Star Wars Canyon (December 2018)

Various planes at Rainbow Canyon during December.

[@jamesmartin9401]

Maybe I was tired but for a second it looked like that second Hercules at 2:00 was going to CFIT that wall. I think the shadow from the one in front confused my eyes.

[@dododede875]

It's because that front one's shadow made look like second one was so close to the valley.

[@Power5]

Don't think those were spookies :) And extreme focal length lenses will mess with your depth perception for sure.

[@TheDustysix]

Fixed wing A/C that are trying to kill low flying helicopters , or C-130's, use this method. Make multiple high speed passes to drive the helicopters to low altitude. They are then very hard to see, and of course quite impossible to maneuver against. Drive them low, then bomb their shadows with MK 82 GP Bombs. The Mk 82 is a 300lb. internally grooved and serrated cast steel casing, filled with 196lbs. of TNT, H6 or Tritonal. Aren't I the Jolly SOB.

[@_Feyd-Rautha]

Oh man I was just writing about this when I saw your comment. lol 1:58 on is a trip the first time

[@denheer]

Thank you for your higher FPS support. It really helps to get a better look at the performances shown before us.

[@jamespruitt3159]

Just love that howl that the F-15 Eagle makes! Awesome!

[@F4Wildcat]

@@ajz562 F-104 starfighter has that sexy distinctive sound aswel! But not like the eagle.

[@Xstrada1]

Panamint mountains off hwy 190 towards Death Valley saw these last March on my Goldwing almost shit my pants from the sound when the first jet came outta nowhere... glorious sight n sound makes u proud to be an American👍

[@Bb4r]

I like watching the big boys ( 130's ) going through the canyon also. Amazing, given their size, how agile they are. Good stuff!

[@GrizzAxxemann]

Canadian Herc pilots have balls of steel. That's why.

[@whitloli]

Agreed....Scott

[@Fyrwulf]

@@GrizzAxxemann You have no idea. C-130s dropping Rangers onto a defended airfield will have the throttle all the way forward and be 300 feet above the deck, absolutely certain they're going to get shot at and possibly shot down. The Rangers also have balls of steel in that scenario, because there's only one chute since a reserve chute is dangerous extra weight and failure to deploy means a Ranger Pancake. When my stepdad told me about what an actual forcible entry drop was like, I almost couldn't believe it.

[@GrizzAxxemann]

@@Fyrwulf Meh. RCAF Herc pilots are better and ballsier. You can't change my mind. I'm biased because Canada.

[@GrizzAxxemann]

@Bob Loblaw I got a fam flight in a CC-138 Twin Otter when 440 Sqn was still based at 18 Wing back in the 90s. Those SAR pilots are even more ballsy than the Herc pilots. Best fam flight I ever had was in a CH-136 though. Pilot took 3 of us on a ride I'll never forget.

[@johnc1975]

In my opinion U.S. Navy pilots are the most skilled because they have to land on a carrier at night. I was a radarman in the U.S. Navy and saw them do that, they hit the deck, boom, and then full throttle until their hook catches in case of a bolter. It's scary to watch, looks like a crash the first time you see them do that.

[@amstrad79b]

Nevertheless, Israeli and Greek pilots win in every competition, because they see more hostile action everyday against Arabs and Turks accordingly.

[@stuartlimbrick4187]

Awesome display of power, and I would think that the American government are supplying the fastest planes and repeated training to go with the love they have for speed and machines, to make a very formidable air force. It must take a lot of hair raising guts to land on an aircraft carrier at night as John Jenkins mentioned.

[@TheDustysix]

Many years ago, 1980, I was at a WTI in Yuma. A USAF exchange Officer, a Major WSO/RIO in a USMC F-4 unit was chatting while suiting up. His very first CV landing was at night in the Atlantic. His prior experience over Hanoi had never prepared him for such.

[@f1matt]

Pretty cool seeing the Canadian Hercs!

