Recent updates

Well it's been busy for once. I covered the U.S. Marines "WTI" exercise again, and was able to fly in KC-130's for refueling missions of Ospreys and Harriers, two planes, I've never been able to do an Air2Air with until this trip.

 

 

I then attended the 15th MEU (Marine Expeditionary Unit's) prepping for their deployment, and witnessed their M1-A1 tanks on the beaches at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton.

In late April, I was very fortunate to have been flown by the US Navy to the USS John C. Stennis for my second aircraft carrier trap and eventually, my second launch from the a carrier. Always exciting. I spent two days / 1 night onboard photography the ships build up and qualifications prior to their next deployment.

I attended the 2015 Planes of Fame Airshow at Chino, and it's always a good show. Lots of Mustangs, but the show was the Canadian F/A-18 demo team was present in beautiful camouflage.

I am very fortunate to have yet another article printed in the Spring 2015 issue of "Wings of Gold", about the first time I went out to the USS Nimitz to cover the Navy's testing of the F-35 Lightning II, back in November.

And for my third time (second time for 2015), I have another article printed in "Combat Aircraft"Magazine. This is such a huge honor for me, as this is the premiere magazine for military aviation around the world. The story is on the history of the Death Rattlers, US Marine fighter squadron, and then an interview with it's current Commanding Officer. It is in the June issue. One of my images even made the cover!

My Facebook page is slowly growing with people from around the world, and I truly appreciate everyone who have friended the page and taken time to look at my website. I also have had the pleasure to meet and work with some the biggest names in aviation photography, and became friends with these wonderful people. Dr. Sean Wilson and Paul Mulligan of The United Kingdom. James Deboar of New York. All great people. Well until the next time. Take care folks!

More articles being published

I am very fortunate to be having my articles published by several different magazines. The Janauary 2015 issue of Combat Aircraft Monthly, published a small feature on my Purple Foxes last ride while on active duty with the U.S. Marines, and Wings of Gold Published my WTI story for their winter issue. There's more coming from what I understand from the different editors, so I am very happy and proud.

 

 

The Yellow Sheet Magazine

My first story in this magazine was published in their Fall 2014 issue. It's the story about the WTI 15-1 training that select marines go through twice a year.

NAF El Centro Photocall and some really Good News

Right before the Thanksgiving holiday, NAF El Centro had their bi-annual Photocall. This is an opportunity for amateur aviation camera clubs and some professional aviation photographers to head out on the runway of a military base and take photographs of military aircraft landing and taking off. This is a unique opportunity for these photographers and a highly sought after prize. on this particular day, well over a hundred photographers lined the runway as a C-2A made repeated touch and go landings, along with Navy F/A-18 Super Hornets and T-45 Goshawks doing the same. It was a beautiful day out in the desert with temps in the low 80's, a cooling breeze, and bright sunshine, with occasional clouds. Groups included the Aviation Photographers of Southern California, Fence Check, the Aviation Photographers of Arizona, the Phoenix Spotters, and the Pacific Photographic Society.

 

 

Now for some good news for me. I've heard back from several magazines lately who are going to publishing either stories or images of mine in upcoming issues. First Combat Aircraft Monthly, then Wings of Gold (multiple stories), Yellow Sheet (multiple stories), the Military Press Newspaper and of course Photorecon.net. I'm still waiting to hear back from two other magazines, but things are looking up.

The F-35C and the USS Nimitz

Well, I hope everyone's Thanksgiving holiday went well. It's been fairly busy for me since September and I've really appreciated it all, after going several months with barely any activity. I got quite the surprised when the US Navy invited me to witness their testing of the new F-35C Lightning II fighter. The plane was testing the launching and landing capabilities onboard the USS Nimitz.

It was extremely exciting/stressful for me, as this would be my first time landing and taking off on an aircraft carrier. I meet the Naval Air Forces PAO at NAS North Island, and we drove over to the passenger terminal. We boarded the C-2A Greyhound of the VRC-30, the Providers,  and took off over the Pacific for our flight of roughly 1 hr. The Nimitz was approximately 100 miles off of San Diego. They had been conducting the training for well over  a week, by the time we arrived.

The one thing I will say about the C-2A is that the passengers sit backwards, and there's only two small windows in the plane, so when we came into land, it was kind of like a roller coaster effect. Here we are going well over 100 mph, and then suddenly coming to a violent stop and being thrown back into your seat, and you are not seeing anything.

We landed safely onboard the Nimitz and were escorted to the Ready room, where we met several of the Lockheed Martin folks, the PAO of the boat and several other people. back up to the flight deck for a tour and an interview with one of the Test Pilots, and then back down to the officers galley, where we were able to conduct interviews with the Strike Groups admiral, the C.O. of the Nimitz, the Test Pilots again and the people from Lockheed Martin. We then broke for a short lunch.

It was then time for us to see and photograph the F-35C launch and recover, so it was up many, many flights of ladders (Navy speak for stairs), and we finally found ourselves on Vulture's Row. Here we were able to see 2 different launches and 1 recovery before we headed back down to the ready room and got ready to head back to NAS North Island.

 

 

 

 

The launching of an aircraft off of an Aircraft Carrier is a very violent action. You go from a dead stop to well over 120 miles per hour and upwards at an extreme angle. In the C-2A, you again are violently thrown forwards and it seems to last forever, but then suddenly your airborne and leveling out. The rest of the flight was uneventful and we landed safely back on base. The crew of the Providers gave me a patch recognizing my first time experience with the Carrier.

 

 

 

I'm scheduled to be back onboard one of the carriers in January, 2015 to stay for a few days to cover the flight operations out to sea. I can't wait!

A Busy Time

Well, after my US Air Force Tanker flight, things got busy. At the end of September, I was able to fly with the Marines twice during the WTI's in Yuma, AZ. First day was on a C-130 where I had a F/A-18 from VMFA-323, the Death Rattlers come up for a refueling and then the next day, I spent flying around with a CH-53 delivering artillery pieces to Marines and then watching them fire off the rounds.

 

In early October, the Miramar Airshow was back, while a smaller show was store due to the sequestration still being in effect. it was still a good show.

 

 

 

Then in late October, something that I've been waiting for approx. 1 year for.

To fly on the last Marine Corps active duty CH-46's., and this happen with the Purple Foxes HMM-364, now known as VMM-364, since they are getting Ospreys. I spent twos days with these great Marines, as flew from Camp Pendleton to Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson, and delivered one bird to the Bone Yard,  and then back to Pendleton the next day.