{"id":847,"date":"2008-06-25T23:35:45","date_gmt":"2008-06-25T14:35:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2008-06-25\/847"},"modified":"2008-06-25T23:35:45","modified_gmt":"2008-06-25T14:35:45","slug":"watching-a-helicopter-take-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2008-06-25\/847","title":{"rendered":"Watching a Helicopter Take Off"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f\/2.8 @ 55 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>750 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 125 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span><\/span>\nWatching Takeoff Preparations<\/span>\n( preparations to take off, unfortunately, without us )\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f\/2.8 @ 26 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>160 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 100 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span><\/span>\nPracticing<\/span>\nfor the expected loudness\n<\/div>\n\n

The other day when Anthony and I did<\/span> some local hiking<\/a> that\nended up at the back\nentrance to the Kiyomizu Temple<\/a>, we got to watch a helicopter<\/span> take off\nfrom the helipad at Shogunzuka, the top of one of Kyoto's “Eastern\nMountains”.<\/p>\n\n

Besides a helipad and hiking trails, Shogunzuka offers some\nnice views<\/a> of Kyoto, but unless you're at the overlook,\nit feels like you're in the middle of nowhere...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f\/2.8 @ 26 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>125 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 100 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span><\/span>\nSurrounded by Mountains<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f\/2.8 @ 38 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>250 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 100 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span><\/span>\nGetting Impatient<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

This helipad is just a few minutes' drive from the Kyoto Westin Miyako\nHotel<\/a>, generally considered to be the best hotel in Kyoto. Until the\ngovernment's Kyoto\nState Guest House<\/a> was built a few<\/span> years ago, U.S. presidents and other\nheads of state would stay here when they visited Kyoto. As I write<\/span> up this\npost this evening, I expect<\/span> that it's housing much of the overflow for the\nG8 summit tomorrow, although I expect<\/span> that Condoleezza Rice gets to stay at\nthe Guest House.<\/p>\n\n

Anyway, because of this helipad's proximity to the hotel, I've heard\nthat it gets a lot<\/span> of use by visiting celebrities and others flush with\ncash. I chatted<\/span> with the guy servicing the helicopter, who said that a\nround<\/span>-trip from Kansai International Airport (exactly 50 miles away) would\nrun about $5,000. Wow.<\/p>\n\n

A friend once met Tom\nCruise here<\/a> (not long before Tom dove completely off the deep end of\nthe crazy pool), but no such excitement for us: this helicopter was being\nhired by the electric company to inspect power lines, and they had stopped\nhere to eat their boxed lunches. It's a Bell\n206B3 JetRanger III<\/a> registered as JA6192 (which I put<\/span> for the search\nengines, because some people like finding pictures of aircraft they've\nseen).<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f\/2.8 @ 55 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>125 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 100 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span><\/span>\nHands Prepared<\/span>\njust in case it starts up\n<\/div>\n\n

Once it did start up, it turns out that it was not really very loud. I was rather<\/span> surprised. I guess<\/span> it's small. I told Anthony<\/span> that he didn't\nneed to cover his ears, but he was scared that it would be too loud, so\nkept his ears covered...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f\/2.8 @ 55 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>100 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 100 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span><\/span>\nNow It's Real!<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f\/2.8 @ 17 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>90 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 100 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span><\/span>\nWatching The Blades Spin Up<\/span>\nfrom a safe distance\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f\/2.8 @ 17 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>125 sec, f<\/span>\/8, ISO 100 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span><\/span>\nExciting! Fun!<\/span>\n( but not really very loud )\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f\/2.8 @ 31 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>125 sec, f<\/span>\/10, ISO 100 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span><\/span>\nThar She Goes<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

I had to stop down on the aperture to get a slow<\/span> enough shutter speed to\nshow some blade movement. Even at 1<\/sup>\/250th<\/sup> of a\nsecond,<\/span> the blades look essentially motionless. I was surprised<\/span> at that as\nwell.<\/p>\n\n

They rotated to the left and moved out and up, and the pilot waved at\nAnthony, which I thought<\/span> was a kind<\/span> gesture. They then circled way around\nand disappeared...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f\/2.8 @ 17 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>125 sec, f<\/span>\/7.1, ISO 100 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span><\/span>\nBye-Bye<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The other day when Anthony and I did some local hiking that ended up at the back entrance to the Kiyomizu Temple, we got to watch a helicopter take off from the helipad at Shogunzuka, the top of one of Kyoto's \"Eastern Mountains\".<\/p>

Besides a helipad and hiking trails, Shogunzuka offers some nice views of Kyoto, but unless you're at the overlook, it feels like you're in the middle of nowhere...<\/p>

This helipad is just a few minutes' drive from the Kyoto Westin Miyako Hotel, generally considered to be the best hotel in Kyoto. Until the government's Kyoto State Guest [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}