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Airborne Images and Swamp Loggers in North Carolina

2010-08-31T00:19:00Z

The week of August 23rd, Aerial DP Carston Bell was in the swamps outside Wilmington, NC shooting several days of aerials for Discovery’s hit show ‘Swamp Loggers’. Whenever we work in North Carolina we fly with Helivision out of Concord, NC. Pictured here are (L to R) Helivision owner Buddy Knotts, Swamp Loggers Field Producer and Director Paul Harrison, Aerial DP Carston Bell and the featured star of the show, Bobby Goodson, owner of Bobby Goodson All Terrain Logging. Carston always has a great time working with the Swamp Loggers crew and we hope the show enjoys a long and successful run.

Point Mugu Air Show with the Red Bull Air Force

2010-08-30T04:31:00Z

Aviation Photographer Eric Van Gilder captured this incredible shot of Miles Daisher and Mike Swanson of the Red Bull Air Force flying their wing suits over the Pt. Mugu Airshow. They had just exited the helicopter at 5,000 feet over the runway and if you look closely, Jon Devore and Clint Clawson can be seen standing on the skids about to jump. All four formed up under canopy and then landed together in front of a very enthusiastic crowd. The RBAF guys always put on a great show and this one was no exception with several jumps over the course of two days on August 7th and 8th. Aaron Fitzgerald flew the jump helicopter, N1012K, an AS350B2 owned by Helifilms of Los Angeles. More of Eric Van Gilder’s work can be seen at http://www.vg-photo.com

Diddy - Dirty Money music video

2010-06-29T03:58:00Z

We recently shot a music video for P. Diddy’s new band, ‘Diddy - Dirty Money’ over Los Angeles and it has now been released. The new single is called ‘Hello Good Morning’. We flew over Los Angeles in perfect weather and it was a lot of fun. Aaron Fitzgerald flew the helicopter that can be seen in the video with Mike Tamburro flying as co-pilot/Nightsun operator. John Tamburro flew the camera ship that captured all the aerial footage and he was also the Aerial Coordinator, so we have John to thank for including us on this shoot. We didn’t get to meet Diddy, but we had a great time making the video.

Red Bull Air Force in Seattle

2010-06-16T16:36:00Z

On June 9th and 10th the Red Bull Air Force guys made an aerial assault on the Seattle skyline and Airborne Images was there to capture it. The guys made several jumps with their wing suits from various altitudes and locations making landings at Myrtle Edwards Park in Elliott Bay. We mounted a Cineflex V14 HD onto an AS350B2 from World Wind Helicopters in Renton. Carston Bell was the Aerial DP and Rick Dominy flew the camera helicopter. We dealt with some challenging weather, but had some good success capturing the guys in formation over Seattle. The jumpers were Luke Aikins, Jon Devore, Andy Farrington, and Miles Daisher. It’s always a fun time working with the Red Bull Air Force and we were happy to be part of this event.

This is a frame grab from Carston’s footage of the guys flying in formation through Seattle.

Rick Dominy forming up on the jump plane.

Carston making visual contact with the jump plane before a jump. Seattle is visible out the window.

Aaron Fitzgerald and Luke Aikins on the ramp between jumps. Luke was the organizer and lead jumper for this event.

Carston Bell and Rick Dominy on the ramp at World Wind Helicopters after the last flight of the job.

Dirty Jobs in the Everglades

2010-04-22T03:36:00Z

The ‘Dirty Jobs’ crew and Airborne Images are back at work shooting season 5. On April 15th, we were in the Florida Everglades at Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge shooting aerials of Mike Rowe while he learned about Melalueca eradication. Carston Bell was the Aerial DP and he took this shot over the shoulder of pilot Paul Barth as they chased the crew’s airboat. Carston and Paul flew an AS355 Twinstar operated by Paul’s company, Camera Copters and used Angel City Air’s Cineflex V14 to capture some breathtaking HD aerial shots over the Everglades.

Next-gen Space Suit Revealed for Red Bull Stratos Mission

2010-04-07T08:04:00Z

This is the latest video to come out of the Stratos project. You can see Felix making several exits from the helicopter in this one. This AS350B2 is owned and operated by McKernan Motion Picture Aviation in Los Angeles. Aaron Fitzgerald was the jump pilot for this phase of the pressure suit development and testing. Most of these test jumps were made at around 15,000 feet and at that time, we were working in total secrecy.

Red Bull Stratos Project

2010-01-28T00:52:00Z

Airborne Images has been working in secrecy with Red Bull on the Stratos project, a mission to the edge of space. The project was recently made public. In April, Austrian pilot Felix Baumgartner will attempt to make a world record skydive from 120,000 feet above the Earth. Aaron Fitzgerald has been flying as the test jump helicopter pilot during the development and testing of the pressure suit Felix will wear. Aaron will continue to fly with the Stratos team throughout the project providing helicopter support.

Airborne Images Captures Red Bull Aerobatics with Golfer Camilo Villegas

2010-01-27T00:57:00Z

Recently Red Bull-sponsored PGA golfer Camilo Villegas visited Southern California for a golf tournament and took a trip out to the airport for a ride with Red Bull airshow performer Chuck Aaron. Airborne Images was there to capture air-to-air footage of the flight. Aerial DP Carston Bell was operating the Cineflex and Aaron Fitzgerald was flying the AS350B2 camera platform. Flying formation with Chuck and seeing him work is always a thrill. It was a spectacular California day, and Camilo proved to be quite airworthy throughout the aerobatic maneuvers.

