The ease at which you explain such complex aviation concepts in laymans terms to the nonpilot community where they can understand and in a succint manner makes you worthy of being a great instructor.
Simply my favorite UA-cam Channel. Excellent production quality, information, and entertainment. Beautiful scenery too. I'm a CFI and my opinion is that most consistently, pilots that make most accurate landings are the ones that can consistently fly stabilized approaches: airspeed (or AOA if equipped), configuration and procedures for the type of landing are spot on long before the wheels touch the ground. Great video.
Great video Trent, thanks for calling out Back Country Aviation, Patrick and the gang there really know their stuff. We were lucky to have him on our San Juan Island adventure last year and it was pretty amazing watching him fly a Carbon Cub. Keep up the awesome work! The stuff you are doing is super inspiring.
BCA might not put out high volume content, but what’s there is high quality. Seems a balancing act with YT as a revenue model, but you can tell when one has two passions - they find their balance!
The Finer Points. Hey Jason I would wholeheartedly agree, I’ve taken some of those tips and started flying AOA and I’ve started to shave down my landings and I’ve got them back to about 800’ in a 182. Hoping to get into one of your summer flying seminars next year.
I'm finding in the Parallel 42 Kit Fox ( Fox2 ) is a tendency to nose over on the prop if landing isn't handled correctly. The main thing helping me now is full back stick, regardless of flap position. With that I can brake hard without a nose-over. 1800 rpm seemed to help also, by providing more air over the elevator, but the full back stick was the main fix.
You are a good pilot , i learnt from day one in a tail dragger. It was my Dads Cessna 170b. The 170 has no rudder authority at slower speeds . And on take off it veers violently to the left when full power is applied . It can be difficult to handle , even for cub pilots , have lent the 170 to a bloke who owns a 185. He said lovely plane , but even he had directional control difficulties on take off. The knack to mastering the 170 is to apply full right rudder a split second before it starts to swing to the left , and if its got 4 pob , the 2 passengers in the back move the C/G rearward , so with full rudder , you may still need to tap the right brake to keep it on centre. If you are ever in New Zealand , put it out in advance , i live near to Ardmore Airfield , in Auckland. Ardmore was built by the US air force in ww2. After the war you gave it to us at no charge. I would be very happy to take you for a fly , there are a lot of strips all over NZ , North and South islands I would not have a problem , with you flying any Cessna at all. I have tail dragger rating of course , retractable rating, and c.s.u. Am covered for all single engine Cessna , love 182 and 170. And we also had a couple of 150s. You would go nuts if you did a 182 rating ,, i know they have the baby's wheel up front , but they have the 470 cubic inch 6 cly continental . Its a big engine , so the front mount and nose gear are solid thick and strong. With your skill , you could take a 182 with 2 pob and camping gear any place you have taken your kit fox I am a lot older than you , my father had a 170 , 2 150s , and a Cessna 310. The first plane was the 170 , i was 3 when he rebuilt that. He was an aircraft engineer and brought the 170 after it was written off. When he brought an aircraft , he would rent it out , so thats how he came to own 4 aircraft. Any way , for your age you speak as if you were a lot older , that is a compliment . your flying skill , attitude and actual ability is superb. Cheers Trent.
Thanks Trent. Really enjoyed this video. I used to fly GA aircraft but these days confine myself to RC aircraft and my simulators. I need to get hold of an aircraft similar to yours to play with. You have so much fun in your type of flying.
Trent, I used that Herculiner on the bottom exterior of my Dodge Truck where the rocks would flip up and chip the paint. It lasted for close to 8 years that I owned the truck, and is probably still on there today. I realize that my use is not quite the same as on the business end of a tire but I am impressed with how durable Herculiner was when I used it. It has rubber chunks in it and the chunks may wear and come off with use. There are other very similar products that do not have the rubber chunks mixed in to consider also.
I'm a fan of the 3-point as well. Also, when needed, I'll grab a hand-full of flaps as I rotate...retracting as I pop off the ground, accelerate and climb out of ground effect.
Trent; I have around 3000 hours mainly bush planes on floats and on skies but enough wheels to understand them. My suggestion to you is the famous old side slip; be able to use either side and practice for hours until you are super comfortable in a full, controlled slip. You can straighten at the last moment; very slow and right on the line. Done it hundreds of times , some critical.in planes from a cub to a Bristol freighter to a goose.
Appreciate this breakdown. Also glad you walked through whats different between conventional nosewheel flying and the work you're doing out in the backcountry.
Love your stall warning sound! Good job explaining ground effect and 'round out'/flare. Just realized your flaps are hard to see from inside cockpit and those puffy cumulus clouds are indication of thermals too 'as pilots know' . Thermals = warm air = turbulence . Gliding is often very turbulent flying! Would love to see you do a gliding video! Enjoyed the video as always
I appreciate you telling us the commonly terminology. Im sure im in the minority but ive never flown anything but I love watching your videos and the community around aviation particular with bushplane pilot's. Many hobbies are made unapproachable by the people who are in them. Its the complete opposite here and thats why I hope to one day fly a bush plane.
I appreciate your explanations for those of us who are interested but non flyers, they are very helpful... I'll research your videos but... One thing I've heard comments on is that landing a 'Tail Dragger' can be tricky and if you're not careful you can nose over the prop on the ground, not a good thing. IF you haven't covered that, I'd be interested in a video on that. Thanks...
Great info! I would like to know how you chose a landing area. I have wondered, how do you pick a landing field and how do you know what to look for and plan the landing in an unknown area.
for maximum braking you should not land with brakes on. Reason is, the highest force tires can provide is when they're not skidding. When you touch down the tires are stationary and the ground is moving, so they'll skid even without brakes. By letting them spin up to ground speed and then applying brakes you'll get more grip and possibly stop faster.
