Get Outta Here

Flying south along the coast from Lantana myself & the "chief pilot" stumbled across an intense boat race. About a mile off the coast of downtown Fort Lauderdale was the track, basically just a bunch of buoys set up in a way to make an oval course.

Inside the oval were boats floating around, watching the speedboats as they circled them. Outside the oval there were some gigantic yachts and other random boats. These, including the boats which were racing, are "targets" to our "chief pilot". So imagine a sea of boats, going every which way possible, in about a 3 square mile area.

All of that, combined with a very busy day in Class C airspace. On top of THAT, we have 5 enemy helicopters who were basically following the race boats around the track in their circuit.

Imagine yourself a 75 year old pilot with 50 years experience and stubbornness to boot. Your hearing is sub-par, your eyesight isn't what it used to be, and all you can think about is pleasing your boss. Targets are everywhere and anywhere that you decide to place your eyes, unpredictable helicopter traffic is literally: all over the place, the air traffic controller is talking in your ears non-stop. Great situation.







While I was hanging outside the helicopter snapping away, the controller was calling our tail number and our (almost) blind, deaf, and... stubborn "chief pilot" wasn't hearing any of the transmissions or responding so we were politely kicked out of the airspace, not before being literally cut off by this asshole below us who chased us for a mile giving us hand signals to leave. Apparently it's frowned upon to fly inside and take pictures of a sanctioned boat race where all of the helicopters had previously been briefed on what to do, how to fly, and what frequency to be on.

The outcome: