Private grass airfield, clear skies, pilot with over 60 years experience incl. 25 in USAF flying among others the U2 (re: the sailplane comment). Enjoy life.
I grew up in the back of my Dad's Aeronca Champ, loved flying with him, though I did have a death grip on the fuselage tubing about half the time. We lived near Denver, and one day we flew up into the front range to visit a friend of his, along the way he did some aerobatics for my amusement. A few minutes short of the small strip my Dad looked back and told me to tighten my belt, I was about to ask why when I saw the prop stop, we had burned too much fuel on aerobatics and were empty. Dad landed us safely about half a mile short of the strip on a country road, and we pushed the plane to our destination, wouldn't trade those days for anything.
Your dad was good and both of you were lucky. A high school chum lost his twin brother in a motorcycle accident. Both boys had been riding since they were 12 years old. Tom is the lost twin, Tim, at age 60, said "You gotta be good, but you gotta be lucky, too." They would be 67 this year.
Great story! My father was a Marine aviator for 24 years. He's too old to carry passengers any more but he was an airline pilot for many years and is still a flight instructor for a major carrier. He got me flight lessons when I was about 16 but I never felt comfortable in an airplane unless HE was flying it. We rented Cessna's many times and explored islands off Okinawa Japan while he was still in the service.
OMG, I am reading each of you guys and is like l am watching with my own eyes, l was learning to fly in Dallas TX and to be honest that's the best part of my life, landing you can feel the adrenaline, l have a pair of Baron headsets red in color, l will try to get a new headset and l said new, brand new.
Have any of you people complaining about him shutting down a perfectly good engine on purpose EVER seen the great Bob Hoover's airshow routine? He shuts down BOTH engines on his Shrike then proceeds to do an abbreviated routine, lands and taxis to his parking spot to show what can be done with proper energy management. Sure, this guy may not be Bob Hoover but one doesn't have to be if he knows his airplane. This guy wasn't stupid or dangerous or foolish, he knew his plane and knew what he can do with it. Great Job!
Someone above also mentioned, it wasn’t a perfectly good engine, there was a fuel leak. He comments on the fuel coming out right at the beginning of the video. So it was necessary to cut the engine.
I must’ve seen this vid like 20 times. For some reason always puts me in a good mood. Just the inherent cowboy nature of bush pilots gives me hope for humanity
Kills engine Successfully performs extremely tight skidding turn (tail out) Successfully comes out of extreme slip at ~50 ft AGL without straying from the runway's center Insanely smooth downwind touchdown Turns towards hangar with significant speed remaining (risky, if I understand taildraggers) Comes to a stop 50 ft from fuel pump: "I've ruined everything"
power off approaches should be part of most pilots regular practice. Granted most of us would just go to idle, but it's not like there's anyone else at the airfield... or by the looks of it a few miles around. Increased risk? a bit, but the kind of practice that saves lives. knew a CFI who's training story was that his instructor had a deal with the farmer who owned a paddock at the end of the runway, and he used to surprise his students with a "real" engine failure on takeoff to test them. Equal parts sad and very relieved my CFI never did that to me lol!
I love the old pilots with a zillion hours. They Know exactly how it works. The guy who taught me was 86 and he put me through this. Then I learned to fly a glider and dead stick is every time.
The nice thing about doing this is C-150s is that you have a very good chance of restarting the prop. If the battery dies, you need at least 120 mph to get it windmilling again to restart.
The temptation to criticize his decision to cut the engine was immediately overturned when his obvious mastery of the aircraft was on full display! What a pilot!!
Just got off the phone with your Dad, who told me about this video...fantastic! He checked me out in that Champ at Taildragger...an experience I'll never forget. I flew there with John Slais in his v-tail Bonanza. What a trip it was!
Wow! I soloed in a 1947 Aeronca Defender! Benson airport White Bear Lake Minnesota 1985. I did some similar things. Used to land on the Frozen lakes, land on the ice road going out to the ice houses.
Its gonna be sad when all those gutsy older fellas are gone. Im 47 now but even as a kid I always loved being around them. Somehow had more life in them then someone 30 or more years younger. I guess some of the hardship they endured makes them value life and enjoy it when times are good. Great to watch.
I watch this occasionally, not necessarily for the maneuvers, but for the man. A man that while obviously an expert aviator (the super slip transition at 20 ft AGL to a soft as a pillow touch down on a rarely used grass strip more than proves this) doesn’t take himself to seriously and without a question loves to fly. I do not know him other than this video but would suffice to say he is just as happy in that champ as in a U-2, and more than flying itself, loves to share the wonders of flight with others. I hope to be half the man he is someday.
Absolutely Amazing. I need to find a CFI like this guy. The kid teaching me is ok...and perfectly competent, but THIS is the kind of pilot that needs to be in every flight school!
Love the slip... much like doing full throttle crossed-up power slides flat-track style on a dirt bike... my instructor in the Champ taught me the slip and my years of dirt-biking made it so easy and a lot of fun! Great flying, brought back a lot of memories...instructor pulls back throttle and holds it firmly..."power out, what are you going to do...do it now"...place to land, form a plan, set it up, take it down, slip it in...gives back throttle lever 50' AGL, no engine farts, go around and put it down... great training - great memories!
Excellent practice of required skills! Some people watch too much TV. Planes don’t spiral uncontrollably to the ground just because of an engine failure. That Champ is a natural floater. I’d love to take lessons from this pilot. 👍🏻
My old school instructor would frequently throw me a power-off landing. The most unique one was over the NJ Meadowlands heading back to LGA. My sole option was the NJ Turnpike! The newly built western spur south of the tolls was nearly ready to open for traffic. I was surprised when he let me continue and touch down for a few seconds. There were no signs, light poles or work vehicles. I mention all this because Carl reminds me of my instructor. He and many others were experienced WW2 or Korean war military pilots. They knew the best way to train was to put a bit of pressure on students.... but always with a smile. Real world experience works. To the hand wringers I contend it saves lives... not endanger them.
