I replaced the strobes and nav lights with LED. They are much better all around; less heat, longer lasting, low current draw and I lost 3 lbs in power packs from the wing tips!.

Those bullet lights are nice. Hope you can find LED's for those.

You're the first one to ask about the cabin lights lights. I'd probably wire something in when I find a red LED that would make a good overhead light.

blackrock wrote:I replaced the strobes and nav lights with LED. They are much better all around; less heat, longer lasting, low current draw and I lost 3 lbs in power packs from the wing tips!.

Those bullet lights are nice. Hope you can find LED's for those.

You're the first one to ask about the cabin lights lights. I'd probably wire something in when I find a red LED that would make a good overhead light.

Led nav/strobes are on my list! I'll let you know if I find led bulbs for the bullets.

Maverick and I were out playing in the hills the other day. Dang was it ever smokey from the CA fires. I got lost twice; one of those times, I flew right past my home base airport and was only a mile from it. We went for a short tour along the Ruby Mountains and found a friends ranch strip we landed at, then flew back to my hangar to watch Maverick work his magic with a thread tap. Long story, he'll have to explain it.

I was either a bit unlucky or just off this day. I've slowed the video on my landings to show the wheels loosing ground contact due to my poor line selection. The first landing was terrible as I jumped two small water courses. We had about a 5 mph tailwind so landing distance was longer than normal.It is really hard to find the right line here even on a good day, let alone when the light is so flat from the smoke. Maverick picked better lines than I did, but his left main kicked up a rock and bent an elevator lower brace wire.

All in all a fun day, though.

One of Maverick's takeoffs:


https://vimeo.com/139289753


Gopro wing mount POV of my rather poor line selection (camera doesn't do them justice as the ground looks almost level, but it wasn't):


https://vimeo.com/139177704

Great video's, Mike!!

Thanks Pat. Glad to provide entertainment, such as it us for ya'all.

Hey, stop by and say hello on your way through sometime. Might have to hit Toki Ono's or something when you do.

I thought Blackrock said something about a beer tap, so I showed up. However whoever manufactures those thread taps is making a killing!
Frickin' mess.

The smoky takeoff in 7PS is a great shot.

Maverick wrote:I thought Blackrock said something about a beer tap, so I showed up. However whoever manufactures those thread taps is making a killing!
Frickin' mess.

Sorry I promise it's worth it...

blackrock wrote:Thanks Pat. Glad to provide entertainment, such as it us for ya'all.

Hey, stop by and say hello on your way through sometime. Might have to hit Toki Ono's or something when you do.

Will do! Toki Ono sounds good. Hadn't been there in a while.

Don't worry ez, after I get a couple more flap buttons that don't have 17 broken taps in them, I'll try it out.

We had been immersed in smoke/haze in Elko for the past month or so. Yesterday was the first good clear day we've had in a long time. We took two Bearhawks (Kevin and Cathy's, and mine) for a fantastic late afternoon flight over the peaks of the Ruby Mountains, just 15 minutes by air East of Elko Nevada.


https://vimeo.com/139771994

This is an older one of the Snake River near Twin Falls. It is a short, but rather technical whitewater run later in the year. Well, upstream of the falls, anyway. Below, well, it would be a very short but exhilarating ride!

I turned away from the river at the end of the video due to the crop duster operating just ahead of us. Always wanted to just fly under the bridge; that would be fun.

Edit: Evil Knievel's ramp for his attempted jump across the Snake River Canyon in 1974 shows up from 0:05 to 0:11 in the lower left portion of the screen.




https://vimeo.com/140013138

Nice videos of rough and beautiful country. The real safety of the energy management turn, in maneuvering flight, is not when everything is under control. It is the habit of saving the cruise kinetic energy in the climb then descending turn that is situation saving when oops moments come up.

contactflying wrote:Nice videos of rough and beautiful country. The real safety of the energy management turn, in maneuvering flight, is not when everything is under control. It is the habit of saving the cruise kinetic energy in the climb then descending turn that is situation saving when oops moments come up.

Most certainly, and having an "out" by being able to make that descending turn towards descending terrain should always be a part of the plan.

