If this doesn't make you giggle and shout I don't know what will.....from taildrgrfun.... flying a Just Aircraft Highlander off the side of a mountain and onto a sand bar 2500' below and up river. GREAT flying.

I hope I got this to copy this time


http://www.youtube.com/taildrgfun

then look for the Dead Stick Takeoff

With gas the way it is I expect this will become more popular.

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I like it.... seems to be very proficient in that bird

From the look of the tracks in the sand bar,he had done at least one landing already.
Nice landig. Good looking spot also.

low rider wrote:I like it.... seems to be very proficient in that bird

I'd say so, too!! Looks like he's having a ball!!

Looks like the footage was taken out in the Owyhees. You think??

He told me that it was out there on no-tellum hill and I imagine that hasn't changed, but yeah... looks like the Owyhee area to me too.

Cool video for sure...

Nice show. That guy needs to a member of BCP.

tom

Impressive how he hits almost the exact spot of his last landing, too, judging by the tire marks.

It's funny, the first time I watched it, I got the impression he was outside the plane talking at first, and then started pushing it down hill, jumping in midway. Obviously, he was just holding the brakes.

Are those electric flaps I'm hearing?

Oregon180 wrote:Are those electric flaps I'm hearing?

If they are, that would be a silly thing to do to what otherwise seems an excellent little airplane. I know nothing of the type though, but it sure looks "right"

This guy has all of the potential to be a nominee for the Darwin Awards.

mauleace wrote:This guy has all of the potential to be a nominee for the Darwin Awards.

Why? I guess un-powered flight could be argued to be safer than powered.

This flight is interesting from an safety point of view. The guy did it, so it is obvious after the fact that it can be done, but before he really did it, how would you "test the waters"?

In the video, the rock outcropping looks like it is getting pretty close before he lifted off. How did he know he could get enough speed up before he got to the rocks? If you looked on a topo map you could get the two elevations and subtract to get total drop. Knowing the distance, you could compare that to the glide ratio of your plane, and get a good ideal if the glide was possible, but, what if there was a head wind?

So, I could imagine a dress rehersal where you left the engine idling, rolled down the hill to see if the bumps, length of grass, or gradient would allow you to get off the ground, then continue to the landing site and land. If something went wrong, you would have the engine going for backup.

In my plane, with fixed pitch prop, the engine off glide is a little better than with the engine idling, so this would be a fairly conservative method of checking to see if the idea is good.

Maybe he isn't a candidate for the Darwin Award after all.

tom

Savannah-Tom wrote:Maybe he isn't a candidate for the Darwin Award after all.

tom

I was thinking pretty much the same thing you were about the engine idling test run. But, in a risk vs reward comparison, I don't think the reward outweighs the risk. He didn't exactly clear that rock outcropping by a lot.

It was fun to watch though. The Highlander sure is a cool plane. And the pilot obviously has skills.

From the voice, sounds like an older guy. From the video, the skill level is obviously way high, and I'm betting real proficient in that airplane.

Darwin Award winners are stupid, and that guy is not stupid. Cold, calculating, a huge set of huevos, and I got a feeling a whole lot of fun to fly with, but not stupid.

He would fit in with well with the gathering last week at Austin.

Gump

Savannah-Tom wrote:In the video, the rock outcropping looks like it is getting pretty close before he lifted off. How did he know he could get enough speed up before he got to the rocks?

It was not the flight, but the jumping off the cliff and that pile of rocks that makes him a person if interest for a future Darwin Award.

I am sure that most recipients of the Darwin Award do not make it on their first bone head attempt.

He made it, so he is not qualified yet.

I thought it was pretty cool...

Kudos to the hilander driver...Too bad people will acuse him of recklessly endagering himself and all humanity, he will probably end up being the subject of investigation...

I don't really think he was doing anything astonishing or particularly death defying? In fact he wasn't doing anything any glider pilot isn't required to be able to do.... On top of that he had a push button "get out of jail free" card.

As to the rock clearing, I am going to give him the benefit of the doubt and offer that:

1.) he probably just flew it off and didn't horse it off and promptly whip it into MCA... this is an energy management exercise, not a short field take-off contest

2.) his camera is mounted low, and it probably looks wayyyy worse than it really is

On the other hand...I have been called much worse for doing what I thought was far less hazardous...

BTW... welcome to the site and thanks for the link Lynn

Savannah-Tom wrote:Nice show. That guy needs to a member of BCP.

With some of the comments here I figure he's leaning towards BC**AH for a group to hang with...

It's comforting to know that modern aviation has evolved to the point where one doesn't need a spirit of adventure or a set of balls to push the envelope now and then in an airplane.

The Wright brothers, all the early air mail and Alaska pilots, and of course Charles Lindberg himself would nowdays be posted way up high on that Darwin List.

Gump

It reminds me of hang gliding. Just with some extra equipment on board.
And flying back to the top for another run sure beats folding up your kite and making the trek back to the top.

He has a website and if I remember correctly used to fly demo flights in ultralights at airshows. A highly skilled individual.

NOw if I could find the website again