A shot of Peter and Paul cathedral taken while waiting for the helicopter to arrive in the morning. My best guess is that it is based out of Pulkovo International Airport during the week and during fueling operations.

The 60' long Mi-8 makes a very noisy, attention-grabbing entrance.

Coming in to land with the Artillery Museum in the background.

The sign in the lower right denotes a 100m square "danger zone" around the helipad. Keen observers will notice that the safety ropes are nowhere near 100m from the helicopter.

Looking head-on. For reference, the blades are each 35' long, making for a 70' diameter main rotor disc.

Because rotorheads are unimaginably complex pieces of machinery.

In the cockpit.

The cruiser Aurora visible shortly after takeoff. A blank fired from her deck guns served as the signal for the Bolshevik revolutionaries to start their attack on the Winter Palace in 1917.

A church the name of which I do not know.

Looking up what I'm pretty sure is the Neva.

Looking across the city center.

The Field of Mars. The square in the center holds an eternal flame burning in remembrance of those lost in the 1917 revolutions.

The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood.

Kazan Cathedral.

Kazan Cathedral in the foreground. The curved yellow building behind it is the St. Petersburg State University of Economics and Finance, where I studied during my stay.

Palace Square.

St. Issac's cathedral.

Post-landing.

RA-24477 takes the next group into the air.

This shot was immediately followed by a scramble to get the lens cap back on before I got a nice sand blasting courtesy of the rotor wash.

A skydiver hitched a ride on this flight.

Lots of motion blur. I didn't think to switch over to my air show settings.

A safe touchdown.