadian Coast Guard!"
"WOP! WOP! WOP! WOP! WOP! WOP! WOP!" The sound was "unmistakeable" to me! I had finished the day's flying, and was down at the Float Base, "pickle jar" full of "liquid intellect" in hand, enjoying the "vista" of Lake Winnipeg. Then the external speaker for the Base VHF "crackled"!
"Coast Guard helicopter 306 is 17 miles northwest of Matheson Island, 1500', inbound for Pine Dock."
"Crap", Matheson Island is over 10 miles north of Pine Dock, and Coast Guard 306 was 17 miles northwest of Matheson Island! I could hear the "rotor blades", at over 27 miles! I guess radial engines haven't destroyed my hearing yet! I headed to the airport to meet the Coast Guard crew, as I figured they would need some "Jet" for their tanks!
When I got to the airport, 306 was on the "pad".
She is C-GCHT, a "Bell 212"!
Seeing the helicopter, and hearing her "unique" sound, it reminded me of a story I had read about 25 years ago. During the Vietnam War, the "Huey" was introduced. The Vietnamese word for airplane is "may bay". Once the Huey arrived, it became known to the Vietnamese villagers as "may bay WOP WOP". Very fitting.
Very "fine lines".
I talked to the crew, and they had been "slinging" marine navigation towers to, and upgrading equipment at places on Lake Winnipeg such as McBeth Point, Carson's Reef, Big Bullhead Point, and other locations.
This "wing flings".
The crew fuelled up, thanked me, and prepared to head for Winnipeg. They started "engine 1".........
......then "engine 2".
Pilot, collective, and cyclic working in "perfect harmony", Coast Guard 306 "begins to rise"..........
"Up"........
"Up"..........
...and "Away"!
The "last word" of my Post goes to Coast Guard 306, as she "violates" the windsock......
WOP! WOP! WOP! WOP! WOP! "Adios"!
***BONUS MATERIAL!***
Check out a Post I did on McBeth Point previously, one of the locations Coast Guard 306 was flying to.
HERE IS - "Mystical, Mysterious, Magical; McBeth Pt"!
"Coast Guard helicopter 306 is 17 miles northwest of Matheson Island, 1500', inbound for Pine Dock."
"Crap", Matheson Island is over 10 miles north of Pine Dock, and Coast Guard 306 was 17 miles northwest of Matheson Island! I could hear the "rotor blades", at over 27 miles! I guess radial engines haven't destroyed my hearing yet! I headed to the airport to meet the Coast Guard crew, as I figured they would need some "Jet" for their tanks!
When I got to the airport, 306 was on the "pad".
She is C-GCHT, a "Bell 212"!
Seeing the helicopter, and hearing her "unique" sound, it reminded me of a story I had read about 25 years ago. During the Vietnam War, the "Huey" was introduced. The Vietnamese word for airplane is "may bay". Once the Huey arrived, it became known to the Vietnamese villagers as "may bay WOP WOP". Very fitting.
Very "fine lines".
I talked to the crew, and they had been "slinging" marine navigation towers to, and upgrading equipment at places on Lake Winnipeg such as McBeth Point, Carson's Reef, Big Bullhead Point, and other locations.
This "wing flings".
The crew fuelled up, thanked me, and prepared to head for Winnipeg. They started "engine 1".........
......then "engine 2".
Pilot, collective, and cyclic working in "perfect harmony", Coast Guard 306 "begins to rise"..........
"Up"........
"Up"..........
...and "Away"!
The "last word" of my Post goes to Coast Guard 306, as she "violates" the windsock......
WOP! WOP! WOP! WOP! WOP! "Adios"!
***BONUS MATERIAL!***
Check out a Post I did on McBeth Point previously, one of the locations Coast Guard 306 was flying to.
HERE IS - "Mystical, Mysterious, Magical; McBeth Pt"!
