Air-to-Air Pitts at Oshkosh

Lowflynjack

Lowflynjack

Final Approach
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Jack Fleetwood
It seems like a long time ago that I took these photos! I took photos of Nick during Oshkosh last year. They're in this month's Sport Aviation magazine.

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Very nice again Jack. No's 4,5 and the last one are my favorites.
I'd like to see number 4 banking towards the camera, but I suspect the pilot would have visibility issues keeping you in sight.
 
Nice work. The only thing that could make your pictures better would be scantily clad women. I like the HDR type aesthetic in the last one.
 
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champ driver said:
Very nice again Jack. No's 4,5 and the last one are my favorites.
I'd like to see number 4 banking towards the camera, but I suspect the pilot would have visibility issues keeping you in sight.
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Thanks!

Something like this? I didn't share it because it wasn't one of my favorites.

You can also CLICK HERE if you want to see the full set.

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Challenged said:
Nice work. The only thing that could make your pictures better would be scantily clad women. I like the HDR type aesthetic in the last one.
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I could go for that too! If you're on Facebook, look up Flygirls Pin-Ups, I can't compete!!

Oh, and on the last one, I've learned to keep shooting when I don't think the shot will come out. That was a backlit photo that I never thought would be worth keeping, but the camera is digital, so why not? :-)
 
My fiends S2S has plexiglass on the floor for landings. He said with no forward visibility in the flair it helped make sure you were tracking the centerline.

Gary
 
what was the camera ship? Was the camera ship pilot someone you had worked with before? Coordination between both pilots seems to be a critical part of getting you into the position to take these great pictures. Do you direct the set-up of the shots on the intercom with the camera ship pilot? I'd love to attend a seminar by someone like you to learn how this is done. I don't want to take up air-to-air photography, I'm just really curious how all the pieces come together.
 
Flyhound said:
what was the camera ship? Was the camera ship pilot someone you had worked with before? Coordination between both pilots seems to be a critical part of getting you into the position to take these great pictures. Do you direct the set-up of the shots on the intercom with the camera ship pilot? I'd love to attend a seminar by someone like you to learn how this is done. I don't want to take up air-to-air photography, I'm just really curious how all the pieces come together.
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  • The photo ship for this one was the EAA's Cessna 210. They remove the baggage door. The window in front of the baggage door is hinged, as well as the one opposite of that one.
  • The photo ship pilot was Greg Largens and he has been flying air-to-air missions for the EAA and others for many years. Yes, I've worked with him before. He makes my job a lot easier. A good photo pilot learns what the photographer is looking for and helps position the planes. I'm looking backward the whole time we're flying and I'm not familiar with the area. Greg is letting me know when landmarks are coming up, when he'll need to turn to avoid airspace, etc.
  • We start off getting the subject plane into a roughly 7-8:00 position. I then tell the photo pilot how to move the subject plane around. I tell Greg what I want the subject plane to do and he relays the information. We keep is simple for the most part. 5' down, 5' back, 5' up, etc. Anyone in either plane has the right to call off the shoot for any reason. Could be stress levels or it could be safety. I've only threatened to call off one photo shoot because the kept acting like he was going to fly inside our plane... you may think you're the best pilot ever, but I don't need you to prove it to me.
  • I also adjust my plan based on how much formation flying you have or other skills. Airshow pilots are easier to shoot because they know what I want. The guy who has never flown formation before, I'll keep them out further. I also adjust as we go along. If everything I tell you to do seems like a struggle, I'll back off a little. I've told Greg before that the pilot is struggling and I want to wrap up the shoot soon. I think it helps that I'm a pilot, so I know if what I'm asking you to do is possible!
The only thing strange about shooting at Oshkosh is, I meet very few of my subjects. I have to go to one briefing before I start shooting, and the subject pilot has to go to a briefing, but we may not be in the same group. Sometimes I track them down later and I usually start the conversation saying something like, "You don't know me, but we spent some time staring at each other once."

If I think the air-to-air mission is something unusual, I will make sure to track down the subject pilots ahead of time. Last year I did a photo shoot with the Flood family. There were three planes and only one had a radio. I made sure we were all on the same page and it was still stressful.


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