Ullswater Lake Maule pilot not guilty

[thing]

On a wider front I think that one of the problems with everyday life these days is that everything is on film if it's in a public place. No matter what you do you can bet your life that someone will have it on YT within the hour if it's at all interesting. Or interesting to them. Imagine 50 years ago flying through or under every one of London's bridges. Unless someone was there completely by chance with a camera then that event would have been seen, that's all, just seen by the particular people who were looking in that direction.

Al Pollock ripped a Hunter through London Bridge on April 1st 1968. Not one photo, not one 'whoosh' of a sound recording. If that happened today it would have been photographed/videoed from a squillion different angles, probably in slo mo and infra red just to widen your choice.

[9 lives]

The obvious "visibilty" for this type of hot dogging is the tipping point for me. It is possible that this dare devil was awesomely prepared, and hugely experienced with this type of flying, viewers have no way of knowing. So the context is poor, and copycat wannabe's may be tempted into copying what they see with no understanding of what great knowledge, experience and precautions may have been applied.

The result could, and many timeshas been needless risk and destruction, which just makes our pastime look bad to the public, and costs us more in the long run...

[Crash one]

Step turn, I don't go for that, "not in front of the children" attitude. What about air shows? You don't see scores of pilots killing themselves after watching low level aeros.

[9 lives]

You don't see scores of pilots killing themselves after watching low level aeros.

Not scores, but a few. A friend killed himself doing what he had seen me do dozens of times - just with less skill. I should have never been doing it at all, but much less in sight of anyone. After helping to lift my dead friend out of the wreck, I never did that, nor a number of other pointless, risky things I used to do, again...

Perhaps with low level aeros, the wannabe pilot has a real sense of real danger - and avoids. Other goofing around maybe does not present the reality of the associated danger so clearly.

Like speeding around a blind curve, one day it's going to get you - do you feel lucky today! Pilots with a true mentoring spirit, should not, in my opinion, seem to condone such things...

It's okay to waterski a land plane, I wanna come = It's okay to speed around the blind corner, I wanna come - the way I see it. Neither presents a favourable mentoring spirit here....

If a pilot gets caught scud running, they'll take flak here - "fly within your limits, and the legal minimums". How [why] is waterskiing any different to that, in the way we mentor it here?

[Above The Clouds]

So has this naughty person been caught yet

[Dan_Brown]

step

Good post indeed.

Yes, we are all probably guilty of such misdemeanors until we wake up or grow up. There is nothing to be gained from this pointless behavior, only added risk. Experience teaches us this, some of us a least. It's all be done before by someone, so why do it? My advice is don't.

Airshow flying, is carried out by approved professionals and the last thing I would want to do, is screw up in front of a lot of people. I'm not that good to even consider it. Stick to the rules as they are your guardian angel.

Test flying, is carried out by highly qualified pilots, with the technical knowledge to allow them to look for trouble. This can only be done with any degree of safety after hours of planning etc.

"aviation is a highly developed science. Don't pioneer"

[Pilot DAR]

Test flying, is carried out by highly qualified pilots, with the technical knowledge to allow them to look for trouble. This can only be done with any degree of safety after hours of planning etc.

And the very last thing a test pilot is going to do is horse around in an aircraft, incurring lots of risk for nothing more than showing off or a bit of excitement. It's a VERY career limiting attitude toward safety and professionalism!

Every test flight I do has a "risk/benefit analysis" portion of the flight test plan. Waterskiing a wheel plane would not even come close. When the analysis comes up with "high risk" and no reward - there will be no test flight of that.

Interestingly, I was speaking with a former US Army test pilot not too long ago. He described to me formal testing of several taildragger types on snowskis, waterskiing on water as a part of an evaluation. They did not continue this evaluation, for the poor risk to benefit. Hint there!

[Pace]

Step Turn

I posted that I did not approve of what he has done but I do admire certain people who push the boundaries in themselves!
Everest was first climbed with limited equipment by someone who pushed his own boundaries.
We see crazy people who will climb cliffs with no ropes. The stunt man who threw his parachute out of an aircraft then dived out caught up with it and then put it on and pulled the rip chord. Even in the pioneering days of aviation test pilots stepped into the unknown and untested, the high parachute jump, breaking the sound barrier etc
Pilots like Chuck Yeager or the pioneering astronauts who had to push the limits into the unknown.

There is a saying " If you never push the boundaries you will never find what lies beyond " That goes for any pioneering whether its medicine or personal endeavour.

