Here are a couple videos shot while flying near Rosalia Wa in the Palouse region. I was flying off a fellow fighter pilots family farm. I wish I had video of all the takeoff and landing spots we enjoyed going up and down the rolling hills.





Jughead

The Palouse can be magical as the late afternoon light bounces off of those hills. It looks like a good (if dusty) time was had by all. Any problem with your small tires?

The Palouse are local to me here, and beautiful. I certain light almost magical.

Great video, thanks for posting.

Wow, that looks like a fun playground.

Thanks for the video. Need to swing by there and fly that country.

I stumbled across this video five years ago. Still a favorite.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqMuwjLviCU

Flyhound wrote:The Palouse can be magical as the late afternoon light bounces off of those hills. It looks like a good (if dusty) time was had by all. Any problem with your small tires?

Flyhound. I'm running 8.00 x 6.00's at 18 PSI for this stuff. Absolutely no problem at all. One of my landings was in very soft/deep dirt that left furrows that were close to 12" deep and 2 1/2 ' wide. Lots of drag but doable.

I have a friendly question for JugheadF-15 and the spray pilot in Barnstormer's video. Have you ever cartwheeled an airplane?

It is perfectly safe and possible for an airplane to make coordinated turns in ground effect just as if it were at altitude. It is also more likely that a down wing will inadvertently strike something. That is why crop dusters are taught to make cross controlled, wings level, rudder turns in ground effect. This doesn't work for large turns or returns to target so we use the energy management turn that get the turn made while high and slow and gets the wing level again before the return to ground effect. F-15 pilots also use this technique, called a yo yo, to get inside an enemy's turn radius or reverse on him. The point is we want the wing level when re-engaging the target airplane or river going in a new direction.

Both of you guys know this, but it looks better on film if you don't yaw the airplane around or climb up. My dad constantly cautioned me, as a child, that when boys are having fun look around. Bad things often happen.

Oh! Yes, I have cartwheeled an airplane.

Contact Flying,

No luckily I have not cartwheeled an airplane. But I understand why you ask the question. When I saw the video the first time I was surprised at how close it appeared. But after watching a few times I noticed the lighting and the background color makes it pretty hard to accurately determine true height/distances based just on the video. I even had to watch a few times to see when I was actually airborne.

Now many pilots on various forums would have immediately gotten all defensive if they were “called out” on a forum. My appreciation and support of how you addressed something that you saw that created a concern from a fellow BCP’r. Everyday flying my F-15 we spent 2 – 3 hours debriefing every “tiny mistake” as well as “exceptionally good things.” This leads to very thick skin and also an understanding that no matter how skilled or experienced a pilot may be, they are not perfect. So I sat and watched the videos a few more times after seeing your post. Yes, I do have my wingtip within 3’ feet of the ground for a portion of the turn. I was aware of the sloping terrain, and based on what I was seeing out the windscreen, was not concerned with dragging the tip in that situation. However, what if I had hit a gust of wind? I easily could have used up that remaining distance immediately. A skidded turn would have been usable in the situation, as well as no turn and simply climbing straight out and accepting the increased engine-out landing risks associated with that.

What is important as pilots that take their flying seriously and are always trying to improve is that we honor critique and/or always seek input from others. Receive it with an open mind, analyze it for the situation and then file it away for future reference if applicable. So THANKS for bringing this up.

I will give you some razing for your F-15 techniques though. That discussion is WAY to complex to discuss here, but hopefully we can enjoy a dozen beers at a BCP event someday and I’ll discuss the life-span of F-15 BFM techniques as they relate to past and present threats.

Have a great day Contact,

JugheadF15

Good man. I look forward to having a beer with you.

Jughead, you seem like a guy I'd love to fly and hang out with. Keep on being a great example.

Nice flying! That area is beautiful.

Flying in that area earlier this summer really brought home the line from America the Beautiful: "For amber waves of grain."