Smithville, TX Hidden Pines Fire

Lowflynjack

Lowflynjack

Final Approach
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Oct 28, 2014
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Jack Fleetwood
I thought I posted these a few weeks ago... guess I forgot. I got some pics from the air and from the ground. I stayed way above the TFR and was in contact with the fire boss.

Click Here for the Full Set

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Sensitive subject around fires! If you stayed out of the TFR, of course no problem, but they have had several fires where they had to ground the planes and helicopters because a drone was in the area.

evapilotaz said:
I should of flown my drone there.
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Aw man, it burned right up to the edge of the big "LUECKE" letters... I don't know who Luecke is, but would be a shame to have that burn up.
 
jbDC9 said:
Aw man, it burned right up to the edge of the big "LUECKE" letters... I don't know who Luecke is, but would be a shame to have that burn up.
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I wouldn't be able to say "Use the force, Luecke" every time I fly over it. Well I guess I could but it wouldn't be funny. Come to think of it, maybe it's never been that funny...

Cool pictures!
 
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Ahh, sorry! Sometimes humor isn't clear on the internet! I know they were having some heated discussions about drones there that day. When we called them radio-controlled helicopters they didn't get so much bad attention!

evapilotaz said:
I know I wasn't serious.
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Great pictures. You need to put a CR stamp on them. Did you manage to sell any ?
 
Cool photos! My wife and I got a view of the smoke plume from about 25 miles north at 7,500 ft. as we transitioned from N to S on our flight to Conroe.
 
Best Army helicopter photos I've seen in a long time - thank you!
 
Copyright law exists even without a stamp. No need to add it. It is embedded in the photo information though! I don't sell photos, never have. I just take them because I enjoy it!
weilke said:
Great pictures. You need to put a CR stamp on them. Did you manage to sell any ?
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Thank you! It was fun taking them! Standing there watching them load up their equipment at the end of the day, feeling the rotor wash hit me!!
Piperonca said:
Best Army helicopter photos I've seen in a long time - thank you!
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Awesome photos. I really like the overhead shots of the Chinook filling up.
 
Jack, those are some amazing photos. The Chinook shots may be some of the best I've ever seen.

Awesome stuff! If you ever want to license some of those to me, you let me know. :)
 
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Send me an email at: jackfleetwood(at)yahoo.com and we can talk. I have much higher resolution versions I don't put on the internet!

Archammer said:
Jack, those are some amazing photos. The Chinook shots may be some of the best I've ever seen.

Awesome stuff! If you ever want to license some of those to me, you let me know. :)
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Seeing those chinooks brought back some not pleasant memories.

I grew up near that area, I hope no houses were lost in the fire.

And great pictures, thank you for sharing.!!
 
64 homes were lost. I was amazed at how many they saved though. If you click my link and look at all of the photos, you'll see many houses where the fire burned right up to the house, yet the house is saved. These guys in the air and on the ground are true heroes. Most of them I spoke to just smiled and said, "It's what we do."

Zeldman said:
Seeing those chinooks brought back some not pleasant memories.

I grew up near that area, I hope no houses were lost in the fire.

And great pictures, thank you for sharing.!!
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Lowflynjack said:
It is a cool landmark to show someone when taking them flying!
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Ain't that the truth! My folks have been looking at a property out that direction and I saw the trees in the satellite imagery nearby and knew exactly where it was.
 
In addition to the 64 homes, it looks like it impinged on the cancer research facility in the forest there, as well as took out a lot of gorgeous forest in the state park.

I spent a weekend every spring working the roads in the parks with a charity bike ride that heads through there...
 
It got close, but they worked hard and saved the cancer research facility.

Doggtyred said:
In addition to the 64 homes, it looks like it impinged on the cancer research facility in the forest there, as well as took out a lot of gorgeous forest in the state park.

I spent a weekend every spring working the roads in the parks with a charity bike ride that heads through there...
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Lowflynjack said:
Copyright law exists even without a stamp. No need to add it. It is embedded in the photo information though! I don't sell photos, never have. I just take them because I enjoy it!
<snip>
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Jack Fleetwood is among the very best aviation photo artist I've ever met, professionals included, and as testimony to his statement above, he generously gave me permission to use several of his photos in the gyroplane book below.

Thanks again, Jack.

Ira
 
Do you know the army units that came to assist ? They may appreciate some of the spectacular pictures of their work.
 
weilke said:
Do you know the army units that came to assist ? They may appreciate some of the spectacular pictures of their work.
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Contact public affairs at Camp Mabry in Austin.. I believe that's the Texas National Guard HQ... they may be of assistance or help as a liaise with the units.
 
Thanks for the compliments (exaggerations!) Ira! I enjoy having a book with my photos in it! Now I'm just waiting for spring to bring some fly-ins!

RotorRambler said:
Jack Fleetwood is among the very best aviation photo artist I've ever met, professionals included, and as testimony to his statement above, he generously gave me permission to use several of his photos in the gyroplane book below.

Thanks again, Jack.

Ira
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jbDC9 said:
Aw man, it burned right up to the edge of the big "LUECKE" letters... I don't know who Luecke is, but would be a shame to have that burn up.
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Is it just me who's first thought was "only on Texas"?
 
Nice shots. Body/Lens?

Anyone know how many gallons that hanging water bucket holds?
 
You probably wouldn't be surprised to hear how much crap they get for cutting down the trees. As he says, if he'd just cleared the land for his cattle, nobody would say anything. Because he left some, in the form of his name, people complain!

timwinters said:
Is it just me who's first thought was "only on Texas"?
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Zeldman said:
So how high off the ground did you go..?? :lol:
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Between 1500 and 2000 AGL as I recall. The ride was entertaining but the landing was such that we bailed out quickly from the bucket.
 
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