Hello Kelsey - I see that others have mentioned this, but just to reiterate - for the helipad landing that plane was modified by Mike Patey who has an impressive history as a pilot and a builder, and who has a great UA-cam channel as well. The efforts taken to make that plane safe (safer...) for this stunt were absolutely incriedible - stripping extra weight, shifting the CG to a more preferred locaiton, reinforcing the tail structure in case there was a tail strike, etc., and etc.. And the time spent by the Red Bull pilot to train for this was equally as impressive. On the day they shot this the airspace around that location was closed, the beaches and surrounding areas were closed down to the public, and several emergency rescue crews were already stationed in the water and on land in case of a bad outcome. It was quite an undertaking.
One of my flight instructors tried to teach me that if I ever had to do a go around that I would lose face and bring discredit to my reputation as a pilot. Once I had to land in incredibly difficult circumstances and did not one but two go arounds. When I got the plane safely on the ground I was visibly shaken. Several pilots who were watching me trying to land actually congratulated me on my landing. Don't ever let your flight instructor tell you that you will "lose face" because of a go around!
@@pbp6741 It wasn't a "tiny" ego problem! It was massive! Another of his toxic teachings was "Always hit the numbers" since I have been learning from this channel I have learned why this is not a good idea.
Mike Patey of Utah, a plane builder and racer, moded this Carbon Cub for RedBull. He moved the fuel tank into the belly to lower the CG and added a metal and carbon fiber "keel" on the underside of the plane just forward of the tail wheel. Also added larger brakes and super light ties, and all bolts, and tail wheel strut were changed too titanium....Nice mods when money is no object! Love your channel. mark in SC
Yes, and they did extensive testing after the aircraft was modified and practiced in progressively harder locations. Mike also did lots of wind and smoke testing on the helipad before they tried landing there, and had established tight wind direction and speed limits before.
Kelsey's utter modesty and cheeky one-liners are why he's one of the best real pilots on YT. "A place for me to go nappy when I get tired." Never stop being you.
Mike Patey has a behind the scenes video about the heli-pad landing. Definitely worth watching. The plane was specially prepped, and the pilot had an experienced spotter on the pad. So it was as safe as it could possibly be.
Mike Patey designed a carbon fiber keel on that plane to absorb an impact to keep the plane's tail section intact just in case the fuselage struck the edge of the landing pad structure.
@@seanmorrissey3103 My uncle used to say, "If a man made it, a man can fix it." And then not to be outdone, my mom used to say, "If you made the mess, you clean up the mess."
In the 1980s my sister lived on a cattle ranch in Australia. She came back with a story from one of her friends. He was a bush pilot making deliveries to ranches hundreds of miles apart. Tools, medical supplies, payroll, people. One day he got a call from a new ranch to deliver some machinery parts. When he arrive he saw the windsock on the edge of a fenced off area near the house. The fence keeps the animals out. It looked small to him, but he said (as every Aussie would) "If anyone else can do it, I can do it!" So he came in low and slow on the diagonal, barely cleared the fence, bounced hard and skidded to a stop just short of the far fence. The rancher came out and told him, "That was some pretty flying. I've never had anyone land a plane on me helipad before."
Mr Kelsey you’re absolutely my favorite aviation channel because of your humility.Most airplane pilots have an air of superiority they try to convey that you don’t.Good work!
I'll never forget having to do a go around at ATL. Plane in front didn't clear the runway after we touched down. I was in a 787, man when the pilot hit those throttles you could feel that power like nothing else... It was exhilarating how hard it pushed you back and the angle we took back off was amazing!!!! Alot of people thought they were gonna die but not me, better than any roller coaster I've ever been on!
same here on a 747 descending into vancouver in fog so thick i could barely see the wingtips. I have no idea how close to the ground we got but at some point the pilot decided enough was enough and as you say, the punch in the back from the engines was something else. I am a nervous passenger but I get great reassurance when I feel that thrust. The captain then came on and said we would be going on to Seattle which was fine with me, that's where I was going anyway but a lot of the passengers were facing a 200 mile bus trip back to Canada!
Pilot tried to wait out a storm once and literally flew us in giant circles around the airport for 30 minutes. It was beyond wild. He eventually said they were running low on fuel and took us to an entirely different airport lol.
After watching your videos I can detect when the pilot is going to do a go around. I said that on a flight to Atlanta and passengers were surprised that we actually did one. Thanks for all you do.
While in the AirForce, I watched an A-10 with the original test pilot "Col Thompson" fly through a tab-V hanger in england as part of a demonstration flight back in the 70's.
Kelsey, we just love you! You bring a unique personality to aviation UA-cam, and give tons of really detailed, interesting and instructive information. I love how even though you fly the Queen you don't have a huge ego. Like I said, we love you!!!
Having watched the Mike Patey videos both of the build of the aeroplane used for the landing on the heli pad, the preparation/practice landings (on the ground), plus the precautions taken on the day (they abandoned the first day due to the winds being too high), I know that the risks were very well managed. It was still an amazing feat.
I used to fly a lot in airliners as a kid in the 80s, 90s and early 00s. Nowadays I don’t fly as much. I’ve experienced a variety of turbulence, rocky landings but never a go-around. Call me crazy, but that is something I look forward to experience as a passenger. With your info on how stable approaches are a must now, maybe they,ll become more common.
Your ending of the video reminded me of a joke a read af few months ago about an 747 pilot and a f-16 pilot showing off to each other. The joke goes like this. A 747 is flying on route, when a f-16 pulls up along side. He contacts the airliner on the radio and decides he wants to show off. He ask the pilots of the 747 if they want to see something cool, to which the pilots answer yes. He then proceed roll his airplane inverted before diving very low and then shoots up again past the pilots. After his little acrobatic maneuver he contacts the pilots if they liked the show. The captain of the 747 then says "Yes, that was very cool but watch this". The fighter pilot eager to see the captain move the large plane waits eagerly, but nothing happens. After 15 minutes the captain comes back on the radio and the fighter pilot asks why he didn't do anything. The captain the responds, "I just got up stretched my legs and went to the bathroom, then I had a cup of coffee on my way back, but cool stunts you did earlier. "
haha, yeah, there are many versions of this joke, but it's a good one nonetheless. I've also heard it with B-52 vs. fighters. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if it actually happened a time or two with bombers and fighters. Another amusing one I remember reading was a B-52 pilot declaring an emergency and returning to and after an engine failure. After which call an F-16 pilot on frequency pipes up and says, "Oh no! Not the dreaded 7-engine landing!"
Asking an airline pilot if he can do this type of flying is like asking a trucker if he could race a rally car. He could probably do it, but not like the professionals that train for that particular style of flying Wow, this comment blew up. Thanks for 1.3k likes!
@@brandonlaird6876depends on the specific thing you do at coding websites but anyone who has a degree in coding should know how to code stuff for NASA.
Mike Patey was involved with the reengineering and modifications of the plane as well as in charge of the ground planning. There was a huge amount of testing before it was ever attempted. Finally, the pilot is also a Red Bull air racer. Watch the Mike Patey video about it. Dude is awesome.
A while ago I took my little girl for a walk along the river near our house. We decided to take a seat on a bench to have a snack and drink overlooking said river, and over the other side is the extended center line for a local airfield (can’t really call it an airport). Almost as soon as we sit a plane comes out of the field. “Oh that’s cool” I say and then we proceed to watch a display of acrobatic flying which probably lasted about 15-20 minutes. She wasn’t even 3 yet and for the whole time never once took her eyes off the plane or uttered a single word. I don’t know the names of the tricks or whatever but it was upside down, free falling, forward loops and backward too. For some reason despite it being a beautiful day, I don’t recall another person walking past us. She’s been obsessed with planes and helicopters since.
@@ronsantos3313 she has an appetite for snacks to rival even Kelsey, so who knows lol. Honestly though I’ll never push her along the path but as soon as I think she’s old enough she’s gettin a trial lesson.
I used to leave near an airfield owned by an ex-RedBull air race winner, he now runs an aerobatic team and we used to get free aerobatic displays on a regular basis.
I think Paul and Steve actually did the hangar fly through 11 times for the cameras. They are both renowned for their smooth accurate flying, thankfully.
Also, Mike Patey is an incredible engineer, too. He did a series about building that plane and all the modifications and reasonings for the design changes. Quite interesting and if I dare say fascinating. Mike’s attitude toward taking a risk is to cover all likely senecios and even ones most of use wouldn’t imagine.
