Around the end of September I flew up to Alaska to checkout a SuperCub I was interested in purchasing. I've hunted Alaska before, but never flown it. Having talked with the owner/builder prior to going up I knew we'd be doing a fair amount of flying whether I purchased the plane or not. So I decided to buy a Drift camera to video some of the flying, I had never used a Drift camera before, and I still haven't - I promptly forgot to use it the entire time I was there. So this video was shot with my iPhone. As you will see it is made up of different short pieces - it kept shutting off on me - no idea why.

There is no fancy soundtrack, nor fancy editing. I decided the O-375 was soundtrack enough. I'm sure this means more to me then it will you guys, I'm tired of watching all the pieces separately. I fell in love with flying Alaska while I was there. If I wasn't married I'd live there six months out of the year, and here in Texas the other.

The first day of flying was up the Knik River, what are extraordinary place. The first two days the owner/builder was in the front seat, I filmed from the rear. The next two I was in the front seat so have no footage of those flights. The only controls are in the front.

Here is a little of that first day.

Very cool! Thanks for sharing!

Mackey SQ2? Did you end up purchasing? I bet that thing JUMPED off the ground!

CamTom12 wrote:Mackey SQ2? Did you end up purchasing? I bet that thing JUMPED off the ground!

She is. I did. She does! And climbs at a very disturbing steep angle, and of course lands extremely short. She is a rush to fly.

She is still up in Alaska getting some mods done such as adding three additional window vents for the Texas heat, repairing one elevator where a bear put a claw through the fabric, getting the prop zero-timed and painted. Things like that.

So here is the video of Day 2, weather was much nicer. We head up the Knik River again but this time mostly "bar hopping". The owner/builder teaching me how to pick out good landing areas and hazards to watch out for. The later third of the video shows the Knik Glacier (Wow) and some landings in the surrounding hills. Again the soundtrack is nothing but the O-375, the Johnson bar, and the 35's.

26 minutes long so you'll need some coffee or hot chocolate for this. Hope you enjoy it.

Man, I'm jealous, Barnstormer! The SQ2 is awesome.

Thanks for sharing the videos too!

Was that Randy Goza? My first introduction to the Knik was with Goza. Watching him fly his SQ2 was awesome! Congrats on the new bird, those SQ's are amazing machines!

Thanks guys.

Yep, that is Randy flying and his SQ-2 that I bought. highroad you are oh so right, Randy can really fly.

The next two days of flying I was at the controls and we basically repeated what he'd done the first two - but not with the same level of skill of course - because I was at the controls. What I learned during those two days, and how far my flying skills advanced, was truly remarkable.

A super cool bonus is when I bring the SQ-2 down to "the Americas" in the spring, Randy will accompany me and has told me he is going to bust my balls the entire way so by the trips conclusion I will be extremely competent with both the SQ-2's capabilities and bush flying. As you can imagine I am SO looking forward to that trip.

I am deeply honored that Randy chose me to be the next caretaker of his remarkable plane, the passion he put into its build is evident throughout.

Superb. Thanks for sharing.

I enjoyed watching the video, it's amazing how slow that plane flies.

Congrats on the purchase!

That is awesome. Actually, I think I said "That's f@#&ing awesome" to myself every few minutes. I watched both video's and I have to say the soundtrack is perfect. Liked being able to hear when a notch of flaps got pulled in and let out and when the tires were crunching on the gravel.

I guess the most amazing thing about slats and the setup like the SQ2 has is the complete lack of a need for ground effect. I mean unless you just want to build speed, there is no need to even lower the nose. It just climbs right on out. Another thing, it flies so slow I was having a hard time telling when you were on the ground rolling, and when you were actually in flight. Crazy. Congratulations Barnstormer!