Show-stopping choppers on display at Hiller Aviation Museum air show Show-stopping choppers on display at Hiller Aviation Museum air show (June 08, 2005)

By Rebecca Wallace

Almanac Staff Writer

For Willie Turner, helicopters have an elemental appeal: "It is fascinating to watch a mass of metal suspend itself in mid-air."

Some of those choppers just may be show-stoppers on Saturday, June 18, when the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos hosts its sixth annual Vertical Challenge Helicopter Air Show. Some 50 helicopters will be on display.

One of the highlights of the event will be Jean Tinsley piloting the massive Sky Crane, which is designed for major industrial use and also has a nozzle attachment for firefighting, says Mr. Turner, a museum spokesman and the event's organizer.

ShowCopters, a three-craft "extreme team," will also show the helicopter's versatility with brassy formation maneuvers, Mr. Turner says. Other events will include a search and rescue demonstration by the Coast Guard and a firefighting "water drop" by the California Department of Forestry.

The show will also commemorate the 30th anniversary of the fall of Saigon with a Vietnam War memorial and a pyrotechnics display.

The event is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the museum at San Carlos Airport, just east of U.S. 101. Admission is $15 for adults, $10 for seniors and children ages 8 to 10, $5 for children ages 5 to 7, and free for younger children.

For more information, call 654-0200 or go to www.hiller.org.

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