I've been wanting to land here all summer, I waited until it was snowpacked for some reason, braking was of course not an option, especially with the smooth thread Airsteaks. At least the cold made for some nice dense air. The fence and haybales on approach were an added feature. The super slow approach speed of the S-7S made it do able.
Jim is one of the real old timers, he should write a book but thinks what he's done is no big deal. A few things he's mentioned: pioneered the NIGHT TIME concept of aerial applicating, when the bees are asleep (central California business for 50 years), coming back to land on the aircraft carrier in the South Pacific theater with branchs stuck in the wings was common. The first time I overflew his place (down the range from mine 10 miles, we're neighbors) on his request I thought "what can I do to impress him?" I came up blank... then I thought of something, pulled back the throttle, dropped the flaps, and ghosted over at 35 mph, the swiss muffler making the plane darn near silent at that speed, just a little wind noise, that did it (he's half deaf anyway, so it was cheating). When I suggested I could land in this one stretch of his curving driveway he said great, then after walking it he advised against it, while saying if I chose to I was welcome. It was one of my most satisfying off airport landings of the year, he got a kick out of it also. This is the guy with the 170 being reassembled in Pocatello that will then be for sale at some point.
My first video camera/video, I'm sure everyone knows why the prop shows up so irritatingly, something to do with frames per second I'd guess, is there a fix, or is this just the way it is with a 175 buck camera?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ai7X3ILh-Os

Great video! I was clenching a little as you touched down.

FYI...don't publish any videos on Youtube of you doing anything non-FAA friendly. Your N-number reflects very nicely in your windshield

That's a bumpy driveway, nicely done.

Looks like an FAA friendly driveway to me...

Gump

I agree with Gump!

I might have been hearing thing's, but wasn't the engine sputtering and warrented an emergancy landing???

GumpAir wrote:Looks like an FAA friendly driveway to me...

Didn't say it wasn't, but you never know what bright ideas one will come up with next while advertising N# in the windshield, which is all I wanted to point out.

We need a refresher course around here on internet privacy and videos/photos/stories.

Sweet Tom! What was your IAS for final on your -7?

Mid 20's to low 30's. Is it accurate at those speeds and AOA? Don't know, but it sure eyeballs about right.

emflys wrote:Sweet Tom! What was your IAS for final on your -7?

A couple more of my favorite sites, taken the same day as the first. No braking required or used in these either, though in watching them the first time my feet were reaching for them, under the desk my computer sits on!

I appreciate the concern about my N# showing in some clips, and I can think of all kinds of horrible scenarios where that could come back to bite me in the a**, or not.....I was legal, having fun, and will avoid it in the future. Showing the #, not having fun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y70KuAhyciw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFjVstJusNQ

Those last vids had me reaching for the brakes.

Looks fun

Wow, more great vids.

That's slow. My -7S with moderate density VG's on the wing (I think about 80/wing), and under the horiz stab stalls solo, half fuel in the mid 20's IAS, but I don't think its accurate at all and bounces around. Now I just need to get some of your balls to actually fly that slow 15ft off the ground!!! I'm still flying 40mph approaches, which is fine for lots of places, but not where you're landing!

More practice....

Good stuff, I like it a lot...

courierguy wrote:A couple more of my favorite sites, taken the same day as the first. No braking required or used in these either, though in watching them the first time my feet were reaching for them, under the desk my computer sits on!

I appreciate the concern about my N# showing in some clips, and I can think of all kinds of horrible scenarios where that could come back to bite me in the a**, or not.....I was legal, having fun, and will avoid it in the future. Showing the #, not having fun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y70KuAhyciw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFjVstJusNQ

Holy Cow!! That was cool!!

Nice flying courierguy! I admire your skills with your plane.

I guess I should show the takeoff at Jim's. The taxing downhill was a bit un-nerving until I got to the gravel, I wasn't real sure of the friction coefficient of the sloped snowpack and the Airstreaks! That part took a while so I cut it out, boring to watch but not to me at the time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BQ6LLpKlw8

This one shows the control still available at low speeds, flying uphill while following a twisty gulley. I have another site similar to this but with tall trees on each side that would have been more dramatic video but I don't have footage of that (didn't have the camera then). I overflew that one first before dropping down in it to make sure I could make the turns. It also had a final tight little turn to a narrow field, (40' wide or so) kind of an exclamation point to the approach! A little more snow and I'm done for the winter thus the feverish attempt to get some video (2.9 hrs on Thanksgiving morning) with my new camera, these will have to get me through the winter.....

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

courierguy wrote: This one shows the control still available at low speeds, flying uphill while following a twisty gulley. I have another site similar to this but with tall trees on each side that would have been more dramatic video but I don't have footage of that (didn't have the camera then). I overflew that one first before dropping down in it to make sure I could make the turns. It also had a final tight little turn to a narrow field, (40' wide or so) kind of an exclamation point to the approach! A little more snow and I'm done for the winter thus the feverish attempt to get some video (2.9 hrs on Thanksgiving morning) with my new camera, these will have to get me through the winter.....

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

I like this one hugging the ground like that, very cool

I use a Sony Camcorder and I don't get the same effect with my prop as you do. Here is an example of my videos and you can see the prop slow when I am filming through it.
http://www.youtube.com/skybobb#p/u/4/8EPJkvyIt_E Bob

That's some nice flying. I'm guessing you must have bush wheels? They sure do open up a lot more spots to land.