RWS 86 – Going for Height and Film Flying with Fred North

Even if you are not an avid movie goer it is still very likely that you have seen some of Fred North’s work. Fred has been involved in many of the largest Hollywood Blockbusters in recent times either flying helicopter stunts or providing the aerial filming platform. There is a lot that goes into setting …

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Fred North built his early helicopter hours travelling from town to town in France selling joyflights. Now he works on some of the biggest films in the world.

Even if you are not an avid movie goer it is still very likely that you have seen some of Fred North’s work. Fred has been involved in many of the largest Hollywood Blockbusters in recent times either flying helicopter stunts or providing the aerial filming platform. There is a lot that goes into setting up a filming sequence. Fred talks about some of the challenges in this episode. 

Fred North has one of the biggest followings on Instagram for a helicopter pilot. His short clips and still photos from behind the scenes of filming show helicopter action sequences that you just don’t otherwise see in normal ops.

Some of Fred’s film credits include:

Armageddon
Gladiator
Borne Identity
Da Vinci Code
The Incredible Hulk
Tropic Thunder
Inception
Fast and Furious – several including Hobbs & Shaw
Total Recall
Mission Impossible
Point Break
Captain America : Winter Soldier
All the Transformers films
Pacific Rim
Wolverine
Bad Boys for Life
Guardians of the Galaxy

See more here: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0636005/

The type of flying that Fred North does today is not something that helicopter pilots start out doing. Fred is no exception. He built his first hours quickly by travelling from town to town in France selling tickets for joyflights in a Bell 47 and then backing up and conducting the flights.

In the interview Fred also talks about his experiences as a support and film pilot for the Dakar Rally through Africa for a number of years. There is a good navigation tip in there for remote operations around purposely laying off heading so that when you hit a straight across track feature such as a road that you know which way to turn.

Helicopter pilot mothers the world over appear to share some similar concerns when their children decide on that particular career. Fred’s mother insisted that he wear a parachute when he went for the helicopter altitude record. If you want to know what goes into getting a helicopter to 42,500ft then you will also get to hear Fred talk about that campaign and some of the things unplanned events that happened on that flight.  

Source: fred-north.com

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Links from this week’s episode:
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fred-north.com – more information about height record flight

View this post on Instagram

When timing is becoming essential which in our film bz is a question of getting an amazing shot or simply getting something average … Blackhawk helicopter here from @brian_reynolds11 @team5aerials @davidmleitch @selajon @lvjackpilot @nolzee1 @peter_graf61 @ben_skorstad @spirorazatos @nstunts @kauaifilmcommission @combat_learjet @theairlinerss @theheliclub @helistore.ca @pilotstuff___ @aeringmedia @airborneaviationhawaii #helicopter #airtoair #stuntpilot #blackhawk #pilotlife #aerialsilks #aerials

A post shared by Fred North (@fred_north) on Apr 24, 2020 at 7:49pm PDT

Source: fred-north.com

Have a comment or feedback about Episode 86? Don’t forget Fred’s offer to answer your questions on a future episode. Be part of the conversation by leaving a comment below or leave a question for Fred.

The post RWS 86 – Going for Height and Film Flying with Fred North appeared first on The Rotary Wing Show Podcast.