Awesome video. Happy I stumbled across your channel. Spent the past two days really going through and watching a lot of them. I love the friendliness and the camaraderie. GA out in Nevada looks like a lot of fun. Here in Florida we don't really get that scenery. Keep up the work Trent, great videos!
Have you thought of inside cutting a thick inner tube the right size and popping it over the tire and then a little tire vulcanizing... even X2 for thickness ??? Just a crazy idea I would do lol
Funny...at about 10min into the vid, I was thinking, "I'm going to ask a question about the tire coating and how it's holding up"...then 30 seconds later....lol. Guess my other one is, do you ever get concerned about windshear in those mountain areas/hillsides and flying very close to stall speed? Do you fly with your right hand on flaps on approach, and not throttle? Seems like having throttle control on the flap lever would be an interesting mod...lol.
“Lift” from ground effect is the compression of air “trapped” between the wing and the ground. Similar to an air puck. That’s why low wing aircraft have more float on landing than high wing.
It feels kind of like that, but the air under your wings is not nearly constrained enough to be compressed. The ground interrupts the wingtip vortex, which normally causes induced drag and destroys some lift by spilling over onto the top of the wing at the tip. Winglets like you see on modern airliners exist to create a similar effect in all phases of flight. Because drag=fuel=$.
Mike Rhodes In ground effect induced drag is lessened by the function of the ground itself blocking the wingtip vortices. The wing is therefore more efficient at producing lift as the ratio of lift to induced drag has been reduced. Such a cool phenomenon!
Excellent, a lot of really applicable tips in this video. Some extra action on the flaperon handle will improve my short landings - I'll get working on it... Thanks Trent!
Interesting situation with the tires. To me, it would be impossible to essentially paint on anything that expands & contracts and travels along the ground like a tire. Plenty of severe forces. Interesting question to check out with a tire retreading expert regarding options available to you and your buddies?
Yeah, I’d love to talk to an expert. Most of this has been trial and error. The Flexane 80 is what I’m seeing the best results with, which is what I’ll likely try next
I have an experimental cub with Flexane 80 on 31's that is holding up very well. They were done by the previous owner before I bought the plane. Not sure about the hours before I bought it but have put over a 100 hrs on them.
Thanks for the tips. Currently I'm trying to get the money together to start Flight School. In the meantime I've been playing a lot of VR flight Sims. I actually became friends online with someone who's a flight instructor in real life. He's always been willing to give me some tips when I ask for them so I'm going to share this video and see what he has to say.👍
I have a kitfox 4 with 100 hp rotax uls engine. My problem trying to land short is I have a spring gear instead of a factory gear. If you bounce then you float. My plane is clean and wants to fly fast. A lot of safe practice with pilot technigh to land short. If I land in 400 ft, thats short for me, at least for now. Also big tires increase torque, which makes braking less effective.
Awesome video Trent. Any plans to make a video on the Kitfox's structural integrity? What kind of metal it's made of, design, etc? I'd also like to know more about fixed-speed props. Do you use them? Keep up the killer content, I'm glued bromigo.
Okay, this video raises a few questions for me. Note that I've almost always flown high wing airplanes, and tail-draggers much less often ... though not sure whether that matters. Anyway, my experience has been that takeoff requires more runway than landing, and usually significantly more runway. Which means... for me at least... what matters is the "short takeoff" part of the process. I mean, you don't want to land somewhere, then realize you don't have enough flat surface to take off from the location you just landed! Hahaha. To me, this situation is very strange in a way. Why? Well, because a very short landing definitely requires a lot more effort and skill than takeoff. Yet the short takeoff is what makes or breaks any specific landing location, not the short landing. Essentially, a short takeoff involves applying full power and just waiting until the airplane is going fast enough to get off the ground without stalling immediately thereafter... but not much else. Maybe you want to apply some flaps at just the optimal speed to pop off the runway a bit shorter than otherwise, but... not much else. For me, the short landing goes like the following. While I'm still a ways from the runway, I reduce power to idle, then pull the nose back a bit to reduce speed to a point slightly above stall speed. In the airplanes I was used to flying, this would create a not very loud stall warning sound. In this situation, the decent is quite steep, but the speed is quite slow. Generally I set up this situation so that this steep decent would make me land just a tad longer than my goal (which is for the tires touch down at the very first foot they can, which is usually a painted line on paved runways). When I realize my trajectory will have me touch down a bit short, I tweak on a little power just for a second or three to push me a bit further, but keep the nose high to prevent speed from increasing. When I realize my trajectory is perfect, I just hold the trajectory as is and let the perfect short landing happen. When I realize my trajectory will have me touch down somewhat long, I "crab" for a while until my trajectory seems about right. When I say "crab", that means to push on the rudder pedals to yaw the nose to the right, while pushing the stick to the left to tip the left wing down. The former wants to make the airplane fly a bit further to the right while the later wants to make the airplane fly a bit further to the left. Together the result is... the airplane continues to fly down the axis of the runway. But the yaw causes the wind to smash against the side of the airplane which causes drag, which requires a steeper decent to keep the airspeed high enough to not risk a stall. I practiced this a million times, which is how you get good at something, and also makes you understand how to tweak for loading, crosswinds and other variables that arise during flying and landing. However, this really isn't the answer to landing in tight locations as I love doing so much. The answer is takeoff, which at least in the airplanes I would fly, took more surface than my very short landings. One thing I noticed while watching a takeoff by someone else near the start of a later video (one where Trent talks about how he got into flying in the first place) is a potential problem that I never had. It showed his friend taking off along a ridge-line of sorts. To my view, he got to a speed where I thought I would have pulled up the nose and launched myself into the sky... but he couldn't because obviously his tail-wheel would have impacted the ground. I'm not sure what would happen if he had done that, but my general feeling (with zero tail-wheel experience) was... that would be unwise. Hitting the tail-wheel on the ground could instantly change the attitude of the airplane and perhaps not in a good way. Anyway, this observation was a bit disturbing, because the implication was... the tri-cycle configuration that I always flew does not have this problem to worry about. You can pull up the nose at any time without any worry of smacking the tail-wheel against the ground. Perhaps some airplanes have a tail close enough to the ground that one might smack the tail against the ground in such a situation, but not on any airplane I ever flew. To be sure, that would be even worse than smacking a tail-wheel against the ground. Nonetheless, it was odd to see something that seems to give the tri-cycle gear an advantage for short take-offs! How do other pilots answer these questions? Does everyone find take-offs require more surface than landings? Does my tail-wheel impact worry have any merit?
