...not a creature could hide from me and my plane...

It was one of those perfect flying days in Central California. Cool air ~ in the mid 40's. Mostly calm air, visibility unlimited. Recent snow in the Sierras was breathtaking (most of the pics show the mountains the the Mineral King area of the Sequoia National Park).

My brother and I went ranch hopping....

Starting out with a beautiful flight down from Jackson (Sacramento)to deliver presents...


...to my dads ranch outside Woodlake, CA where I grew up...



...stopping by to pick up my brother, landing in a field next to where he is building his new house...


...then off ranch hopping, landing all over the foothills....




....dropping in on a buddy, landing on a little curved uphill cattle road behind his house on a hill top...


...looking back down the landing site...


...admiring his view...what a gorgeous day....



....stopped in at a branding on another friends ranch...landing on a slide slope in some ROUGH ground. I was told earlier in the day that there was "no way in hell I would be able to land a plane out there". They were almost right. The take off was interesting. Head down hill over similarly rough ground straight towards a fence. It was downhill and had about a 5-7kt headwind so we jumped back in the air.



Here's a little video of the landing.... Fast forward to about 1:45 ...Sorry for the quality. My bullet cam was really bouncing around clamped to the bottom slide of the lift strut.


Then back to the ranch before heading for home...


One of the best flying days I can remember. 20mph tailwind on the way home.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

Nice work!!1 That Rans appears to give you the keys to kingdom. There must be something to those little buggers.... you S-7 guys are having all the fun.

Thank you for sharing those excellent photos. Between those killer pix and the Laker's losing at home...its been a great day!!

Thanks for the tour. The cattle ranch up next to the orchard is something we don't see in South Dakota. I have only seen pictures of the S7 and never a close up. What kind of device is at the aileron pushrod. Is the square a type of counter balance for the aileron? I have not seen one before. Great pictures.

Hey Dirtstrip - those are spades (spade boosted ailerons) to reduce control forces, common on a lot of aerobatic aircraft. On most S-7's they also have a small piece of lead and are statically balanced. The roll forces in the S-7 are quite a bit lighter than the Cubs I have flown. Not sure if all are that way or not.

Thanks for the explanation. I guess I understand then how it works but am wondering why an aircraft as light as the S7 would need them. I had a CH 701 it was also a 75-80 mph plane and was extremely light on the controls. There was no need even for an elevator trim. The 701 did use flaperons, where the whole flap and aileron moved as one. Maybe the extra surface area of the two moving together made up for what your spade does. In the picture of the S7 it appears that the aileron moves a lot of degrees of deflection. Does the S7 aileron deflection match the most effective flap setting for takeoff like most planes?

thanks for the video, i dream about landing on my own strip someday. i live in pittsburgh,pa, it's even hard to find a farm we can land on, let alone a ranch! a buddy of mine has an S-7 won't land it in any rough fields, doesn't know what he is missing. have fun, keep flying,be safe!

Awesome pics! I want to plan a trip up your way this summer sometime in my Avid Flyer.