Street art in Sao Paulo

Seen in Liberdade, SP

Sao Paulo has amazing street art and part of the popular culture. I even saw a girl with a Miro design tattooed on her arm.

This picture came from Liberdade (freedom in Portuguese), a Japanese part of Sao Paulo. The Japanese started coming to this area in 1912 and since 1950s the area has been growing exponentially. It now has the largest concentration of Japanese outside Japan.

I think street art must be 'legalised' as this man had no trouble with me taking a picture of him making his graffiti.

This piece was in the area near the university, between Liberdade and Avenue Paulista.

Some characters from the Sao Paulo helicopter scene

Pictured at Helipark

Pictured at Helipark after flying the Bell 430 this is:
left Andreia Zwetsch from Helipark, Claudio Agostini from Rotor & Wing, a US helicopter trade magazine, and Ernesto Klotzel, an engineer who worked with Hiller in Paolo Alto back in the era of the flying platform and the rotor tip jets. After retiring as an engineer he became an aviation journalist.

Sao Paulo, Brazil 17th July 2011

Comandante Hamilton 

This is Comandante Hamilton with his Robinson R44. Comandante started ENG (electronic news gathering) twenty years ago, the first in Sao Paulo. He now has a fleet of three helicopters and employs his son and two other pilots. He originally started with AS350s but moved to the R44 and was involved in the layout of the ENG R44.
Look out for Radio and Television Record S/A

Sao Paulo, Brazil July 2011

Helipark Sao Paulo

This is Helipark in Sao Paulo. Helipark started 10 years ago and has grown to being the biggest heliport in Sao Paulo, if not in the world.
When we visited there were 170 clients but they are about to expand, building another two hangars twice the size of the current ones, this will mean another 200 helicopters in the new hangars and a potential for another 180 in the current hangars. WOW

Flying the Bell 430 in Sao Paulo

Aureo Bradley and me

This is the pilot of the Bell 430. It was particularly interesting to me because he comes from Recife in the north east of Brazil. My late husband, Hilaire Dubourcq, knew he had relations in Brazil but did not know where they were or how to trace them. Then, with the coming of Facebook, and a bit of luck, I did trace them - sadly, after he died - and they live in Recife. Nice coincidence ' eh.

Sao Paulo July 2011

Sao Paulo city, Brazil July 2011

I thought this was a particularly interesting photograph because it shows how close together all the helipads are - but, of course, since they are on high rises you cannot just walk from one pad to the next - still it must be interesting flying for pilots when they are all busy!

NB although there are 'only' four helipads in the picture it looks to me as though they might be able to use the other high rise for emergency landings...

Flying over Sao Paulo in a Bell 430 July 15 2011

Bell 430 at HeliPark

Went flying in the Bell 430 over Sao Paulo. Flew with Captain Bradley, in the back were 5 friends including Andreia Zwetsch, shown here with me and the Captain.
Amazing place - the traffic is terrible and estimates for the number of cars in SP differ from 16 million to 17.5 million - what is a mill and a half here or there? Coz of that helicopter travel is far more common than in other countries of the world. There are currently around 170 helicopters at Helipark and when they build the new hangars there will be another 200 or so... fantastic.

Helicidade Heliport in Sao Paulo

Estimates vary over the number of helipads in SP but I have been given the figures of 420 or 300 - so it is hard to say. I hope that by the time the article in Helicopter Life comes out I will have a more exact idea. But suffice to say there are a LOT and often, because they are on top of high rises, only metres between one and another.
There are also three large heliports - of which Helipark is much the largest - from where all these helicopters fly into SP