You really need to consider the type of flying he's doing and where he's landing. Like Trent was saying towards the end also, he's broken tail gear before and can at least keep the tail in the air, I'd wager you're going to have a much harder time in the other config. Anyway, that's my armchair view of the situation.
Love your videos...they are inspiring me to finish my training. You mention flicking forward on the elevator after dumping flaps for a short landing...this seems counter-intuitive to me. Between that and being on the brakes, I would think you risk ending up nose down and burying the prop. Can you elaborate?
I just do it to spoil all lift and really stick it to the ground, it ensures I won’t float and miss my mark. Then it’s full back stick and feathering the brakes in as much as I can without going on the nose. Again, this is a very advanced technique.
I agree with your landing techniques but it's the approach that determines the point of touchdown. Granted you're subject to varying wind direction, gusts etc. which will always affect the touchdown point. To mitigate this you use a short field approach, which technically means you're carrying more power and are flying "behind the power curve" , at a steeper pitch angle and a steeper approach angle, aka flying dirty, aka adding parasite drag which allows you to clear obstacles such as trees much easier.... The advantage of doing this for landing is twofold, one is during your approach, coordinated pitch and throttle control will quickly allow correction if you're landing spot is moving short or long of the desired point of landing......secondly, when you flare you close off the throttle and you're almost instantly dropping several knots below the stall speed and touching down almost immediately where you can leave the flaps alone as they are still creating additional drag. For additional authority in controlling your landing point you can concurrently use a "slip" by cross controlling your aileron and rudder (commonly used before the advent of flaps), this really increases the parasite drag and you can virtually drop like a rock while staying at your short field approach speed. Again this can be quickly applied and removed in varying degrees to maintain your landing point while still maintaining your desired course. The other great benefit in doing this will almost assure your ability to land safely on short final with an engine failure as pitching over to your normal approach speed & angle will significantly extend your glide rate....and ….as you aptly said, practice these techniques by using a comfortable altitude as your imaginary runway....and man, I do love your video's for the shear fun of flying you evoke, keep up the great work.
Nice video Trent (poor Matt) I think your ability to talk through your process while you're in the process is fantastic. I like the technique, Man I look forward to learning it myself (in due time with proper instruction of course)
My son and I are both pilots and are going to be doing some fly-in camping. Last night we were watching your video of your return trip from Oshkosh and loved the part where you landed on the bluff in South Dakota near the Mo. River. Wondering though: How did you know that it was public land you were landing on? Can one land a plane on any land that's public? (Assuming it's safe terrain)
Trent, love your videos you should meet with Jones marcinkou u do the same type of flying there would be lot kitfox talk would be great video for your veavers. Tnx Mr mike.
So, next time you see a day with those puffy cumulus clouds, fly down to Minden and go up in a glider.. Looks like it would have been a great day for cross country soaring!
Another nice video Trent. I happened to notice at about the 6 and 8 minute mark what looked like the fabric flapping near the trailing edge of the right wing. Can't imaging the fabric is really that loose, maybe it's just a reflection through the window?? Anyway, great video. Jim
It’s the fabric, since the fuel tank is on the inboard portion there are no ribs for the fabric to attach to, so you are just seeing the drumming effect of a larger span of fabric in the propwash
very cool video man i love the drone follow shots man !!!! i bet it would be a really crazy feeling fpving while you fly, and fly around the plane with the race drone oh my lol i can only imagine the rush one would have !!!
Talking and flying is super difficult! I constantly have to re-take instructional videos when I film them for a flight simulator I produce tutorials for, because upon viewing I'll realize I am just not speaking intelligently at all. hahaha
Hey Trent, thinking in terms of laws of physics, I think landing with brakes applied may end up in a forward roll, depending on weight distribution of the different aircrafts? Correct me if I'm wrong, I'm a pilot in training.
Awesome discussion Trent! Can you do a video about the "public land" situation you guys have out west, be it BLM or whatever. As a pilot on the east coast, "back country" doesn't exist here like it does over there. It'd be great to hear the relationship aviators have with the managers of those public lands. Fly safe!
I'm in Phoenix AZ there's only a small number of BLM rangers for 100's of miles of land 99% of the time you never see one my guess is someone landing airplanes on BLM land probably never even talk to BLM ranger. I spent years riding dirt bikes in the desert then last 15 years I have been built Jeep take on all kinds of trails and still in all this time only seen a BLM ranger once by the highway sitting off side of the road. Move here get out of the snow and humidity you to can enjoy the open lands we have.
I love how you explain things. You'll be a very good instructor. I wish I know something about aviation:-(. Having said that, I do have a lots of plaisir watching you. I d o so even at work when no busy. Keep up.
Hey Trent I feel like it would be a cool video if you showed how you make these videos. Because notice you have a DJI osmo camera in the back of the plane and camera on the wing and sometimes a awesome drone shot. Just an idea. Love the videos
Thanks Trent. Do you guys always try to land into the wind? I'm only asking because you mentioned never using less than full flaps for landings, which, for the heavier aircraft I'm used to flying, it is standard practice to use less than full flaps during gusty or "medium" crosswind conditions. Just curious.