In this Ballerat Landing and Takeoff video, we are landing and taking off to the west. The flag on the trading post was used for the wind indicator. There is only one full time resident here. We met the owner of the town and his friends, they are always glad to have airplanes visit. Easter weekend is a big gathering here so that would be a fun time to show up and/or camp.

A word of caution, Ballarat is located in a VERY active MOA, especially during the week so consider visiting on a weekend.

That's cool man. You must have one helluva a time out there in the Nevada/California desert.

I've been laying low on BCP for over a month now primarily because of a 3-week trip to AK and then catching up on everything I fell behind on. Three weeks sounds like a long time, but it is very short in terms of AK time. I'm not posting a trip report here, but will post videos as I get around to making them. There is a lot of raw footage so they'll dribble in over time. Most were taken with a GoPro Hero 3+ using Cloudbase Engineering's strut mount which worked very well. My biggest problem was either forgetting to put the camera on the mount or turn it on before takeoff.

I'll make a few plugs for some other business that stood out on our trip:

1. Mackenzie BC fuel stop. They are the only game on the field. Vicki (aka, the ice cream lady) treated us great and had the weather dialed in for the trip up the northern half of the trench on the way up, and the southern half on the return. It was much appreciated. We overnighted in Mackenzie on the way up due to weather and she loaned us her personal car. Very great to find such hospitality on any airport, let alone one so far north. She also has the lowest price fuel in the area but the most expensive ice cream around; that cone cost us almost $300!

2. Float Plane Lodge in Homer. This was the most comfortable place we stayed the entire trip and is reasonably priced. We both slept like babies here. Sara runs the lodge and it overlooks lake Beluga so it is a fun spot to watch the float planes come and go. She also runs Emerald Air. http://floatplanelodge.com/

3. Adventure Airways in Homer. Thanks, and special mention to BCP'er Tango Foxtrot for showing us around and letting me change the oil at his shop! He also gave me first ever float plane ride in his C-185! Trent and Sara took us to Seldovia for a fantastic breakfast one morning. What a scenic village; that was on of the trip highlights to. We also met BCP'er Headoutdaplane and other BCP'ers at dinner. We thoroughly enjoyed meeting everyone and sharing meals and drinks. http://www.adventureairways.com/

4. Scoop Lake Outfitters at the north end of the trench. I had stopped here 18 years ago and knew I had to get back. It was great to re-meet Darwin, Wendy, and their family. This stop was definitely a highlight of the trip. We enjoyed relaxing here and the company of the Cary family and staff. The food is fantastic too. They have internet access so Wendy can access weather and the all important web cams along the trench. She and Vicki are in frequent communication. Located about 80nm SE of Watson Lake, this should be on everyone list for an overnight stop when flying the trench instead of Watson Lake; it certainly will be ours. They don't have camping but the cabins are very comfortable and reasonably priced with meals included. WL has the nearest fuel but besides fuel, there is really no other reason to stop or stay in WL. http://www.scooplake.com/

5. Finlay River Lodge about 100nm north of Mackinzie. We stopped here to check it out and because the navigator needed a rest stop. Jordy greeted us and showed us around the place and fed us lunch. He is expanding and has some new cabins and has emergency fuel available. Like Scoop Lake, the primary business is outfitting, but they are glad to have pilots stop in and have plenty of rooms available. This would be a more desirable stop than overnighting in Mackenzie. http://www.finlayriveroutfitters.com/

I had hoped to meet up with AK based BCP'ers and some family also but we simply ran out of time. At various times, we were were flying with BCP'ers Rob and Scopolax. You'll see them in some of the videos as I was often #2 with the GoPro.

So time for a video, put please excuse my crude editing skills. I was out of practice.

Beautiful!

CamTom12 wrote:Beautiful!

Thanks Cam!

Here is Rob leading us into Cordova. What a quaint village. We walked to town eating Salmon berries along the way and had dinner overlooking the docks.



https://vimeo.com/173829585

blackrock wrote:

Thanks Cam!

Here is Rob leading us into Cordova. What a quaint village. We walked to town eating Salmon berries along the way and had dinner overlooking the docks.

I have a friend that is a fisherman in Cordova and I visit her every year. One of my favorite places. I love the novelty of a town that is on the mainland, but still only accessible by boat/plane. Unfortunately my only flights there have been on twin turbo props and 737's.

Beautiful videos - makes me miss alaska, more than I already was.