Swamp Loggers in North Carolina

2009-11-25T16:16:00Z

Carston Bell made another trip to North Carolina for Discovery’s new show Swamp Loggers. Airborne Images has done all the aerial work for this show in a variety of locations in the United States and Canada. This installment featured swamp loggers in a rural area outside of Wilmington. The helicopter is a Jetranger from Helivision out of Concord. It was flown by the very capable and experienced Buddy Knotts. We have worked with Buddy and Helivision many times and they always deliver. The camera system was an Angel City Air Cineflex V14 HD. Buddy and Carston took advantage of the only flyable weather for several days to make this shoot happen. This photo was taken by Swamp Loggers Director of Photography, Terry Pratt on October 27th.

Red Bull Air Force invades the Rose Bowl

2009-10-14T02:21:00Z

The Red Bull Air Force Skydive Demonstration Team jumped into the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA before the UCLA Bruins played the Oregon Ducks on Saturday, October 10th. Luke Aikins took these photos of Jon Devore while they descended into the stadium. The jumpers were Luke Aikins, Jeff Provenzano, Mike Swanson, and Jon Devore. Aaron Fitzgerald flew the helicopter, an AS350B2 owned by Helifilms USA. We staged at the Pasadena Police Department Heliport and would like to thank them for helping us make this another successful RBAF event. Photos by Luke Aikins.

Red Bull and NBC

2009-09-23T03:37:01Z

On September 22, we had another fun day shooting air-to-air sequences for a new NBC show that will air later this year. We spent the day at Camarillo airport flying with Bill Reeseman and Chuck Aaron from the stable of Red Bull airshow performers. We operated Angel City Air’s AS350BASD1 (or Super D) with a Cineflex V14HD camera system. First, we shot Air-to-air of Bill Reeseman is his incredible Mig-15. (no luck keeping up with him, but got some good footage) then we shot another full air-to-air sequence of Chuck Aaron doing his magic in the aerobatic BO-105 Red Bull helicopter. Aaron Fitzgerald flew the camera helicopter with Carston Bell as the Aerial DP. Carston got some of the best footage yet of Chuck in action. This photo, taken by Carston, is of Chuck and Aaron at Camarillo Airport after the completion of all the aerial sequences.

Eclipse Camera system

2009-09-23T03:19:00Z

Aaron had the pleasure of flying the new Eclipse Camera system this week. Eclipse is the newest system from Pictorvision that features many advances in Gyrostabilized camera technology. On Tuesday, September 15th we flew aerial sequences for the new ABC series ‘Flash Forward’ with a Sony F35 HD camera system. Then, on Thursday September 17th, we shot aerials for the new Feature film ‘The Green Hornet’ using the same system with a film camera and a 275mm Panavision lens. We used Helifilms’ AS350B2 helicopter which performed flawlessly, as always. Aaron Fitzgerald was the pilot, Kurt Soderling was the Aerial DP, and Peter McKernan was the Aerial Coordinator for both productions. Many thanks to Kurt and Peter for making us a part of these projects. This photo was taken by Pictorvision President Tom Hallman on Monday September 14th as we took off for a test flight in Van Nuys, CA.

America’s Cup Challenger

2009-08-22T23:14:00Z

On August 20th, Airborne Images was on board with Helifilms USA shooting the America’s Cup challenger from the United States. The boat was sailing off the coast of San Diego in preparation for the upcoming race in Dubai. These photos, along with the HD video captured by Helifilms Aerial DP Mike Boidy, will be used to compare and analyze the various entries. It was a fun day and it is always a pleasure to work with David Calvert-Jones. Photos by Aaron Fitzgerald.

Somewhere over the Pacific…

2009-07-30T04:06:00Z

Airborne Images spent the day ‘Feet Wet’ over the Pacific Ocean today shooting HD footage of the US Navy’s Guided Missile Cruiser, USS Bunker Hill. We worked with Air Center Helicopters from Fort Worth, TX using one of their off-shore equipped Bell 407s. The pilot was Shannon Burton and the Aerial DP was Carston Bell with Aaron along as self-loading cargo and still photographer. We can’t tell you much about the Bunker Hill’s capabilities, but it goes very fast and is VERY agile for a 567 foot vessel. We used the Cineflex V14HD and recorded to a Sony XDCam deck. The first photo is the the helicopter’s view of a flank speed starboard turn. The second is of Carston on the deck at Camarillo Airport after the completion of the mission. The third photo shows pilot Shannon Burton trying to look serious while doing some of his incredible close proximity flying. It was a very successful day.

Dirty Jobs goes to Hawaii

2009-07-24T16:07:00Z

Airborne Images went to Hawaii with Discovery’s ‘Dirty Jobs’ crew to shoot host Mike Rowe learning about a high rise window washing operation in Honolulu. This picture shows Aerial DP Carston Bell working with Pilot Jedrick Squyres near downtown Honolulu on July 17th. Carston and Jedrick faced a few challenges that day because the building being filmed is situated on the final approach to Honolulu International Airport, but they did great work and captured spectacular aerial footage of Mike on the building. The helicopter is an AS350FX1 from Sunshine Helicopters in Maui and the camera system is an Angel City Air Cineflex V14HD with a 9.7x42 lens. This photo was taken by ‘Dirty Jobs’ camera assistant Ryan Walsh from the roof of the building.