Came on here to say exactly this. Mike Patey exclusively designs bush planes and light aircraft and is uniquely suited to addressing this particular challenge. That aside, that pilot probably has a wheelbarrow to carry his balls around in.
One of the really interesting things I noticed in the second clip is the front to back alignment of the 2 planes. They are offset, so even if one of the planes were to go off course towards the other they can essentially overlap the wings without hitting each other. It gives them quite a bit of extra space to work with.
I had just started writing the same thing. It is very obvious in the brief overhead view inside the hangar. Seems like the key is to be offset enough to avoid a wing strike, but not so much that turbulence becomes a factor for the trailing plane. This is one of those things that looks more dangerous than it is, which is a good thing. Stupid doesn't impress me. Skill and well managed risk does.
@@WMHinsch I wouldn't go so far as saying it looks more dangerous than it is, the people involved just put a TON of time and effort into making that dangerous maneuver as safe as possible. They know how this can go wrong and have given themselves every possible margin of error to avoid that. These aren't daredevils who just decided to do this on a whim. These are professionals who plan on doing this kind of thing regularly for an entire career, and living to tell the tale.
The (wind) sheer humbleness of this channel is amazing! I know u have over a million subs but cant tell u enough how good this channel makes me feel, aviation or not. Just pure joy and education! Thank you sir for spreading happiness ❤
Paul Bohnomme, one of the barn fliers, is a commercial airline pilot for BA. I think he actually flew 747s. He is also a multiple Red Bull Air Race champion.
They definitely do unsafe things, but they also do a lot to mitigate the dangers involved. I'm glad they do things like this so we can get people interested in aviation
The nap nook is an important feature to consider. I'd like to see the Redbull guys do this in a 747!😂 Nice job, my Sunday morning is complete now, thank you!
@14:37 lol. Keep making these videos. I appreciate how you break down the flights. I thought the Piper-cub one was the hardest but having heard about the team work aspect I can agree, that one had the least room for error.
I'm glad you ended this video the way you did. You understand and respect the flying world that you live in. The flying that I do, most people would consider crazy.... but I admit that I would be completely lost in the flying that you do. What needs to be said about Red Bull stuff is that the pilots involved understand the risks they are taking and that they do everything they can to minimize or eliminate the risks to others.
I was fortunate enough to meet the Red Bull sky acrobatic team. They are crazy, the skydiver (I want to say his name was JT, TJ, something like that) decided to jump form the Red Bull helicopter even after the airshow was temporarily suspended due to weather. A updraft caused him to get entangled in his parachute lines. He managed to get free and pull his reserve chute at the last min. He was ok but it was scary to watch.
I'd be curious to hear about whatever "roof effect" and "wall effect" there are when going through a tunnel, analogous to ground effect. And also curious to hear if the team simulated these things in a simulator during their preparation.
I'm only an engineering student, but I can try and offer what little expertise I do have lol: Ground effect mainly occurs due to the downwash from the wing "reflecting" off the ground as the aircraft's altitude decreases. Think of how a propeller works on a boat - the water you push will have to go somewhere. If you set the throttle to 100% in a huge cruise ship next to a dock, all that water would slam against the harbor walls, and some of it will reflect back onto your stern, pushing you away from the dock. Tunnel roof effect, on the other hand, would be slightly different. Since you're not sending much air upwards (downwash exists because we need to push the air down for the air to push us up), we probably won't see much lift created from flying near the roof. In fact, the bank effect may come into effect here, where the low pressure area above the wing plus reduced area due to the presence of the aircraft causes the flow to speed up above the plane, sucking the plane upwards towards the tunnel wall. I'm not exactly sure that bank effect would occur in a plane within a tunnel, but if anyone else knows more about it then it'll be super cool for you to tell us lol
You can't simulate this sort of flying. You just have to have the skills and experience, and be really sharp with frequent real flying of real aeroplanes in demanding types of flying.
@@kelly2631 I wonder would they have to shut the fans off in the tunnel? afaik vehicular tunnels ventilate perpendicular to the direction of the tunnel fresh air is blowing in from ducts along the side of the roadway and is sucked out the roof. Or at least that is how the Holland Tunnel works, id imagine most car tunnels copied that.
@@kelly2631I wonder. The airflow in the tunnel seems to be stable and constant, wouldn’t the airplane (as long as it remains on a stable and maintainable course) basically cause something akin to an ‘fake’ envelope around itself because of the stable pressure which possibly makes it easier to maintain the course?
From what they explain in the hanger video, it isn't as simple as just flying low. The "air cushion" effect from flying that low is intensified the moment they enter the hanger because the air is more confined and a different temperature than outside the hanger. They said the temperature could actually swing quite far from ambient which made it the most unpredictable element to the stunt. The hanger one is definitely the scariest for me because they are so close and it was completely unpredictable how the planes would react the moment they entered the hanger.
My best friend in college was heading out for a Red Flag exercise and we crunched the numbers. Given the speeds and distances in the canyons, it would not be physiologically possible to react in time to save the plane if he screwed up. So the assumption was that he wouldn't screw up which, of course, he didn't. The reason a single prop engine pulls left is the torque from the propeller blades going through the air all at the same angle.
My son did his first solo this week! I showed him this and his reaction to the 1st minute...'ummm...no.' His CFI has thrown him around enough to know what's safe and what's not! 😂 CFI will be getting a nice Christmas bonus from this mother..🤣
Kelsey, watching these videos remind me of the 1970's with DOD at Selfridge AF Base after my Army combat tour (2/502 Inf 101st Airborne) ... many I worked with were ex-pilots and told so many great stories. I was wounded and when I came home there was a "Hiccup" that caused me to have to fly to Camp Eagle up north for a day and back south to fly home the next. At Phu Bai airfield near Hue they had me walk out to a C-130 with a group of guys going home after their tours and it was full, they had me climb into the cock pit up front. There was a seat next to the flight engineer, and they had me sit next to him ... he started explaining the gauges, reasons for this and that (lonely guy?) ... keeping mind this is a combat zone ... he was telling me; "watch this" ... we were above the clouds and at about 180 knots, we started to fall like a rock for what seemed a long time, and then they leveled off and there was the runway(?) ... seems that plane almost stalls at that speed and they were avoiding ground fire coming in like that. I looked around the cabin and no one seemed stressed or anyway out of normal ... just flying every day with people shooting at you. You mentioned you flew with VN War experienced pilot, I'm guessing he told you a few. Thanks again ... airbrush_ken at yahoo-dot-com
You can tell by the look in the pilots eyes (very wide eyed) on his first attempts that he very well knows the danger he could face if something went wrong. Hard to just watch. He has more guts than I ever would to try something like this.
I think I recall that for the second stunt (the two planes flying through the hanger) that one pilot focuses on using ground markings to be exactly in the right place, and the other pilot focuses on keeping exactly the right distance between the two planes.
Hi Kelsey - just love your humble commentary about your own skill set and your ability or not to do these types of flying stunts. However as a sailor I prefer to keep the blue side down 😊
Kelsey, I don't think you give yourself enough credit for what you do. You often refer to yourself getting in trouble in flight school or having to retake exams. But who HASN'T made mistakes when learning to fly? When we are learning, we experience new situations that we've never had to deal with before and nobody can expect a rookie pilot to know everything. You fly the queen of the skies now, let's face it - you're a PROFESSIONAL pilot! Give yourself more credit for your skills and your experience. Love the videos, hope you're doing excellent!
I think he’s brilliant for talking so openly about this stuff since students already have to deal with hearing all the bragging by people claiming to have soloed in 10 hours, and gotten their PPLs right at 40 hours. Students hear less about the successful pilots who had rough starts, and I think it’s important to talk more about this. Not only is Kelsey humble for this, but he’s also showing his confidence as a pilot now by not feeling a need to conceal a rough start.
When you're a skilled professional, the best thing you can do is tell people about the mistakes you've made. This helps other people admit their own mistakes, which we can all learn from. It also encourages beginners to persevere, because the pros aren't special or perfect, either.
@@BishopStars I'm not implying that he shouldn't share all of his experiences - good and bad. I'm only saying that he shouldn't put himself down so much. All of us Kelsey fans know that he's a great pilot. He doesn't have to show off, but he should at least give himself a little credit for being the expert that he is.
"Stabilized approach." You are right about knowing how to correct an unestablished approach shows good airmanship. In almost 20 years at LAX I saw several "recoveries". The two standouts were a Continental DC-10 doing a falling leaf on short final onto the one of the 25 Complex runways. The most impressive was a JAL 747 doing a 360 on short-final to 24R for spacing. An aircraft that size doing a 360 over Inglewood at less than 1000' was impressive! I wish we had cell phones back then to capture those events.
