Dead Stick Flying....From Take Off To Landing
 

Interesting concept this "Dead Stick Flying".


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

Maurice Kirk is very accomplished at that, although not deliberately. This video could be considered to project a very silly idea. It's not that clever to roll big rocks down a hill either!

I thought he was going to ground taxy all the way there. Good fun and good flying!

I was impressed at how that engine fired up at the end. Nice to know you have such a fall-back should you need it.
A pilot having a bit of fun, with an aircraft he knows well. Given the chance, I'd love to have a go at that.

One of my YouTube heros. I bet he worked up to the deadstick takeoff. Good skills there.

Why is it silly? Really no different to a hang glider launching from a hill top.

No laws or regulations broken.

A bit bold for me....but then I am an old buzzard now.

@Terry - what has this got to do with Maurice Kirk? Why bring him up??

He is highly skilled competent at doing them. I've done several thousand (in gliders!) and really haven't got the inclination to practice them without a "live engine". That increases the risk, unless you are very skilled, and if you are as skilled as the chap in the video why practice it! That said, Bob Hoover, like this chap, entertained people by doing it and became a legend! However I wouldn't want people renting my aeroplanes and doing it in a 172!

Nor I, they'd never do it again. Two reasons, one, they'd never ever get to fly my aircraft again, two, they'd probably never ever be able to sit down again as my size 10 steel toe cap would be firmly embedded where the sun doesn't shine.

That said I don't see a problem with anyone wanting to do it in their own aircraft. They know their aircraft and they know the risk.

Guys, this is Steve Henry - an extremely experienced bush pilot and product demo pilot (and Valdez STOL competitor since forever). The video is really famous - it was uploaded 6 years ago, indeed I'm surprised it's posted here and people haven't seen it before!

I'm also surprised that people are so negative about it. A supremely experienced pilot doing something relatively easy (for his skillset) in his own aircraft in a remote area.

I'd love to give it a go, the only problem being my:

Lack of experience
Lack of skillset
Lack or remote area

I do have my own plane though, so 1 out of 4 ain't bad... :-)

Actually, he has another video which is much more impressive:

Galleries ? Wild West Aircraft

The landings are great, but it's the taxiing (and 180 degree taxi turns) whilst keeping the tailwheel off the ground, on the side of a hill that I find amazing.

A skill I will never, ever, have the balls (or wallet!) to learn.

Still, nice to dream about...

Neat. Less scary than you might think - it's pretty much what you do when bungee launching a glider.

All the bungee does is give you an initial push. After that, you're relying on the ground falling away faster than the glide angle of the aircraft. And preferably there being enough of a breeze to be able to climb back up in ridge lift. Or it's down to a field like in the video.

Paul

Why is it silly? Really no different to a hang glider launching from a hill top.

As a paraglider pilot, as well as jet & SEP pilot, I don't get it. I also have no idea how he arrived at takeoff. I have no idea why anyone would want to do it. The take off is gravity, no big deal. A hang-glider or paraglider takeoff is much more than that. A sailplane is easier. What the video purports to show skill in is the landing. So why not do a normal takeoff with engine, fly over this take off and switch it off. The dead-stick take off is not so smart. The reward/risk factor is......????

I am at a loss to know why a deadstick takeoff is "not so smart? What is the risk? That the hill isn't steep enough and you trundle to the bottom below flying speed? I'd be amazed if he hadn't done a great many such hillside departures and realised how little the engine was needed - and knew from trial that it would work. That rock though...
Gravity can't fail, what's the problem? Isn't this almost the same as saying it isn't very smart to get airborne in a glider?
What is the "risk factor"? No more risk than using a 30' downslope with an engine - indeed arguably less as there is no fire risk and no distraction should the engine misbehave.
The reward? Obvious, surely? Because you can.

Well I hadn't seen it before and it answered some of my questions about engine failure in the mountains. The Cessna would glide as well as that, right?

I suspect he was able to land up there.

I really do not know how to answer that, Terry...

How about something along the lines of 'how do you think he got that skilled? Maybe he practices...'

Not the first time it's been discussed on PPRuNe: http://www.pprune.org/private-flying...k-takeoff.html and also here: http://www.pprune.org/private-flying...ed-please.html

It's also made some guest appearances in other threads e.g. the Ullswater lake skimming thread.

It polarised opinion then, too.

SD

'scuse me! How "skilled" do you need to be to roll down a hill for heaven's sake?

It's just a petrol-free way of achieving flying speed - what is so hard about a soap box derby?

It isn't a demonstration of superior skill just because it is unconventional. D'uh'oh!

Really!