Spent a morning flying the back country with the "dead stick take-off" guy. Steve can sure fly that Highlander!

Way to go Mark and Steve.

Mark the movie man and Dead stick Steve Productions.

Is this how Greg Miller got started??????

nice.

A good video I enjoyed it a lot. Bob

Just think Mark, if you have the same HP/weight ratio Steve has you could do that....anybody got a 500hp engine they could sell Mark? HC

Loved the video just as I do with all the others you make. I need to have you film me going into and out of a few strips!

Hey Mark, seeing that video makes us sure look forward to the get together at JC next year and seeing you guys again.
I landed soldier Bar backwards a few weeks ago and it was real easy. Also did Cabin Creek backwards and it was a blast! Had to slip as hard as my plane will to get down the hill and over the trees and then brake pretty hard on the downhill runway. So much fun!

Very cool Mark. Thanks for posting the vid. We are headed back up next week. Unfortunately, Dee and Adam won't be going. She knows she won't sleep well in the cold on an air mattress and it's getting a little too far along in her pregnancy. So, I'll be going up with some friends.

Take care.

Clearly, this is a pilot with great skills and a very capable aircraft. What he seems to lack is any sort of awareness about how these kinds of cowboy antics in the back country are not welcome by the agencies and non-pilot users of the B.C. but, I suppose "the woody" is all that matters to some. To others, the strips are not amusement park rides. They are treasured access to our unique wilderness, and that access can be yanked with a signature at any time at the whim of a District Ranger. Perhaps our highlander friends know the history of Wilson Bar, and its' long period being closed? It took years, a lot of money, and a hell of a lot of effort to get it opened again.

Somewhere in the back of my mind a little voice is saying; "we're screwing the pooch". Have fun.

very nice and that plane only has 100hp very cool

Well said Kenny! Guys, I know it's fun. I know it looks cool. But if we repeatedly keep doing things that tick off the non-flying users of the Idaho Backcountry, we will loose the strips and access that we all love. It's a wilderness area that we share, and we are the minority user. Look at what happened to the Grand Canyon. We used to be able to fly and land in many places around the park. With the stroke of a pen we lost the right to fly in a huge part of Arizona. It is now essentially a prohibited area with no access except for commercial operators. The same could easily happen here if we don't play our cards right.

In my opinion the mountain flying seminars cause way more disturbance than taildrgfun did in that video. Ever camp at one of the strips that the seminars outfits use? Planes arrive early and don't stop till close to noon...it sucks. How bout those guys that fly low level in a wild and scenic river corridor on their way to a IAA work party...sure the strip is in good shape but the ranger is ticked and is now going to make our lives harder I, along with some of you, may have payed more attention to other users in the area but I still don't think he was any worse than many users of the wilderness strips.

Nice flying taildrgfun

cool flying, very well done video...

thank god it is still a free country, and we DO all have a right to land at the frank's airstrips. whether we travel as a group or individually, it is still our right. i realize, whee, that some a.m. arrival/departures by the schools and such can be a little annoying on certain days, you ought to be around there during the super-cub groups outings and arrivals and such, to see and hear a hell of a lot more noise and wrecked a/c in the course of a week...than any school could muster up....they all have as much right as the rest of us, i believe...nice job taildrgr....!

Lawleraero wrote:Well said Kenny! Guys, I know it's fun. I know it looks cool. But if we repeatedly keep doing things that tick off the non-flying users of the Idaho Backcountry, we will loose the strips and access that we all love. It's a wilderness area that we share, and we are the minority user. Look at what happened to the Grand Canyon. We used to be able to fly and land in many places around the park. With the stroke of a pen we lost the right to fly in a huge part of Arizona. It is now essentially a prohibited area with no access except for commercial operators. The same could easily happen here if we don't play our cards right.

Who exactly are these "non-flying users" that he supposedly ticked off in this instance? So had he done a "normal" approach all would have been ok? Seems to me the noise foot print would be the same. Look, we all have the responsibility to be good flying neighbors while in the backcountry or anywhere. At the same time, however, like Jomac said, we also have the same right to be there as anyone else. And not to split hairs, but Wilson Bar isn't in the designated wilderness area, which is a moot point since again, we all have the responsibility to use some common sense while flying anywhere.

Once again, nice flying Taildrgfun and great vid Mark. Thanks for posting. I'd like to see a vid of the guy that did Cabin Creek backwards.

The most fun I have in an airplane is when I am doing challenging different kinds of things. There is no rule about landing the other way on what most people would consider a one-way strip. Seriously I try to not be breaking rules or bothering people. I ALWAYS give boaters, floaters, fishermen, etc lots of space. I really don't want to bother people no matter what I'm doing, but especially when flying. Most of all I don't want to hurt someone or my airplane. I realize that to a lot of runway to runway pilots I seem a pretty wild and crazy and I am fine with that. People are free to think anything they want about me or anyone or anything. Some of us just don't fit a mold very well, and I think that is a good thing even if others may think we are nuts.
I may put some unusual things on YouTube for people to see if they choose to, but I don't do them near near anyone that I'm not pretty certain would get a kick out of it. I am also a shooter, hunter, off road motorcycle rider etc. and I try very hard to not bother other people who don't do those things either.
I give plane rides to non-pilots all the time and most of them had no idea flying could be such a cool thing to do. Actually quite a few pilots have said the same thing to me. I always try to make it fun,not scary for someone. Give them a some excitement, but not fear. I appreciate that they are trusting me with their life and I honor that trust.
I know that you won't all ever agree with me and the way I like to fly, but I honestly do believe that I get a LOT more people excited about aviation than bothered by it. It is important to me that I promote it and get more people involved.
Steve

well said taildrgr...like our choices in which a/c to fly,the wilderness strips should be used and respected by all, which i believe u do....we are all diff. and really don't fit a mold of any kind...ain't it great...!

Hey Steve, The red carpet is out for you in eastern Ohio anytime!!! pg

whee wrote:In my opinion the mountain flying seminars cause way more disturbance than taildrgfun did in that video. Ever camp at one of the strips that the seminars outfits use? Planes arrive early and don't stop till close to noon...it sucks. How bout those guys that fly low level in a wild and scenic river corridor on their way to a IAA work party...sure the strip is in good shape but the ranger is ticked and is now going to make our lives harder I, along with some of you, may have payed more attention to other users in the area but I still don't think he was any worse than many users of the wilderness strips.

Nice flying taildrgfun

It was nice flying. That can be done anywhere without the consequences inherent in pissing off the various wilderness advocate groups. They have more money than God, and decades of expertise as to how to apply it to stone broke and overworked agency managers. There will always be some people who just don't get it. Sigh.

I want to see the backward landing at mile-hi, you know he's thinking about it.....
Hey taildrgfun:you know your short visit in Inkom resulted in my getting a set of 26"Airstreaks a few days later, thanks for showing me what they could do, I have since landed on the same spot you did, and many others, what a feeling (not too false I hope) of security they give me. I still keep an eye out for the badger holes however.

I really cannot understand what the fuss is about regarding this video and landing. am I in trouble if I land with a tailwind? 17 or 34, landing one way is OK, the other is rude? The Highlander and pilot combo was quite obvoiusly capable of handling the landing, and proved it with a video. What difference did his direction of travel make to someone listening? Good flying and keep posting videos, I like to see these things, even if they are way out of my personal skill set.