Bush Pilots in Alaska

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krMPAJB5fVI&feature=email

These are some amazing landings.

Wow! That dude can fly. He is landing in places VSTOL aircraft can't.

Just look at 1:30 into the video, how many aircraft can take off in about 100 feet?

a whole lotta

Alaskan pilots are pretty incredible as it is.

I was in Nassau after the Haiti earthquake,loading relief planes. There were pilots there that specialized in delivering supplies to very difficult ares in small planes. Not quite like that, but close enough. Had dinner with 5 of them on a Saturday night. It was very much like dinner with Indiana Jones times five. And they did it for free, even paid for their own fuel. You could almost hear the clanking when they walked.

Love those videos. I've got a couple of Big Rocks & Long Props dvds that always come out during the holidays.

Just after 2:30... Love that setting up to touch down while banked over enough that the gear and wingtip are about the same height off the ground...

Very cool stuff.

If you want to learn how to do that, go see my pal Damian here in NJ:

http://www.andoverflight.com/information_bushpilot.html

AOPA gives away a plane almost every year. Last year it was a Piper Cub, two people sit on the centerline, this year it's a Tornado.

You too could be a Bush Pilot!

http://www.aopa.org/membership/articles/2012/120806tornado-husky-at-undisclosed-ca-location.html

I used to work for First Air, it's one of the major airlines in the Canadian arctic. Everything from bush planes to 737s. The pilots used to start off in the little stuff and work their way into the big jets. Thanks to this, when we were flying "down south", weather would never keep our planes from arriving unless the airport was closed.

Light wing loading + big power = awesome flying.

Keith wrote: I used to work for First Air, it's one of the major airlines in the Canadian arctic. Everything from bush planes to 737s. The pilots used to start off in the little stuff and work their way into the big jets. Thanks to this, when we were flying "down south", weather would never keep our planes from arriving unless the airport was closed.

Well, the guy in this video doesn't need no stinkin' airport.

Holy crap!

Anti-stance wrote:

Keith wrote: I used to work for First Air, it's one of the major airlines in the Canadian arctic. Everything from bush planes to 737s. The pilots used to start off in the little stuff and work their way into the big jets. Thanks to this, when we were flying "down south", weather would never keep our planes from arriving unless the airport was closed.

Well, the guy in this video doesn't need no stinkin' airport.

He might if he was flying a 727, our primary "big" plane when I worked for the company.

Some ninja's fly planes. Whoa.

I like at the end he lists the modifications, I don't know what it means but it sure does sound cool. Those tires on the plane are huge.

something I always wanted to do.... gotta finish getting my pilot's license first

Check out Snow Walker. Not too much flying and lots of walking, but a good flick.

In reply to Keith:

Was it anything like that show on Discovery Channel? (As I typed that, I felt very ignorant )

These guys make Naval Aviators say, " Wait, you're gonna land were? berkeley no!"

You know how sometimes you have to understand how something really works to appreciate how hard something really is? Yeah, this isn't one of those. I know nothing about flying a plane, but that's damn impressive.

Didn't know an airstrip could be circular. Very talented pilots! I do think I'd take a spare tire with me, if one of those hi-bloatation dudes blows out I don't see getting back off the ground again.

Not that any of that is easy in any way, but having a plane that will hover in a slight breeze certainly helps a lot.

I have seen a video of some sort of Bush Pilot Olympics competition they have (short landing, spot landing etc). Some pretty crazy stuff.

Can't test the link, but I found something:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWTcCtYl5Cs

I have an odd infatuation with watching this sort of stuff. Keep it coming!

It actually lead me to watch "Flying Wild Alaska" but that show is too much fluff and not enough rough (landings) for me. I watch it now as background noise, but not much else (it's on Netflix).

Clem