Short takeoff and landing competition 2011

These are some impressive airplanes and pilots. I would like to know how strong the wind is.

http://freedom4um.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=133255

http://www.eaa.org/news/2011/2011-05-12_stol.asp

"In a competition where less is more, Doyle’s total takeoff and landing distance was a mere 78 feet. That’s 43 feet for the takeoff and 35 feet for the landing."

THat was awesome to watch

I've had a variable prop Super Cub off is about 200 ft. Even THAT feels friggin' amazing!

So cool!

Joey

The nitrous oxide pushes you back in the seat. I believe that.

notice he also is running a three blade prop. Cubs are light enough to almost get airborne from the prop wash alone.. having a three blade prop plus nitrous... that's a lot of wind before he even starts moving

Fun to watch. Especially the way at least one plane was able to lift his tail wheel off the ground before he'd even started moving.

I like this quote from the article:

Breeden, who is still a student pilot, repaired a broken ignition system, but had to scramble with the aid of modern tech to overcome a ramp check that revealed he had left the aircraft’s registration and airworthiness certificate back home. But after the documents were located and photographed in Virginia, they was sent electronically and displayed on Breeden’s iPad. FAA officials allowed him to fly so long as he had the iPad on board, although he later printed out hard copies.

He had to have the iPad on board so he could leave the ground, circle back and land again? I guess that he might have to refer to the airworthiness certificate while airborne.

Reminds me of a time at a grass strip airport. Light weight pilot, J3 cub, strong wind. He made about three tries to get it on the ground. Everytime he dropped the tail, the wind pickied it up. He finally literally flew it into the ground by keeping the tail up until he was almost stopped.

we spend how much on the VTOL Ospreys, when all we needed was a Super Cub and naaaaawz?

iceracer wrote: Reminds me of a time at a grass strip airport. Light weight pilot, J3 cub, strong wind. He made about three tries to get it on the ground. Everytime he dropped the tail, the wind pickied it up. He finally literally flew it into the ground by keeping the tail up until he was almost stopped.

I have seen that. There are a few cubs at the local strip.. which because it is surrounded by trees.. has some weird wind patterns. Most of the Cub pilots practically come in sideways and at the last second straighten out and drop to the runway

peter wrote: we spend how much on the Marine JSF F-35, when all we needed was a Super Cub and naaaaawz?

FTFY

Great video; a tribute to awesome piloting skill.

I caught the Military Channel's documentary broadcast of Doolittle's Tokyo raid a couple nights ago. Those guys took off from a bouncing carrier deck in fully-loaded B-25's.

Great pilots make it look relatively easy even when it's not.