[@FranklinBurns42]

Matthew Sinclair Yes, all 2 of them. Lol

[@enfelice]

@@FranklinBurns42 Your Fucken Hillarioass

[@cleetusmacfarland9453]

@@enfelice our pilots wear kilts because their balls are too big to wear pants

[@Mom-USMCRichardUSMCChristopher]

The interest that you have for Aviation is so fantastic This is a video that shows our military in action. As I've said in previous comments, it's always thrilling knowing that you have made for us to view. Thank you so much Mr. Hughes for the top of the line military videos. You put so much time into this filming then making a video so that we also have the ability to watch. The mountains are so beautiful to see. Wish there was somewhere that we could take a trip to see it live, but I have to tell you, that you bring this beauty to us. We are gratefull, thankful, that all who serve is a choice. We are defended by all who serve, maintaing our level of freedom. Thank you all that are a part of all branches, and placing your life in danger by protecting us It's an honor having all of you out there doing such a marvelous job Your service is beyond words that THANK YOU can't even come close to what's in our hearts for all that you do My kids serve in the Marine Corps and I'm so very proud of them. I am Proud to be an American

[@xKmotx]

Bless you Ma'am.

[@Mom-USMCRichardUSMCChristopher]

xKmotx Thank you for your words of kindness.

[@mandoruiz619]

I wonder if the pilots watch these videos to see thier passes

[@talon0863]

F15 at 0:59 ...so beautiful

[@danahan01]

Also that very distinct compressor howl!!

[@Jeragon186]

And I thought it was an F/A18E

[@talon0863]

@@Jeragon186 Yes, correcto mundo, I meant 1:00 : ]

[@Jeragon186]

talon0863 No, you were correct (I think). I can’t really tell the difference between the two.

[@mikeparker6322]

The Eagle. 40 years old and still smooth.

[@NvFlyAngler]

Made a quick stop yesterday en route from Lone Pine to AZ just to get a feel for the area in anticipation of a future visit. Thank you for your amazing videos and Merry Christmas!

[@Honeythorn68]

I love Lone Pine. If you ever go back, go check out the Alabama Hills off Whitney Portal .

[@cirian75]

F-18 look how low I can go, F-15 I'll go faster, Canadian C130's Hold my beer

[@davidgiles9751]

Love it!

[@seinfeld11123]

F15's have that beautiful sound from really far away out of curiosity how many G's can a C130 pull haha

[@itsdavidpurcell]

Canadians...

[@nesbittjohn]

The lighting at this time of year and day is fantastic.

[@danahan01]

Kind of like the Mach Loop of America!!

[@bucy21]

danahan01 indeed it is

[@iain8837]

Except they don't actually go very low, put on a lot of show with afterburner, a lot of wind waggling...all very USA I guess.

[@jamesmartin9401]

I enjoy seeing the differences and similarities. Obviously, ours is much browner than the one in Wales, lol.

[@gamestv4875]

Shit! , this is beautiful......back to DCS now.

[@mrandrossguy9871]

Games TV Back to Ace Combat 7 To recreate their flight patterns :P

[@Youtubax]

mR andross guy DCS wins anytime though!

[@Youtubax]

Adam After all those years playing flight simulators I cannot go back to Ace Combat and have fun. It simply wont work because first of all I’m not 16 anymore and second, the more I’ve learned about real avionics and physics the more I cringed at War Thunder style games. So yeah, DCS still wins in my book for realism and... EXPERIENCE!

[@mississippirebel1409]

My older brother is a F-15E pilot. Me and my younger brother served in the army, now I wish I would have studied more and became a pilot lol. But if I had it all to do again, I would have wanted to become a helicopter pilot and fly the Apache. I love those bad boys!

[@cjs990311]

That one f15 half way thru or towards the end was absolutely rippin

[@cardiganflynn4905]

CAMERAMAN you have an amazing hand! 😎

[@drubradley8821]

Not only was the filming amazing, the sound with ear buds in was great!!!! I wish I could have seen the old school F-4 fly though, just for the childhood memories!!! But are retired. Very well done, thank you, I loved the sound!!!!!!

[@albycortez1992]

Man u are so lucky to be able to see and film them so close.. Must be a beautiful sight in person

[@ScojoDak]

Watching never gets old. Ever have pilots wave at you?

[@bbking0064]

Great light, great photography and well captured. Well done!

[@joeynice123]

Stunning. I'm loving that AV-8B

[@VMCAviationVideos]

I was just up there last October, what a great place.

[@FernandoJavierMendoza]

love it ! greatings from Honduras Cental America. happy 2019.

[@ChrisJones-fm6wp]

Surprising number of Oceana hornets flying through.

[@marceloacnh]

The Harrier and F16's pilots are agressive, top!

[@BeCoShooter]

Thanks for helping me decide on a vacation destination for 2019.

[@shdwmav]

Great video! Thanks for sharing the joy with the rest of us avgeeks!

[@lplacido61]

Excellent work, I was there all day on the 11th. Hope to meet ya there one of these days!