I like modern safety, but I do wish for the CAN DO of old as well. Very well said. Reminds me of when I read about WWII and pre WWII Naval Aviator Training and flying. (And of course, Nam era chopper skills) Modern aids can make us safer, but there is really no substitute for experience.
Not sure I agree. The reason the FAA stopped mandating spin training is because more people were dying practicing spins than dying from "actual" spins. I'm sure that sort of training helps those that survive, but is it worth all the other deaths to get there?
First airplane I ever flew at 14. I was also learning to fly gliders at the time. I went up with my instructor an F-101 pilot and we shutdown the engine and he gave me a great lesson on flying the aircraft. We actually gained altitude in a thermal. Great confidence builder.
I have restarted a Champ (60hp Continental) at altitude by putting the nose down and getting enough airspeed to turn the prop enough to fire the engine. Not my favorite thing to do and only works if you're high enough. Love the Champ.
I suspect he knew he could restart this way, as I too have many times, even with larger engines. Start with a dive for airspeed, then pull back hard G's which has turned the prop to start every time I have tried.
@ Bob: Excerpt from a comment I made just yesterday: My old man was in his Baby Great Lakes once, and had a shut-down due to carb icing (hand-prop engine). He dove straight at the ground, knowing, if all else failed, he could flare out at the end and land in the road. The prop made a couple of short arcs, then it finally kicked off. Note that he switched to a (Lake?) injector shortly thereafter : ) I didn't see it happen, but after he told me about it, I related the story to a friend at school who, it turned out, HAD seen the whole thing!
Nicely done. Stayed calm and talked through the whole ordeal. Even though he was right over the strip, ELPs can go very wrong very quickly. That was awesome and perfectly executed.
That is a great video!! Now a little story: a friend was doing loops in a J-3 over a pasture. At the top of the loop the A-65 would quit and he landed in the pasture, got out and restarted. climbed in and continued to practice loops. In the adjacent pasture was a farmer plowing his field. As my friend landed for maybe the 5th time he noticed the farmer had stopped his tractor and walked over to ask him if he was practicing dead stick landings. My friend explained what he was doing and the farmer suggested that next time, after finishing his loop, he should put the nose down and get up dome airspeed and quickly roll the plane to the left to start the engine.,"don't frap the prop, frap the airplane". My friend asked him if he really thought that would work? The farmer shrugged his shoulders and as he turned to walk away he said "It works on P-51s". My friend tried it and sure enough it worked! Since you a comfortable with shutting down your engine why not give it a try and report back with a video. BTW it worked on my half VW powered mini max as well. Thanks again for sharing that video!
A kid I used to fly with learned to fly gliders before graduating to the family Champ. At 17, he took his checkride for his Private in her. The engine had been overhauled about 30 hours earlier, so was still pretty tight. The examiner pulled the throttle back to idle and said, "Okay, your engine just quit. Find a place to land and set up to land there, we'll throttle back up when we're about 100 feet up." Just then the carb iced up and the wee A65 quit. "Well, it looks like we'll be doing this for real..." Then the kid felt the lift of a thermal and circled around back into it, rode it up to about 7000 feet, and said, "I think were high enough to make it back to the airport now." They glided back, landed, rolled right up to the pumps, and came to a stop. The examiner got out and literally kissed the ground, got back on his feet and looked at his checklist. "There's a lot of things on this list we didn't get to. Since you can do what you just did, I'm confident you can do everything on this list. I'm signing you off right now."
He had every second control of the situation,if i may to say this. Sideslip perfect like we glider Pilots did it with the vintage airplanes. Respect. I met another guy like him and we had a lot of pretty flights in old Biplanes. Thumb Up, i love this Video.
Guys, he's not intentionally dead sticking an F-104 for heaven's sake...... It's an Aeronca Champ... The sweetest, friendliest little flying machine with the J-3.... Decades ago when I started off on gliders, they did it standard practice with C150's before solo. Mind you, the gliding performance with a standing prop is much better as opposed to a wind milling one. This was totally safe
A windmilling prop holds you back cos it can put energy into a battery or even start a plane, the energy has to come from somewhere, it comes from your momentum and holds you back and in effect the whole disc of the prop is holding you back instead of a skinny "stick" when it's stopped.
The idea that a standing prop is better has been thoroughly debunked. Its completely false. The surface area does not change if the prop is standing vs spinning.
Greg Harper “thoroughly debunked”? How? Here’s a question for you. The lift force on a flying prop blade is, like any other airfoil, dependent on the airspeed (engine speed) and angle of attack; blade pitch vs forward speed. That lift force on the prop blades translate into thrust. When the airspeed is high and engine speed is low, the angle of attack is negative and the resulting negative lift on the blades translates in aircraft drag. Theoretically a zero drag situation can be achieved at one combination of airspeed and engine speed with a certain blade pitch. Anything else results in either thrust or drag. When a prop does not turn, the blade angle of attack is approximately 90 minus the blade pitch angle; well into the stalled range. What, do you think, gives more lift; a stalled airfoil or a flying one? So just saying that a standing prop has less drag that a spinning one is “debunked” is nonsense. There is a very narrow airspeed/engine speed band for a certain blade pitch where drag is less than a standing prop and it may well be outside the flight envelope of the aircraft. If you have actually flown with a standing prop you will notice that it has less drag than a spinning one at most airspeeds
The A-7AC Champ doesn't have a "starter" like many other aircraft of that era ... you have to hand prop it from outside the cockpit. That's why the pilot said he couldn't start it once it had stopped ... great job of making the number of landings equal to the number of takeoffs ...
Amazing flying, obviously a seasoned veteran of the skies. He learned before automation took over much of the work load. Here's the guy you want to be with when the going gets tough.
David Ekman I thought he did it quite competently. Notice how he deliberately kept high until reasonably short final so that he had more options on just where to put it on the field if unforeseen people ,planes, deer or whatever suddenly appeared in the touchdown area. My first instructor took me up to a safe height, stopped the engine, and made me dive it ,to start it up again. And-no-we didn’t go over redline! A C-150.
Times change, it used to be that was part of the training. times change. As a CFI I would never shut down an engine. The reason we stopped training like that in the good/bad old days was that the number of low time student pilots that fell short, not just of the pump as he did, but of the entire field.
