On Sunday, I decided to head over to Grand Haven. It was snowing as I got my first start. I got my stuff at Starbucks and decided to get on US-23. I was noticing the roads were a little slick before I got on US-23 but it didn't look slick when I got on US-23. Boy was I wrong. As I went past Geddes Road, the traffic started to back up and I was a little apprehensive as I was sliding a little bit. I get a little further up the road and I see why traffic is slowed down. There was a multi car accident on the south bound side of US-23. It looked pretty bad, so I got off the freeway at Plymouth Road and returned home.
So after going home for a little while to wait out the roads, I decided to head out. The weather was much better and so were the roads. I decided to head over to Grand Haven.
As I was on I-96, I saw a helicopter ahead of me. It looked like it was circling around the mall just off the freeway. I ended up getting off the freeway and doubling back to the Livingston County Airport. As I got there, I saw the helicopter coming in.
It turns out that this was a Sikorsky S-61N. It was built in 1973.
It was delivered to Bristow Helicopters in Aberdeen, Scotland in 1974.
It was operated for them until 2003. It was sometimes used as a Coast Guard helicopter.
In 2008, it was sold to a company in Oregon.
In 2019, it was sold to its current company, Construction Helicopters of Howell, MI.
I think this helicopter may have come over on the An-124 that landed at Detroit Metro once.
The S-61N is the civilian version of the SH-3 Sea King Helicopter. The Sea King was developed as an Anti-Submarine Warfare helicopter for the US Navy.
Production deliveries to the Navy began in 1961.
The S-61 began production in 1961 as well.
There were 119 built of this version.
At any rate, it was pretty cool to see.
Especially since I don't get to see helicopters often.
It is even cooler to see old helicopters.
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