AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2020 - 58

A safety pilot in the subject airplane has one additional
task-and that's to smile and look happy.

EMAIL dave.hirschman@aopa.org
58 | AOPA PILOT September 2020

PILOT HINTS

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Old-fashioned passive headsets tend to work best when flying
airplanes with the doors off. Active noise reduction tends to get
overpowered in open cockpits.
Pilots who boast of their own formation flying prowess are often the
worst, most dangerous fliers. Arrogance is a red flag.
There's no correlation between a pilot's ratings and their aptitude for
formation flying.
An airline transport pilot certificate means nothing in this area.
It's harder to maintain a loose position ("little airplane, big sky") than
a tight one.
Anything that's not secured in the photo airplane will depart in
flight. We've lost carpets, checklists, lens caps, gloves, charts-even
an airworthiness certificate.
A thorough preflight briefing and a detailed walk-through are critical
and mustn't be rushed. In addition to the normal aviation items, the
photographer and subject pilot should cover hand signals and radio calls.
Radios are overrated. There's a higher likelihood of miscommunica-
tion with spoken words than hand signals. Ideally, hand signals can
be reinforced with radio calls.
The informal go-to air-to-air frequency (123.45 MHz) is overcrowded
and painful to listen to, and 122.75 is almost as bad.
For ATC's sake, only the lead airplane should activate the transponder
and ADS-B Out.

PHOTOGRAPHERS LIKE SHOOTING JETS

because fast shutter speeds don't freeze
propeller motion and ruin images. Rose sits on a foam dog bed in
the open door of a Bonanza A36-an extremely versatile photo ship
because of its removable doors and broad speed range.

SHINJI MAEDA

uncomfortably high or low to give viewers
angles they can't see on the ground. They want
their subjects turning so images are dynamic,
and they often require subject pilots to cycle
the landing gear and flaps.
The photo pilot typically flies the lead position, but it can be helpful to change leads during
flight to give the photographer another perspective. That's particularly true when approaching
an airport for landing because the photographer can shoot the subject airplane from the
rear quarter as it nears the runway-images
that are useful in stories about both airplanes
and destinations.
Video is becoming a bigger consideration than ever in AOPA photo flights, and
it has different requirements than still photos. Still photos should have as little relative
movement as possible, and video is all about
moving across the screen.
With this in mind, we've sought to define
and standardize a series of regular video maneuvers. A breakaway, for example, gives a sense of
the subject airplane's roll and turn rates. The
photographer commands a breakaway and the
subject pilot uses full aileron deflection and
starts a level turn away from the photo airplane.
The next maneuver is a rejoin with an
underrun. The subject pilot rejoins the photo
airplane on the inside of a turn but intentionally passes beneath it and stabilizes
on the outside. This creates a dramatic
image of the subject airplane growing
in the frame as it gets closer to the
camera, then passing below.
The videographer then focuses
on the vacant piece of sky next to
him and calls for the subject pilot
to "fill the frame." A simple crossunder to the normal formation
position does the trick.
Photo flights typically last about
90 minutes from takeoff to touchdown, and while that doesn't sound
like a long time, it can be intense, actionpacked, and exhausting. There's a lot
riding on the outcome, and the best lighting
conditions can be fleeting, if they happen at all.
But there's a great sense of satisfaction
when everything goes as planned and the
results are in the bag.
And since the subject pilots get the glory of
being on the cover of the Rolling Stone when it's
all over, they buy the beer that night. AOPA

AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2020

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