Depends on how heavy your tail is and how much back pressure you hold on the elevator. Neutral elevator on a light tailed cub and you’ll be up on your nose in a heartbeat
Nice Video. I fly a Kitfox 7 with Rotax 914 and have a set of wing and tail vortex generators, but with full flaps I can't get the tail on the ground in the round out. Did you modify your Kitfox to be able to touch tail first?
Hey Trent, great flying and thanks fro sharing your short field landing technique!! Is it me or do you have a bike grip on your stick? It's a really great idea and I might use that same hack for my stick as I always struggle to find a grip which suits me!! Thanks for the great video and content you always post out here!! :)
My biggest worry when I fly, is just uncoordinated turns, while going base-final.. just cause slow down in speed, always makes me worry I'm gonna putt it in a spin. How do you handle that problem in such a slow-light flying aircraft?
Stay coordinated!! Better to slip than skid. Also an unloaded wing can’t stall so I normally will bank with minimal back pressure and give up some altitude during that turn, basically I bank and let the nose fall through gently to avoid loading the wing
Watch one of the last videos from The Finer Points, Jason descended there a technique called falling leaf. Basically, he shows how to keep the plane under control even when it's stalled by using the rudder instead of the ailerons.
Hi Messy, I fly STOL and the way I stay safe is to stay fast while downwind and base, then only stabilise on the approach speed i want when on final. I'm currently flying an RV8 that I can get into a 300 metre strip by approaching with a super-stable 68 knot approach. I will have made a properly coordinated turn to final at 75 knots in order to have a margin of safety. If you're worried about your turn coordination, practice until you're good up high, and until that time turn base to final with less rudder than you need to get the ball centered. This will ensure you're slipping (which is safe) rather than skidding (over ruddering, which will prompt a spin if you get too slow) just like Trent said in his reply. Also, be wary of advice given that may not be specific to your aircraft type. Realulli's comment regarding the falling leaf is valid for some aircraft by may bite you in others.
Let Matt fly: I've never been air sick when I'm PIC. Only once or twice as passenger. And good to point out Backcountry Aviation. Cooper is looking at Bush flying and i know he likes that channel.
Getting rid of flaps and keeping the tail low helps, but then it’s moderating the brakes, I start with full brakes and let off as needed to keep the tail down
I see thanks Trent you got a good feel for it . Somebody else did a vid but he said he didn’t realize his tail was coming up till it was to late but he’s got it figured now .
Looks like that might be Dead Cow...? When did you guys fly? Been seeing thunderstorms on the Wx for up there this last week. Unfortunately I had to work, almost done for the day and heading out to practice in an hour.
Trent Palmer yeah, looked like the area from flying there in FSX. Planning on heading up there after next week to check out Dead Cow and Pyramid Lake. Unfortuneatly, I have to work next week 😑😣😥
JUST from reading a LOT of very experienced bush pilots: Brakes depend entirely on the particular plane... ie you dont want to use Trent's methond in the wrong plane
The ease at which you explain such complex aviation concepts in laymans terms to the nonpilot community where they can understand and in a succint manner makes you worthy of being a great instructor.
Simply my favorite UA-cam Channel. Excellent production quality, information, and entertainment. Beautiful scenery too. I'm a CFI and my opinion is that most consistently, pilots that make most accurate landings are the ones that can consistently fly stabilized approaches: airspeed (or AOA if equipped), configuration and procedures for the type of landing are spot on long before the wheels touch the ground. Great video.
Thanks man!!
Time to get the the white board out and discuss flying on the back side of the power curve...good stuff Trent!
Great video Trent, thanks for calling out Back Country Aviation, Patrick and the gang there really know their stuff. We were lucky to have him on our San Juan Island adventure last year and it was pretty amazing watching him fly a Carbon Cub. Keep up the awesome work! The stuff you are doing is super inspiring.
Trent, cool video, thanks for sharing! I really enjoy your content. Jason, didn't know you were on UA-cam. Subscribe button smashed!
BCA might not put out high volume content, but what’s there is high quality. Seems a balancing act with YT as a revenue model, but you can tell when one has two passions - they find their balance!
The Finer Points. Hey Jason I would wholeheartedly agree, I’ve taken some of those tips and started flying AOA and I’ve started to shave down my landings and I’ve got them back to about 800’ in a 182. Hoping to get into one of your summer flying seminars next year.
Trent, your videos are always clear - audio is excellent and the topic is well demonstrated. I enjoy watching you all fly.
Really appreciate how you helped us non-pilots understand what you were talking about. Cool stuff.
I'm finding in the Parallel 42 Kit Fox ( Fox2 ) is a tendency to nose over on the prop if landing isn't handled correctly. The main thing helping me now is full back stick, regardless of flap position. With that I can brake hard without a nose-over. 1800 rpm seemed to help also, by providing more air over the elevator, but the full back stick was the main fix.
You are a good pilot , i learnt from day one in a tail dragger. It was my Dads Cessna 170b. The 170 has no rudder authority at slower speeds . And on take off it veers violently to the left when full power is applied .
It can be difficult to handle , even for cub pilots , have lent the 170 to a bloke who owns a 185.
He said lovely plane , but even he had directional control difficulties on take off. The knack to mastering the 170 is to apply full right rudder a split second before it starts to swing to the left , and if its got 4 pob , the 2 passengers in the back move the C/G rearward , so with full rudder , you may still need to tap the right brake to keep it on centre.
If you are ever in New Zealand , put it out in advance , i live near to Ardmore Airfield , in Auckland.
Ardmore was built by the US air force in ww2. After the war you gave it to us at no charge.
I would be very happy to take you for a fly , there are a lot of strips all over NZ , North and South islands
I would not have a problem , with you flying any Cessna at all.
I have tail dragger rating of course , retractable rating, and c.s.u.