Insanely cool! As a low time pilot from forty years ago, it was better for me to watch this on CZcams than to actually be in the back seat. I'd need a change of underwear! I used to fly the Champ, but never like this. It wasn't clear to me why the pilot did not do an upwind landing, though.
Back when.... no airshow was complete without a stopped prop landing. Bob Hoover used to do that at every airshow.... in an Aero Commander with both engines dead.
William, I was about to say the same thing. He'd kill the engine then dive for the ground, gain a bunch of speed and do at least a loop and a huge barrel role. Then an abbreviated pattern and land and end up facing the crowd right where the plane was started before the show. Now THAT was a hell of a pilot. This guy is good but not nearly as great as many of the people here seem to think. Not to disparage him but anyone flying an Aeronca regularly should be able to do the same thing.
If you are a pilot commenting here and think this is dangerous or outrageous, you really need to spend some time in a glider. We do this all the time and somehow manage to survive ;). Infact, with the lowest performing gliders, we are about down the the glide slope this guy has while in the pattern. It's all about managing your energy.
Rcbif I’m not a pilot. There is no excuse for intentionally sabotaging your vehicle, especially with a passenger on board. Killing his prop created a more dangerous situation than the situation that had existed up to that point. No matter how small the degree, this shows a disregard for safety and should not be encouraged. Arguments that I’m not a pilot, and thus somehow don’t understand common sense or safety protocol will not be considered. Edit: If you read the comments from real pilots, this guy apparently blew a fuel line and preformed a forced landing.
@@LetsMars - I now have over 50 hours in the same airplane as in this video and many more in gliders. Still not phased by this situation. Hold my stance that only those too comfortable with engines dragging them around are unnerved by this video.
I've not done dead stick landings before but many times I've practised Forced Landings on C172. Engine idle, 60 KIAS best glide speed, full harness on, look for suitable landing area, Mayday call, turn to line up and approach, flaps as necessary. 200 ft, then wham full power! Positive rate, flaps up, and away we go! Always Aviate, Navigate and Communicate! In that order!
@@LetsMars 'There is no excuse for intentionally sabotaging your vehicle, especially with a passenger on board.' Early in flight training you are taught what precipitates stalls and spins and you learn- by -doing how to correct them. That 'intentional sabotage' is vital so that the pilot is capable of reacting competently should such conditions occur in an emergency. Take a few lessons yourself and maybe you will understand the issue and realise that your choice of the word 'sabotage' is inappropriate.
@Alan formula1 Yes, and power off approaches all the time in the Champ. Ya, not the same as dead stick, but fairly close. I've got the Champs energy managment down to a tee, and almost never need to add power.
+T McGee It's a forward slip. A side slip is when you have a crosswind and lower the upwind wing and use rudder to keep the nose lined up with the runway as you are touching down.
Actually, there's more drag with a windmilling prop than a dead engine. A full deadstick landing was one of the things that people had to do in my confidence course. as well as a landing somewhere other than an airport. They had to select a field and land in it to a full stop. Jim F, CFI both airplane and glider
He must be an old fighter pilot because he knows exactly what he's doing with energy management and spatial orientation in relation to the field, the wind, and his aircraft. That final slip to landing was great! At first I was thinking this looks like a stupid maneuver but as I watched I gained a huge amount of respect for his piloting skills. Nicely done - but definitely not for the amateur pilot.
You don't have to be a fighter pilot to know how to land a plane dead-stick. Good pilots practice this procedure often. More often, in fact, than fighter pilots. That does not excuse this particular pilot's stupidity, however. He made a very bad choice.
What about "old fighter pilot" did you not understand? I consider a fighter pilot to be a highly trained professional, and and old pilot would be that individual who gathered extensive experience in successfully applying their high level of professionalism over and over again. Most GA pilots I know have just a smattering of both, and I know very few who practice (or simulate) dead stick landings. This pilot neither made a bad choice nor was stupid in my humble estimation - thank God we live in America because we all have the right to our opinions.
I fail to see the bad choice. Demonstrating the known capabilities of the plane??? Does that mean that test pilots are stupid people too? They do much worse to document the limits.
From the time I was 10 years old til about 14, I spent many, many hours in the backseat of my Uncle Ed's Aeronca Champ. We flew all over California in that little 65hp air-knocker. After a fuel attendant at SAC Metro put on the wrong fuel-cap (vented), the plane ran out of fuel about ten miles out of Healdsburg, Ca. My heart skipped a few but we had enough altitude for Uncle Ed to just glide her in for a perfect deadstick landing. Refueled, ate lunch, then straight back to SAC Metro where Uncle Ed almost choked the attendant unconscious.
Was a backseat passenger in an Aeronca, back about '54. Memory is very fuzzy, but I think the backseat had (at least) foot pedals and a stick between the knees.
50 years ago in a champ i was on final, had carb heat on but power off. it was about 32 degrees and when i cracked the power all i saw was the prop. i just made it but never fully took the power off again. leave er tickin over kid. have fun
That was fun. Good exercise. The prop can be "restarted" in flight, however, by "windmilling" it. You just dive it and it will start right up. However you will also get a better glide with it stopped. Almost made it to the hanger! Tee hee!
YEEAAAAAH BABY........nice one carl, flying fun at its best and as for 50ft short, the short walk to the gas pump gives time to reflect on the moments just past.
Dead stick, no chance of restart, and he is worried about having enough energy to roll up to the gas pumps(?)(!). He is either an exceptional pilot or absolutely insane. Maybe both
That's some great flying! Not a bad idea to practice dead stick so you're not dropping bricks when it happens for real. It's hard to fly by the seat of your pants if they're full of poo.
Haha that one guy is crying saying "never ever shut the engine off" Bahahaha duuhhhh yeah its risky! Its a glider now! Darn good way to make a good pilot out of yourself.. I've done it in my ultralight many times. Dang fun challenge! Im sure that guy could set her down anywhere and survive and barely hurt the plane. I'd fly around the world with this guy!
