It’s a perfect day on the water in San Francisco, California. Partly cloudy skies obscure the worst of the glare. The wind is blowing from the west at an average of 28 mph (17 kph), through the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco Bay.
Just offshore of the St. Francis Yacht Club on the north shore of San Francisco, 11 F50 high-speed foiling catamarans race for the top position in the 2025 San Francisco Sail Grand Prix (SailGP). Clocking in at an average speed of 65 kph (40 mph) today, the boats are chased by three camera boats and two helicopters: an Airbus Helicopters AS350 B3 and an AS355 FX2 TwinStar.
Onboard the TwinStar, pilot Michael Franck maneuvers the helicopter into a 25 kt tailwind crab, keeping pace with the two lead boats making the final run for the finish line. The helicopter is eye level with the top of the sails at about 100 feet as camera operator Matt Connor focuses the Shotover M1 camera on the two boats. Still photographer Ricardo Pinto simultaneously shoots out the open left door. France’s boat looks sure to win, but Canada seems to have a trick up their sleeve.
The show’s director, who is more than 5,000 miles away in the U.K., is simultaneously watching live feeds from the helicopters, chase boats, and multiple cameras on each catamaran.
“Ready Heli 2,” the director warns. “Go Heli 2.”
The TwinStar’s video is now live. Franck stays with the boats as they turn around the last gate and head for the finish. Connor zooms in. France is a little wide as they attempt to pick up speed. Canada takes advantage, cuts inside and makes a run for it. They cross the line with just feet of their pontoons ahead France.
“Ready Heli 1. Go Heli 1,” the director calls for a feed switch to the AS350 hovering at 1,000 feet over the pitch capturing a wide shot that includes the remaining boats in the race. “Heli 2, line up to get Canada.”
The TwinStar breaks off. Careful not to disturb the boats’ wind with the helicopter’s downwash, Franck maneuvers the helicopter to the now motionless Canada boat as its technical zodiac raft moves in to support the crew. From a 200-foot hover with the left side of the aircraft facing the boat, Connor captures imagery SailGP uses live until its camera boat is in position to record an interview with the boat’s captain.
Franck again breaks off when clear and heads out for Connor to capture the last boats passing the finish line. Once they cross, it’s about five minutes before the next race starts. The helicopter flies out, capturing shots of the boats preparing for the next race, the city in the background, the sun on the Golden Gate Bridge. They then perform a fly-by of the crowd while Pinto waves wildly to get the attendees in the grandstands to wave back.
“One minute,” the director warns. Boats are already working their way to the starting line. Franck brings the helicopter into position in front of the starting line for the perfect shot of the boats coming at him as they jockey for position and try to time crossing the line with the buzzer announcing the start.
“Ready Heli 2. Go Heli 2.”
A Rare Breed
This two-day competition is one of 13 SailGP events taking place from November 2024 to November 2025 around the world. Three of those events are in the U.S. — in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York — and Franck and his TwinStar provide support for each. It’s a job he’s done since the first SailGP race in 2019.
Sailing is just one of many aerial filming gigs Franck and his aerial filming companies, Elite Rotorcraft and Aerial Production Services, support. When not filming live sports like the SailGP or MotoGP, Grand Prix of the Americas, Elite provides aerial filming for movies, television shows, commercials, and corporate productions.
While it sounds like an exciting and perhaps crowded field, the reality is, aerial filming is a highly specialized niche market with only a handful of regular aerial filming helicopter pilots in the United States who perform the majority of film work.
“This kind of work requires a unique combination of skills like technical flying ability, artistic vision, understanding camera work, the ability to consistently replicate precise shots, and maintaining a peripheral awareness while focusing on a monitor,” Franck explained. “There are some pilots out there that aren’t technically great pilots, but they have a great eye and fly the helicopter where it needs to be for the shot. Others may be fantastic pilots but just don’t have the eye for framing a shot. It’s harder to find someone with all these skills, because together they build trust in the camera operator that not only will you get them the shot they want, but you will keep them safe at the same time.”
Franck began his career in the 1980s flying for his father’s flight school and utility operations business in Troutdale, Oregon. He moved to Florida in the 1990s and operated tours there until he left for Chicago to fly for Helicopter Transport Services (HTS) in television news and, later, aerial film work.
“I kind of fell into it by accident,” Franck said of his aerial filming career. “There was a production filming in Chicago, and they were renting one of our helicopters at HTS for the production’s pilot to fly. It turned out there was a weather delay, and that pilot had to fly home for another job, so they asked if I could fill in since I had TV news experience.
