Wondering what Flying M Air can do for you? Here’s how we’ve helped some of our clients in the past.

Boat Racing on Lake Havasu

Our client needed a helicopter to photograph his brand new, one-of-a-kind race boat in action on Lake Havasu. We provided a camera platform to shoot video and still photos of the boat as it raced up and down the lake.

Photo of Liquid Technologies race boat by Todd Taylor of [1] Joker’s Wild Promotions.

Later, we worked with Extreme Boats magazine photographers as a platform for their photos of multiple race boats on the lake.

Photo of “Skater” race boat by Casey Kiernan of [2] Extreme Boats magazine. You can buy enlargements of this and other photos taken at the event at [3] H20 Nation.

Both jobs required a number of tricky aircraft maneuvers, including flying low and fast over the water (”in formation” with the boats) and making quick stops and sharp turns.

Promotional Video for a New Car

Our clients needed some aerial photography of a newly designed car for a promotional video under production in Europe. We were hired to fly alongside the car on a desert test track in central Arizona.

The job was challenging, primarily because the cameraman and director spoke little English. We performed many difficult maneuvers in a hot, high density altitude situation, making it possible for the cameraman to get some truly incredible shots.

Aerial Photography over Lake Powell

Our client, a professional photographer from Chicago, came to Lake Powell with four companions for an aerial photo shoot of the lake. They captured a number of stunning images in the late afternoon night, many of which are suitable for publication and sale.

The job required a lot of out-of-ground-effect (high) hovering, quick stops, and sideways flight to get the helicopter in the ideal positions for the photographer’s shots. On this particular job, we had multiple photographers on board for two separate flights.

Photo of Lake Powell by [4] Mike Reyfman.

“Border Patrol”

Our client, a photojournalist, wanted to photograph the Arizona/Mexico border between Yuma and Nogales. This 200+ mile stretch of empty desert borders the Goldwater Test Range and passes over some of the most unforgiving terrain Arizona has to offer.

Our client got lots of photos, including many shots of suspicious vehicles, a border patrol helicopter speeding beneath us in the opposite direction, and illegal alien pickup locations in a heavily trafficked area north of the border.

The job required coordination with U.S. Customs, the Goldwater Range Control, and FAA Flight Service, as well as careful fuel and weight management in hot (100+°F!) weather.

A Unique Proposal

They were planning a camping trip in his small airplane. But he wanted to propose to her in a place he couldn’t fly to. He hired us to be on hand for a custom charter when his plane had “mechanical difficulties” on startup. We flew them to a predetermined destination (see the photo he supplied with GPS coordinates) and we set them down for their overnight camping trip.

In the morning, a newly engaged couple awaited us for pickup. And you should have seen her lovely ring!

Mine Search

Our clients were looking for an abandoned mine that one of them had found more than 30 years ago just below a ridgeline on Harquahala Mountain in west-central Arizona. The mine entrance was barely large enough for a man to slip in and, over the years, it had been covered by the growth of vegetation. We found what may be the site about 1/3 up the mountain.

This job required us to fly slowly 100-200 feet off a ridgeline at high density altitude in windy conditions.