Am covered for all single engine Cessna , love 182 and 170. And we also had a couple of 150s.
You would go nuts if you did a 182 rating ,, i know they have the baby's wheel up front , but they have the 470 cubic inch 6 cly continental .
Its a big engine , so the front mount and nose gear are solid thick and strong.
With your skill , you could take a 182 with 2 pob and camping gear any place you have taken your kit fox
I am a lot older than you , my father had a 170 , 2 150s , and a Cessna 310.
The first plane was the 170 , i was 3 when he rebuilt that. He was an aircraft engineer and brought the 170 after it was written off.
When he brought an aircraft , he would rent it out , so thats how he came to own 4 aircraft.
Any way , for your age you speak as if you were a lot older , that is a compliment . your flying skill , attitude and actual ability is superb.
Cheers Trent.
Thanks Trent. Really enjoyed this video. I used to fly GA aircraft but these days confine myself to RC aircraft and my simulators. I need to get hold of an aircraft similar to yours to play with. You have so much fun in your type of flying.
Trent, I used that Herculiner on the bottom exterior of my Dodge Truck where the rocks would flip up and chip the paint. It lasted for close to 8 years that I owned the truck, and is probably still on there today. I realize that my use is not quite the same as on the business end of a tire but I am impressed with how durable Herculiner was when I used it. It has rubber chunks in it and the chunks may wear and come off with use. There are other very similar products that do not have the rubber chunks mixed in to consider also.
I'm a fan of the 3-point as well. Also, when needed, I'll grab a hand-full of flaps as I rotate...retracting as I pop off the ground, accelerate and climb out of ground effect.
Trent; I have around 3000 hours mainly bush planes on floats and on skies but enough wheels to understand them. My suggestion to you is the famous old side slip; be able to use either side and practice for hours until you are super comfortable in a full, controlled slip. You can straighten at the last moment; very slow and right on the line. Done it hundreds of times , some critical.in planes from a cub to a Bristol freighter to a goose.
Appreciate this breakdown. Also glad you walked through whats different between conventional nosewheel flying and the work you're doing out in the backcountry.
I like the forward facing camera that shows more dash and pedals. Keep the vids coming!
Love your stall warning sound! Good job explaining ground effect and 'round out'/flare. Just realized your flaps are hard to see from inside cockpit and those puffy cumulus clouds are indication of thermals too 'as pilots know' . Thermals = warm air = turbulence . Gliding is often very turbulent flying! Would love to see you do a gliding video! Enjoyed the video as always
Great video!
Thanks. Helps a lot to understand the physics.
Good stuff Trent. You have a GREAT playground and a plane that you can practice "almost" anywhere. Keep the vids coming! !! !!!
Thanks man! And yeah, we have quite a playground out here
he can land that thing in about 150 feet :P Thats two tractor trailor lengths. You can delete the "almost" :P
Great video Trent, thanks for sharing.
Damn glad I found your channel, Trent. Rock on.
Some great advice there, thanks Trent!...
Thanks Trent , i do love being your wing man , great videos , all the best mate .........
One more amazing video. Thanks for the clear explanations for those of us who don't fly.
I appreciate you telling us the commonly terminology. Im sure im in the minority but ive never flown anything but I love watching your videos and the community around aviation particular with bushplane pilot's. Many hobbies are made unapproachable by the people who are in them. Its the complete opposite here and thats why I hope to one day fly a bush plane.
Hey, Trent, I used bed liner stuff on my 35s, works GOOD!
I appreciate your explanations for those of us who are interested but non flyers, they are very helpful... I'll research your videos but... One thing I've heard comments on is that landing a 'Tail Dragger' can be tricky and if you're not careful you can nose over the prop on the ground, not a good thing. IF you haven't covered that, I'd be interested in a video on that. Thanks...
Go ride a bicycle down a hill and yank hard on the front brake. That's the lesson, lol.
Great info! I would like to know how you chose a landing area. I have wondered, how do you pick a landing field and how do you know what to look for and plan the landing in an unknown area.
for maximum braking you should not land with brakes on. Reason is, the highest force tires can provide is when they're not skidding. When you touch down the tires are stationary and the ground is moving, so they'll skid even without brakes. By letting them spin up to ground speed and then applying brakes you'll get more grip and possibly stop faster.
Awesome video. Happy I stumbled across your channel. Spent the past two days really going through and watching a lot of them. I love the friendliness and the camaraderie. GA out in Nevada looks like a lot of fun. Here in Florida we don't really get that scenery. Keep up the work Trent, great videos!
Thanks Chris! Welcome to the channel
Watching your video once in awhile feels amazing relaxed !!!
Have you thought of inside cutting a thick inner tube the right size and popping it over the tire and then a little tire vulcanizing... even X2 for thickness ??? Just a crazy idea I would do lol
Funny...at about 10min into the vid, I was thinking, "I'm going to ask a question about the tire coating and how it's holding up"...then 30 seconds later....lol. Guess my other one is, do you ever get concerned about windshear in those mountain areas/hillsides and flying very close to stall speed? Do you fly with your right hand on flaps on approach, and not throttle? Seems like having throttle control on the flap lever would be an interesting mod...lol.
“Lift” from ground effect is the compression of air “trapped” between the wing and the ground. Similar to an air puck. That’s why low wing aircraft have more float on landing than high wing.
Funny, things like this I know the proper terminology but then the camera comes on and it all goes out the window 🤣
It is more connected to the mitigation of the vortices that are forming off of the wing tips.
You might try carrying a Theory of flight encyclopedia with you in the cockpit so you could look the correct terms up as you land.
It feels kind of like that, but the air under your wings is not nearly constrained enough to be compressed. The ground interrupts the wingtip vortex, which normally causes induced drag and destroys some lift by spilling over onto the top of the wing at the tip. Winglets like you see on modern airliners exist to create a similar effect in all phases of flight. Because drag=fuel=$.