What I noticed is that the tail dragger touched down EXACTLY on the edge of the platform. Had it come down even a smidgen earlier, the tail dragger could have been ripped off and possibly the entire tail section, or at least bent severely out of shape. That also likely would have put the airplane out of control and could have fallen off the building. And without a working tail, he wouldn't be able to recover.
It's called a tailwheel, not a taildragger. The structure holding the tailwheel on is a lot stronger than the leaf spring and yoke. All that would've happened is that he'd lose his tailwheel and revert to a taildragger. Happens often when bush flying, no big deal. You can hold the tail off the ground until you're mostly stopped and let it gently down without any damage.
They don´t do these stunts in the spur of the moment, either. This was careully planned and rehearsed, but still dangerous. I do love the footage, tho - but I wish Red Bull took better care of their daredevils, instead of just trying to offer them enough money to try.
Hey, Kelsey! My father was a crop duster pilot, who, as they say, augered in. I was 2 years old, so never got the chance to know him. The risk factors he had to deal with were immense. By all accounts, he was a very proficient pilot. The 'outfit' (year was 1957) he flew for had goals that exceeded the 'safe flying' envelope. Meaning they put an excess quantity of spray on/in his plane, resulting in non negligible performance. They were trying (at his expense!) to get more bang for their buck. So, he gave notice that he would be quitting. He crashed on his last day of work. But, he did survive the crash. Until the inevitable fire occurred, which caused his death as extricating himself was impossible with the broken bones he likely had. I was the baby of the family, being 7 years younger than My sister and 9 years younger than my brother. It sickens me that these idiots caused me to never know my father. My brother became an Air Force check pilot and carried on with flying for a career. But not in the pressure packed world of dusting crops, he flew for a regional carrier so his 'away' time was less. Now, for myself at 68 yrs old, I love 'good' aviation channels, which are few and far between. Your channel is one that I enjoy, bcuz we have similar mentalities. Thanks Sorry, tldr
Thank you for sharing that. By my user name, you can assume what I do for a living.... this year, we lost two close pilot/family members. It is true that the pressure is immense. I thought very seriously about quitting this year (28 years in). For many reasons, I can't quit yet. I just hope for my family that I won't be another one lost on the last load of their career. Thanks for understanding.
I'm sorry for your loss. That must've been tough on the rest of your family. ❤I'll remember your fathers story if I ever get asked to do something overly unsafe in my life.
In fact Mike Patey who built this aircraft to pull this stunt was in constant communication with the pilot monitoring wind speed and I think other real time informations.
I'm a private pilot. I'll address this and paragliding. All of my training (and instincts) had a great to do with ... STAYING AWAY FROM BUILDINGS AND MOUNTAINS.
Although the sparkles in his eyes and the little smile on his face made me believe he would loooove to fly these manouvers, I had to realize, that the lack of free snacks is the deal braker 🤣🤣🤣
That looks like Mike Patey (0:48) on the radar gun and radio. I think the pilot was getting air speed information while attempting the STOL landing. That wind sock was showing a cross wind but with a head wind those planes stop on a dime....and give you change!
Actually, in the first clip with the STOL Cub, there were no go arounds. All the "failed attempts" were test flights, he never intended to land on any of these approaches. When he hit the ground and bounced, that was because of a sudden gust of wind. The goal was to just fly over and get a feel for it. They only tried to actually land on one attempt, the one that worked. Pretty cool.
I think you're a pretty amazing pilot Kelsey. When you take your own life in your hands it's one thing but.. when you take others lives in your hands that to me is a whole other level. I always appreciate you being humble, and that's why I'll say the you're a pretty amazing pilot part for/to you. 👍✈
As far as landing on the helipad... You never mentioned that the plane was specifically prepared by the aviation genius Mike Patey for this attempt and much engineering and calculations were done to see if it can be done in relative safety. Patey has an in-depth video on his UA-cam channel detailing all the work done preparing and practicing for this. It's not like some guy jumped in a stock Carbon Cub and decided one day to land on the Burj al Arab on a whim.
oh all these stunts require months and months of preparation, training and practice runs. No doubt they did a practice version on the ground several times
You don’t mention all of the practice flights and testing to see if this landing was even possible. I don’t agree with the risk assessment. There were lots of teammates, on the ground.
I know some of the people (the Patey family) in the Dubai landing, fun to see them on this channel. 😂 They (and my channel) are all about safety while doing off-airport stuff. Admittedly, a helipad is *very* off airport, but having seen the immense amount of work that went into prepping this, and having seen the plane several times, it really was very well thought out. Back country pilots spend an enormous amount of time fine tuning how to hit a landing spot. Way more than the jet pilots. So that demonstration wasn't very sketchy at all. One thing I'll add. You said the plane wasn't really designed for that kind of thing. In fact, that plane was explicitly designed and built for that day.
I am so jealous that you know the Patey group! Congratulations, you must have done a lot of good things to rank up in that crowd 😂! Really really jealous 😊
Regarding pilot trust, I have been riding motorcycles since before I could drive. I'm now 60. No wrecks. I never ride close to someone, just because you can't really trust what they might do. That is, with the exception of my one friend, who I've ridden with for years. We'll ride through turns, inches apart, or sometimes, handlebars barely touching. I know what he will do, and he likewise, and together we can ride safely in a fashion that looks cool and maybe dangerous. But trust like that takes time and practice to form. Same for these Red Bull guys.
100% agree with you+ I have 1 friend who we used to take a cruise about 60-70 miles on a hot summer day to place with a lot of lakes, we'd take the wives and just have a good ride, he asked if his brother could join us one time and about 2 miles from home a car pulled out in front and his brother panicked and almost took all of us out and leaving very little room for us to maneuver! You really have to trust a partner!
I think it's not only about trust. You can ride like that for 100 times, but that 1 time something can/might go wrong, a little sand or oil on the road, etc, and an accident might happen. These things can be done in a controlled environment, bit better not on a public road. We used to ride motorbikes when we were young, and 1 time a dog ran out on the road, right under a friends bike. He flipped and fell. Thank God he only got some minor injuries and not too much damage to his bike. Just emphasizing that anything can happen at anytime. Enjoy life and whatever you do..
My man, thanks for giving such an objective, in-depth look at this. I've jumped with a few of the Red Bull guys, and sometimes the comments in aviation groups about these events make me want to hit my head on a wall. This was a great, neutral look!
Entertaining video Kelsey. These Red Bull Air Racers or Stunt pilots are incredible to watch. Can’t imagine pulling off any of these stunts, or anything similar, in a B748.
There's another aspect to aerobatics and precision flying like this you didn't mention. All these guys have been blessed with above average hand-eye coordination, reaction time, depth perception, etc., most pilots can't even practice enough to attain the skill level they have naturally.
Flying those little airplanes through the hangar or whatever that building was is basically just like flying a larger model helicopter indoors (and at full horizontal speed). It's enough space for the craft to fly, but the error margin before crashing into anything is so low that it's a near-impossible thing to do without damaging anything or in the case of real planes, killing someone.
Starting on the left side in the tunnel makes all sense, since the open space between the 2 tunnels has a slight right hand bend. You can see that clearly at 14:49. By starting in the first tunnel on the left side, he enters the second tunnel exactly in the middle. This way he doesn't have to stear with the rudder, making it potentially unstable.
BTW, if you want to see the supreme masters of close formation flying, check out the French Connection. They (not surprisingly) met their end flying their display routine, but only because they decided to use a slightly lower minimum altitude to satisfy the needs of a camera crew. Just so happened that they collided for the first time ever that day, and they were too low to recover.
Daniel Heligoin and Montaine Mallet a.k.a. the french connection are dead. They were practicing a dual tail slide maneuver when one plane hit the other. It doesn't matter how high they were as it's unlikely either airplane was controllable. For all we know they were incapacitated by the impact. The list of dead airshow pilots over the past 100 yrs is staggering.
Along with the skills of the pilots, lets us not forget the skills of the designers and builders of the aircraft themselves. As well as those who maintain them.
The second display going through the hanger is called barnstorming. My great grandpa did it, my grandpa did it and so have I. Its fun and as long as the barn or in this case hanger is big enough.
I am a for life aviation nerd and interested in most aspect of it - except I never found these Red Bull aerobatics and pylon's races interesting or even aviation related.
The Red Bull heir, Vorayuth Yoovidhya, pushed the limits of Thai law. After killing a policeman in 2012 and going on the run, his family's Red Bull money finally got all charges dropped in 2020.
