Off Yonder » Air

Final Touches: Kongakut River

Cameron — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 19:00:17 +0000

The trip is on. I departed PDX at 9.30pm in the dark and chased the sun down by flying north and arrived in Anchorage around midnight where, though it was overcast, it was still dusk out. Nathaniel Wilder with Sune and Lindsay Tamm picked me up and we stayed up until 2.30am catching up on all the corners of the world we had been to since seeing each other last, fully aware that we had the next 18 days to do this on the river and that we should get some much needed sleep.

Weekend: Music & Planes

Cameron — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 05:59:42 +0000

Alex Cook is out here on his West Coast CD release tour with a box of 300 "Tree of Life" CD's. I made it to his show in Encinitas where the producer of the album, Jason Froese joined him to play bass. Andrew set up two video cameras to record the whole thing and I snapped a few stills, see below. The music is awesome and should be available to all via iTunes and the such soon. If you want to see Alex live yourself, check out his tour schedule at http://myspace.com/alexcookmusic. If your area isn't on there, drop him a line and have him come out your way! The next day, Dad and I headed to the Miramar Air Show. I've been to a few air shows, including this one years ago. But this was the best way to do an airshow: be on the Air Crew for a static display aircraft. Dad helped Pamala bring her T-34a Mentor over on Thursday and it's one of the planes on display for folks to check out. As Air Crew, we got passes to the Air Crew Chalet, a little section of the flight line roped off where they provided us with meals, snacks, drinks and a place to sit and watch the air show in the sky. Dad and I got in early to get good parking in the special Static Display Crew Lot and really enjoyed the day. After the Blue Angles did their thing, we had to hand tow the T-34a past the public access area to the active ramp. Dad fired up the Mentor and flew it back to Gillespie while I drove the car over to pick him up. Select photos of the air show also below and on my Facebook Page and in my gallery.

T-34a Mentor Flight

Cameron — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 00:11:59 +0000

So, Dad flies with a group called San Diego Salute, which is a group of guys with T-34a Mentors who hire themselves out for air shows, flybys and scenic flights of the area. I've had the opportunity to fly with them twice now. The first time I took some video, but mostly shot stills as the light was quite good. The second trip, the overcast sky made shooting stills less inspirational, but I had learned from my poor video footage to put a smarter piece together. So, the link below (or above - click the # above the image) is of stills from the first flight, and the video below is from the second flight. If you want to know more about hiring this crew to do a flyby for you check them out at http://www.sandiegosalute.org/. Check out the rest of the photos!

Wedding Flight

Cameron — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 19:01:38 +0000

Frankie called me shortly after I got back from the Antarctic in March of 2006. “I’m engaged and the wedding is next January, will you be on the continent??” I had such a good time in Antarctica, I was considering another season on the ice. But with this call, my plans were firmly set on [...]

The Mighty Muddy Dusky

Cameron — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 21:10:12 +0000

Ah, the Dusky. That, with a wistful look off into the infinite, seems to be a common reaction among those who have experienced the Dusky Track buried deep in Fiordland National Park on New Zealand’s South Island. The floatplane touched down with only a gentle whoosh on the glassy, silky smooth surface of Supper Cove. [...]

Pole Out

Cameron — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 22:56:53 +0000

Returning to the vibrant land of color was a re-awaking process like I’ve never experienced before. It all started when I deplaned in Christchurch, New Zealand. I had stepped onto a massive C-17 Globemaster III military transport aircraft in the stillness of McMurdo Sound on the Antarctic coast and off it into a foreign world [...]