East Texas Helicopters Charter Service

May 31st, 2011

I came across this very cool East Texas business this morning. It’s an air charter service called East Texas Helicopters (ETH). As a kid I was watching television in the eighties when shows like Air Wolf, Blue Thunder and most especially Magnum PI ruled the ratings market. Back then, the idea of having one’s own helicopter charter business seemed like the coolest job in the world to me. Much cooler and more attractive than teaching! And as much as I admired “Thomas Magnum,” it was his friend “T.C.” whose job I most wanted. Remember T.C. was the one who owned his own Chopper and flew patrons around the Hawaiian Islands on special tours. I’m fairly sure the day to day ins and outs of the job are not really as glamorous as they were portrayed on television however.

Anyway, come to find out, there is a Helicopter charter business here I East Texas. It seems they service the Tyler, Longview, Kilgore, Jacksonville region. As far as I can tell they’re largely a one ship operation (again much like T.C.), the primary chopper being an R44 Raven II. On their Facebook page however, they do have a couple of other choppers pictured, so I’m not sure how many they actually run. In terms of advertising and public relations, the only web page they operate is linked through KLTV, which is not a terrible strategy in guess, since that’s how I found them. (As I mentioned earlier, they also have a Facebook page). On the site, ETH lists the services they offer. They’re available for tours, aerial photo shoots and surveys, patrolling power lines, or just public rides. The cost comes to almost a hundred dollars for every half hour, which given the cost of fuel these days seems pretty reasonable to me. If I read their pages correctly, it seems they also frequent Canton Trade Days where they offer rides to the fair going public. For more information on this fascinating business, visit their webpage at http://www.kltv.com/category/174993/east-texas-helicopter . Readers can also go to their Facebook page by clicking on the following link: http://www.facebook.com/EastTexasHelicopters?sk=wall . To contact the business directly simply call their office at (903)570-2840; or e-mail them at easttexashelicopters@gmail.com .

Tags: Aerial Photo, Air Charter Service, Air Wolf, Blue Thunder, Charter Business, Chopper, East Texas, Eighties, Hawaiian Islands, Helicopter Charter, Helicopters, Kilgore, Kltv, Magnum Pi, Photo Shoots, R44, Ship Operation, Texas Business, Thomas Magnum, Tyler Texas, Watching Television
Posted in Attractions | No Comments »

Weird Vehicle Traveling by the weather station and Chili’s

April 26th, 2011

My brother was able to get a good picture of this weird looking vehicle driving through Tyler Texas. It isn’t a hummer but looking at the weird pipes sticking out of it I would say maybe it is a storm chaser vehicle that chases tornado’s?

There is also a 360 window view at the top of it but I can’t seem to find any holes for a military gun which makes me think it is a storm chaser?

I really have no clue what it is but does look like a mixture between a dually truck and a hummer of some kind but the answer still alludes me.

Later on during the day Tyler Texas and surrounding areas were deluged with quite a few tornados. Tyler Junior College (TJC) had several buildings destroyed by a tornado and UT Tyler was hit too.

The pictures below are courtesy of users who submitted pictures on the KLTV website.

Tags: Brother, Chases, Chili S, Clue, Dually Truck, Holes, Hummer, Kltv, Military Gun, Mixture, Pipes, Storm Chaser, TJC, Tornado, tornado chaser vehicle, Tornado storm chaser, Tornados, Traveling, Tyler Junior College, Tyler Texas, Tyler TX storm chaser, Tyler TX tornado chaser, UT Tyler, Weather Station, Weird
Posted in Weather | 3 Comments »

When It Rains It Pours

June 10th, 2010

When it rains it pours; and that is much more than just a shallow metaphor. In the rains that fell on the East Texas area last night, my parents home fell victim to flash flooding for the third time in four years! They had lived in, and or owned that residence for more than twenty years, and now floods in the last three out of four years. How does this happen? What changed? Was it the development taking place on their neighbor’s property? Over the last few years they have made significant changes to their property which, I’m told, may have altered the flow of the creek that runs through my parents land. Whatever the reason it’s hard to know what to do or where to begin to clean up.

Upon seeing the devastation I made the usual phone calls, first my brothers and sisters, my parent’s pastor, my priest, etc. Next, hoping to raise attention and spur quicker clean-up and action on the part of their insurance company, (who knows whether or not it will work), I called the local news stations. Both KLTV and KETK sent out camera men and reporters, to record the scene, and both men were courteous and concerned. But KLTV reporter Layron Livingston in particular, was terrific. He spent at least an hour speaking with the family, taking pictures inside and outside of the house, and generally taking an interest in what was happening to a local family.