[@spencerhughes2255]

Thanks! Yeah, maybe I'll see you one day..

[@lplacido61]

@@spencerhughes2255 Happy Holidays and enjoy the New Year's weekend!

[@Raptorman0909]

When the big boys go through there the shadow on the north wall of the canyon is amazing. There's a lot of diversity in AC types, but they sure do fly a lot of 18's through there.

[@nick21614]

Yuma (USMC) and El Centro (USN) are close by

[@Raptorman0909]

@@nick21614 -- In truth there's a lot of USAF and USN Air bases quite close as well as Yuma USMC. Probably more USN close by by you don't have to go very far for a good many USAF bases as well.

[@tomdemerly]

I love your videos Sir. The very best. Thank you and Happy New Year!

[@speterj]

2:00 looks like C-130 is gonna crash into hillside.

[@mrandrossguy9871]

speterj Depth perception

[@Kage5868]

thats what i thought

[@dennythomas8887]

I was watching the shadow of #1 sliding across the hill, and for a split second I thought it was #2's shadow right before impact....LOL

[@gonzaleg165]

The shadow from the lead guy got me, too!

[@Stanf954]

Just like Beggars Canyon back home.

[@jubihi7785]

Watching it on note9 1440p. Stunning

[@pra3t0rian]

Where else in the world can u experience anything like this? God Bless America.

[@BeCoShooter]

In Wales. Look up Mach Loop.

[@rockriley9494]

Hey Spencer great videos man, Id never get tired of watching this. I was wondering how you find out when these flights will be going on thru the canyon, and just basically how one goes about visiting the canyon (live in Inland Empire/Riverside) on one of the days these flights are taking place. If you can provide any info, Id greatly appreciate it! Cheers!

[@asyik6]

Fighter aircraft maneuver between that rocky wall is one thing....but C-130J ? That is something

[@sulufest]

OMG, such great footage! 💥😎

[@theschoolcop8230]

VFA 103 Jolly Roger's in the canyon

[@victormanuelpolanco922]

Super Hornets unbeatable.... In quality flying!!!!. They ve got some serious yanking and banking skills.

[@Joe-mz6dc]

Phenomenal video. Thanks!

[@jamescooper2618]

What an awesome video!

[@Masa9]

You are good skill. Cool Movie !! I respect you.

[@pilote768]

Very nice shots, thanks !

[@christianlebordelais]

Véritable festival sonore et visuel....belles prises de vue....

[@tomrim7925]

All we need are a bunch of Tie fighters in pursuit and we'd have a great recreation of the strafing run on the Death Star...

[@Locutus494]

Wow, looks like it was Super Buggy in the canyon this month! 😜

[@USNVA11]

Eleven minutes and sixteen seconds of pure, unadulterated airplane porn. Freaking awesome !

[@ridereye]

awesome video!!!!!

[@MarcLiberts]

Excellent Video - thank you!!!

[@theodossisman]

Superb video!

[@IndependentVFX]

This is so great!

[@clist9406]

Skilled pilots make it look so easy , I would have been nose first into the 2nd turn

[@dankuettel5063]

Wow that was fantastic!

[@chookiebum]

Beautiful camera work as usual!! 👍✌️

[@bestamerica]

' hi M M... yea beautifully videocamera but still problem with a contrast darkness... not good

[@capespring]

I don't regret clicking this video

[@teddyballgame4823]

Flying into Beggar's Canyon. Awesome video.

[@Shadowboost]

Those F-15 and F-16s were seriously hauling ass.

[@timothylittlefield3129]

As always a great video!

[@m3497]

Makes the Mach Loop look "touristy"

[@khpredator00]

Beautiful birds

[@adventureswithchristian6967]

Great filming! What camera, and tripod are you using? Thank you

[@MarkosManiadakis]

Awesome video

[@snh1021831]

It would have been awesome to see an F14 come flying through their

[@Fox250R]

Your camera looks perfect!

[@sparrowlt]

Comander: Ok pack lets go through the canyon and... wait.. hey C130s you are not suposed to... C130s: weeeeeeeee

[@BorisLu]

Nice video!

[@jjstewart2120]

Beauty's without bombs. Makes a good sport a smile generator..turn volume up and feel the force!

[@davidk6264]

I was surprised to see the Av8 . I was thinking those were retired now.They looked just as awesome in that pass. I was rather impressed how the zoom was used in an instant between one aircraft and the next . how did you manage that?

