Page 165 - EAMMV9covers

NICHOLAS BOOTHMAN
“McCarran Tower, helicopter Zero-Mike-Tango,
request VFR departure out of Circus helipad to the east
not above fifteen hundred, heading south leaving your
area.” It took me a moment to realize the voice in the
headset really was Julia’
s.
The reply came back fast. “Helicopter Zero-Mike-
Tango, McCarran Tower, clear for takeoff, report one
mile east at or below two thousand.”
She confirmed the tower’s instructions then jabbed
me with her elbow and smiled. “Give me a minute.”
With a smooth gentle touch she had us crabbing up
and away from the helipad, over the Las Vegas Strip
and east toward the Hoover Dam.
She was talking to the tower and methodically
scanning the sky around us.
Fifteen minutes ago I was on the ground at The
Venetian, now I’m a thousand feet in the air above it
and halfway to the Hoover Dam.
She flicked us to intercom. “Give me a sec to get us
out of here. Tower says there are over eighty aircraft in
his control zone. I can only see four of them.”
Shoot. I couldn’t see any. No point protesting now. I
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