FighterControl

With 28 sqn detached to Valley for some mountain flying I took my first trip into the Snowdonia Rotary MFTA, having spent many hours researching locations all the walking paid off with a Chinook passing me roughly 22 times on a valley avoidance sortie above a remote lake in some cracking light.

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Chinook HC6A | ZA710 | 28 Sqn | MFTA by Joe Lewis, on Flickr

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Chinook HC6A | ZA710 | 28 Sqn | MFTA by Joe Lewis, on Flickr

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Chinook HC6A | ZA710 | 28 Sqn | MFTA by Joe Lewis, on Flickr

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Chinook HC6A | ZA710 | 28 Sqn | MFTA by Joe Lewis, on Flickr

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Chinook HC6A | ZA710 | 28 Sqn | MFTA by Joe Lewis, on Flickr

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Chinook HC6A | ZA710 | 28 Sqn | MFTA by Joe Lewis, on Flickr

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Chinook HC6A | ZA710 | 28 Sqn | MFTA by Joe Lewis, on Flickr

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Chinook HC6A | ZA710 | 28 Sqn | MFTA by Joe Lewis, on Flickr

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Chinook HC6A | ZA710 | 28 Sqn | MFTA by Joe Lewis, on Flickr

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Chinook HC6A | ZA710 | 28 Sqn | MFTA by Joe Lewis, on Flickr

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Chinook HC6A | ZA710 | 28 Sqn | MFTA by Joe Lewis, on Flickr

The next day saw me in a similar area waiting for a "set up" with the crew from R936 out of Caernarfon, absolutely horrid conditions but it is a testament to the skills of these crews getting up the valley and into the bowl safely.

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S92 | G-MCGK | HMCG | MFTA by Joe Lewis, on Flickr

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S92 | G-MCGK | HMCG | MFTA by Joe Lewis, on Flickr

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S92 | G-MCGK | HMCG | MFTA by Joe Lewis, on Flickr

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S92 | G-MCGK | HMCG | MFTA by Joe Lewis, on Flickr

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S92 | G-MCGK | HMCG | MFTA by Joe Lewis, on Flickr

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S92 | G-MCGK | HMCG | MFTA by Joe Lewis, on Flickr

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S92 | G-MCGK | HMCG | MFTA by Joe Lewis, on Flickr

19. S92 | G-MCGK | HMCG | MFTA by Joe Lewis, on Flickr

With no MFTA flying planned for the Chinooks for Thursday I took a climb up Tryfan. Due to ZD575 having to be put down in a field there was no flying for the Chinooks on Friday unfortunately. On my way up to the MFTA at the start of the week I stopped off at Nesscliffe Training area and was fortunate to catch a local Juno on a G/H sortie.

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Juno HT1 | ZM516 | 1 FTS | NTA by Joe Lewis, on Flickr

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Juno HT1 | ZM516 | 1 FTS | NTA by Joe Lewis, on Flickr

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Juno HT1 | ZM516 | 1 FTS | NTA by Joe Lewis, on Flickr

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Juno HT1 | ZM516 | 1 FTS | NTA by Joe Lewis, on Flickr

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Juno HT1 | ZM516 | 1 FTS | NTA by Joe Lewis, on Flickr

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Juno HT1 | ZM516 | 1 FTS | NTA by Joe Lewis, on Flickr

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Juno HT1 | ZM516 | 1 FTS | NTA by Joe Lewis, on Flickr

I hope you enjoyed my photos it was a great experience being up in the mountains with helis and not fast pointy things

Lovely stuff mate, certainly not a bad holiday!

Hi Joe

Simply awesome work there

Imho, some of the best helo shots I’ve seen in quite some while

Well done and thanks for posting

Paddyboy

For me, it's the Chinook that is the star with #5 and #7 being my favourites; it is not often I get to see rear-view captures of a Chinook.
Excellent shots of the Helibus in such foul conditions.
Thanks for sharing your superb captures

Thanks everyone, living within 30 mins or so of Benson and having LFA1 on my doorstep I was more happy to have caught the S92 if I’m honest, don’t think they’ll ever show up in Buckinghamshire any time soon

Great selection of quality shots that you have posted - particularly impressed with the Wokka shots- some of the best I have seen posted anywhere. Thanks

Super set of photos! Hard to pick a favourite but I love the Chinook with the river in the background. Stunning

Cheers, Danny

Thanks everyone for the kind comments, got very lucky with the light bouncing off the river which really drew out the blue in my images.

Great set! Hard to pick a favourite, but I like #12 and #13 of the Coastguard helo.

Very nice

Thanks again, can’t wait to get up again when the next dep is on.

Great set of photos as always Joe

Cracking set love the streamers on the Rescue

Cheers, the poor weather has its benefits