COME FLY WITH ME while I dry cherries in three different orchards after a heavy rain.
This is the last cherry drying video this season -- I promise! It's very long -- despite heavy editing -- because I do a lot of talking about my drying work and cherries, including orchards, growing, picking, and those light-colored tarps under the cherry trees. You'll also hear me talking to the two other pilots on my team as I coordinate our efforts. If you've got sharp eyes, you'll even see them in flight. Along the way, I have a close encounter with two wind machines and deal with a minor in-flight "emergency." On flight segments from orchard to orchard, you get a glimpse of the amazing scenery in the Wenatchee area of Washington State.
So grab a favorite beverage or bag of popcorn or chips (or bowl of cherries) and settle down beside me in the cockpit to learn some things about cherry farming that you probably didn't know.
Some questions answered:
About Cherry Drying:
- I tell you all about cherry drying in this article I wrote for AOPA Pilot years ago:
blog.aopa.org/aopa/tag/cherry...
- If you like podcasts, this one on AvTalk features me telling you all about my cherry drying work and this KZfaq channel:
www.flightradar24.com/blog/av...
- You can also find more articles about cherry drying in my blog under the cherry drying tag:
www.aneclecticmind.com/tag/ch...
- Want to see a video where I show another pilot how it's done? Here you go:
• Helicopter Cherry Dryi...
- And here's the cherry picking video I mention: • Cherries from Tree to ...
About Me and the Helicopter
- I have been flying for about 20 years. My nearly 4,000 hours of flight time is in R44, R22, Bell 206L (Long Ranger), and Bell 47 helicopters.
- The helicopter is a Robinson R44 Raven II -- the same one that appears in the photo at the beginning of the video. You can learn more about them here: robinsonheli.com/r44-specific... I own this helicopter. It is the third helicopter I've owned since 2000.
- My helicopter has ADS-B Out and is picked up by radar facilities. You can see my track for recent flights on Flightradar24:
www.flightradar24.com/data/ai...
This is a great site for tracking any almost any flight, including the airlines.
About the Video
- The video was recorded with a pair of GoPro cameras, one of which is connected to the helicopter's intercom system. Both cameras record audio, but I dialed down the helicopter sound to about 25% of normal volume so it wouldn't be annoying. I wouldn't mind leaving it out altogether, but lots of folks seem to want it, so there it is.
- The video was edited on a Macintosh using Screenflow software. (Screenflow was the only affordable software I could find that allowed me to do picture-in-picture.) Learn more about it here: www.telestream.net/screenflow...
- The intro music is by Bob Levitus, famed "Dr. Mac." You can find him here:
www.boblevitus.com/
I'm trying to drop flying videos like this one every Sunday morning and usually drop "extras" with more info about owning and operating a helicopter midweek. I'm also working on putting together occasional livestreams with Q&A chat. Subscribe so you don't miss anything new! And tell your friends. The more subscribers I have, the more motivated I am to keep producing videos like this one.
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