This is a legend out of Butte, MT: One night many years ago the guys were drinking at the bar and telling stories and the one pilot reckoned he could fly his airplane between the church steeple and the structure next to it. His buddies told him it was impossible even if he was sober, and he took it as a challenge. The drunk pilot got his plane in the air and, to everyone’s surprise, safely flew between the two. Someone later measured the width of the gap and he had less than six inches of clearance from his wingtips.
My FIL was on PBY Catalina WW II stateside. One flight he was on fire suppression. As he told it. You climb up, get this *fire extinguisher * hose and stand behind engines. They start you hand it down, climb off back. Well he was not awake. It started, he lowered hose walked forward , got in. Everyone froze. He walked BETWEEN the props of the two engines. There is no room for error. 2” either way they would have picked him up with a mop. At Fantasy of Flight FL Kermit has a PBY. From ground gap looked under 20” on parked plane.
Thank you for sharing and explaining. Nothing wrong with a go around - anyone frightened by that really should not be flying. Compressor stalls on the other hand are a bit, shall we say unnerving.
not a pilot but have had fun in Mircosoft Flight Sim for many years. In the new one its a free download to try and land on the helipad. Thus far I haven't been able to do it. Respect to all the pilots.
I really think that what Red Bull does is get people interested in aviation. They know how dangerous what they do is but the spectacle is the end product and that is what they produce. I feel holding these guys to the same standards as regular pilots is foolish as they are clearly something entirely unique.
Red Bull are a marketing company and as such have no real interest in any of these things only in making money. These stunts are only a tool to use for publicity in order to generate income. I personally know one of the pilots seen in the video and this is what he has told me about being involved with Red Bull.
@@thaddiushelicon534- Aviation is expensive. Money is obviously the end goal of any company, otherwise it would most likely be cease to be a company. Red Bulls commitment to aviation is more than marketing though…it’s obvious from their amazing hangar full of vintage aircraft and all of the ways they have pushed aviation that at least one person of influence at Red Bull has a passion for aviation. There are FAR CHEAPER ways to advertise.
I've been to the Red Bull Air Races at Spielberg and the crowd was a bit unnerved by the stuff the helicopter was doing between the races. I think it's only a matter of time until someone's hurt on the ground and we're discussing if this stuff is borderline reckless.
I watched an interview with a military performance group pilot, and the interviewer asked him how bad things would be if they bumped wings, and he said, "honestly, we bump wings all the time. you can't avoid it when you're flying that close. but the thing is, as long as you're going the same speed and the same direction, it's no worse than bumping in a parking lot."
I call BS. Airplanes damage VERY easily, especially the wing tips. I own a small plane. I have damaged it with very little contact 😡 $2,500 later it was fixed
they may be exaggerating on the car parking lot analogy. if they do bump wings, its at a very little impact. Plus i would expect them to have reinforced the wingtip anyway from damage@@jamesallen8838
I remember a helicopter pilot who was discharged from the Army after two tours of duty in Vietnam and got a job with a police department in California. He was doing air surveillance of a car involved in a robbery and when the car entered a tunnel this pilot flew the helicopter in after the suspects. The driver had stopped the car and was trying to turn around when this former Huey pilot entered the tunnel blocking the way. State police asked him about what he did and he just smiled saying "When you've flown in combat and do Hammer-stalls or full loops in a Huey this is super easy." He was told to NEVER do it again and retired from the police department after 10 years.
There's a reason why Red Bull is so expensive, and it's not the cost of producing the drink. Consumers are not only funding these stunts, but likely also the funding for compensation when one eventually kills someone.
Happy Holidays. Keep up the Great Flying Channel. When I was a did I would have loved this Channel. I had Flying Magazine and it got me through my Hours alive.
I’ve seen the Canadian Redbull pilot Pete McLeod in an airshow in MTL, it was incredible. He actually decided to give us a bonus and went up twice, these guys are soooo passionate. If you ever have the chance to see one of their top pilots in real life, GO! I’ve seen tons of air shows, but I’ve never seen anything like it.
Stabilized approach? My worst was at the edge of the Wash DC restricted airspace. ATC kept me at about 1000AGL to maybe 200 yd short of threshold of about a 5000 ft runway. Suddenly “cleared to land”. Jerk. With a Cessna 337, chop both engines, full flaps, drop the gear, and slip HARD. I slammed it in cleanly with 1000 feet of runway left. The ‘shuttle approach’! No modern twin can make like a rock that way. Try that with your usual airliner, guys
Paul Bonhomme is the guy in the second clip, absolute legend. One of the greats for sure, multiple world champion and now flies as captain for British Airways.
Steve Patey just posted about the helipad landing on his channel. It's amazing how much prep went into it. He built the airplane and specially modified it for STOL. Patey has built some very impressive airplanes over the years.
I landed a plane on a rooftop helipad in GTAIV or GTAV and it felt dangerous then, lol. Surprised Kelsey isn't saying it's unsafe. If he's too low and collides with the helipad, what happens? Airplane falls, hits building, possibly injuring or killing guests. I imagine the ground below was cleared but I'm not sure. What his helmet for? I think the helmet is using the pilot for protection, not the other way around.
Hello Kelsey - I see that others have mentioned this, but just to reiterate - for the helipad landing that plane was modified by Mike Patey who has an impressive history as a pilot and a builder, and who has a great UA-cam channel as well. The efforts taken to make that plane safe (safer...) for this stunt were absolutely incriedible - stripping extra weight, shifting the CG to a more preferred locaiton, reinforcing the tail structure in case there was a tail strike, etc., and etc.. And the time spent by the Red Bull pilot to train for this was equally as impressive. On the day they shot this the airspace around that location was closed, the beaches and surrounding areas were closed down to the public, and several emergency rescue crews were already stationed in the water and on land in case of a bad outcome. It was quite an undertaking.
There is a brief glimpse of Mike Patey at 00:49.
@@gordonrichardson2972 there's also a pretty awesome series on his channel about building it. ;)
They also added a deflector in front of the tail so the tail-wheel itself couldn't get hooked on the edge.
It was an absolutely awesome build series on Mike’s channel! The build and process was every bit as fun to watch as the flight itself.
Also, Mike was his checklist, wind speed, attitude, etc.
One of my flight instructors tried to teach me that if I ever had to do a go around that I would lose face and bring discredit to my reputation as a pilot. Once I had to land in incredibly difficult circumstances and did not one but two go arounds. When I got the plane safely on the ground I was visibly shaken. Several pilots who were watching me trying to land actually congratulated me on my landing.
Don't ever let your flight instructor tell you that you will "lose face" because of a go around!
I think you will loose much more face if you crash instead of doing a go around.
@@JJSmith1100 Yeah! Literally, not just figuratively 😂
That flight instructor has a tiny ego issue, and now a credibility problem as well.
An unknown aspect of instructors
@@pbp6741 It wasn't a "tiny" ego problem! It was massive! Another of his toxic teachings was "Always hit the numbers" since I have been learning from this channel I have learned why this is not a good idea.
Mike Patey of Utah, a plane builder and racer, moded this Carbon Cub for RedBull. He moved the fuel tank into the belly to lower the CG and added a metal and carbon fiber "keel" on the underside of the plane just forward of the tail wheel. Also added larger brakes and super light ties, and all bolts, and tail wheel strut were changed too titanium....Nice mods when money is no object! Love your channel. mark in SC
Yes, and they did extensive testing after the aircraft was modified and practiced in progressively harder locations. Mike also did lots of wind and smoke testing on the helipad before they tried landing there, and had established tight wind direction and speed limits before.
Kelsey's utter modesty and cheeky one-liners are why he's one of the best real pilots on YT. "A place for me to go nappy when I get tired." Never stop being you.
Yeah that was really funny :)
Dude, even when you're tired, you should be able to make it to the toilet.
DONT TOUCH THE SNACKS OR PEANUT BUTTER/JELLY SAMMICH! Snickers needs you as a rep! Hope I make your acquaintance someday
Mike Patey has a behind the scenes video about the heli-pad landing. Definitely worth watching. The plane was specially prepped, and the pilot had an experienced spotter on the pad. So it was as safe as it could possibly be.
Mike Patey designed a carbon fiber keel on that plane to absorb an impact to keep the plane's tail section intact just in case the fuselage struck the edge of the landing pad structure.
E
Very wise, but if I were making that landing, I would remember that if Man can make it, Man can break it.
@@seanmorrissey3103 Mike did plan and prepare for almost any contingency though.