I learned to fly in a Champ. If you just pull the stick back into your gut it would just flutter to the ground with very little forward speed. Safest airplane I ever flew.
When I was 9 I was in a cessna 170 being flown by an old ww2 fighter pilot. I was in the front, my parents were in the back. On the way back to the airfield to land he goes "hey kid, wanna see somethin that really freaks people out!" and killed the engine to bring it in for a dead stick landing. It did indeed really freak people out.
Totally safe and practical to do under the right situations and with the right precautions. Obviously this guy knew what he was doing and took those measures. Have all of the ERMAHGERD NO ENGUN people here ever heard of gliders? Same shit.
cjracer1000 it is once you shut the engine down! Same thing. Arguably even safer than a glider because you do actually have an engine your can restart right? It would have required an exchange in kinetic and potential energy in something without an electric system like this champ though of course.
Guess what, I'm a pilot. It's not "meant to glide" it's meant to fly powered, that's why it's a powered airplane. It can glide, but that's not what it's made for.
For the people here who are not pilots, I understand your concern. And I understand this is just a video, not instruction. But there is a lesson to be learned here. For those of you who are pilots, there is nothing like a long experienced instructor who understands what is important, what matters and what needs to be demonstrated that falls outside the practical test standards. The young instructors building time are fine but they are ATP career oriented and are more in need of building time without making a violation. With an experienced instructor the student can experience the scenarios that might kill with minimal risk. ATP people do risky training scenarios (like twin engine asymmetrical thrust from one failed engine at low speed, low altitude) in a sim. General aviation pilots need to work in an airplane with an experienced instructor on basic single engine airmanship. Is it more risky to shut the Champ engine down rather than go to idle? Sure! But imagine having to experience a completely stopped engine for the first time in an emergency! It's worth the risk of trying it in a nice, slow, sweet flying Champ with an instructor who has done it before, on a remote grass strip so that if someday engine failure happens for real it's not all new. Same goes for spins, rolls and inadvertent IMC. Until pilots try this in a controlled situation, they are unprepared when it happens in an emergency. (Inadvertent IMC killed Kennedy) (Engine failure and a failure to maintain best glide killed John Denver) You can argue the fine points but the end result is two guys killed themselves being over confident and under skilled when it really mattered. (I confess to having no idea what their training regimen was) The young airline career oriented instructors are generally less willing to risk these things. A grizzled vet knows how to do these things and is able (and willing) to demonstrate. A stopped engine sounds different than an idle engine. Real IMC is different than foggles. Spinning a Cessna 150 a few times around with cornfields spinning in the windshield is scary. And confidence building when a pilot learns to recover. What is different in a shut down? An aircraft with a stopped engine glides better than windmilling engine. The sounds of the air over the fuselage are different. And the gravitas of the moment, delivered in silence has a great impact. Students realize that the stored energy of speed and altitude is the only thing keeping the plane under control. Glider training is even better at teaching this. Is this more risky? Yes. Is it worth it if this was a training flight. Yes, I think it is.
Private grass airfield, clear skies, pilot with over 60 years experience incl. 25 in USAF flying among others the U2 (re: the sailplane comment). Enjoy life.
I grew up in the back of my Dad's Aeronca Champ, loved flying with him, though I did have a death grip on the fuselage tubing about half the time. We lived near Denver, and one day we flew up into the front range to visit a friend of his, along the way he did some aerobatics for my amusement. A few minutes short of the small strip my Dad looked back and told me to tighten my belt, I was about to ask why when I saw the prop stop, we had burned too much fuel on aerobatics and were empty. Dad landed us safely about half a mile short of the strip on a country road, and we pushed the plane to our destination, wouldn't trade those days for anything.
Your dad was good and both of you were lucky. A high school chum lost his twin brother in a motorcycle accident. Both boys had been riding since they were 12 years old. Tom is the lost twin, Tim, at age 60, said "You gotta be good, but you gotta be lucky, too." They would be 67 this year.
Great story! My father was a Marine aviator for 24 years. He's too old to carry passengers any more but he was an airline pilot for many years and is still a flight instructor for a major carrier. He got me flight lessons when I was about 16 but I never felt comfortable in an airplane unless HE was flying it. We rented Cessna's many times and explored islands off Okinawa Japan while he was still in the service.
OMG, I am reading each of you guys and is like l am watching with my own eyes, l was learning to fly in Dallas TX and to be honest that's the best part of my life, landing you can feel the adrenaline, l have a pair of Baron headsets red in color, l will try to get a new headset and l said new, brand new.
Ryan Taylor 😊 Priceless!
Bad to the bone story. Crazy how time flies and you look back to how much you didn’t really know you had and the great people around you know.
Have any of you people complaining about him shutting down a perfectly good engine on purpose EVER seen the great Bob Hoover's airshow routine? He shuts down BOTH engines on his Shrike then proceeds to do an abbreviated routine, lands and taxis to his parking spot to show what can be done with proper energy management. Sure, this guy may not be Bob Hoover but one doesn't have to be if he knows his airplane. This guy wasn't stupid or dangerous or foolish, he knew his plane and knew what he can do with it. Great Job!
kgrimm86 Bob Hoover is my favorite airman all time! Got to him demonstrate his airmanship at the Dayton Ohio international Airshow. AMAZING TALENT!
Someone above also mentioned, it wasn’t a perfectly good engine, there was a fuel leak. He comments on the fuel coming out right at the beginning of the video. So it was necessary to cut the engine.
I must’ve seen this vid like 20 times. For some reason always puts me in a good mood. Just the inherent cowboy nature of bush pilots gives me hope for humanity
"I'm just gonna slip the hell out of it..." Sure did! Great flying here.
Kills engine
Successfully performs extremely tight skidding turn (tail out)
Successfully comes out of extreme slip at ~50 ft AGL without straying from the runway's center
Insanely smooth downwind touchdown
Turns towards hangar with significant speed remaining (risky, if I understand taildraggers)
Comes to a stop 50 ft from fuel pump: "I've ruined everything"
Still a stupid stunt. He could have rolled up to the house and stopped at the porch and it still would have been stupid.
