Tag: video

Cruising the Alaska Talkeetna Range in a Super Cub on Skis

This video is for sure a long time coming. Some of you may recall that back in February of 2012 I spent some time up in Alaska flying in my friends Super Cub. This trip was particularly more special than my last visit because the airplane had it’s bush wheels removed and replaced with a set of skis for winter fun and flying. So when CJ told me about the skis on his plane, I knew I had to get to Alaska ASAP!

My previous visit was in August 2010 where we did some summer style bush flying landing on gravel bars, mountain tops, and even camping out on a glacier overnight. Yup, a glacier! You can do that kind of stuff in Alaska. Actually, funny side story here… while snow mobiles are NOT allowed within Denali National Park during the winter months, airplanes ARE! How cool is that?

But I digress so back to the story at hand. Arriving in Anchorage in February, we drove north to Talkeetna where we stayed in a cabin at the Meandering Moose Lodge. Oh the memories! Middle-of-the-night walks from town, intoxicated on good times and local microbrews, trekking through snowmobile trails in the darkness of a the Alaskan winter sky. But you’re here about the flying and not my social exploits, of course.

In this particular video we depart from Willow, AK and headed easterly out to the Talkeetna Mountain Range for some sightseeing. HOLY SHIT what a view! Most spectacular flying experience I’ve ever had hands down. Cruising down the valleys, crossing ridge lines, and coasting downslope were some of my favorite parts. But you can see all that for yourself in this video above.

Now I know this video is kind of long pushing the 40 minute mark BUT it’s worth EVERY MINUTE for the spectacular views and cool flying experience. Skip around if you have to, you won’t regret it. My friend Chris told me, “Just awesome! Watched it with my kids. It’s the first time they sat through a aviation vid without any complaints! 4 and 6 yr old. Great job!” If kids like it, so will you.

One last thing, if you want to hear me talk more about the the aspects of ski plane flying including my flight lessons and jumping out of the airplane to stop it from colliding into other objects on the icy taxiway then listen to Episode #21 of the Stuck Mic AvCast about Fly It Forward Recap, Planes-Trains-Automobiles, & Alaskan Ski-Plane Adventures.

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!

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GoPro® HD HERO2 Motorsports Edition (affiliate link)