Watching the build of that plane and all the hours of prep work on Mike Patey's channel was awe inspiring.
@@seanmorrissey3103 My uncle used to say, "If a man made it, a man can fix it." And then not to be outdone, my mom used to say, "If you made the mess, you clean up the mess."
In the 1980s my sister lived on a cattle ranch in Australia. She came back with a story from one of her friends. He was a bush pilot making deliveries to ranches hundreds of miles apart. Tools, medical supplies, payroll, people. One day he got a call from a new ranch to deliver some machinery parts. When he arrive he saw the windsock on the edge of a fenced off area near the house. The fence keeps the animals out. It looked small to him, but he said (as every Aussie would) "If anyone else can do it, I can do it!" So he came in low and slow on the diagonal, barely cleared the fence, bounced hard and skidded to a stop just short of the far fence. The rancher came out and told him, "That was some pretty flying. I've never had anyone land a plane on me helipad before."
How'd he do on the takeoff? :D
Lmao
@@abnunga lots of cubs can takeoff in very short areas.
You made my day!
😅😅😅
Mr Kelsey you’re absolutely my favorite aviation channel because of your humility.Most airplane pilots have an air of superiority they try to convey that you don’t.Good work!
I'll never forget having to do a go around at ATL. Plane in front didn't clear the runway after we touched down. I was in a 787, man when the pilot hit those throttles you could feel that power like nothing else... It was exhilarating how hard it pushed you back and the angle we took back off was amazing!!!! Alot of people thought they were gonna die but not me, better than any roller coaster I've ever been on!
Watching the testing flights of 747's is INSANE. Those planes have a crazy amount of thrust and can do significantly more than you might think 😁
Attaboy fred420
same here on a 747 descending into vancouver in fog so thick i could barely see the wingtips. I have no idea how close to the ground we got but at some point the pilot decided enough was enough and as you say, the punch in the back from the engines was something else. I am a nervous passenger but I get great reassurance when I feel that thrust. The captain then came on and said we would be going on to Seattle which was fine with me, that's where I was going anyway but a lot of the passengers were facing a 200 mile bus trip back to Canada!
Pilot tried to wait out a storm once and literally flew us in giant circles around the airport for 30 minutes. It was beyond wild. He eventually said they were running low on fuel and took us to an entirely different airport lol.
After watching your videos I can detect when the pilot is going to do a go around. I said that on a flight to Atlanta and passengers were surprised that we actually did one. Thanks for all you do.
While in the AirForce, I watched an A-10 with the original test pilot "Col Thompson" fly through a tab-V hanger in england as part of a demonstration flight back in the 70's.
He must've been Tex Johnston's cousin.
just keep in mind you are seeing the final product- much like the big fight scense in a movie - not the thousands of hours it took to get to it.
Yep. The helipad landing took about 2 years prep, offhand.
Kelsey, we just love you! You bring a unique personality to aviation UA-cam, and give tons of really detailed, interesting and instructive information. I love how even though you fly the Queen you don't have a huge ego. Like I said, we love you!!!
Having watched the Mike Patey videos both of the build of the aeroplane used for the landing on the heli pad, the preparation/practice landings (on the ground), plus the precautions taken on the day (they abandoned the first day due to the winds being too high), I know that the risks were very well managed. It was still an amazing feat.
I used to fly a lot in airliners as a kid in the 80s, 90s and early 00s. Nowadays I don’t fly as much. I’ve experienced a variety of turbulence, rocky landings but never a go-around. Call me crazy, but that is something I look forward to experience as a passenger. With your info on how stable approaches are a must now, maybe they,ll become more common.
Your ending of the video reminded me of a joke a read af few months ago about an 747 pilot and a f-16 pilot showing off to each other. The joke goes like this.
A 747 is flying on route, when a f-16 pulls up along side. He contacts the airliner on the radio and decides he wants to show off.
He ask the pilots of the 747 if they want to see something cool, to which the pilots answer yes. He then proceed roll his airplane inverted before diving very low and then shoots up again past the pilots. After his little acrobatic maneuver he contacts the pilots if they liked the show. The captain of the 747 then says "Yes, that was very cool but watch this". The fighter pilot eager to see the captain move the large plane waits eagerly, but nothing happens. After 15 minutes the captain comes back on the radio and the fighter pilot asks why he didn't do anything. The captain the responds, "I just got up stretched my legs and went to the bathroom, then I had a cup of coffee on my way back, but cool stunts you did earlier. "
Similar story MANY years earlier. EC121 vs F104. Still a good "story".
The handling when you need to pee is for sure cooler in the 747
haha, yeah, there are many versions of this joke, but it's a good one nonetheless. I've also heard it with B-52 vs. fighters. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if it actually happened a time or two with bombers and fighters.
Another amusing one I remember reading was a B-52 pilot declaring an emergency and returning to and after an engine failure. After which call an F-16 pilot on frequency pipes up and says, "Oh no! Not the dreaded 7-engine landing!"
my cousin went from eurofighter pilot to airbus pilot. he basically told the same story.
@@vbscript2losing an engine on a B-52 is definitely not in the same stress category as losing an engine on an F-16!
Kelsey and his innuendos this morning 🤣 it got more than a giggle out of me
Asking an airline pilot if he can do this type of flying is like asking a trucker if he could race a rally car. He could probably do it, but not like the professionals that train for that particular style of flying
Wow, this comment blew up. Thanks for 1.3k likes!
Yeah fr
"I'm a programmer"
"Cool! Let's get you to NASA!"
😳 "I... I make websites..."
Great analogy.
He probably can control a rally car
But at what speeds on what roads for how long would be interesting
@@brandonlaird6876depends on the specific thing you do at coding websites but anyone who has a degree in coding should know how to code stuff for NASA.
Drinking Red Bull is dangerous.
But oh so good
Correct!
*Takes another sip*
Mike Patey was involved with the reengineering and modifications of the plane as well as in charge of the ground planning. There was a huge amount of testing before it was ever attempted. Finally, the pilot is also a Red Bull air racer. Watch the Mike Patey video about it. Dude is awesome.
A while ago I took my little girl for a walk along the river near our house. We decided to take a seat on a bench to have a snack and drink overlooking said river, and over the other side is the extended center line for a local airfield (can’t really call it an airport).
Almost as soon as we sit a plane comes out of the field. “Oh that’s cool” I say and then we proceed to watch a display of acrobatic flying which probably lasted about 15-20 minutes. She wasn’t even 3 yet and for the whole time never once took her eyes off the plane or uttered a single word. I don’t know the names of the tricks or whatever but it was upside down, free falling, forward loops and backward too. For some reason despite it being a beautiful day, I don’t recall another person walking past us. She’s been obsessed with planes and helicopters since.
I hope she continues that passion and interest and becomes a pilot one day. 😊
@@ronsantos3313 she has an appetite for snacks to rival even Kelsey, so who knows lol. Honestly though I’ll never push her along the path but as soon as I think she’s old enough she’s gettin a trial lesson.
@@regularguy3665 Get that girl in a flight sim at least!
@@Big_Red_Dork she’s just turned 4 mate. No rush lol
I used to leave near an airfield owned by an ex-RedBull air race winner, he now runs an aerobatic team and we used to get free aerobatic displays on a regular basis.
I think Paul and Steve actually did the hangar fly through 11 times for the cameras. They are both renowned for their smooth accurate flying, thankfully.
Also, Mike Patey is an incredible engineer, too. He did a series about building that plane and all the modifications and reasonings for the design changes. Quite interesting and if I dare say fascinating. Mike’s attitude toward taking a risk is to cover all likely senecios and even ones most of use wouldn’t imagine.
Came on here to say exactly this. Mike Patey exclusively designs bush planes and light aircraft and is uniquely suited to addressing this particular challenge. That aside, that pilot probably has a wheelbarrow to carry his balls around in.
"senecios" has to be the most random autocorrect I've seen lately. Are you a gardener?
Mike Patey is very much an engineer's engineer - I love his work.
One of the really interesting things I noticed in the second clip is the front to back alignment of the 2 planes. They are offset, so even if one of the planes were to go off course towards the other they can essentially overlap the wings without hitting each other. It gives them quite a bit of extra space to work with.
I had just started writing the same thing. It is very obvious in the brief overhead view inside the hangar. Seems like the key is to be offset enough to avoid a wing strike, but not so much that turbulence becomes a factor for the trailing plane. This is one of those things that looks more dangerous than it is, which is a good thing. Stupid doesn't impress me. Skill and well managed risk does.