Ima SuperPerson First thing is, that was not a stunt. It was a practice that every pilot should perform. Now, the only thing stupid was your comment.
JH1200A1
To be totally fair, if an average pilot were practicing this, they would keep the engine idling and stay on the runway. (But that's boring)
power off approaches should be part of most pilots regular practice. Granted most of us would just go to idle, but it's not like there's anyone else at the airfield... or by the looks of it a few miles around. Increased risk? a bit, but the kind of practice that saves lives.
knew a CFI who's training story was that his instructor had a deal with the farmer who owned a paddock at the end of the runway, and he used to surprise his students with a "real" engine failure on takeoff to test them. Equal parts sad and very relieved my CFI never did that to me lol!
Kind of practice that saves lives and builds confidence.
I love the old pilots with a zillion hours. They Know exactly how it works. The guy who taught me was 86 and he put me through this. Then I learned to fly a glider and dead stick is every time.
Amazingly skilled pilot knowing EXACTLY the performance and flight characteristics of his plane. Great video!
The only way to learn dead stick landing is to DO dead stick landings. Well done!
The nice thing about doing this is C-150s is that you have a very good chance of restarting the prop. If the battery dies, you need at least 120 mph to get it windmilling again to restart.
Great job landing that airplane dead stick 50 ft from the fuel pump is pretty good.
Experience is the best teacher.
Specially when the stick is not dead but the motor... Insane terminology not to say stupid !
The temptation to criticize his decision to cut the engine was immediately overturned when his obvious mastery of the aircraft was on full display! What a pilot!!
No opinion on the decision to cut the engine, the guy clearly knows his aircraft.
I just wanted to say that was a damn nice slip to landing!
I love at the end how he starts rocking back and forth trying to get the bird to creep closer to the pumps lol!
Just got off the phone with your Dad, who told me about this video...fantastic! He checked me out in that Champ at Taildragger...an experience I'll never forget. I flew there with John Slais in his v-tail Bonanza. What a trip it was!
Wow! I soloed in a 1947 Aeronca Defender! Benson airport White Bear Lake Minnesota 1985. I did some similar things. Used to land on the Frozen lakes, land on the ice road going out to the ice houses.
Its gonna be sad when all those gutsy older fellas are gone. Im 47 now but even as a kid I always loved being around them. Somehow had more life in them then someone 30 or more years younger. I guess some of the hardship they endured makes them value life and enjoy it when times are good. Great to watch.
I watch this occasionally, not necessarily for the maneuvers, but for the man. A man that while obviously an expert aviator (the super slip transition at 20 ft AGL to a soft as a pillow touch down on a rarely used grass strip more than proves this) doesn’t take himself to seriously and without a question loves to fly. I do not know him other than this video but would suffice to say he is just as happy in that champ as in a U-2, and more than flying itself, loves to share the wonders of flight with others. I hope to be half the man he is someday.
Absolutely Amazing. I need to find a CFI like this guy. The kid teaching me is ok...and perfectly competent, but THIS is the kind of pilot that needs to be in every flight school!
Love the slip... much like doing full throttle crossed-up power slides flat-track style on a dirt bike... my instructor in the Champ taught me the slip and my years of dirt-biking made it so easy and a lot of fun! Great flying, brought back a lot of memories...instructor pulls back throttle and holds it firmly..."power out, what are you going to do...do it now"...place to land, form a plan, set it up, take it down, slip it in...gives back throttle lever 50' AGL, no engine farts, go around and put it down... great training - great memories!
Excellent practice of required skills! Some people watch too much TV. Planes don’t spiral uncontrollably to the ground just because of an engine failure. That Champ is a natural floater. I’d love to take lessons from this pilot. 👍🏻
My old school instructor would frequently throw me a power-off landing. The most unique one was over the NJ Meadowlands heading back to LGA. My sole option was the NJ Turnpike!
The newly built western spur south of the tolls was nearly ready to open for traffic. I was surprised when he let me continue and touch down for a few seconds. There were no signs, light poles or work vehicles. I mention all this because Carl reminds me of my instructor. He and many others were experienced WW2 or Korean war military pilots. They knew the best way to train was to put a bit of pressure on students.... but always with a smile. Real world experience works. To the hand wringers I contend it saves lives... not endanger them.
I like modern safety, but I do wish for the CAN DO of old as well.
Very well said. Reminds me of when I read about WWII and pre WWII Naval Aviator Training and flying. (And of course, Nam era chopper skills) Modern aids can make us safer, but there is really no substitute for experience.
My exact way of teaching things.
Not sure I agree. The reason the FAA stopped mandating spin training is because more people were dying practicing spins than dying from "actual" spins. I'm sure that sort of training helps those that survive, but is it worth all the other deaths to get there?
First airplane I ever flew at 14. I was also learning to fly gliders at the time. I went up with my instructor an F-101 pilot and we shutdown the engine and he gave me a great lesson on flying the aircraft. We actually gained altitude in a thermal. Great confidence builder.
At first I thought this was a home video from the 90's, just had all old school charm. Great video, makes me wanna learn to fly.
Wow! Amazing flying. Hats off to the pilot and camera man. I was nervous just watching the footage. There was zero room for error.
I have restarted a Champ (60hp Continental) at altitude by putting the nose down and getting enough airspeed to turn the prop enough to fire the engine. Not my favorite thing to do and only works if you're high enough. Love the Champ.
I suspect he knew he could restart this way, as I too have many times, even with larger engines. Start with a dive for airspeed, then pull back hard G's which has turned the prop to start every time I have tried.
@ Bob: Excerpt from a comment I made just yesterday:
My old man was in his Baby Great Lakes once, and had a shut-down due to carb icing (hand-prop engine). He dove straight at the ground, knowing, if all else failed, he could flare out at the end and land in the road. The prop made a couple of short arcs, then it finally kicked off. Note that he switched to a (Lake?) injector shortly thereafter : )
I didn't see it happen, but after he told me about it, I related the story to a friend at school who, it turned out, HAD seen the whole thing!
Possibly a breach of V.N.E too huh?
@@theRealPinball Common way to restart a Tiger Moth, (Gypsy Major) engine.
