Tag: @thepilotreport

Bonanza Demo Flight & Gusty Go Arounds

So the story goes something like this… I was on a commercial flight from Boston to Los Angeles and happened to strike up a conversation with my seat mate. Turns out this particular seat mate, Jeff, is an aircraft owner and flies a Beechcraft Bonanza for pleasure. This is when I learned he was planning a journey from New England over the North Atlantic over to Greenland, yes, the country.

He got to asking me if I knew of ways to record video so that he could capture these incredible flying moments for remembrance sake. Enter the GoPro Hero 2 that I was carrying in my backpack! You’ve all heard me talk about the GoPro Hero 2 (affiliate link), the mountable and wearable sports action video camera. So I showed Jeff how the camera worked and even told him about the special propeller case I had created to eliminate propeller artifacting. Then, the coolest thing happened! Jeff says to me, “Next time your in New England, look me up and we’ll go flying.”

Naturally, I did just that. Jeff picked me up in Nashua, NH at Boire Field KASH in his F33A Bonanza for a little scenic flight, some camera testing, and then the obligatory (and delicious) $100 lobster omelets in Sanford, ME KSFM. What you’re seeing is the video we recording from Nashua, NH KASH as we flew north towards Laconia, NH KLCI, then turning easterly over Lake Winnipesaukee for Sanford, ME KSFM.

The video starts out on the ground at KASH from the ramp as we taxi out for runup and departure. Since Jeff and I have never flown together before, nor have I piloted a Bonanza ever in my life, I brief Jeff on our roles as Pilot In Command and Passenger. We depart on our flight plan as stated above. You’ll get to see our departure from KASH, parts of our flight over KLCI and Lake Winnipesaukee, and our approach to landing at KSFM including my gusty wind go-around. The video contains plenty of Air Traffic Control audio and other aircraft radio transmissions.

Being my first time in any Bonanza, combined with the strong gusty winds, I certainly felt a bit out of place and almost disoriented in the aircraft, mostly with the layout and positing of the flight controls. You can hear me talk more about that in Episode #25 of the Stuck Mic AvCast, our aviation podcast about Learning to Fly, Living to Fly, and Loving To Fly.

So enough talking and back to the video!

Slick: A Glasair Demo Flight

Meet Bob Zajko

You’ve met him before. He’s done a few guest blog posts on The Anywhere Map including Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of his video demo.

What you might not have known about Bob is that he owns a Glasair 1 experimental aircraft. It’s a retractable gear, controllable pitch propeller, stick-flown aircraft and you can call her “Slick.”

Hello Slick

I met up with Bob at the KFDK airport in Frederick, MD for an afternoon flight in the Glasair. This would be many firsts for me: first time in a Glasair, first time flying with Bob, first time with a full video setup, and first time flying out of FDK. Big day, right?

Thanks to our friend Patrick who loaned us his GoPro® HD HERO2 Motorsports Edition camera (affiliate link), we were able to employ a 3 camera setup in flight. Coupled with an audio patch cable for recording intercom and air traffic control, we hit the skies.

Being my first demo flight video you can see it was a bit lacking in flight maneuvers. We hadn’t exactly known what to film and decided to just go up and have some fun while the cameras recorded it all. Of course you have to realize that when it comes to video editing for time and content that sometimes things get left out. For instance, YES we did a runup, all checklists, and radio calls even though not everything can be seen during the video, we did it.

Avoiding Camp David

KFDK is about 11 nautical miles south of Camp David, also known as Prohibited Area 40, or P-40. Luckily we weren’t going to be flying around there on this demo flight. Instead, we headed westerly out to the common practice area. There Bob handed the controls over to me and I flew some basic turns, climbs, and descents.

Admiring the ease of controllability I decided I would try my hand at some steep turns. We started off at 5,000 ft for this maneuver as I banked 45-degress into a left hand turn. The aircraft didn’t require much back pressure or trim input to maintain level flight, even at our bank angle. Upon completion of my left-hand steep turn I rolled into a turn towards to right, again holding her at 45-degrees of bank with minimal control inputs.

Not thinking that we should demonstrate any other flight characteristics like stalls or slow flight, we went for a short sight seeing tour of historic Harpers Ferry, WV. I’ve been to Harpers Ferry 2 times prior but it was from the ground. This was the first time I had flown over this neat town. The sun was shining and the fall tree colors were in full effect making for a nice backdrop as I maneuvered around the area before returning to Frederick for a full-stop landing.

In Closing

You’ll learn all kinds of performance data about the Glasair during our flight to and from the practice area as Bob answers my questions about that capabilities of his airplane. His knowledge of this airplane is pretty in-depth, something I would come to expect form a person who has over 1,000 hours flight time in Glasairs.

If you’ve enjoyed this demo video, share it on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or leave a comment below. I’m also available to film demonstration videos for fun or for hire. If you’d like to have your aircraft featured on ThePilotReport.com, please Contact Me!

ThePilotReport and Len Costa LOVE and USE:
GoPro® HD HERO2 Motorsports Edition (affiliate link)