Playing with HDR Images

Playing with High Dynamic Range photo processing. I think I may be addicted.

Gravelly Valley at Sunset

JC Ready to T/O

Strip Hunting

Good friend of mine has a family ranch outside Hollister. We’ve been wanting to fly over and land there. Work took me over to San Jose recently, so I detoured on the way home to check out a landing site. Got some video.

Out and About

A fellow Rans builder flew his S6 ES II for the 1st time last weekend.  I was lucky to be on hand and take some pics.

On the way home, I mad a stop on a little hilltop in the foothills.  I love the ability to just put the plane down in random places.  It is a testament to the inherent safety of such a plane should it be an emergency, and not just goofing off.

AvWeb Pic of the Week!

I had sent this pic in a while back at the suggestion of a friend.  Thought it was most likely on the cutting room floor, then this…..

http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/potw/PictureOfTheWeek_203786-1.html 3rd one down….

 

Buzzin’ Dad

Little fun on the way to dads…..

BCP 2010 Fly-In Complilation

Did some very lazy editing, threw in most of my pics, and made a video.  Actual flying vid is around 4 min in.  Its long…sorry!

Some Video from Idaho

Have not edited at all yet, so for the tail cam ones, you’ll need to hit play, then pause and let the video load completely, then you can jump around.  Unfortunately with the tail cam (right now) I have to turn it on when I get in the plane, then turn it off after I land.  Sucks.

Johnson Creek, Day 3 and 4

Well, day 3  at Johnson Creek was a bit of a bust for flying.  My wingman Joey had an issue with his throttle cable, so he jumped in my plane, and we headed into “town” – McCall to get a part.  Ended up on the ground a good part of the day, waiting for a new cable to be made.  Got breakfast at The Pancake House (great place) and then watched the weather deteriorate rapidly.  By the time we got his cable, it was raining pretty good and pretty dark.  We waited about an hour and a half, until we saw a super cub come in, and the rain was localized to McCall, and the mountains were high overcast, so blasted off for JC, and made it back without issue.  It was a wet afternoon, hanging out under wings, swapping stories.

Day 4 – couldn’t have been more different.  Don’t know how to describe it other than “epic”.  Probably one of, if not the best flying experiences of my life.  After waking early to a cloudless, cool sky, we all kind of stood around as it seemed as though every where was fogged in except Johnson Creek.  After the sun had crested and warmed a bit, Steve in his Just Highlander (the famous Deadstick Take-Off Guy from youtube), Ty Ferkin also in a Rans S-7S, Joey and I launched for the Soldier Bar, with the intent to work our way back up Big Creek.  Steve and Tye made a quick landing and take-off at Simonds on the way.

It was really cool to fly with Steve.  Couldn’t find a nicer guy, and what he can do with his plane is nothing short of astonishing.  It was great to be able to have him as a guide.

We hit Soldier Bar, then back up river to Cabin Creek.  Steve landed the “wrong way” on both.  We then headed to Vines before heading back to Mile Hi to play around a bit.  Steve lands across the top, spins around, then takes off, off the back side of Mile Hi.  The rest of us were just happy to each shoot several landings at such a famous – and beautiful – spot.  I love Mile Hi.  Not because its hard to land (it’s actually really pretty straight forward), but because it’s just so picturesque.

We launched out of Mile Hi for Dewey Moore.  The approach to Dewey is really cool, as you just get down low in the canyon, and just fly up river.  You don’t see the strip until you are about 8-10 seconds from landing.  Its a pretty long strip (700ft I think) and the uphill grade slows you down quick – and gets you back in the air quick.

It was starting to warm up, so we departed Dewey for the trip back to Johnson Creek.

Today, I feel really thankful and lucky.  Thankful to be able to pursue my passion of aviation, in such a breathtaking place, and lucky to have gotten to meet – and fly – with people like Steve, Tye and Joey.  It was just an amazing day of flying.

Potluck with the whole Backcountrypilot.org group tonight, then headed for home at first light tomorrow.

An amazing finish to an amazing trip.

Here are some pictures on my picasa album site.

We got some great video I will post later.  Few pics below.

E

Johnson Creek Flying, Day 2

Day 2 of flying – had about 3 min of rain last night.  I wonder how many were sitting in their tents wondering if they were going to have to run out and police some gear.  I was.  But, it didn’t last.

Overcast most of the day, which kept the temps and morning glare down.

RobBurson, Avidflyer (Joey) and I headed over to land Vines and to check out Mile Hi for the first time.  Ended up going straight to Mile Hi as it was “on the way”.

Mile Hi is actually about 1.1 miles hi.  It is literally the side of a mountain top at 5800ft, about 500ft long, and sloped up about 20 deg.  From up in the air, it looks like, well…a postage stamp.  It is generally considered on of, if not the, toughest published strips in the Idaho backcountry.  But for planes like mine or supercubs (or a 235 hp Maule Orion!), and an understanding of the approach and transition, it was really straight forward.

Couple passes, then we all landed without trouble.  For those who have not landed it, the key (form me, it may not work for everyone) is to establish a pretty low approach over the trees/ridge coming in, to reduce you angle to the “runway”.  Then, you just transition into a climb to parallel the runway with a little power.  Actually one of the better landings I made the whole day!  It takes about 2 seconds from touchdown, until your pouring on the power to make it to the top.

We got out and reveled in our achievement ( 😳 ) and Coyoteugly (Joe Dory, form Austin, NV – the guy who lands his SC on top of an 11K foot mountain) came in.  Man, talk about a greaser.  He’s done this before…  And a super nice guy.  What a beautiful spot.

Had a nice visit on the hill, then Rob headed to Mackey Bar for Breakfast, we went back to JC for bacon and eggs, then blasted off to hit Indian Creek and Lower Loon, then back.

Weather’s holding!

Another great day.  Now its time for warm beer.

Here are some pics

Johnson Creek, Day 1

Great 1st day.  We departed Jackson Westover at 5:20 am, as soon as there was enough light.  Our first leg took us over the Sierras North of Tahoe at Emigrant Gap.  After Sierraville, we headed for Denio Jct., NV

Denio has 3 dirt runways.  When I say dirt, I mean….dirt.  Lots of very fine, silty dirt.  As we landed and began our taxi to the end of the pretty long runway, my large tires were throwing silt about 2 ft. on each side in a large spray.

You can taxi right up to the gas pump at the store/restaurant.  Cars pull in and think you must have run out of gas and landed on the highway.

We filled up and continued North towards Idaho.  Up before Rome, NV, I was out in front a ways, so I decided to drop down and check out a dry lake bed called Coyote Lake.  Didn’t see any coyotes, but I did come across two herds (?) of wild horses, galloping across the desert.  Never seen that before – uploading a little video of it I’ll post.

Made it to Cascade by about 11:30am, where we topped off our tanks before heading into Johnson Creek.

About 6.8 hrs or so flight time.  We averaged about 88mph – about the speed Joey’s avid makes with a 5 kt tailwind.  At that speed, my power was pulled way back and I only burned about 3.8 gallons/hr or less.  I burned about 25 gal of fuel – just more than one full tank on my SUV!

Here is a link to pics as well as some pics below

Picasa Web Album