@@GrumpyOldMan2 yup. And much preferred to hand propping at altitude. 😁
Nicely done. Stayed calm and talked through the whole ordeal. Even though he was right over the strip, ELPs can go very wrong very quickly. That was awesome and perfectly executed.
That is a great video!! Now a little story: a friend was doing loops in a J-3 over a pasture. At the top of the loop the A-65 would quit and he landed in the pasture, got out and restarted. climbed in and continued to practice loops. In the adjacent pasture was a farmer plowing his field. As my friend landed for maybe the 5th time he noticed the farmer had stopped his tractor and walked over to ask him if he was practicing dead stick landings. My friend explained what he was doing and the farmer suggested that next time, after finishing his loop, he should put the nose down and get up dome airspeed and quickly roll the plane to the left to start the engine.,"don't frap the prop, frap the airplane". My friend asked him if he really thought that would work? The farmer shrugged his shoulders and as he turned to walk away he said "It works on P-51s". My friend tried it and sure enough it worked! Since you a comfortable with shutting down your engine why not give it a try and report back with a video. BTW it worked on my half VW powered mini max as well. Thanks again for sharing that video!
That's great! What are the odds you're landing next to an old P-51 farmer on a tractor. I grew up flying a 46 7AC Champ. Nothing more fun!
That was one hell of an aggressive slip, impressive!
A kid I used to fly with learned to fly gliders before graduating to the family Champ. At 17, he took his checkride for his Private in her. The engine had been overhauled about 30 hours earlier, so was still pretty tight. The examiner pulled the throttle back to idle and said, "Okay, your engine just quit. Find a place to land and set up to land there, we'll throttle back up when we're about 100 feet up." Just then the carb iced up and the wee A65 quit. "Well, it looks like we'll be doing this for real..."
Then the kid felt the lift of a thermal and circled around back into it, rode it up to about 7000 feet, and said, "I think were high enough to make it back to the airport now." They glided back, landed, rolled right up to the pumps, and came to a stop.
The examiner got out and literally kissed the ground, got back on his feet and looked at his checklist. "There's a lot of things on this list we didn't get to. Since you can do what you just did, I'm confident you can do everything on this list. I'm signing you off right now."
Guys are nuts.... but the man on the stick is one hell of a pilot. Awesome.
Quite the contrary, he's an idiot and a dangerous one at that.
So because you cant work out at the Gym I should stop too???..try that in person..punch to your nose..Dont insult this good pilot..dam coward..
Stupid analogy. Working out at the gym doesn't kill passengers, and doesn't break federal regulations.
lol what regulations did he break. have you ever heard of a glider plane?
"one hell of a pilot", if he had done what he planed to do, I might agree with you, but he didn't. It was a stupid stunt.
He had every second control of the situation,if i may to say this. Sideslip perfect like we glider Pilots did it with the vintage airplanes. Respect. I met another guy like him and we had a lot of pretty flights in old Biplanes. Thumb Up, i love this Video.
Guys, he's not intentionally dead sticking an F-104 for heaven's sake...... It's an Aeronca Champ... The sweetest, friendliest little flying machine with the J-3.... Decades ago when I started off on gliders, they did it standard practice with C150's before solo. Mind you, the gliding performance with a standing prop is much better as opposed to a wind milling one. This was totally safe
A windmilling prop holds you back cos it can put energy into a battery or even start a plane, the energy has to come from somewhere, it comes from your momentum and holds you back and in effect the whole disc of the prop is holding you back instead of a skinny "stick" when it's stopped.
Justwantahover True, a spinning prop has to turn the engine. A stopped prop turns nothing. Much energy saved.
@@Justwantahover Completely false. The surface area does not change, whether its spinning or stopped.
The idea that a standing prop is better has been thoroughly debunked. Its completely false. The surface area does not change if the prop is standing vs spinning.
Greg Harper “thoroughly debunked”? How? Here’s a question for you. The lift force on a flying prop blade is, like any other airfoil, dependent on the airspeed (engine speed) and angle of attack; blade pitch vs forward speed. That lift force on the prop blades translate into thrust. When the airspeed is high and engine speed is low, the angle of attack is negative and the resulting negative lift on the blades translates in aircraft drag. Theoretically a zero drag situation can be achieved at one combination of airspeed and engine speed with a certain blade pitch. Anything else results in either thrust or drag. When a prop does not turn, the blade angle of attack is approximately 90 minus the blade pitch angle; well into the stalled range. What, do you think, gives more lift; a stalled airfoil or a flying one?
So just saying that a standing prop has less drag that a spinning one is “debunked” is nonsense. There is a very narrow airspeed/engine speed band for a certain blade pitch where drag is less than a standing prop and it may well be outside the flight envelope of the aircraft. If you have actually flown with a standing prop you will notice that it has less drag than a spinning one at most airspeeds
The A-7AC Champ doesn't have a "starter" like many other aircraft of that era ... you have to hand prop it from outside the cockpit. That's why the pilot said he couldn't start it once it had stopped ... great job of making the number of landings equal to the number of takeoffs ...
For all the people who are calling this a stunt, IT IS. The credits at the end literally say "stunt pilot..."
First class flying. Enjoyed your quiet calmness in this situation!
Amazing flying, obviously a seasoned veteran of the skies. He learned before automation took over much of the work load. Here's the guy you want to be with when the going gets tough.
big funny
David Ekman I thought he did it quite competently. Notice how he deliberately kept high until reasonably short final so that he had more options on just where to put it on the field if unforeseen people ,planes, deer or whatever suddenly appeared in the touchdown area. My first instructor took me up to a safe height, stopped the engine, and made me dive it ,to start it up again. And-no-we didn’t go over redline! A C-150.
I prefer pilots that *don’t* intentionally sabotage the aircraft.
@@LetsMars You prefer pilots that don't correctly train for emergencies?
You can't hate on a guy who knows his shit. This is awesome.