“It was just this one shot, but the camera operator seemed to really like how I did it. He told me afterward that he loved flying with me and started calling me for other jobs. I still fly with him today. The thing is, the camera operators have a lot of input on pilots. If I don’t put the helicopter in the right place, it makes him look bad. If I do it well, he looks good and he wants to keep working with me. Kind of like the pilots, there are only a few camera operators who do most of the work, and they’ll recommend pilots. I’ve also gotten jobs because a producer saw a production where I flew, and they liked the shot and wanted something similar.”
Franck began his own aerial filming company Helimotion in 2003, then, in 2014, Elite Rotorcraft. As his reputation and business grew, Franck expanded the company to become full service. He owns several cameras, yet can also acquire cameras, equipment, aerial coordinators, mechanics, more helicopters, pilots, and even temporary paint if the aircraft will be on camera. For the SailGP jobs in Los Angeles and San Francisco, for example, he brought in Red Bull Pilot Aaron Fitzgerald and L.A. operator Helinet’s AS350 B3 as Heli 1.
He also had a trailer custom-made that allows him to truck his helicopter anywhere in North America in two days, saving his customers money while eliminating weather delays.
Elite’s trailer features an air-ride suspension over the wheels and in the fifth wheel hitch. The roof rises, allowing Franck to lift the helicopter with his rolling lift cart up into the trailer and over the wheel wells where the skids settle on their own rests. The blades are stacked in holders along the side of the trailer, the lift tucks in between the skids, and toolboxes, ground handling wheels, two large fuel bladders he can put in the back of a pick-up truck to use as a refueling station. All other equipment for an operation can be tied down throughout.
While on the job, the trailer provides an ideal locked location for both his own and the production helicopter’s equipment.
The Multitasks of the Job
Franck today flies on and off camera as a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) pilot, more often than not behind the camera, helping the camera operator get the best shot. Both sides of the camera, however, carry risk.
“You really have to have focused situational awareness,” he said. “For instance, with SailGP, I’m always watching the monitor to ensure I’m putting Matt in the best position, but at the same time I am constantly counting boats to be sure I know where they all are. When you’re down low, you run the risk of getting in their way or hitting them. At the same time, I have to keep the wind direction in mind. I have a lot of power in the TwinStar, but I can still get a compressor stall in the wrong situation. That’s where the technical flying comes in. Then there is watching for hazards, like birds. Matt might have his face down on the monitor and Ricardo is looking through a viewfinder. I still need to be a lookout.”
When it comes to flying in front of the camera, you’re just as busy. “You have to remember exactly how you flew — altitude, airspeed, where you went, how you move — and repeat it over and over while also continuing to safely fly the helicopter, often at its limits,” he said.
Back at Oakland Airport, where the helicopters are based for the San Francisco event, Franck shares videos and stories of how taking your eye off any of these responsibilities can lead to disaster while filming.
“You really have to stay focused, in all directions,” he emphasized.
The Next Generation
One thing Franck would really like to do is mentor the next generation of aerial film pilots. He’s training his son now, who currently flies a television contract in Chicago, but there is room for more. He’s quick to point out one thing the industry does not have — a female pilot.
“There are many projects that pilots have to be in wardrobe to appear as women flying,” he explains. “That is an excellent example where there is a place for more women in this field. That said, it takes a serious commitment. I’m willing to take someone on to be ground support on these jobs, and sometimes there is a paid position for ground support so there can be a little money. Regardless, the pilot can fly along in the back and really experience what we’re doing, sit in on safety briefings, sit in on storyboarding and planning, and really get a strong understanding of what it takes to do camerawork. In time, camera operators will get to know them, and they can start doing small flights to build experience. The hazard is you don’t want to put them out there on something big until they are really ready, because one bad job and they’re done. You can get blacklisted pretty quick.”
Franck offered a few tips to would-be aerial filming pilots. First, learn by observing. Don’t ask a lot of questions to start. Simply sit back and watch experienced pilots and learn from their techniques and approaches. Also, be willing to start at the bottom. Be committed to long-term learning and willing to travel and follow opportunities, he said. This isn’t a job of instant gratification but requires patience and dedication as you develop your own style, he said.
“Finally, you have to understand it’s not about hours or technical skills,” he said. “It’s about everything ‘clicking’ where you can safely operate the helicopter at its limits while helping the camera operator get the shot.”