It’s hard to believe that we’re here yet again! It’s like having déjà vu two times over only worse each time. So now begins again the process of clean up and recovery; vacuuming up the water and mud, the smell of mold and mildew, fans running in every corner of the house, and of course removing and replacing the old wet sheetrock. It’s a long process to put one’s life back in order after that kind of horrible interruption, and living amongst the construction becomes a battle to achieve some kind of normalcy, not to mention a feeling of cleanliness. With more rain due in overnight tonight and then again next week, there’s no telling for sure when the work will begin in earnest.

At the end of the day I am thankful that I and my family live in the Tyler community. The support of friends, family and our respective local churches, will make all the difference in process of rebuilding. I’m sure that over the next few months I will be able to provide the occasional update on how things are developing. To read more about our family’s crisis, see Mr. Livingston’s piece on the KLTV website at http://www.kltv.com/global/story.asp?s=12631614.

Tags: Brothers And Sisters, Camera Men, Cleanliness, Devastation, East Texas, East Texas Area, flash flooding, Floods, Insurance Company, Interruption, Kltv, Local Family, Local News Stations, Metaphor, Mold And Mildew, More Than Twenty Years, Mud, Normalcy, S Pastor, Sheetrock, Third Time, tyler texas flash flooding, tyler tx flash flooding
Posted in Education | No Comments »

Texas Church Arsonists Caught

February 21st, 2010

Texas arsonists mug shots

The arsonists were arrested late last night and this morning in San Antonio and Grand Saline. KLTV will be covering it live at 4:00 pm today. According to Crowley with the ATF, he said, “various techniques led members of a special task force to the men, including DNA evidence and phone tips.”

My questions revolve around if they turned out to be young highschoolers that are either satanists or think they are vampires. One news station said their last names are Jason Borque and Daniel Mcalister. Jason was a student at UT Tyler. If you know these guys feel free to comment below and fill us in. Is he a twilight fan, does he regularly where black trench coats, and other typical ridiculousness.

The ATF has reported that the other arsonists last name is Borque and was arrested in Northern Smith County. They said the sketches are unrelated to the men that were arrested. The sketches were men of interest at the time that could have some kind of link.

These are considered 1st degree felonies and could also be considered aggravated robberies. The ATF said that among some of the evidence they have is DNA evidence.

They may ask the judge to stack sentences. There is only one arrest warrant at this time which is the Dover Baptist Church warrant. They are confident that they will be arrested on other fires. They don’t believe the fire in Temple is related to the East Texas church fires.

According to NBC news one is from Lindale and the other guy is from Van Texas but after more news it appears more like Ben Wheeler Texas. So these guys were right in my backyard the whole time. I kind of suspected they might be from here considering how they were spreading the fires out around this location. They couldn’t resist to go after a couple of the churches in their own towns. If they were trying to throw police off I think it served more as an easy to find trail to their hideout.

Dates and locations of arsons:

01-01-2010, 9:02 AM – Little Hope Baptist Church – Canton, TX;
01-01-2010, 11:05 AM – Faith Baptist Church – Athens, TX;
01-11-2010, 10:40 PM – Grace Community Church, Athens, TX;
01-12-2010, 12:09 AM – Lake Athens Baptist Church, Athens, TX;
01-16-2010, 6:30 PM – Tyland Baptist Church, Tyler, TX;
01-17-2010, 6:33 PM – First Church of Christ Scientist, Tyler, TX;
01-20-2010, 7:37 AM – Prairie Creek Fellowship, Lindale, TX;
02-04-2010, 5:23 AM – Russell Memorial United Methodist Church, Wills Point, TX;
02-08-2010, 8:47 PM – Dover Baptist Church, Tyler, TX;
02-08-2010, 9:44 PM – Clear Springs Missionary Baptist Church, Lindale, TX.

In addition to the arsons at the above listed churches, there were attempted break-ins at the following churches:

02-07-2010, 12:19 AM, Heritage Baptist Church, Tyler, TX;
02-08-2010, 9:19 PM, Clearview Church, Tyler, TX;
02-08-2010, 9:39 PM, Pine Brook Baptist Church, Tyler, TX.

Tags: Arrest Warrant, Arsonists, Atf, Black Trench Coats, Borque, church burnings, Degree Felonies, Dna Evidence, East Texas, Grand Saline, Hideo, Kltv, Last Names, Mcalister, Mug Shots, Nbc News, News Station, Ridiculousness, smith county, UT Tyler, Wheeler Texas
Posted in Churches | 6 Comments »

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