@@WMHinsch I wouldn't go so far as saying it looks more dangerous than it is, the people involved just put a TON of time and effort into making that dangerous maneuver as safe as possible. They know how this can go wrong and have given themselves every possible margin of error to avoid that. These aren't daredevils who just decided to do this on a whim. These are professionals who plan on doing this kind of thing regularly for an entire career, and living to tell the tale.
The (wind) sheer humbleness of this channel is amazing! I know u have over a million subs but cant tell u enough how good this channel makes me feel, aviation or not. Just pure joy and education! Thank you sir for spreading happiness ❤
Paul Bohnomme, one of the barn fliers, is a commercial airline pilot for BA. I think he actually flew 747s. He is also a multiple Red Bull Air Race champion.
He doesn’t live far from me. Seen him town a couple of times.
I think the other guy in that clip might be Steve Jones, who was also in the RBAR and possibly also flew for BA.
They definitely do unsafe things, but they also do a lot to mitigate the dangers involved. I'm glad they do things like this so we can get people interested in aviation
The nap nook is an important feature to consider. I'd like to see the Redbull guys do this in a 747!😂
Nice job, my Sunday morning is complete now, thank you!
No snacks either :)
And an engine on fire.
And Half Of The Wing Missing
While playing Candy Crush on his cell-phone.
With a goat in the captain's chair
@14:37 lol. Keep making these videos. I appreciate how you break down the flights. I thought the Piper-cub one was the hardest but having heard about the team work aspect I can agree, that one had the least room for error.
I'm glad you ended this video the way you did. You understand and respect the flying world that you live in.
The flying that I do, most people would consider crazy.... but I admit that I would be completely lost in the flying that you do.
What needs to be said about Red Bull stuff is that the pilots involved understand the risks they are taking and that they do everything they can to minimize or eliminate the risks to others.
Love how you are just humble and not cocky like some guys. Keep up the good work.
I was fortunate enough to meet the Red Bull sky acrobatic team. They are crazy, the skydiver (I want to say his name was JT, TJ, something like that) decided to jump form the Red Bull helicopter even after the airshow was temporarily suspended due to weather. A updraft caused him to get entangled in his parachute lines. He managed to get free and pull his reserve chute at the last min. He was ok but it was scary to watch.
I'd be curious to hear about whatever "roof effect" and "wall effect" there are when going through a tunnel, analogous to ground effect. And also curious to hear if the team simulated these things in a simulator during their preparation.
I'm only an engineering student, but I can try and offer what little expertise I do have lol:
Ground effect mainly occurs due to the downwash from the wing "reflecting" off the ground as the aircraft's altitude decreases. Think of how a propeller works on a boat - the water you push will have to go somewhere. If you set the throttle to 100% in a huge cruise ship next to a dock, all that water would slam against the harbor walls, and some of it will reflect back onto your stern, pushing you away from the dock.
Tunnel roof effect, on the other hand, would be slightly different. Since you're not sending much air upwards (downwash exists because we need to push the air down for the air to push us up), we probably won't see much lift created from flying near the roof. In fact, the bank effect may come into effect here, where the low pressure area above the wing plus reduced area due to the presence of the aircraft causes the flow to speed up above the plane, sucking the plane upwards towards the tunnel wall. I'm not exactly sure that bank effect would occur in a plane within a tunnel, but if anyone else knows more about it then it'll be super cool for you to tell us lol
You can't simulate this sort of flying. You just have to have the skills and experience, and be really sharp with frequent real flying of real aeroplanes in demanding types of flying.
I am not impressed. Did it way too often by myself even with larger planes - in GTA5 ;)
@@kelly2631 I wonder would they have to shut the fans off in the tunnel? afaik vehicular tunnels ventilate perpendicular to the direction of the tunnel fresh air is blowing in from ducts along the side of the roadway and is sucked out the roof. Or at least that is how the Holland Tunnel works, id imagine most car tunnels copied that.
@@kelly2631I wonder. The airflow in the tunnel seems to be stable and constant, wouldn’t the airplane (as long as it remains on a stable and maintainable course) basically cause something akin to an ‘fake’ envelope around itself because of the stable pressure which possibly makes it easier to maintain the course?
From what they explain in the hanger video, it isn't as simple as just flying low. The "air cushion" effect from flying that low is intensified the moment they enter the hanger because the air is more confined and a different temperature than outside the hanger. They said the temperature could actually swing quite far from ambient which made it the most unpredictable element to the stunt. The hanger one is definitely the scariest for me because they are so close and it was completely unpredictable how the planes would react the moment they entered the hanger.
My best friend in college was heading out for a Red Flag exercise and we crunched the numbers. Given the speeds and distances in the canyons, it would not be physiologically possible to react in time to save the plane if he screwed up. So the assumption was that he wouldn't screw up which, of course, he didn't.
The reason a single prop engine pulls left is the torque from the propeller blades going through the air all at the same angle.
My son did his first solo this week! I showed him this and his reaction to the 1st minute...'ummm...no.' His CFI has thrown him around enough to know what's safe and what's not! 😂 CFI will be getting a nice Christmas bonus from this mother..🤣
Kelsey, watching these videos remind me of the 1970's with DOD at Selfridge AF Base after my Army combat tour (2/502 Inf 101st Airborne) ... many I worked with were ex-pilots and told so many great stories. I was wounded and when I came home there was a "Hiccup" that caused me to have to fly to Camp Eagle up north for a day and back south to fly home the next. At Phu Bai airfield near Hue they had me walk out to a C-130 with a group of guys going home after their tours and it was full, they had me climb into the cock pit up front. There was a seat next to the flight engineer, and they had me sit next to him ... he started explaining the gauges, reasons for this and that (lonely guy?) ... keeping mind this is a combat zone ... he was telling me; "watch this" ... we were above the clouds and at about 180 knots, we started to fall like a rock for what seemed a long time, and then they leveled off and there was the runway(?) ... seems that plane almost stalls at that speed and they were avoiding ground fire coming in like that. I looked around the cabin and no one seemed stressed or anyway out of normal ... just flying every day with people shooting at you. You mentioned you flew with VN War experienced pilot, I'm guessing he told you a few. Thanks again ... airbrush_ken at yahoo-dot-com
You can tell by the look in the pilots eyes (very wide eyed) on his first attempts that he very well knows the danger he could face if something went wrong. Hard to just watch. He has more guts than I ever would to try something like this.
all an act, the world is one big theatre
wide eyes ... lol ... the same drama as the juggler in the circus who dops his cones in the first attempt ...
@@carsten4719 - How many jugglers have you seen die ???
@@mountainflyhightheres probably a chainsaw juggler who has died before 😅
Don't recall chain saws being juggled but I have seen plenty of knives.
I think I recall that for the second stunt (the two planes flying through the hanger) that one pilot focuses on using ground markings to be exactly in the right place, and the other pilot focuses on keeping exactly the right distance between the two planes.
An additional factor in shooting the tunnel is wind, or the lack thereof. The plane is flying through what is in essence ideal completely static air
Hi Kelsey - just love your humble commentary about your own skill set and your ability or not to do these types of flying stunts. However as a sailor I prefer to keep the blue side down 😊
Kelsey, I don't think you give yourself enough credit for what you do. You often refer to yourself getting in trouble in flight school or having to retake exams. But who HASN'T made mistakes when learning to fly? When we are learning, we experience new situations that we've never had to deal with before and nobody can expect a rookie pilot to know everything. You fly the queen of the skies now, let's face it - you're a PROFESSIONAL pilot! Give yourself more credit for your skills and your experience. Love the videos, hope you're doing excellent!
Agreed sir !
Better he stays humble while YOU and his subscribers give him credit. 🙂👍
I think he’s brilliant for talking so openly about this stuff since students already have to deal with hearing all the bragging by people claiming to have soloed in 10 hours, and gotten their PPLs right at 40 hours. Students hear less about the successful pilots who had rough starts, and I think it’s important to talk more about this. Not only is Kelsey humble for this, but he’s also showing his confidence as a pilot now by not feeling a need to conceal a rough start.
When you're a skilled professional, the best thing you can do is tell people about the mistakes you've made.
This helps other people admit their own mistakes, which we can all learn from. It also encourages beginners to persevere, because the pros aren't special or perfect, either.
@@BishopStars I'm not implying that he shouldn't share all of his experiences - good and bad. I'm only saying that he shouldn't put himself down so much. All of us Kelsey fans know that he's a great pilot. He doesn't have to show off, but he should at least give himself a little credit for being the expert that he is.