[@dasspr]

Is this a place gen public can visit? How do i know when its active? I would love to visit this place

[@11joe111100]

dasspr en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_Canyon_(California)

[@mylonite4707]

What equipment did you use to capture this footage? The sharpness, stabilization, and smoothness are amazing!

[@DeeyooDeko]

03:16 two f/a18E make sky dancing very nice

[@taltezy2941]

I don't know why but the sound of fighter jets are a turn on for me.

[@TheRitualChannel]

4K at 60fps looks lovely. Spencer, any plans to put the cam on a rig for more smoothness?

[@xKmotx]

Were some of these views shot from the bottom, or end of the run as they pulled up? Regardless, another awesome video! 👍

[@gooniac33]

Love it!!! The fresno f-15s were screaming through the canyon!!! Nice seeing the Canadin C-130s in there too!!

[@ARyanCoke]

Think the F18s after the herc were Canadian too. You can tell cause the underbelly was filthy. And they got low and dirty, just like a Canadian. ;)

[@daverae7544]

Definitely not Canadian cf-18's. Çf-18's have a fake canopy painted on there underbelly. I think they're the only one's that do.

[@ARyanCoke]

@@daverae7544 yep you're absolutely right. I just thought us Canadians were the only ones that had filthy f18s!

[@daverae7544]

@@ARyanCoke hopefully we get some superhornets soon

[@valuedhumanoid6574]

I imagine that this is really the payback for all the training, boring classes, all the crap that pilots have to go through to get their wings. *THIS* is what they all signed up for.

[@groomlake51]

Be cool to see them loaded up with some ordinance !! Is this the Jedi transition ?

[@Hornet5823]

I’ve always wanted to go to a place like this and just watch them fly. Do they have like a scheduled time when the fly through the canyon? Definitely on my bucket list

[@spencerhughes2255]

NO SCHEDULE.

[@lplacido61]

Always hit or miss...every day is an adventure. But one to definitely see.

[@barrymcbride]

spencerhughes great video. i am hoping that you have a website where people could purchase photos ?

[@setesh1294]

Only the Canadians would be crazy enough to take a pair of C-130s through Star Wars canyon.

[@migkiller175]

I need to go here!!!! I'm a beginner photographer and aviation lover. What focal length would you recommend? Would my Tamron 70-300mm be sufficient or should I invest in a lens that has more reach?

[@J_JetClips]

Killer vid. I was sure I'd see that Top Gun 2 jet tho haha

[@YurrickLamhfhada]

The F/A-18E Super Hornet?

[@J_JetClips]

@@YurrickLamhfhada it's an F model they painted up

[@kevinli5378]

It’s awesome. What kind of camera is it used to shoot?

[@markjmaxwell9819]

Lol Had a hornet pilot sit it on it's ass and go vertical at the end of my street....... Cool stuff.........

[@Jesus_Montevegga]

Why they do that ? Its a kind of training ?. The f18 superhornet fucking awesome 💪🏾

[@demetriusolivieri339]

What type of camera are you using to film??….good stuff!!

[@ironroad18]

Fapptastic!

[@toddsalvati5694]

Okay, stop having so much fun with my tax dollars! LOL I know people consider them outdated, but the F15 and F18 are still two of my favorite planes. This is not far from Lemoore Air station, my nephew was stationed there. I mean, after this, what could these guys possibly do for fun?? LOL

[@TheDustysix]

We lost one this week. RIP

[@fritzd2116]

Nice to see Harriers!

[@Mikkoo808]

That f16 was halling ass lol

[@groomlake51]

Great vid THANKS A BUNCH💪🏼🇺🇸

[@scarecrow_9895]

Sweet video. Props!

[@nelsoncheng2674]

awesome video.

[@soundknight]

That herc is awesome

[@MrBen527]

Beautiful! Anyone know what the red things are on the bottom of the F-16 @ 8:00?

[@mxstylie312]

Flare Dispensers that appear to have covers on them

[@MrBen527]

Never seen them before like that, maybe Edwards is testing a new design.

[@unclejack123]

some of these folks seem a bit "tentative" ..... the "Hurc drivers" stuck their noses in pretty well .................. ;-p

[@phalcon23]

They are Canadians :)

[@FireAngelOfLondon]

It's a training range so a lot of the more tentative pilots may still be in training or simply flying the canyon for the first time. That might be why some planes went over instead, they were taking a look at it before coming back to run the canyon later. Experience level probably has a lot to do with how tentative someone is when trying something like this.