THIS GUYS A OLE SCHOOL AVI8TOR...I LOVE IT...HELL OF ALOT BETTER THAN TOP GUN
Times change, it used to be that was part of the training. times change. As a CFI I would never shut down an engine. The reason we stopped training like that in the good/bad old days was that the number of low time student pilots that fell short, not just of the pump as he did, but of the entire field.
Insanely cool! As a low time pilot from forty years ago, it was better for me to watch this on CZcams than to actually be in the back seat. I'd need a change of underwear! I used to fly the Champ, but never like this. It wasn't clear to me why the pilot did not do an upwind landing, though.
Escape Velocity ....upwind left him closer to the pump end of the field?
Master of machine and environment. Bravo!
Back when.... no airshow was complete without a stopped prop landing. Bob Hoover used to do that at every airshow.... in an Aero Commander with both engines dead.
And then do a full airshow routine using his energy alone... including loops and rolls. It was awesome!
William, I was about to say the same thing. He'd kill the engine then dive for the ground, gain a bunch of speed and do at least a loop and a huge barrel role. Then an abbreviated pattern and land and end up facing the crowd right where the plane was started before the show. Now THAT was a hell of a pilot. This guy is good but not nearly as great as many of the people here seem to think. Not to disparage him but anyone flying an Aeronca regularly should be able to do the same thing.
Experience is everything! Nicely done!👍🏻
I learned to fly gliders.......easy day. just no glide ratio with that thing WELL DONE
Totally different animal
No, just drops faster..but glides too..dummy..
Not very different at all from a 2-22c (yes that's old)
I think you got your movie... Haha, awesome cool.
Well done and very enjoyable! Ain't nothin' like a taildragger!!!!!
If you are a pilot commenting here and think this is dangerous or outrageous, you really need to spend some time in a glider.
We do this all the time and somehow manage to survive ;). Infact, with the lowest performing gliders, we are about down the the glide slope this guy has while in the pattern. It's all about managing your energy.
Rcbif I’m not a pilot. There is no excuse for intentionally sabotaging your vehicle, especially with a passenger on board. Killing his prop created a more dangerous situation than the situation that had existed up to that point. No matter how small the degree, this shows a disregard for safety and should not be encouraged.
Arguments that I’m not a pilot, and thus somehow don’t understand common sense or safety protocol will not be considered.
Edit: If you read the comments from real pilots, this guy apparently blew a fuel line and preformed a forced landing.
@@LetsMars - I now have over 50 hours in the same airplane as in this video and many more in gliders. Still not phased by this situation. Hold my stance that only those too comfortable with engines dragging them around are unnerved by this video.
I've not done dead stick landings before but many times I've practised Forced Landings on C172. Engine idle, 60 KIAS best glide speed, full harness on, look for suitable landing area, Mayday call, turn to line up and approach, flaps as necessary. 200 ft, then wham full power! Positive rate, flaps up, and away we go!
Always Aviate, Navigate and Communicate! In that order!
@@LetsMars 'There is no excuse for intentionally sabotaging your vehicle, especially with a passenger on board.' Early in flight training you are taught what precipitates stalls and spins and you learn- by -doing how to correct them. That 'intentional sabotage' is vital so that the pilot is capable of reacting competently should such conditions occur in an emergency.
Take a few lessons yourself and maybe you will understand the issue and realise that your choice of the word 'sabotage' is inappropriate.
@Alan formula1 Yes, and power off approaches all the time in the Champ. Ya, not the same as dead stick, but fairly close. I've got the Champs energy managment down to a tee, and almost never need to add power.
that side slip right before touchdown, fucking ace of a pilot. KUDOS
+T McGee
It's a forward slip. A side slip is when you have a crosswind and lower the upwind wing and use rudder to keep the nose lined up with the runway as you are touching down.
Actually, there's more drag with a windmilling prop than a dead engine. A full deadstick landing was one of the things that people had to do in my confidence course. as well as a landing somewhere other than an airport. They had to select a field and land in it to a full stop.
Jim F, CFI both airplane and glider
I like how quite it got when he shut the engine off. More people should do that when they record a flight.
What a coooool man :-) Hat off and even happy flying ....
Very nice landing!!! perfect side slip, great pilot!!!
That was some genuine old fashion barnstorm style hijinks right there
He must be an old fighter pilot because he knows exactly what he's doing with energy management and spatial orientation in relation to the field, the wind, and his aircraft. That final slip to landing was great! At first I was thinking this looks like a stupid maneuver but as I watched I gained a huge amount of respect for his piloting skills. Nicely done - but definitely not for the amateur pilot.
You don't have to be a fighter pilot to know how to land a plane dead-stick. Good pilots practice this procedure often. More often, in fact, than fighter pilots. That does not excuse this particular pilot's stupidity, however. He made a very bad choice.
What about "old fighter pilot" did you not understand? I consider a fighter pilot to be a highly trained professional, and and old pilot would be that individual who gathered extensive experience in successfully applying their high level of professionalism over and over again. Most GA pilots I know have just a smattering of both, and I know very few who practice (or simulate) dead stick landings. This pilot neither made a bad choice nor was stupid in my humble estimation - thank God we live in America because we all have the right to our opinions.
I fail to see the bad choice. Demonstrating the known capabilities of the plane??? Does that mean that test pilots are stupid people too? They do much worse to document the limits.
I dont know anything about flight, but Id trust this guy any day.
I would intentionally keep a bottle of Jack under the seat.
The best deadstick video online 4 ever!
This pilot is the definition of COOL!!!! I want to be with him if my plane is going down.
From the time I was 10 years old til about 14, I spent many, many hours in the backseat of my Uncle Ed's Aeronca Champ. We flew all over California in that little 65hp air-knocker. After a fuel attendant at SAC Metro put on the wrong fuel-cap (vented), the plane ran out of fuel about ten miles out of Healdsburg, Ca. My heart skipped a few but we had enough altitude for Uncle Ed to just glide her in for a perfect deadstick landing. Refueled, ate lunch, then straight back to SAC Metro where Uncle Ed almost choked the attendant unconscious.
Was a backseat passenger in an Aeronca, back about '54. Memory is very fuzzy, but I think the backseat had (at least) foot pedals and a stick between the knees.
