CH-53E Super Stallion Approach

In the times we all have of wondering what other paths in life we could have taken, flying a heavy lift helicopter like the Jolly Green or Super Stallion was one for me.  I was lucky to be part of the C5 cargo aircraft crew and would have been happy working on the helicopter heavies as well.
This is the CH-53E Super Stallion.  At the airshow, the event was listed as MAGTF Demo.  MAGTF is the Marine Air - Ground Task Force.   The unit is designed to work together with Command, Ground Combat, Aviation Combat and Combat Service Support.  As part of the demo, there were F/A18s, an Osprey and the Super Stallion.
This helicopter has been in service since the early 80's when 177 were built.  The aircraft will lift just over 17 tons and fly at speeds up to 170 knots.  The size is limited due to a requirement to operate from ships.  Even with the limitation , the helicopter is the one of the largest in the world.
This one was coming in for a landing as part of the Demo.

The image was shot at 1.3 image size.  The effective focal length is 320 mm.  With the shutter speed at 1/200 sec, that is a recipe for disaster.  But the target was large and slow allowing me to get a pretty good capture.

There are seven titanium - fiberglass composite main rotor blades and the flex can be seen here.  That unit can move a lot of troops and equipment.