"I'll take my nice four engine plane that's has snacks, a bathroom, and place to go nappy when I get tired." Love the humor
"Stabilized approach." You are right about knowing how to correct an unestablished approach shows good airmanship. In almost 20 years at LAX I saw several "recoveries". The two standouts were a Continental DC-10 doing a falling leaf on short final onto the one of the 25 Complex runways. The most impressive was a JAL 747 doing a 360 on short-final to 24R for spacing. An aircraft that size doing a 360 over Inglewood at less than 1000' was impressive! I wish we had cell phones back then to capture those events.
What I noticed is that the tail dragger touched down EXACTLY on the edge of the platform. Had it come down even a smidgen earlier, the tail dragger could have been ripped off and possibly the entire tail section, or at least bent severely out of shape. That also likely would have put the airplane out of control and could have fallen off the building. And without a working tail, he wouldn't be able to recover.
It's called a tailwheel, not a taildragger. The structure holding the tailwheel on is a lot stronger than the leaf spring and yoke. All that would've happened is that he'd lose his tailwheel and revert to a taildragger. Happens often when bush flying, no big deal. You can hold the tail off the ground until you're mostly stopped and let it gently down without any damage.
They don´t do these stunts in the spur of the moment, either. This was careully planned and rehearsed, but still dangerous. I do love the footage, tho - but I wish Red Bull took better care of their daredevils, instead of just trying to offer them enough money to try.
Hey, Kelsey! My father was a crop duster pilot, who, as they say, augered in.
I was 2 years old, so never got the chance to know him.
The risk factors he had to deal with were immense. By all accounts, he was a very proficient pilot. The 'outfit' (year was 1957) he flew for
had goals that exceeded the 'safe flying' envelope. Meaning they put an excess quantity of spray on/in his plane, resulting in non negligible performance.
They were trying (at his expense!) to get more bang for their buck. So, he gave notice that he would be quitting. He crashed on his last day of work. But, he did survive the crash. Until the inevitable fire occurred, which caused his death as extricating himself was impossible with the broken bones he likely had.
I was the baby of the family, being 7 years younger than My sister and 9 years younger than my brother.
It sickens me that these idiots caused me to never know my father.
My brother became an Air Force check pilot and carried on with flying for a career. But not in the pressure packed world of dusting crops, he flew for a regional carrier so his 'away' time was less.
Now, for myself at 68 yrs old, I love 'good' aviation channels, which are few and far between. Your channel is one that I enjoy, bcuz we have similar mentalities.
Thanks
Sorry, tldr
Thank you for sharing that. By my user name, you can assume what I do for a living.... this year, we lost two close pilot/family members. It is true that the pressure is immense. I thought very seriously about quitting this year (28 years in). For many reasons, I can't quit yet. I just hope for my family that I won't be another one lost on the last load of their career.
Thanks for understanding.
I'm sorry for your loss. That must've been tough on the rest of your family. ❤I'll remember your fathers story if I ever get asked to do something overly unsafe in my life.
He could have walked away at any time.
@@buckmurdock2500ahol
@@buckmurdock2500easy to say but when you have Mouths to feed and bills to pay sometimes it hard to walk away.
Passenger: "Excuse me! That's a helicopter pad!"
Redbull pilot: "Not a problem"
"Hold my Redbull"
"Affirmative, runway in sight."
Plenty of room!
I worked the Red Bull Carbon Cub into my airport on its trip back to Washington after getting back to the states. Pretty cool.
Dude is an airline pilot and aerobatic flying is a whole different animal. There is no comparison.
You’re too modest, CAPTAIN!!! Congratulations again. Huzzah!
PS - your closing line about snacks and naps was hysterical!
In fact Mike Patey who built this aircraft to pull this stunt was in constant communication with the pilot monitoring wind speed and I think other real time informations.
I'm a private pilot. I'll address this and paragliding. All of my training (and instincts) had a great to do with ... STAYING AWAY FROM BUILDINGS AND MOUNTAINS.
You haven't gotten GoPro fever yet. All sorts of people take all sorts of massive risks just for the recognition.
o yer, just love the bold caps.
and stay away from unneccesary low flying :D (winds can be risky, especially near buildings or mountains, greeting from the alps region)
@@ramjet4025 is there any other kind?
@@mountainflyhigh, many Darwin award candidates!
Although the sparkles in his eyes and the little smile on his face made me believe he would loooove to fly these manouvers, I had to realize, that the lack of free snacks is the deal braker 🤣🤣🤣
That looks like Mike Patey (0:48) on the radar gun and radio. I think the pilot was getting air speed information while attempting the STOL landing. That wind sock was showing a cross wind but with a head wind those planes stop on a dime....and give you change!
Actually, in the first clip with the STOL Cub, there were no go arounds. All the "failed attempts" were test flights, he never intended to land on any of these approaches. When he hit the ground and bounced, that was because of a sudden gust of wind. The goal was to just fly over and get a feel for it. They only tried to actually land on one attempt, the one that worked. Pretty cool.
I think you're a pretty amazing pilot Kelsey. When you take your own life in your hands it's one thing but.. when you take others lives in your hands that to me is a whole other level. I always appreciate you being humble, and that's why I'll say the you're a pretty amazing pilot part for/to you. 👍✈
As far as landing on the helipad... You never mentioned that the plane was specifically prepared by the aviation genius Mike Patey for this attempt and much engineering and calculations were done to see if it can be done in relative safety. Patey has an in-depth video on his UA-cam channel detailing all the work done preparing and practicing for this. It's not like some guy jumped in a stock Carbon Cub and decided one day to land on the Burj al Arab on a whim.
oh all these stunts require months and months of preparation, training and practice runs. No doubt they did a practice version on the ground several times
and in this case a specifically designed plane.@@MsJubjubbird
You don’t mention all of the practice flights and testing to see if this landing was even possible. I don’t agree with the risk assessment. There were lots of teammates, on the ground.
Casey's just gives his opinions on the videos he's given. Journalism isn't his day job.
Sure - but if you hit the side of the building you're still dead. The modified plane won't save you.
I know some of the people (the Patey family) in the Dubai landing, fun to see them on this channel. 😂
They (and my channel) are all about safety while doing off-airport stuff. Admittedly, a helipad is *very* off airport, but having seen the immense amount of work that went into prepping this, and having seen the plane several times, it really was very well thought out. Back country pilots spend an enormous amount of time fine tuning how to hit a landing spot. Way more than the jet pilots. So that demonstration wasn't very sketchy at all.
One thing I'll add. You said the plane wasn't really designed for that kind of thing. In fact, that plane was explicitly designed and built for that day.
I am so jealous that you know the Patey group! Congratulations, you must have done a lot of good things to rank up in that crowd 😂! Really really jealous 😊
Thanks!
You could see by the look in his eyes when he missed that he was wide eyed for sure!
Regarding pilot trust, I have been riding motorcycles since before I could drive. I'm now 60. No wrecks. I never ride close to someone, just because you can't really trust what they might do. That is, with the exception of my one friend, who I've ridden with for years. We'll ride through turns, inches apart, or sometimes, handlebars barely touching. I know what he will do, and he likewise, and together we can ride safely in a fashion that looks cool and maybe dangerous. But trust like that takes time and practice to form. Same for these Red Bull guys.
100% agree with you+
I have 1 friend who we used to take a cruise about 60-70 miles on a hot summer day to place with a lot of lakes, we'd take the wives and just have a good ride, he asked if his brother could join us one time and about 2 miles from home a car pulled out in front and his brother panicked and almost took all of us out and leaving very little room for us to maneuver!
You really have to trust a partner!
I think it's not only about trust. You can ride like that for 100 times, but that 1 time something can/might go wrong, a little sand or oil on the road, etc, and an accident might happen. These things can be done in a controlled environment, bit better not on a public road. We used to ride motorbikes when we were young, and 1 time a dog ran out on the road, right under a friends bike. He flipped and fell. Thank God he only got some minor injuries and not too much damage to his bike. Just emphasizing that anything can happen at anytime. Enjoy life and whatever you do..
Where are you flying these days, Kelsey? Take us with you, please!
My man, thanks for giving such an objective, in-depth look at this. I've jumped with a few of the Red Bull guys, and sometimes the comments in aviation groups about these events make me want to hit my head on a wall. This was a great, neutral look!
Your reasoning is always very interesting. Love your videos Kelsey, thanks for taking the time and trouble to film them.
Entertaining video Kelsey. These Red Bull Air Racers or Stunt pilots are incredible to watch. Can’t imagine pulling off any of these stunts, or anything similar, in a B748.