Sadly some who push those boundaries end up in the grave yard but somehow you have to admire their bravado, their colour their human spirit which can achieve so much.

We now live in a grey society and over regulated society where everyone knows everything about anyone. i marvelled at my I phone 6 which could read my fingerprint meaning I did not have to enter a code to access my phone until someone pointed out that now Apple have my digital fingerprint in their data bank somewhere.

As I said I don't approve of what this guy did but in someways its two fingers to the grey big brother world we have created and maybe a tiny rebellious side in me admires that

We all have to answer and pay for our actions and no doubt the CAA and FAA will be asking him to explain himself and probably pay in a court of law. I will add that we do not know whether he was an an inexperienced idiot who got away with it or someone experienced in the art of water skimming! I am not talking about this particular event but about the spirit in some people which makes them do this! channelled in the right way they can achieve a lot

[Crash one]

If it wasn't for people prepared to take the leap into the unknowns we wouldn't be flying today, as for the blind bend, we would stil be doing that looking up the ass of an ox.
Step Turn.
You mentioned flying along a beach at 50 ft to attract attention to kids drowning.
Just suppose you tried that along Brighton beach UK. One, the public would crucify you, two, they would be too busy looking through cameras to see the kids, three, you would be blamed for them drowning by diverting the attention of their, probably pissed, parents. You were very lucky.

[englishal]

Okay I take your point but sometimes we need a bit of colour in aviation instead of this over regulated disapproving society we have now.

Colour is the that YouTube guy who lands high Highlander on top of mountains, does dead stick take offs, lands on river beaches etc. and I love watching his vids...But that is all within the aeroplanes (and pilots') capabilities.

Landing a land plane on water for fun is plain dumb if you ask me for many reasons. If you want to land on water, do a sea plane rating. It is bags of fun - probably some of the most fun flying I have ever done - and it is done safely.

[Pace]

Englishal

Do you have a link to that dead stick landing as cannot find it on u tube.

I didn't say I approved of what he did only that I admired the spirit and added that if that spirit was channelled in the right way he could achieve a lot!

We have to answer and pay for our actions and I am sure he (I presume its a HE)
Will be answering to the CAA and FAA as it will have cost a lot with search parties etc. He will also no doubt end up in court, but i think you are missing my point or I am not clear in making it

in My 20s I came from a car racing background and we did some incredibly crazy stuff. Looking back over 30 years of flying there are plenty of (legal) nasty experiences where I was very lucky some of my friends (7) were not so lucky and were killed in aviation accidents!!

Pace

[India Four Two]

Quote:
If you have any more questions of that nature, please ask someone else.

N-Jacko,
I know Step Turn and I can assure you that his questions were purely rhetorical. Of all the pilots I know, he is the least likely to have neglected to read and understand the manual of any aircraft he has flown.

[Flyingmac]

I get the impression he could quote 'The Manual' from memory.

[9 lives]

I get the impression he could quote 'The Manual' from memory

See new thread.....

[coldair]

Pace,


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeQP-H_31JQ


coldair

Edit, another one with his wife,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhIKZl3mtlI

He seems to know his plane pretty well, so pehhaps not too crazy, just having fun. He has quite a few other vids on the above site.

[Pace]

Coldair

One crazy guy that outcrop of rocks was very close to his takeoff point and with 35 degrees I hope he did some accurate calculations and not just a wing and a prayer roll ( again don't approve of it but still crazy

Pace

[India Four Two]

Pace,

I think the calculation went along the lines of "The slope gets steeper, so eventually she'll fly."

You should watch the other videos by this guy. Very impressive.

[coldair]

Back on topic,

the same pilot.

A little bit of water skiing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fKcjf0qz9Y


This guy knows how to fly and handle his aeroplane.

I'll never be up to his level of competence but I admire him for his skill and knowledge & handling of his aircraft.


Would I like to fly with him ? Certainly, any time but I'm too much of a coward to water ski of land on little hills :-)

I'd take my hat off to him if I had one !

Perhaps the Ullswater pilot was as equally skilled and wanted a bit of fun.


coldair

[India Four Two]

This guy knows how to fly and handle his aeroplane.

Yes, it's Steve Henry, the same pilot who did the dead-stick takeoff video.

[piperboy84]

Perhaps the Ullswater pilot was as equally skilled and wanted a bit of fun

Or even more skilled, the US waterskiing vid looks like a few feet of water at most, The Ullswater guy was "all in" when it comes to depths and temps.