Helicopter - all variants

[Chris Kennedy]

Native Air's BK117 landing. There aren't very many of these flying around here. It's being flown here by a female pilot, which is also unusual.



This helicopter is equipped with what I believe are wire cutters/deflectors above and below the cockpit area, on the skids, and in front of the windscreen. I assume this is to protect them in case they fly into power lines.

It also has large dust filters (I think) in front of the engine intakes.

[Scott Youmans]

Mesa Police Hughes 500 departing Falcon November 2004

[Scott Youmans]

Another Mesa Police Hughes 500 (MD 500E) departing Falcon

[Joe Copalman]

This helicopter is equipped with what I believe are wire cutters/deflectors above and below the cockpit area, on the skids, and in front of the windscreen. I assume this is to protect them in case they fly into power lines.

Yup.  You'll see 'em on H-58s quite a bit, and I think older Army AH-1 variants had them as well. 

[Brian Lockett]

Phoenix Police  Eurocopter AS 350 B3 N352FB Firebird 2 flew a security sweep over Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport before Air Force One landed  this afternoon.

[phantomphan1974]

N199F Bell 407 by PhantomPhan1974 Photography, on Flickr


Bell 407 N199F by PhantomPhan1974 Photography, on Flickr

[Chris Janes]

Lifeline 407


Sikorsky S-61V departing out of KTUS

[David Loera]

[Bubak]

[Bubak]

[Scott Youmans]

Wow - A Hiller Raven.  Haven't seen one of those in years. Not in the air anyway

[Chris Kennedy]

Native 4 (N827NA) departing after re-fueling at DVT. Now carries lettering saying "Operated by Air Methods." It used to say Omniflight, but now Air Methods has bought them out.

[Jay Beckman]

Native Air recovering to the Cutter ramp at Sky Harbor...

[Daniel DeSart]

[Chris Janes]

Pima County Sheriff's Department brand new Eurocopter AS-350B3E arriving at Tucson from the factory. This helicopter is the first B3E in the United States to be used by a law enforcement agency. This replaces the MD-530 that crashed in January 2011.