Reminds me that because one can do something isn't the same that one should.
The long winter evenings must just fly past in your company
They were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.
There's another aspect to aerobatics and precision flying like this you didn't mention. All these guys have been blessed with above average hand-eye coordination, reaction time, depth perception, etc., most pilots can't even practice enough to attain the skill level they have naturally.
Flying those little airplanes through the hangar or whatever that building was is basically just like flying a larger model helicopter indoors (and at full horizontal speed). It's enough space for the craft to fly, but the error margin before crashing into anything is so low that it's a near-impossible thing to do without damaging anything or in the case of real planes, killing someone.
Starting on the left side in the tunnel makes all sense, since the open space between the 2 tunnels has a slight right hand bend. You can see that clearly at 14:49. By starting in the first tunnel on the left side, he enters the second tunnel exactly in the middle. This way he doesn't have to stear with the rudder, making it potentially unstable.
Whatever they do, those Redbull pilots are a different breed of animals
BTW, if you want to see the supreme masters of close formation flying, check out the French Connection. They (not surprisingly) met their end flying their display routine, but only because they decided to use a slightly lower minimum altitude to satisfy the needs of a camera crew. Just so happened that they collided for the first time ever that day, and they were too low to recover.
Daniel Heligoin and Montaine Mallet a.k.a. the french connection are dead. They were practicing a dual tail slide maneuver when one plane hit the other. It doesn't matter how high they were as it's unlikely either airplane was controllable. For all we know they were incapacitated by the impact. The list of dead airshow pilots over the past 100 yrs is staggering.
Along with the skills of the pilots, lets us not forget the skills of the designers and builders of the aircraft themselves. As well as those who maintain them.
While we're at it let's just not forget anyone.
The second display going through the hanger is called barnstorming.
My great grandpa did it, my grandpa did it and so have I.
Its fun and as long as the barn or in this case hanger is big enough.
4:57 The light explanation was a gem for me. I need a whole video on it
Red bull always push the limits of aviation law
I am a for life aviation nerd and interested in most aspect of it - except I never found these Red Bull aerobatics and pylon's races interesting or even aviation related.
The Red Bull heir, Vorayuth Yoovidhya, pushed the limits of Thai law. After killing a policeman in 2012 and going on the run, his family's Red Bull money finally got all charges dropped in 2020.
the problem with pushing the limits, is that you are going to find yourself on the wrong side. sooner or later.
This is a legend out of Butte, MT: One night many years ago the guys were drinking at the bar and telling stories and the one pilot reckoned he could fly his airplane between the church steeple and the structure next to it. His buddies told him it was impossible even if he was sober, and he took it as a challenge. The drunk pilot got his plane in the air and, to everyone’s surprise, safely flew between the two. Someone later measured the width of the gap and he had less than six inches of clearance from his wingtips.
My FIL was on PBY Catalina WW II stateside. One flight he was on fire suppression. As he told it. You climb up, get this *fire extinguisher * hose and stand behind engines. They start you hand it down, climb off back. Well he was not awake. It started, he lowered hose walked forward , got in. Everyone froze. He walked BETWEEN the props of the two engines. There is no room for error.
2” either way they would have picked him up with a mop. At Fantasy of Flight FL Kermit has a PBY. From ground gap looked under 20” on parked plane.
great hangar tale .
Thank you for sharing and explaining. Nothing wrong with a go around - anyone frightened by that really should not be flying. Compressor stalls on the other hand are a bit, shall we say unnerving.
not a pilot but have had fun in Mircosoft Flight Sim for many years. In the new one its a free download to try and land on the helipad. Thus far I haven't been able to do it. Respect to all the pilots.
Those takeoff/landing competitions are amazing to watch. Even though I know exactly how they do what they do, it still looks like black magic.
I really think that what Red Bull does is get people interested in aviation. They know how dangerous what they do is but the spectacle is the end product and that is what they produce.
I feel holding these guys to the same standards as regular pilots is foolish as they are clearly something entirely unique.
Red Bull are a marketing company and as such have no real interest in any of these things only in making money. These stunts are only a tool to use for publicity in order to generate income. I personally know one of the pilots seen in the video and this is what he has told me about being involved with Red Bull.
@@thaddiushelicon534- Aviation is expensive. Money is obviously the end goal of any company, otherwise it would most likely be cease to be a company. Red Bulls commitment to aviation is more than marketing though…it’s obvious from their amazing hangar full of vintage aircraft and all of the ways they have pushed aviation that at least one person of influence at Red Bull has a passion for aviation. There are FAR CHEAPER ways to advertise.
I've been to the Red Bull Air Races at Spielberg and the crowd was a bit unnerved by the stuff the helicopter was doing between the races. I think it's only a matter of time until someone's hurt on the ground and we're discussing if this stuff is borderline reckless.
That is what they aim for.
This is just bush flying with helmets
Fine evaluation of the Red Bull flyers! A great deal of info and a lot of fun. Bright spot in my day. Thanks
"Nappy when i get tired" you are a national treasure hands down best one liner
I watched an interview with a military performance group pilot, and the interviewer asked him how bad things would be if they bumped wings, and he said, "honestly, we bump wings all the time. you can't avoid it when you're flying that close. but the thing is, as long as you're going the same speed and the same direction, it's no worse than bumping in a parking lot."
I call BS. Airplanes damage VERY easily, especially the wing tips. I own a small plane. I have damaged it with very little contact 😡 $2,500 later it was fixed
@@jamesallen8838wrong
nonsense. I think you are making this up.
they may be exaggerating on the car parking lot analogy. if they do bump wings, its at a very little impact. Plus i would expect them to have reinforced the wingtip anyway from damage@@jamesallen8838
@@jamesallen8838 have you SEEN military budgets?
I remember a helicopter pilot who was discharged from the Army after two tours of duty in Vietnam and got a job with a police department in California. He was doing air surveillance of a car involved in a robbery and when the car entered a tunnel this pilot flew the helicopter in after the suspects.
The driver had stopped the car and was trying to turn around when this former Huey pilot entered the tunnel blocking the way.
State police asked him about what he did and he just smiled saying "When you've flown in combat and do Hammer-stalls or full loops in a Huey this is super easy." He was told to NEVER do it again and retired from the police department after 10 years.
Boys and their toys sounds to me like he was just having fun
I’m surprised Air America didn’t hire him
It sounds like he accomplished what he was sent to do, stop the bad guys.
Unstructurally sound 🤔😂
I cannot wait for you to get your fourth yellow stripe 74gear
Great video! Always nice to hear your take on things and explaining incidents! Have a great week
Kesley is being modest here he can easily do all three stunts in his 747!
There's a reason why Red Bull is so expensive, and it's not the cost of producing the drink. Consumers are not only funding these stunts, but likely also the funding for compensation when one eventually kills someone.
Happy Holidays. Keep up the Great Flying Channel. When I was a did I would have loved this Channel. I had Flying Magazine and it got me through my Hours alive.
I’ve seen the Canadian Redbull pilot Pete McLeod in an airshow in MTL, it was incredible. He actually decided to give us a bonus and went up twice, these guys are soooo passionate.
If you ever have the chance to see one of their top pilots in real life, GO!
I’ve seen tons of air shows, but I’ve never seen anything like it.
Stabilized approach? My worst was at the edge of the Wash DC restricted airspace. ATC kept me at about 1000AGL to maybe 200 yd short of threshold of about a 5000 ft runway. Suddenly “cleared to land”. Jerk. With a Cessna 337, chop both engines, full flaps, drop the gear, and slip HARD. I slammed it in cleanly with 1000 feet of runway left. The ‘shuttle approach’! No modern twin can make like a rock that way. Try that with your usual airliner, guys
Paul Bonhomme is the guy in the second clip, absolute legend. One of the greats for sure, multiple world champion and now flies as captain for British Airways.
Actually, that plane was specifically designed to do that stunt.
"I'll stick to my nice 4-engine airplane that has snacks and a bathroom" 😝👍
Steve Patey just posted about the helipad landing on his channel. It's amazing how much prep went into it. He built the airplane and specially modified it for STOL. Patey has built some very impressive airplanes over the years.
I landed a plane on a rooftop helipad in GTAIV or GTAV and it felt dangerous then, lol. Surprised Kelsey isn't saying it's unsafe. If he's too low and collides with the helipad, what happens? Airplane falls, hits building, possibly injuring or killing guests. I imagine the ground below was cleared but I'm not sure. What his helmet for? I think the helmet is using the pilot for protection, not the other way around.
I like the way you think and operate! Proud of you!