Gallery Update: Helicopter Activity at Rexburg

I seem to be photographing more helicopters in flight than fixed-wing aircraft this week! After being home for the long weekend last week (yes, I actually drove home to Oregon last weekend!) with nothing to really show for AvGeek-wise, I found myself back at the Legacy Flight Museum today on a cold but gorgeously sunny day today to volunteer. In the past I haven't seen a lot of helicopters at the Rexburg-Madison County Airport; but that changed today. In addition to few more photos from inside museum (again, playing with my camera's settings), I stepped out onto the ramp to take a few photos and got a few helicopters in action (two to be exact!). Here are the links:

Legacy Flight Museum 2015 Revisits (Updated)

Rexburg (RXE) 22

Preview:

Enstrom 280C Shark (N106DA) coming in for a landing.

Life Flight Network AgustaWestland AW119 Koala (N596LF) departing Rexburg.

A look inside the cockpit of the museum's Bell P-63C Kingcobra.

Gallery Update: Off-Airport Spotting at School

I finally got photos of actual aircraft movement with my new camera; it happened while I was on my way to class. Though I wasn't expecting the first aircraft I took a photo of in flight to be a helicopter! Regardless of what it was, I am quite pleased with how well my camera does and this gave me an opportunity to use my telephoto lens for the first time. Being off-airport and having a new camera, this means a new photo album, which will be updated in the future whenever I take new photos while off-airport:

Off-Airport 3

Preview:

The aircraft was a Eurocopter AS350 B3 (N324BF). Manufactured in France, it's known as Écureuil (Squirrel) but marketed as the "A Star" in North America. According to the FAA website, this aircraft is privately owned in Idaho Falls, yet it bears the name 'Northpoint,' a relatively brand new apartment complex in Rexburg for BYU-Idaho students. Turns out tenants who sign a lease early enough for this really nice apartment complex gets a free helicopter ride.

Gallery Update: Gorgeous Light

I haven't seen a lot of sunny days since coming back to Idaho. I went to the Legacy Flight Museum again today to volunteer (nothing has changed there on the inside, in case you were wondering). Today was absolutely gorgeous and not too cold (high 40s/low to mid 50s), which is pretty odd for this time of year in Idaho! At about 3 PM this afternoon, the lighting outside was really nice and I just couldn't resist taking a few photos, even if they were just parked general aviation aircraft on the ramp (I'll probably plan on doing a spotting trip to Idaho Falls at some point and hopefully do some more flying with my uncle as well).

Rexburg (RXE) 21

Preview:

Cessna 180 (N4500B) parked on the ramp; Legacy Flight Museum hangar in the background. Gotta love bare-metal liveries!

Cessna 172E Skyhawk (N3677S).

N3677S from a different angle while facing the sun; made for a pretty interesting result. I certainly would like to replicate this with other aircraft!

Piper PA-18A Super Cub (N150CW). Note the huge, low pressure tundra/bush tires for off-airport operations.