Rarely does the forecast in Alaska predict sunny skies, not to mention forecasting a week of blue bird, but that is exactly what we saw on the horizon. Each person slowly confirming with some one else, “did you check the sat? The Roner forecast looks good. ” The “Roner forecast” is really just the weatherchannel.com’s super basic prediction, Roner constantly checked and called out blue holes with amazing accuracy during the first part of the trip. So we focused now on this becoming a reality, with only a week left in our trip we needed a break. Sure Enough just as projected the storm glassed off, moon came out and we kept our fingers crossed it would be clear in the morning.
To add to the pressure we decided to implement our secret weapon, a second helicopter with a Tyler mount camera rig shooting super 16. We had enough budget for three filming days within a 10 day window, and since we were entering crunch time we decided to bring it in. The Tyler was mounted into a Jet ranger and flown by Coastal Helicopters top pilot Jim Wilson, or as CG would exclaim, “OLD MANNNN WILSON!” The Helicopters only passenger, Todd Jones camera operator extraordinaire.
The Jet Ranger arrives, camera mounted.
The camera is balanced with weights, and has gunner style triggers that adjust focus and zoom.
Checking out Todd’s seat in his private heli.
Helicopters descend upon the fuel station at the Haines airport.
Parked in the shade, our magic carpets await.
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