Extreme STOL, Alaska style

they say it's a new record imagine landing in just 10 feet 5 inches according to officials in Alaska one pilot did just that AOPA is Mike Collins has the story from Valdez Alaska you've seen the videos on YouTube Tundra tired tail draggers landing like helicopters on the Arctic tundra but in Valdez it's serious business we got started as a economic development idea now in its 14th year the Valdez flying and air show is a big draw but the main event is its legendary stole competition the contest has evolved a little bit but how we do it now is you score a takeoff and landing pair you are scored when the main wheels leave the ground the distance there and then you're you have to be on the line or beyond with the with the main wheels on landing and then how much it takes you to get stop and pilots from all over make the trek to show off machine skills taking off can be about horsepower and landing is about pilot technique one pilot shows that he has both that's Frank Knapp flying his one-of-a-kind little cub yeah the fuselage itself started out in 1939 j-3 we rebuilt everything around it and eventually including the fuselage pretty much the modified airplane weighs 800 pounds and is powered by 180 horse Oh 320 it's just kind of the culmination of all those things that overflying years you wanted to try and this is given us a platform to be able to try it and clearly it worked 10 feet 5 inches Knapp won the competition and set a new record with his ten-foot five-inch landing the 14-foot seven-inch take-off was pretty impressive to fly in president Jo prax said the conditions and Valdez are perfect for that kind of flying the Stoll contest works so well here because we have steady sea breeze we're obviously at sea level and as you may have noticed it was a little cooler than other places count on those cool and breezy conditions to fuel a red-hot competition in Valdez Alaska Mike Collins hey Leila thanks Mike you can see more photos from the Valdez stole competition on our website have you been I have not I've seen the video you've been I've been Wow one place I've been that you haven't but it is a president in real life as it isn't it is an amazing event I would recommend it to anybody it's just unlike anything I've ever been at and it's just so much fun it was just a couple of days of hundreds and hundreds of taildraggers that does sound like fun it is an amazing fine [Music]

Channel: AOPALive

Views: 1,904,005

Rating: 4.8828778 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: Y7Jwde4EAVw

Length: 2min 52sec (172 seconds)

Published: Fri May 19 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/VRMaddy]

Give me a quarter to land on and I'll land on a dime.