Mike Rhodes In ground effect induced drag is lessened by the function of the ground itself blocking the wingtip vortices. The wing is therefore more efficient at producing lift as the ratio of lift to induced drag has been reduced. Such a cool phenomenon!
Excellent, a lot of really applicable tips in this video. Some extra action on the flaperon handle will improve my short landings - I'll get working on it... Thanks Trent!
Another great video Trent,keep up the great work and above all keep flying,tyre coatings are like re-tread tyres they rarely last.
Interesting situation with the tires. To me, it would be impossible to essentially paint on anything that expands & contracts and travels along the ground like a tire. Plenty of severe forces. Interesting question to check out with a tire retreading expert regarding options available to you and your buddies?
Yeah, I’d love to talk to an expert. Most of this has been trial and error. The Flexane 80 is what I’m seeing the best results with, which is what I’ll likely try next
I have an experimental cub with Flexane 80 on 31's that is holding up very well. They were done by the previous owner before I bought the plane. Not sure about the hours before I bought it but have put over a 100 hrs on them.
Thanks for the tips. Currently I'm trying to get the money together to start Flight School. In the meantime I've been playing a lot of VR flight Sims. I actually became friends online with someone who's a flight instructor in real life. He's always been willing to give me some tips when I ask for them so I'm going to share this video and see what he has to say.👍
It was a little sporty that day. I saw you taxiing back in right before the downpour started. Great video as usual!
This is the information I'm here for.
I have a kitfox 4 with 100 hp rotax uls engine. My problem trying to land short is I have a spring gear instead of a factory gear. If you bounce then you float. My plane is clean and wants to fly fast. A lot of safe practice with pilot technigh to land short. If I land in 400 ft, thats short for me, at least for now. Also big tires increase torque, which makes braking less effective.
Really well done video Trent!
Good stuff Trent. I am getting there.....
Awesome video Trent. Any plans to make a video on the Kitfox's structural integrity? What kind of metal it's made of, design, etc? I'd also like to know more about fixed-speed props. Do you use them? Keep up the killer content, I'm glued bromigo.
Congrats 100K subscribers! Time for UA-cam to send you the 100K play button
I flew a Pilatus Porter for the US Army. Our short landing was called a PAPL, Powered Approach Precision Landing. I was not very good at it. Haha
Great info! Awesome editing!
dude what song were you using around 1:30? It's tasty!
Superb educational video Trent 👍 Thanks a lot for sharing your knowledge with us☺
Okay, this video raises a few questions for me. Note that I've almost always flown high wing airplanes, and tail-draggers much less often ... though not sure whether that matters. Anyway, my experience has been that takeoff requires more runway than landing, and usually significantly more runway. Which means... for me at least... what matters is the "short takeoff" part of the process. I mean, you don't want to land somewhere, then realize you don't have enough flat surface to take off from the location you just landed! Hahaha.
To me, this situation is very strange in a way. Why? Well, because a very short landing definitely requires a lot more effort and skill than takeoff. Yet the short takeoff is what makes or breaks any specific landing location, not the short landing. Essentially, a short takeoff involves applying full power and just waiting until the airplane is going fast enough to get off the ground without stalling immediately thereafter... but not much else. Maybe you want to apply some flaps at just the optimal speed to pop off the runway a bit shorter than otherwise, but... not much else.
For me, the short landing goes like the following. While I'm still a ways from the runway, I reduce power to idle, then pull the nose back a bit to reduce speed to a point slightly above stall speed. In the airplanes I was used to flying, this would create a not very loud stall warning sound. In this situation, the decent is quite steep, but the speed is quite slow. Generally I set up this situation so that this steep decent would make me land just a tad longer than my goal (which is for the tires touch down at the very first foot they can, which is usually a painted line on paved runways).
When I realize my trajectory will have me touch down a bit short, I tweak on a little power just for a second or three to push me a bit further, but keep the nose high to prevent speed from increasing. When I realize my trajectory is perfect, I just hold the trajectory as is and let the perfect short landing happen. When I realize my trajectory will have me touch down somewhat long, I "crab" for a while until my trajectory seems about right. When I say "crab", that means to push on the rudder pedals to yaw the nose to the right, while pushing the stick to the left to tip the left wing down. The former wants to make the airplane fly a bit further to the right while the later wants to make the airplane fly a bit further to the left. Together the result is... the airplane continues to fly down the axis of the runway. But the yaw causes the wind to smash against the side of the airplane which causes drag, which requires a steeper decent to keep the airspeed high enough to not risk a stall.
I practiced this a million times, which is how you get good at something, and also makes you understand how to tweak for loading, crosswinds and other variables that arise during flying and landing. However, this really isn't the answer to landing in tight locations as I love doing so much. The answer is takeoff, which at least in the airplanes I would fly, took more surface than my very short landings.
One thing I noticed while watching a takeoff by someone else near the start of a later video (one where Trent talks about how he got into flying in the first place) is a potential problem that I never had. It showed his friend taking off along a ridge-line of sorts. To my view, he got to a speed where I thought I would have pulled up the nose and launched myself into the sky... but he couldn't because obviously his tail-wheel would have impacted the ground. I'm not sure what would happen if he had done that, but my general feeling (with zero tail-wheel experience) was... that would be unwise. Hitting the tail-wheel on the ground could instantly change the attitude of the airplane and perhaps not in a good way. Anyway, this observation was a bit disturbing, because the implication was... the tri-cycle configuration that I always flew does not have this problem to worry about. You can pull up the nose at any time without any worry of smacking the tail-wheel against the ground. Perhaps some airplanes have a tail close enough to the ground that one might smack the tail against the ground in such a situation, but not on any airplane I ever flew. To be sure, that would be even worse than smacking a tail-wheel against the ground. Nonetheless, it was odd to see something that seems to give the tri-cycle gear an advantage for short take-offs!
