Heli Expo 2008

Well, I made it! Four days of nothing but photography at one of the largest helicopter conventions ever, the Helicopter Association International's Heli Expo 2008. I was there not only for myself but also as one of two photographers covering the event for Vertical magazine (http://www.verticalmag.com/). Even though helicopters are probably the funnest thing--ever--to photograph, it was still slightly stressful as I had to shoot a variety of stuff, get names and info for captions and have it uploaded to the website before the end of the day.

The day before the official start of the convention was just some press conferences--nothing too special going on there so I'm not even bothering with posting photos from that. Day one of the convention (Sunday) was the start of the craziness. It all began with Sikorsky unveiling their new X2 technology demonstrator. Basically it's a real snazzy looking copter with two sets of rotorblades, one on top of the other, to counter torque and then it has a propeller to push it to velocities never-before seen in a helicopter. Just a few minutes after the Sikorsky fun, Eurocopter decided to let the industry have it with their new EC-175 medium twin helicopter, complete with grungy oil workers. I must admit the French know how to create a sleek looking craft.

Now on day two and three, nothing too special happened except for, perhaps, a few business deals. I just roamed the convention hall shooting anything that looked interesting. However, on the last day I was given the assignment (ok, I pretty much asked for it) to go flying with Honeywell in their LTS101-converted early model AS-350. They were showing off their new Observer system to one of Vertical's contributing editors and it was my job to provide the visuals. Check it out: