Here are unedited low-res images from a flight in May 2013.  Unfortunately I had to leave out some of the better images from this flight since I either have or might sell them. 

 

Taking off from Clermont County Airport:

 

SR 32 at I-275:

 

Future Oasis commuter rail line:

 

Newtown Rd., start of the bike trail:

 

Wasson Rd. railroad crosses Red Bank & Wooster:

 

Wasson Rd. at Paxton:

 

Wasson Rd., aka "Wasson Way":

 

Edwards at Madison:

 

Wasson Rd. railroad crosses I-71:

 

Site of Xavier's project, now up to the second floor height:

 

This thing:

 

This stuff:

 

New for 2013:

 

Cincinnati Milacron redevelopment:

 

Above B&O mainline in Norwood:

 

Former Chevrolet plant:

 

Norwood:

 

Abandoned King Records Building...THE HOME OF JAMES BROWN:

 

This and dozens of other James Brown records were recorded in that building:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ri9U8AnKKQI

 

Walnut Hills High School:

 

Children's Hospital:

 

Short Vine, UC:

 

McMillan/Calhoun:

 

Glencoe:

 

Christ Hospital:

 

Whoa:

 

Downtown:

 

Casino:

 

Casino:

 

OTR:

 

I-71:

 

Mt. Auburn/Walnut Hills:

 

Downtown:

 

Above Mt. Adams:

 

I-471:

 

Stadiums:

 

New riverfront park:

 

Electric prep work for new Brent Spence Bridge:

 

New Waldvogel Viaduct and relocated railroad tracks:

 

New Waldvogel Viaduct:

 

Lower Price Hill:

 

If you bike a lot, you know that the Lehman hill is probably the steepest climb out of the basin, grade approaches 20%:

 

 

Site of future Lick Run sewer daylighting:

 

Harrison Ave. climb w/new retaining wall:

 

 

 

W. MLK:

 

Reworking I-74 at Colerain Ave.:

 

New hospital:

 

I-74 at Beekman St.:

 

Northside:

 

American Can apartments:

 

Ivorydale Junction, Mitchell Ave., and Woody Sander Ford, site of the failed subway's maintenance facility and yard:

 

I-75 at Mitchell Ave.:

 

Zoo train:

 

New Zoo solar panels:

 

University of Cincinnati:

 

Morgans Hall:

 

USquare, opened August 2013:

 

University Heights/Fairview:

 

My house:

 

Mohawk:

 

OTR:

 

Mercer Commons Garage:

 

Mercer Commons:

 

SCPA:

 

Mt. Adams:

 

Mt. Adams:

 

Bellevue/Dayton KY:

 

This:

 

This:

 

This:

 

This:

 

 

What is getting built at the MLK/75 intersection?

Wow!  Great shots!

Incredible!

Zoo Train FTW!

Kudos on this plethora of helicopter pics--totally a surprising and valuable look at Cincinnati.  This kind of aerial-photography doesn't come our way all that often, but when it does it makes a tremendous difference!

 

Just let it be known, for various reasons, I'll be examining these photos for hours to come.  At this moment (if time and money were no problem) I would encourage  you to consider photographic flyovers of both the fast-emerging Florence/Burlington, KY and the the West Chester/Tylersville Rd. areas. (But, then again, I'm paying for nothing, so it's very easy for me to request too much.)  And, added to that, I'm totally unaware of any flight restrictions in and/or around CVG.  Nevertheless, Jake...thanks for "making my day." 

Great Shots!

Kudos on this plethora of helicopter pics--totally a surprising and valuable look at Cincinnati.  This kind of aerial-photography doesn't come our way all that often, but when it does it makes a tremendous difference!

 

Just let it be known, for various reasons, I'll be examining these photos for hours to come.  At this moment (if time and money were no problem) I would encourage  you to consider photographic flyovers of both the fast-emerging Florence/Burlington, KY and the the West Chester/Tylersville Rd. areas. (But, then again, I'm paying for nothing, so it's very easy for me to request too much.)  And, added to that, I'm totally unaware of any flight restrictions in and/or around CVG.  Nevertheless, Jake...thanks for "making my day." 

 

The price of these flights is about $400/hr.  You are looking at a 50 minute flight so obviously you can cover a ton of ground in that amount of time. 

 

The thing that is counterintuitive about all this is that you actually fly directly over airports in order to avoid crossing flight paths.  We did fly directly over Lunken but I don't know if you can do that at CVG. 

 

Also, all this is way easier in the digital era.  In the old days people were stuck switching rolls of film and being more choosey in their shots to save money.  I took about 800 shots in this hour, which would have been about 25 rolls of film @$5/ea and $10/ea for processing and printing. 

Do you take these pics for a hobby or to sell, or do people pay you to get flyover pics of their property?

 

Thanks for posting.

 

What strikes me the most is the huge size of so many parking garages.

