Saw something cool yesterday....

[Mark42]

Hanging on the beach, and there is a big yacht anchored in the bay. Has a helicopter on the top deck. I hear the chopper fire up and in a minute or so it slowly ascends about 5 feet above the pad then backs off the deck and flies off. A few minutes later it comes back, and circles the yacht a few times, then painstakingly slowly approaches the landing pad, just hanging what looks to be only 5 feet above and 10 feet behind the pad. Slowly it inches its way over the pad and sets down. After its off, I can see the rotor is very close to the tower that has radar, antennas, flags, etc on it. Must be a tight fit. Pilot must ready to mess his pants trying to squeeze the chopper in so close to the tower.

Anyway, I guess they went out for pizza or Chinese or something.

Never saw a chopper take off or land on a yacht before. Pretty cool.

 

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Re: Saw something cool yesterday....

Makes me wonder which burns more fuel? The chopper or the yacht? That sure would be something to experience either by watching or actually doing it............SS

 

[gstanton]

Re: Saw something cool yesterday....

The wealthy have not even noticed that there is a problem with the economy.

 

[Brent S]

Re: Saw something cool yesterday....

the "Highlander" Malcolm Forbes' yacht was docked at Penns landing in Philly many years ago and we got a good close up look at how the "other half" lives. I was amazed at how little room was there for the helicopter. Piloting that small aircraft ( 4 seats I think) takes amazing skill by the pilot and great faith by the passengers.

 

[Mark42]

Re: Saw something cool yesterday....

the "Highlander" Malcolm Forbes' yacht was docked at Penns landing in Philly many years ago and we got a good close up look at how the "other half" lives. I was amazed at how little room was there for the helicopter. Piloting that small aircraft ( 4 seats I think) takes amazing skill by the pilot and great faith by the passengers.

I was nervous just watching! I don't think I would want to be a passenger when they are landing.

Later that same afternoon, a small airplane, looked to be about 6 seats, came in low, and was circling the yacht. It flew about an 1/8 mile away, turns, and came back at the yacht, and landed in the water! I thought it was crashing because it didn't have the pontoons underneath, it had a body that was also a hull, and two small pontoons under the wing tips to keep them out of the water. It pulled up and went to the other side of the yacht (out of my view). Then about an hour later took off. Must have been some important people showing up.

As I watched these two events take place, all I could think about is how much it must be costing the owner. I could probably retire on what that single day cost the owner of the yacht. Life for him is completely different than how I live day to day. Wow. Just Wow.

 

[Brent S]

Re: Saw something cool yesterday....

Mark, are you near the Virginia Coast?
I hadn't seen a seaplane like that except on tv until one flew over rt 13 going south yesterday! It had a rear prop pushing it and was going so slow I was afraid it would drop out of the sky. Where I saw it was Onley, VA about 4 miles from the atlantic and 4 miles from the Bay.

 

[Mark42]

Re: Saw something cool yesterday....

Mark, are you near the Virginia Coast?
I hadn't seen a seaplane like that except on tv until one flew over rt 13 going south yesterday! It had a rear prop pushing it and was going so slow I was afraid it would drop out of the sky. Where I saw it was Onley, VA about 4 miles from the atlantic and 4 miles from the Bay.

I saw this in Southampton, NY. A lot of expensive hardware floating around there this time of year, and its not unusual to see a helicopter on a yacht, but I never saw one in action before, and I never saw a sea plane like that before (except movies/TV). If I had the boat at the beach we were at I would have gone over for a closer look. But we took kayaks to where we were, and I was not feeling that ambitious.

 

[levittownnick]

Re: Saw something cool yesterday....

When those that have it spend it, others earn some too. It's all good.

 

[Thad]

Re: Saw something cool yesterday....

Slowly it inches its way over the pad and sets down. After its off, I can see the rotor is very close to the tower that has radar, antennas, flags, etc on it. Must be a tight fit. Pilot must ready to mess his pants trying to squeeze the chopper in so close to the tower.

Anyway, I guess they went out for pizza or Chinese or something.

Never saw a chopper take off or land on a yacht before. Pretty cool.

That's why I hired him, only the best will do. And it WAS pizza we sent him to get

That would be cool to see. Keep that camera handy.