Through The Jungle, Above The Treetops, Bush Flying in Suriname

robofos said:
I sat in on a corporate HR meeting today when everyone scoffed at the mention of bush flying + landing on a dirt strip. Its nice seeing that a good flying job doesn't have to mean flying an Airbus. Thanks for sharing!
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Landing at no airstrip can be seat cushion sucking at times especially if you're not used to it. But "bush flying" at simply non-paved runways... LOL! We take King airs into most of the published airports we have in Alaska. It's almost no different than pavement.
Actually with my airplane, the pavement eats the crap out of the tires, so I try to avoid it.
 
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z987k said:
We take King airs into most of the published airports we have in Alaska. It's almost no different than pavement.
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Well it is not like that here, sometimes strips get so muddy and slippery that the only way to stop in an aircraft without reverse (like the 206) is full power, yoke back and full left rudder to make a 180deg turn. It would be nice to have paved runways but there is no practical way to bring the cement.

No King Air would survive a single trip here, 90% of our flights are into 1200-1500 feet airstrips, with ISA +15 and 100% humidity. The shortest airstrip the C208B goes on a daily base is 1150 feet, full flaps takeoffs and POB 14 out of there.
 
swisspilot said:
Well it is not like that here, sometimes strips get so muddy and slippery that the only way to stop in an aircraft without reverse (like the 206) is full power, yoke back and full left rudder to make a 180deg turn. It would be nice to have paved runways but there is no practical way to bring the cement.

No King Air would survive a single trip here, 90% of our flights are into 1200-1500 feet airstrips, with ISA +15 and 100% humidity. The shortest airstrip the C208B goes on a daily base is 1150 feet, full flaps takeoffs and POB 14 out of there.
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What is POB?
 
swisspilot said:
Well it is not like that here, sometimes strips get so muddy and slippery that the only way to stop in an aircraft without reverse (like the 206) is full power, yoke back and full left rudder to make a 180deg turn. It would be nice to have paved runways but there is no practical way to bring the cement.

No King Air would survive a single trip here, 90% of our flights are into 1200-1500 feet airstrips, with ISA +15 and 100% humidity. The shortest airstrip the C208B goes on a daily base is 1150 feet, full flaps takeoffs and POB 14 out of there.
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Ya, they actually put gravel on almost all of out unpaved airports, then for 5 months a year it's hard pack snow or ice, which is very firm, although reverse might be very required. If it's mud/sand/etc it's probably not a public airport or considered off airport. But for people to be scared of unpaved runways is unfounded. Each airport has to be evaluated individually.

This is a really nice sandbar that is the opposite to what you're taking about. Once the tail is down it takes almost full power to taxi. And brakes are not even remotely required.

 
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Awesome video and flying Alex! That type of remote community aviation outreach must be one of the most rewarding flying that a true aviator may ever hope to accomplish . . . I tip my hat off to you, senor.
 
I'm not even joking, how does one even get to the point where they don't think flying into and out of gravel, going into villages, flying a mix of VFR and IFR, and being around mountains doesn't sound fun? Did I mention you're home nearly every freaking night doing that kind of work? It's dynamic, challenging, and hands on. I miss that stuff every day!

10419562_10203780421206545_7946557298781485400_n.jpg


The above picture (which itself was a fairly boring trip), to me, is more exciting than this:

600x40511.jpg


Neither of which remotely compare to flying floats, or doing off airport work.

@swisspilot - keep em' coming dude, I hadn't seen this video until today and it made me smile. Let's watch some more videos of pilot bad-assery.

PNG?


Obligatory Sail video


Bethel Flying [HASHTAG]#sledthuglife[/HASHTAG]




Mag Air out in Takotna (BA is a really cool guy, I think he just sold his business)



I'll come up with some more.
 
ppragman said:
I'm not even joking, how does one even get to the point where they don't think flying into and out of gravel, going into villages, flying a mix of VFR and IFR, and being around mountains doesn't sound fun? Did I mention you're home nearly every freaking night doing that kind of work? It's dynamic, challenging, and hands on. I miss that stuff every day!

10419562_10203780421206545_7946557298781485400_n.jpg


The above picture (which itself was a fairly boring trip), to me, is more exciting than this:

600x40511.jpg


Neither of which remotely compare to flying floats, or doing off airport work.

@swisspilot - keep em' coming dude, I hadn't seen this video until today and it made me smile. Let's watch some more videos of pilot bad-assery.

PNG?


Obligatory Sail video


Bethel Flying [HASHTAG]#sledthuglife[/HASHTAG]




Mag Air out in Takotna (BA is a really cool guy, I think he just sold his business)



I'll come up with some more.
Click to expand...

I don't know, I fly a Metroliner single pilot occasionally? :)

To me, big airplane flying doesn't look boring to me. The Brasilia isn't all that automated(slightly behind a CRJ/ERJ, maybe maybe not?), but you are actually still flying it, but with the automation, if you chose to. Anyone that thinks or says otherwise is an idiot, frankly...

Flying the Metro into St. Lucia though is "OMG, I THINK I ALMOST DIED!" compared to the Brasilia. For a JOB, I'll take the latter. If I owned this stupid thing(the Metro), I'd just be happy getting there in 2 hours vs many more. My most humble opinion of course. Effective flight control surfaces, system redundancies, and another crew member make a HUGE difference in how much hair is going to continue to fall out of my head/facial sagging will happen. Being that I'm still single, I'd like to come across as 25 for as long as possible. :)

Frankly, I'd rather blow torch my nipples off than fly something smaller than what I'm flying now for a JOB. The idea of going back to piston singles/multis or small(er) turbines makes me want to puke. YMMV :) @z987k will disagree, but I think I'd rather keep what I have for 5k less than fly a beech product. EVER. AGAIN. For fun, you're god damn right it'll be something ridiculous. That'll only be if I think hot dogging around during my off time doesn't put a lucrative job at risk. For what it's worth, I get just as much satisfaction out of auto-cross/track days as I do flying and the previous doesn't put my certificates at risk at all
 
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ppragman said:
I'm not even joking, how does one even get to the point where they don't think flying into and out of gravel, going into villages, flying a mix of VFR and IFR, and being around mountains doesn't sound fun? Did I mention you're home nearly every freaking night doing that kind of work? It's dynamic, challenging, and hands on. I miss that stuff every day!

10419562_10203780421206545_7946557298781485400_n.jpg


The above picture (which itself was a fairly boring trip), to me, is more exciting than this:

600x40511.jpg


Neither of which remotely compare to flying floats, or doing off airport work.

@swisspilot - keep em' coming dude, I hadn't seen this video until today and it made me smile. Let's watch some more videos of pilot bad-assery.

PNG?


Obligatory Sail video


Bethel Flying [HASHTAG]#sledthuglife[/HASHTAG]




Mag Air out in Takotna (BA is a really cool guy, I think he just sold his business)



I'll come up with some more.
Click to expand...

There is enough money in the world to get me to fly a sled out of bethel. Barely enough money in the world.
 
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