 

 

Do you take these pics for a hobby or to sell, or do people pay you to get flyover pics of their property?

 

I got paid for photos sold to one of the new racinos which took no time at all but I think the pilot had a 45 minute minimum so that's where the rest of these came from.  I've done aerial photos twice now.  I don't have any big piece of advice for people, other than to write down everything you need to photograph on the flight and talk to the pilot beforehand.  On this flight I forgot to photograph the future I-71 MLK interchange site because I didn't write it down and by chance we crossed over I-71 right at that spot so i never saw it. 

I'll ask again, does anyone know what is getting built at the MLK/I-75 interchange?

That's the reconstruction of that entire intersection and on/off ramp. It is changing configuration and the construction of that is what you see in that photo.

Very nice!  Thanks

hmmm, Cincinnati is less urban than I thought.

 

^???

^???

^ My thoughts too...  Just how "urban" must Cincinnati be to be urban?  Maybe not in the vernacular of Hong Kong, Tokyo, or NYC, but certainly in the "American Midwest"?  Please give us a break by explaining what is meant by "less urban."

Maybe half of these photos are of the "city" part of the city, and many dense sections weren't even touched upon, like Price Hill and Newport and Covington, directly across the river from downtown.

That's the reconstruction of that entire intersection and on/off ramp. It is changing configuration and the construction of that is what you see in that photo.

 

So much for the landmark of sketchiness that once fronted on McMicken and extended to the intersection of MLK.  Said building was a motel where rooms at an hourly rate were offered.  In naive pre-adolescence I thought it was enterprising to have a place where somebody could stop in for a nap instead of paying for a full night's sleep.  :oops:

 

What a dazzling - and almost literally dizzying - display of pics!  What struck me the most was the ones which included expressways.  They really show how disruptive and damaging those roads were to the communities (to say nothing of the natural features) they were built through. 

There certainly is a lot of green in this set, but of course the green areas are mostly hillsides and parks.

^Such is Cincy.  Topography precludes vast urban carpets.

The "OTR" photo (the 11th from the last--where Washington Park centers the pic) demonstrates why the CBD and OTR might be considered one "downtown."  Obviously, the helicopter perspective makes things appear closer together and less elevated than they really are, but in this shot look how seamlessly OTR blends into the CBD.  (In fact, wide Central Parkway past the Kroger building is virtually imperceptible.)

Jake - If you are going to do this again, let me know, I may be interested in paying you to take a few photos for me. Depends where you are going to be going. 

No I don't have any plans.  I might do it again in another year to get I-75 work and other new stuff. 

Easy to see all the potential in the core. Excellent thread.

hmmm, Cincinnati is less urban than I thought.

 

 

Maybe this is in reference to all of the disastrous suburban development pictured here.  The Mitchell Ave exit, Rookwood developments, the area by Xavier, Queensgate....all very suburban.  Seeing these areas from an aerial perspective shows how these areas are scars in the urban landscape much more than experiencing them at ground level.

I don't know if I'd say it looks overall less urban than I remember (though some new holes where buildings were lost), but it does look more disconnected than I remember (actually pretty weird and unique with those forests right in the middle of the city). I don think it's the hills. Duluth, Seattle, SF, etc. are pretty connected and built on big hills. Could soil be playing a role? I remember when living in southern Ohio, it seemed like all the ground was muddy and loose, like erosion could be a real serious problem. With the rains and floods of the Ohio Valley, I bet you have to be more careful about where you build.

 

With all this said, the potential of Cincy's core is so obvious. This is still on the best cores in the Midwest. And maybe the disconnection could be a marketing angle? "Come to Cincy: Great Urban Neighborhoods Surrounded By Forests."

I don't know if I'd say it looks overall less urban than I remember (though some new holes where buildings were lost), but it does look more disconnected than I remember (actually pretty weird and unique with those forests right in the middle of the city). I don think it's the hills. Duluth, Seattle, SF, etc. are pretty connected and built on big hills. Could soil be playing a role? I remember when living in southern Ohio, it seemed like all the ground was muddy and loose, like erosion could be a real serious problem. With the rains and floods of the Ohio Valley, I bet you have to be more careful about where you build.

 

With all this said, the potential of Cincy's core is so obvious. This is still on the best cores in the Midwest. And maybe the disconnection could be a marketing angle? "Come to Cincy: Great Urban Neighborhoods Surrounded By Forests."

 

Certainly soil is a factor.  Look at how much mid to late 1800's building stock is gone off the hillsides when comparing old photos.  Mt Auburn especially.  Most of it from foundation damage.  I look at hundreds of homes each year to purchase.  Mostly circa 1900-1960.  I'd say 95% of them have some kind of foundation cracks and water leaking due to the constant slow movement of our soil here.

Jake -- you are due to do another one of these soon.

It's expensive, like $400/hr so maybe next year.