How do other pilots answer these questions? Does everyone find take-offs require more surface than landings? Does my tail-wheel impact worry have any merit?
You really need to consider the type of flying he's doing and where he's landing. Like Trent was saying towards the end also, he's broken tail gear before and can at least keep the tail in the air, I'd wager you're going to have a much harder time in the other config. Anyway, that's my armchair view of the situation.
0:10 Perfect paragliding skies :)
I was thinking the same... =)
Love your videos...they are inspiring me to finish my training.
You mention flicking forward on the elevator after dumping flaps for a short landing...this seems counter-intuitive to me. Between that and being on the brakes, I would think you risk ending up nose down and burying the prop. Can you elaborate?
I just do it to spoil all lift and really stick it to the ground, it ensures I won’t float and miss my mark. Then it’s full back stick and feathering the brakes in as much as I can without going on the nose. Again, this is a very advanced technique.
@@TrentonPalmer Thanks for the explanation...So you're not holding forward stick, it's just a quick spoiler before back stick...
Correct 👍🏻
What's easier to short land and takeoff: a plane with taildragger or tripod landing gear?
I agree with your landing techniques but it's the approach that determines the point of touchdown. Granted you're subject to varying wind direction, gusts etc. which will always affect the touchdown point. To mitigate this you use a short field approach, which technically means you're carrying more power and are flying "behind the power curve" , at a steeper pitch angle and a steeper approach angle, aka flying dirty, aka adding parasite drag which allows you to clear obstacles such as trees much easier.... The advantage of doing this for landing is twofold, one is during your approach, coordinated pitch and throttle control will quickly allow correction if you're landing spot is moving short or long of the desired point of landing......secondly, when you flare you close off the throttle and you're almost instantly dropping several knots below the stall speed and touching down almost immediately where you can leave the flaps alone as they are still creating additional drag.
For additional authority in controlling your landing point you can concurrently use a "slip" by cross controlling your aileron and rudder (commonly used before the advent of flaps), this really increases the parasite drag and you can virtually drop like a rock while staying at your short field approach speed. Again this can be quickly applied and removed in varying degrees to maintain your landing point while still maintaining your desired course. The other great benefit in doing this will almost assure your ability to land safely on short final with an engine failure as pitching over to your normal approach speed & angle will significantly extend your glide rate....and ….as you aptly said, practice these techniques by using a comfortable altitude as your imaginary runway....and man, I do love your video's for the shear fun of flying you evoke, keep up the great work.
Really enjoyed this video...thank you
Nice video Trent (poor Matt) I think your ability to talk through your process while you're in the process is fantastic. I like the technique, Man I look forward to learning it myself (in due time with proper instruction of course)
My son and I are both pilots and are going to be doing some fly-in camping. Last night we were watching your video of your return trip from Oshkosh and loved the part where you landed on the bluff in South Dakota near the Mo. River. Wondering though: How did you know that it was public land you were landing on? Can one land a plane on any land that's public? (Assuming it's safe terrain)
Hi Trent. Avesome video again, thank you! Have you noticed that it looks that your left wing root fabric is little loose?
What is you plan called if I wanted to buy one how do I look it up
Trent, love your videos you should meet with Jones marcinkou u do the same type of flying there would be lot kitfox talk would be great video for your veavers. Tnx Mr mike.
So, next time you see a day with those puffy cumulus clouds, fly down to Minden and go up in a glider.. Looks like it would have been a great day for cross country soaring!
hey palmer my two best planes are your's and drako !! what you thank about that ????
Another nice video Trent. I happened to notice at about the 6 and 8 minute mark what looked like the fabric flapping near the trailing edge of the right wing. Can't imaging the fabric is really that loose, maybe it's just a reflection through the window?? Anyway, great video. Jim
It’s the fabric, since the fuel tank is on the inboard portion there are no ribs for the fabric to attach to, so you are just seeing the drumming effect of a larger span of fabric in the propwash
Dude I graduated flight school today!
Seb Mclaren congrats
Outstanding congratulations!
Seb Mclaren got you’re license?
GRATS My friend !! Go buy you an avid or kitfox NOW! (or a certified plane if you were born rich)
So what
very cool video man i love the drone follow shots man !!!! i bet it would be a really crazy feeling fpving while you fly, and fly around the plane with the race drone oh my lol i can only imagine the rush one would have !!!
Good stuff man.
Talking and flying is super difficult! I constantly have to re-take instructional videos when I film them for a flight simulator I produce tutorials for, because upon viewing I'll realize I am just not speaking intelligently at all. hahaha
For air sickness real sour hard candy when u take off tricks ur mind
Great video lots of good information for a none pilot like me enjoy following your adventures.
How is your runway coming along.
Hey Trent, thinking in terms of laws of physics, I think landing with brakes applied may end up in a forward roll, depending on weight distribution of the different aircrafts? Correct me if I'm wrong, I'm a pilot in training.
Awesome discussion Trent! Can you do a video about the "public land" situation you guys have out west, be it BLM or whatever. As a pilot on the east coast, "back country" doesn't exist here like it does over there. It'd be great to hear the relationship aviators have with the managers of those public lands. Fly safe!
Yes, I’ll definitely touch on that more
Nevada is close to 88% public land. Utah is 75%. Idaho is 70%. Pretty cool.
I'm in Phoenix AZ there's only a small number of BLM rangers for 100's of miles of land 99% of the time you never see one my guess is someone landing airplanes on BLM land probably never even talk to BLM ranger. I spent years riding dirt bikes in the desert then last 15 years I have been built Jeep take on all kinds of trails and still in all this time only seen a BLM ranger once by the highway sitting off side of the road. Move here get out of the snow and humidity you to can enjoy the open lands we have.
