airplane short takeoff/landing records

[Jon]

I remember watching Alaskan videos of Short Takeoff and Landing (STOL) when I was doing my private pilot training. Hey, I thought, that'll be me real soon. My instructor had a good chuckle at that one.

STOL is, by no surprise, a great tradition among Alaskan bush pilots. First of all, Alaska has six times as many pilots per capita as the US average. Second, the terrain provides many opportunities for skilled pilots to land and take off in limited but remote and beautiful locations. Finally, it offers something highly valued among all pilots: bragging rights.

Here's a 2016 highlights video from a famous yearly air show in Valdez, Alaska that hosts a legendary STOL contest. Go straight to 1:40 if you want to see the winner of the experimental bush plane class.

[Toolmaker51]

Certainly the outsize tires add weight, but leverage at the same time. Trick seems to be 'pop a wheelie' except rear wheels first! At first frames before TO figured large diameter tires were to increase incidence and of course for unimproved runways. Then the tail-dragger bounced off tail wheel. Big surprise. Cold weather, high latitudes, and a little nerve don't alter physics.

[PJs]

Most impressive Jon, didn't know about the STOL show up there but been away from good pilot stuff since Dad passed...may be on my bucket list now. Miss it too.

[Jon]

[Frank S]

touch down to wheel stop in less than the length of the plane. Impressive

[PJs]

That's what I would call Stickin' a landing!

Since this has come around again I'll share the best STOL I ever saw. It's an excerpt from a letter I wrote to the Thunderbirds after Dad's passing in 07'. Our family has a long history with the Thunderbirds back to 58' in Germany...

"In 65’ Dad went to Viet Nam to fly 123’s over there. He never talked much about it but know he got 14
oak leafs and did a bunch of short take off and landing stuff. When he came home in 66’ I kept asking
him how the flying was over there and all he would say was 15-18hr days and a couple of stories about
banana leaves in the landing gear. The year he got back he was ask to fly a simulated assault at the
memorial day show at Hamilton. That was the day I got to see how my dad the PILOT could really fly.

He took that 40,000lb butterfly, tipped the nose up till the cargo door was level and 6’ off the runway then
squatted her in about 300 yards. The crew rolled out 10,000lbs of fuel in about a minute and a half and as
the last pallet came off dad was cranking her around and pouring on the coal. The cargo door just closed
as the nose wheel came off the ground and the same tail level thing on take off. The crowd groaned with
amazement and I remember the people next to us saying something about Who is that Pilot?…I said,
pretty loud…That’s MY Dad! Mom grinned and a bunch of people smiled and clapped. Even my little
brother cracked up. One of my most Proud and cherished memories…I knew then what Dad did in Nam,
only on bad runways and bad weather with people shooting at him."

I wrote the letter while I was making Dad's memorial video and mentioned in the letter my wife and I would be at the Mather show shortly after because I needed to see them once again and some "Precisionist" flying again. After the show I got to meet with them again and when I walked up to the commander and stuck out my hand and said, Hi I'm Patrick...he took my handshake looked me in the eye and all he said was, did you like our missing man! I had created a missing man from pics on their website for his video ending. Obviously lost it for a minute then he introduced me to the rest of the crew...kind of blur now but they signed my hat and saw my F100 pin given to me 50 years ago, by one of the first Thunderbird commanders in Germany at the O'club the night of their show. Why I got the pin is a whole other story.

Here is the picture of my hat with my F100 pin, the signatures of the crew and a 07' "Ambassador's in Blue" medallion from the show. It hangs on a hook in our bedroom next to the Wright Flyer model (which actually flies) I built many years ago.



Thanks Jon!

PJ

[Paul Jones]

PJs,

Great story about your dad and thank you for sharing with us.

Paul

[PJs]

PJs,

Great story about your dad and thank you for sharing with us.

Paul

Thank you Paul,

I sometimes think it's good to share those stories in honor of unsung people for how they lived and how they impact our lives so others may perhaps find a light.

PJ

[Jon]

[PJs]

That's one way to gain airspeed! Yeesh!...package check, hold on tight boys!