That is a pilot there, sir. 50 ft? That was perfect in my book.!
50 years ago in a champ i was on final, had carb heat on but power off. it was about 32 degrees and when i cracked the power all i saw was the prop. i just made it but never fully took the power off again. leave er tickin over kid. have fun
Awesome!! perfect landing !!
“You see I’ve never tried this with a tailwind...screws everything up”
Great flying Mr..fun to watch.
That was fun. Good exercise. The prop can be "restarted" in flight, however, by "windmilling" it. You just dive it and it will start right up. However you will also get a better glide with it stopped. Almost made it to the hanger! Tee hee!
I loved that ! reminds me of Bob Hoover air show performances.
Thanks for posting.
YEEAAAAAH BABY........nice one carl, flying fun at its best and as for 50ft short, the short walk to the gas pump gives time to reflect on the moments just past.
thats what they mean by old guys rule lol ... nice job sir...
randy justice An old adage applies here: "There are no old bold pilots". Note this guy is older. I'd fly with him.
No doubt sailplane experience!
What a Guy!! Sure They Don't Make them Any More!! Respect and Blessings!!
"I'm just gonna slip the hell out of it..." Flies the plane in backwards / upside down, and still sticks the landing lol.
Dead stick, no chance of restart, and he is worried about having enough energy to roll up to the gas pumps(?)(!). He is either an exceptional pilot or absolutely insane. Maybe both
Thanks for a fun ride.
Excellent video!
That pilot is good!
That's some great flying! Not a bad idea to practice dead stick so you're not dropping bricks when it happens for real. It's hard to fly by the seat of your pants if they're full of poo.
Haha that one guy is crying saying "never ever shut the engine off" Bahahaha duuhhhh yeah its risky! Its a glider now! Darn good way to make a good pilot out of yourself.. I've done it in my ultralight many times. Dang fun challenge! Im sure that guy could set her down anywhere and survive and barely hurt the plane. I'd fly around the world with this guy!
Congrats on the dead-stick landing. Old glider pilot here; we do it all the time; good training.
Awesome pilot
Two words you never want to hear from your pilot..."Oh Oh". 🙏👏👍
I learned to fly in a Champ. If you just pull the stick back into your gut it would just flutter to the ground with very little forward speed. Safest airplane I ever flew.
Great vid, Kev.
Wow!!...impressive...especially as that thing obviously has the glide ratio of an elevator with a cut cable !
This dude has been flying longer than most of you have been alive. Keep on keepin on keyboard warriors
AWESOME pilot. Wild and free with knowledge. I want to fly with you carl!!
Excellent dead-stick Sir !!!
After reading all the comments, I have to say, Good Vid. I started in a Cessna 150 in 1974.
Experience is Experience!
When I was 9 I was in a cessna 170 being flown by an old ww2 fighter pilot. I was in the front, my parents were in the back. On the way back to the airfield to land he goes "hey kid, wanna see somethin that really freaks people out!" and killed the engine to bring it in for a dead stick landing. It did indeed really freak people out.
Masters of flyiing
Totally safe and practical to do under the right situations and with the right precautions. Obviously this guy knew what he was doing and took those measures. Have all of the ERMAHGERD NO ENGUN people here ever heard of gliders? Same shit.
Gliders are made for gliding, that's not a glider.
cjracer1000 it is once you shut the engine down! Same thing. Arguably even safer than a glider because you do actually have an engine your can restart right? It would have required an exchange in kinetic and potential energy in something without an electric system like this champ though of course.
cjracer1000
guess what, even a 737 is meant to glide... It's a fucking plane.
Guess what, I'm a pilot. It's not "meant to glide" it's meant to fly powered, that's why it's a powered airplane. It can glide, but that's not what it's made for.
It's powered because of thermo-dynamics. If a 737 loses both engines it can safely glide to an airport, and that's not by chance.
Beast mode switch locked in the full on position!
Great skills....and a great pilot
That was really cool!
For the people here who are not pilots, I understand your concern. And I understand this is just a video, not instruction. But there is a lesson to be learned here. For those of you who are pilots, there is nothing like a long experienced instructor who understands what is important, what matters and what needs to be demonstrated that falls outside the practical test standards. The young instructors building time are fine but they are ATP career oriented and are more in need of building time without making a violation. With an experienced instructor the student can experience the scenarios that might kill with minimal risk. ATP people do risky training scenarios (like twin engine asymmetrical thrust from one failed engine at low speed, low altitude) in a sim. General aviation pilots need to work in an airplane with an experienced instructor on basic single engine airmanship. Is it more risky to shut the Champ engine down rather than go to idle? Sure! But imagine having to experience a completely stopped engine for the first time in an emergency! It's worth the risk of trying it in a nice, slow, sweet flying Champ with an instructor who has done it before, on a remote grass strip so that if someday engine failure happens for real it's not all new. Same goes for spins, rolls and inadvertent IMC. Until pilots try this in a controlled situation, they are unprepared when it happens in an emergency. (Inadvertent IMC killed Kennedy) (Engine failure and a failure to maintain best glide killed John Denver) You can argue the fine points but the end result is two guys killed themselves being over confident and under skilled when it really mattered. (I confess to having no idea what their training regimen was) The young airline career oriented instructors are generally less willing to risk these things. A grizzled vet knows how to do these things and is able (and willing) to demonstrate. A stopped engine sounds different than an idle engine. Real IMC is different than foggles. Spinning a Cessna 150 a few times around with cornfields spinning in the windshield is scary. And confidence building when a pilot learns to recover. What is different in a shut down? An aircraft with a stopped engine glides better than windmilling engine. The sounds of the air over the fuselage are different. And the gravitas of the moment, delivered in silence has a great impact. Students realize that the stored energy of speed and altitude is the only thing keeping the plane under control. Glider training is even better at teaching this. Is this more risky? Yes. Is it worth it if this was a training flight. Yes, I think it is.
Wow amazing landing
Awesome job!!!!
Looks fun !
Pilots like this, while skilled, are flying on borrowed time!
Looks like a Good and Old pilot to me.
I would have a heart attack if I saw that propeller stop like that.