@@Mike-01234 Yes, leave the snow and forests for this dry inhospitable state. Hate life? Well, we've got dehydrated old folks.
Good pointers! Thanks a lot!
I love how you explain things. You'll be a very good instructor.
I wish I know something about aviation:-(. Having said that, I do have a lots of plaisir watching you. I d o so even at work when no busy. Keep up.
Trent what type of stall horn do you have installed? Love your videos by the way!
Ahhh, back in the air, thanks, good stuff...
Alaska knows what to recap with.
Only a matter of time until you upgrade to rotary wing aviation. A whole new world of flying is going to open up to you when you make that leap.
5:13 No lift at 0 angle of attack? Are you sure with that camber?
Hi Trent, Im running Herculiner, found anything better yet?
Hey Trent I feel like it would be a cool video if you showed how you make these videos. Because notice you have a DJI osmo camera in the back of the plane and camera on the wing and sometimes a awesome drone shot. Just an idea. Love the videos
I made a video about exactly that! Check my channel for “how to make flying videos”
Trent Palmer oh okay thanks I'll go watch it
Stupid question, what are using for audio capture? Camera audio or other?
you need to become a CFI!!!
Thanks Trent. Do you guys always try to land into the wind? I'm only asking because you mentioned never using less than full flaps for landings, which, for the heavier aircraft I'm used to flying, it is standard practice to use less than full flaps during gusty or "medium" crosswind conditions. Just curious.
Clean and score your wheels with pure alcohol and sandpaper then coat them in an elastimer two part epoxy. (The rubbery stuff)
With brakes on during the land short maneuver , how easy is it to plant the prop in the dirt with too much brake?
With those 29's he has, if he hits prop he's probably almost going end over...lol.
Depends on how heavy your tail is and how much back pressure you hold on the elevator. Neutral elevator on a light tailed cub and you’ll be up on your nose in a heartbeat
Nice Video. I fly a Kitfox 7 with Rotax 914 and have a set of wing and tail vortex generators, but with full flaps I can't get the tail on the ground in the round out. Did you modify your Kitfox to be able to touch tail first?
Hey Trent, great flying and thanks fro sharing your short field landing technique!! Is it me or do you have a bike grip on your stick? It's a really great idea and I might use that same hack for my stick as I always struggle to find a grip which suits me!! Thanks for the great video and content you always post out here!! :)
It is! A shorty BMX grip. I love it! Can’t stand the foam grips, remind me of a Walmart scooter 🤣
Put a bunch of flex seal on your tire and see if it works
My biggest worry when I fly, is just uncoordinated turns, while going base-final.. just cause slow down in speed, always makes me worry I'm gonna putt it in a spin. How do you handle that problem in such a slow-light flying aircraft?
Stay coordinated!! Better to slip than skid. Also an unloaded wing can’t stall so I normally will bank with minimal back pressure and give up some altitude during that turn, basically I bank and let the nose fall through gently to avoid loading the wing
Watch one of the last videos from The Finer Points, Jason descended there a technique called falling leaf. Basically, he shows how to keep the plane under control even when it's stalled by using the rudder instead of the ailerons.
Hi Messy, I fly STOL and the way I stay safe is to stay fast while downwind and base, then only stabilise on the approach speed i want when on final. I'm currently flying an RV8 that I can get into a 300 metre strip by approaching with a super-stable 68 knot approach. I will have made a properly coordinated turn to final at 75 knots in order to have a margin of safety. If you're worried about your turn coordination, practice until you're good up high, and until that time turn base to final with less rudder than you need to get the ball centered. This will ensure you're slipping (which is safe) rather than skidding (over ruddering, which will prompt a spin if you get too slow) just like Trent said in his reply.
Also, be wary of advice given that may not be specific to your aircraft type. Realulli's comment regarding the falling leaf is valid for some aircraft by may bite you in others.
BTW, best into clip on UA-cam!
did you say you rotate at 29kt?
Holy crap I cant imagine getting off the ground at that low speed. I'm used to rotating at IAS 60 kt in my 172P
Let Matt fly: I've never been air sick when I'm PIC. Only once or twice as passenger. And good to point out Backcountry Aviation. Cooper is looking at Bush flying and i know he likes that channel.
A 50 to 60 mile walk back to Reno when you're air sick....seems like an option to me. Lol!
I just enrolled in flight school left college and to go than after my ppl I plan on learning commercial
Cool!
Hi Trent. Are you even scared of nosing over forward if you land with full brakes?
Yeah, it’s definitely something to be concerned with!
Is that your stall speed indicator we hear every time on TO
how much do the new shock absorbers weigh?
I think the set is like 15lbs but don’t quote me on that. I have it in my Aircraft log somewhere
Full breaks what stops it from nosing over or breaking the prop ? Anyone thanks
Getting rid of flaps and keeping the tail low helps, but then it’s moderating the brakes, I start with full brakes and let off as needed to keep the tail down
I see thanks Trent you got a good feel for it . Somebody else did a vid but he said he didn’t realize his tail was coming up till it was to late but he’s got it figured now .
Looks like that might be Dead Cow...? When did you guys fly? Been seeing thunderstorms on the Wx for up there this last week. Unfortunately I had to work, almost done for the day and heading out to practice in an hour.
This was north of dead cow by about 10 or 15 miles
Trent Palmer yeah, looked like the area from flying there in FSX. Planning on heading up there after next week to check out Dead Cow and Pyramid Lake. Unfortuneatly, I have to work next week 😑😣😥
Are you going to Oshkosh?
Yep 👍🏻
Are you going to have a booth or anything
I require no barf bag 🤮 💼 to film 🎥 Awesome 👏🏻 Trent
JUST from reading a LOT of very experienced bush pilots:
Brakes depend entirely on the particular plane... ie you dont want to use Trent's methond in the wrong plane