Our outing on Sunday turned out quite the opposite of what we expected it to be.
The house we lived in until last year April, was built on a big piece of land and my dog (a bull-terrier) had ample space to get enough exercise (embankments and all) to keep her fit and healthy.
But the house we are living in now is in a complex. We still have our own garden, but the space is much smaller than what she has been used to. So I like to take her out to open spaces where she can run and have fun while she stays fit and healthy.
Over the past week, it was announced that most of the beaches in the Durban area have been closed, due to contamination (that will be my post for tomorrow).
We decided it was time to get the dog out again anyway, so we rather focused on that.
I decided to go to the Virginia Airport. It is a small airport for private airplanes and helicopters. It is big enough for bigger aircraft though and many airshows have been hosted there.
It can accommodate from small private aircraft and helicopters to private jets and even fighter jets.
It is situated right on the coastline between Durban and Umhlanga Rocks.
We love going out there to spend some time on the beach, seeing that it is one of the more quiet beaches.
We would sometimes see some small airplanes landing or taking off, but in general, it is reasonably quiet and nothing to get too excited about.
But luckily, I decided to take my camera with me...just in case I find something to take photos of.
A Nice Surprise.
Let me first try to give you an idea of the setup...
The M4-Freeway runs along the coastline between Durban and Umhlanga Rocks.
As you get to the offramp to the airport, coming from Durban, you get to the stop sign at the bottom of the offramp. Turn right to cross underneath the Freeway. If you then turn left, you enter the property of the airport. If you turn right, you can just drive around the airport and you'll be on the beach (which we were heading for).
Now that you've got that picture...
As I turned right to go around the airport to the beach, we just saw this beautiful helicopter coming in for a landing just behind the hangers...clearly where we would be passing to get to the beach.
It was time to put the "pedal to the metal"...lol. I think it was the fastest drive going around the airport that we have ever done...without my wife moaning at me...lol.
As we came around the hangers, it was just about to touch down. It was a matter of getting into a parking space, out with the camera, focusing, and starting shooting.
I was too late to get some photos of the helicopter while still being in the air. So I had to take the photos through the fence. But it was so awesome, I just had to go ahead and take the photos.
I literally caught it seconds before it touched the ground.
In this photo, you can actually see the landing gear is still a few inches above the ground.
I had to do some extra steps to get these photos good enough to share them in this post without losing some of the "quality of the moment" for a lack of a better description.
As mentioned, I was too late to get some photos while it was still above the fence.
When I took these photos, I was now taking them through the fence and I was a good 50 odd meters away from it. I didn't have a strong enough lens with me to bring it closer.
I took these photos, did some editing in Lightroom to the best of my ability. I then opened the edited image in Paint, where I reduced the size, and then cropped it to get the image closer without losing too much quality.
This helicopter barely touched down when I heard another one roaring from behind.
As I turned around, it was also approaching the airport for landing. It wasn't as spectacular as the first one, but it was also a nice, decent-sized one, coming right over me.
Although it was nice and clear, it was heading more towards the center of the airport. So, it was a bit high to get a decent photo, and again I had to follow the Paint route.
I took some photos of this landing, but it was too far, and having to take these photos through the fence from that distance, I don't think it is worth publishing them.
By now, as I focused my attention on the first helicopter again, they were already busy hosing it off.
The owner of the company my wife is currently working for happens to also be a helicopter pilot. After talking to him, we learned that the hosing off is to prevent corrosion when flying in the coastal areas.
I searched for some information about this helicopter online and I learned that it is an Airbus H145.
According to the air.one website, the Airbus H145 helicopter comes with a nice price tag of $10'200'000.
According to airbus.com, this twin-engine helicopter is the quietest in its class.
It can be operated by either one or two pilots. When in use for carrying passengers, it can carry up to ten passengers over and above the pilots.
It can also be used in law enforcement as well as for emergency medical services.
To The Beach.
After all this excitement, it was time to take the dog for a walk.
We just drove around the airport to the car park on the beach.
We spent some time having fun with the dog, yet we were shocked to see how the ocean has been affected even this far up north.
In this photo, you can see how dirty the water is. There is a clear line, far behind the surf where the water becomes clear and blue again.
More Excitement.
While playing with our dog on the beach, we heard this thundering roar above us.
As I looked up, it was an old passenger biplane. The PZL-MIELEC AN-2 came into service in 1948.
My wife was holding my camera for me. I took the camera and got some photos of the airplane flying over, but again, it was just too high to get some decent photos.
It wasn't too long before I saw the airplane returning and circling to come in for a landing.
I dashed for the car park, which is right next to the runway. While I was standing next to the airport for the photos of the helicopter the first time, I was now behind the airport, facing south, with the ocean to my left, and the airport to my right.
Although I had to follow the Lightroom-to-Paint route again, I managed to get these two photos, just before the airplane disappeared behind the fence and bushes right beside me...
Seconds before the airplane finally disappeared behind the fence to make a safe landing.
I found the skybrary website if you want to know more about this beautiful flying beast.
I also found this video on Youtube of a start, take-off, and low pass, if you would like to see this aircraft in flight.
Thank you for reading my post. I really do appreciate it.