Takamatsu to Osaka in a Hughes MD-500 on October 10, 2004

Takamatsu to Osaka in a Hughes MD-500

LivewireExpress heli flight 33 is a forty-five minute flight that starts off at Takamatsu Airport in Takamatsu, Japan and finishes at Kansai International in Osaka, Japan. Today's journal will contain 13 images.

I decided to try my first Livewire helicopter flight in preparation for an upcoming event for which I was going to have to be able to handle a helicopter. Initially, I felt I wasn't going to have the wherewithal to fly a chopper while also taking pictures, so, at the start, I didn't take any pictures. But once I was up in the air, I just couldn't resist taking photos much to the distress of my already panicked passengers.

Already about 12 miles away from Takamatsu, we are passing over Umaga-hana Point. The wonderful colors of the trees in Autumn can be seen below.

Looking back at the Point, we are now over part of the large body of water known as Harima-nada in the Seto Inland Sea.

To the north is Shodoshima island, part of an archipelago which is preserved as part of Setonaikai National Park.

Looking up presents us with this striking image.

We now approach the large island of Awaji-shima, part of the Hyogo-ken prefecture.

I followed a road east for a while, before it began to veer north, so I headed back on my east-northeast track.

Nearing the eastern coast, to the south is the city of Sumoto.

After leaving Awaji-shima behind us, we continue our flight over Osaka Bay. Kansai International Airport makes it's first appearance in the distance.

Kansai International is, of course, the world-famous man-made island airport. I decided that I would pick a nice large space for my landing. That empty patch of pavement on the north end of the island looks perfect.

As I make my descent, I pull back to reduce my forward momentum. The next 30 seconds or so were far too intense to take pictures. I did land safely and really not all that hard, but the final 10 feet took a good 20 seconds as a bobbed around trying to keep control.

Now, finally touched down, you can easily see the bridge that connects Kansai International to the mainland.

It's a quiet day at Kansai! They must have heard I was going to try to land there in a helicopter...

And, finally, a picture of the wonderful bird that got me here safely. With my severe lack of helicopter flight skill, I can only assume that my MD-500 is what really got us here safely. Despite my far-less-than-direct route, I only arrived 4 minutes late. The passengers were just glad to have survived.

I hope you all enjoyed!