I think Shaun must have a familiar looking face. I feel like I have met him before, although I am sure I have not. I don't know. We are all kindred spirits here. Maybe he and I were friends in a past life.

I do know this, I wish I could've met him. It's interesting how the passion that one person has for something has a way of permeating the souls of so many others. Like someone said in this thread, there were many people not in this backcountry/bush flying circle who knew his work. That really says something. I am sure that he was the type of guy who knew no strangers, and his enthusiasm could pull anyone into his world. I know that his photos and his blog posts pulled me right in.

Luckily, his legacy will live on in this community.

CAVU, tailwinds, and tailwheels to you Shaun.

10 years later. A worthy thread bump to reflect on Mr. Lunt and why we love flying into places far off the beaten path.

Wow, has it been 10yrs?!?! What a great guy Shaun was, and his eye for photography was amazing!

Everytime I just think about hauling gas in a plastic gas jug in the airplane, I recall the second to last time I saw Shawn...taxied by him in Dillingham when he was loading those five gallon plastic jugs. The last time I saw him was when he flew past Platinum. This was about 15-20 minutes before he moose’s stalled in... use fuel bladders now.

The kind of guy a lot of folk could live vicariously through....AWSOME THANKS

I don't know what happened to Nikk just after HSF, but given how flat the ground is, seems pretty obvious to me that a stall/spin was involved.

Thinking about this more, it's probable both Nikk and Shaun were playing with their cameras when the airplane crashed. We don't know, and I could be completely wrong, but regardless I think this is a good reminder to the rest of us (mostly myself) to not get distracted when low and slow.

Be safe people!

He was circling over a whale carcass. His buddy in the second supercub witnessed Shawn nose in from a moose stall. Immediately burst into a fireball when he impacted the beach. I don’t recall if Shawn had vortex generators.. I’ve been told vortex generators almost eliminate moose stalls.. I’ve always dreamt of adventuring like Shawn did...and desire to mimic some of that.. at the same time learn a lesson or two from him from his good bad example.

At the risk of sounding really dump what the heck is a moose stall

Mapleflt wrote:At the risk of sounding really dump what the heck is a moose stall

You're not dump...

A "moose stall" is the informal term for a stall in a tight circle while low to the ground, usually exasperated by flying through your own wingtip vortices. They call it a moose stall because it's a sucker-trap for hunters trying to score a moose from the air...too much attention on the moose, not enough on the wing.

So true story from north of the 49th, some years ago while completing a moose survey from a wing platform said platform stalled directly on top of the aforementioned moose, the moose walked away and that's what I would call a "moose stall" and I was half expecting someone to reply with a similar story !!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVyqNTD ... dFIVeFNLXw

I watched the video again. Dang, it makes a lump in my throat ever time. Shaun was such an amazing guy. Died way to soon. This reminds me again how important it is to tell the one you love how you feel.

Cheers...Rob

I'd never heard of Shaun before this week. Thanks for bumping this thread.

So who inspired you to kick some big tires?

Shaun was out there making it happen in the not so long ago "days gone by"....

m_moyle wrote:He was circling over a whale carcass. His buddy in the second supercub witnessed Shawn nose in from a moose stall. Immediately burst into a fireball when he impacted the beach. I don’t recall if Shawn had vortex generators.. I’ve been told vortex generators almost eliminate moose stalls.. I’ve always dreamt of adventuring like Shawn did...and desire to mimic some of that.. at the same time learn a lesson or two from him from his good bad example.

Wasn’t a “moose stall”. Windy, fiddling with camera while trying to maintain a tight circle over the carcass. Just a plain old stall, at low level.

There’s a LOT of folks flying and playing with cameras these days. Shaun’s example should tell us all something.

He was a great photographer, and a brilliant young man. RIP.

MTV

Shawn did some beautiful photography. I agree that his stall may have been camera distraction. I've been similarly distracted while trying to get a good picture at slow flight and not paying attention to airspeed. This, coupled with a steep turn to capture the picture of a beached whale, was likely the cause of his stall.

mtv wrote:....Wasn’t a “moose stall”. Windy, fiddling with camera while trying to maintain a tight circle over the carcass. Just a plain old stall, at low level.....

What's the difference?

Nizina wrote:.... his stall may have been camera distraction. I've been similarly distracted while trying to get a good picture at slow flight and not paying attention to airspeed. This, coupled with a steep turn to capture the picture of a beached whale, was likely the cause of his stall.

Sounds like what I understand is a "moose stall".

Yeah, the moose stall or whatever you want to call it is a heck of a lesson, but the lessons that really stand out for me are about how he crammed so much living into his short life. They loom large even from the tiny slice of the memorial service video and his photo blog. Those who knew him must have been very fortunate.

CAVU

Wow... I wasn't familiar. What an amazing, inspirational and likable guy... and what a shame. Glad you bumped it Zane.

His family raised an incredible human.

hotrod180 wrote:

mtv wrote:....Wasn’t a “moose stall”. Windy, fiddling with camera while trying to maintain a tight circle over the carcass. Just a plain old stall, at low level.....

What's the difference?

Nizina wrote:.... his stall may have been camera distraction. I've been similarly distracted while trying to get a good picture at slow flight and not paying attention to airspeed. This, coupled with a steep turn to capture the picture of a beached whale, was likely the cause of his stall.

Sounds like what I understand is a "moose stall".

Do a search on here, I think I’ve described it in detail more than once.

MTV

Shaun seems like he was a really cool dude. RIP.