Winds of Texas

This last Spring I made it down to Texas to attend the first annual Texas STOL Roundup, a fly-in and competition organized by my friend Phil Whittemore. Phil picked me up at Austin International in his Skywagon, and after sampling local taco truck we headed out to his home base at Spicewood airport, which was experiencing uncharacteristically calm winds , and an amazing Blue bonnet explosion.
Phil is living the pilot's dream in that he has 2 airplanes, and in this case they're both bushplanes, one for going fast and one for going slow. He'd just ferried his new SQ-2 down from Alaska and was having way too much fun practicing for Saturday's competition. It was time for him to gear up though and head to Llano a day early to prep the fly-in.
While Phil flew the wagon down to Llano, I drove his truck with all my video gear and some supplies for the fly-in. No sooner had I arrived when I met Luke, AKA Skalywag from Presidio county. We decided to go explore some of the sidecountry spots and shoot some footage of his '59 Skylane tailwheel conversion.
After bouncing in the hot afternoon Texas skies, the waterfall felt like some Shangri-La, a temporary paradise only landable during the drier months, as the strip is normally flooded by the Colorado river. Fish were jumping just 20 feet off the bank, birds were thermaling, and honestly I would have rather spent the night here than my hotel room.
The next morning brought with it all the excitement and nerves of a competition, kinda reminding me of my days racing motorcycles. And I wasn't even flying. There was a pilot meeting to go over the procedures and the rules. The format was slightly different as there were 2 different thresholds for takeoffs and landings with judges positioned at each. Classes were similar to those Valdez, with Bush, Light Touring, Heavy Touring, Experimental, and today would kick off with the Light Sport.
The great winds of Texas... they didn't stop the entire time I was here. My trip was filled with good airplanes, great people, and some fun flying. Thanks to everyone for a great experience, and we'll see you all again at Llano next year.

[@perspectacle]

I loved the aircraft, of course, but I loved the music just as much and that is a rare thing. Well done, you!

[@Chribbxxx123]

If there is a Oscar for "best homemade flight video" I'll vote for you!

[@blondegaijin]

Subject matter and narration are great, but where u really excel is in the cinematography. A LOT of these shots are just FANTASTIC --u really thought it through. GREAT PRODUCTION VALUE, WOW..!!

[@Coops777]

Love your work. Enjoyed that!

[@victor-emmanuel7485]

The people filming and editing these videos are doing one hell of a job! Also, great taste in music! Greetings from (flat and boring) Belgium!

[@amethyst9048]

well this was well worth checking out. My husband linked me this video because we both love the single engine planes. Amazing!

[@Aviation101]

This video gave me chills. I'm based out of San Marcos, Texas, and it was awesome to see some familiar turf in this fantastic film.

[@BackcountryPilot]

Thanks! It sure was pretty down there in April with the blue bonnets everywhere. You should attend the 2016 event even if just to spectate.

[@Aviation101]

I most likely will after seeing this! I've been wanting to get into STOL but my Skyhawk will have to do for now - we have limited tailwheel-rental resources here.

[@mynickels]

Polished wagon and a PBR hat, hell yeah.

[@smaze1782]

Your videos are phenomenal. the Production value is off the charts great.

[@MichaelLloyd]

The event looks like it's phenomenal but the videography was over the top

[@keithnichols6403]

My goodness this is such a great video. Thanks for sharing.

[@stefplane]

Trop beau, belles images👍🏻😍, too cool, one day I was glad to come to practice in your magnificent country, vive l’aviation

[@curtisjohns6395]

i absolutely love this video. and Maules are one of my favorites. hopefully i will be flying down there in texas soon.

[@vod8008]

Excellent. I'm really jealous. You guys just have too much fun whereas in Europe, we've let the bureaucrats regulate us more or less out of existing! Thanks for showing us the possibilities!

[@dickaldor]

Great movie! And your music is spot on!

[@hvlm]

Thank you so much for making these videos. My two boys and I (4/2) watch them at bedtime. You have helped create amazing memories of boys taking about expensive toys with their dad. Can't wait till next weekend and we fly again.

[@StingFlight]

Very enjoyable! You are definitely one to learn from--in the video-making department!

[@lw216316]

at 5:30 - speaking of motorcycles, I made a 'once in my lifetime' ' tour the USA ' bike trip from East to Calif and back 6,000 miles in 3 weeks. On the way West, including Texas, I had a constant 20-30 mph HEAD wind and the turbulence that goes with it on a bike. I comforted myself with the thought that on the way back I would enjoy the TAIL wind. Returning EAST after turning around in Calif the wind laughed at my plans of enjoying a TAIL wind and changed direction 180 degrees. So when I saw WINDS OF TEXAS I had to smile.

[@simonsmith3867]

Great filming!

[@gurjantsandhu]

Beautiful

[@matthewsclement]

These video are fantastic!

[@BackcountryPilot]

Thanks Matt!

[@blairguinea6811]

Yep AMAZING guys...............thanks so much to ya'll JUST AMAZING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@AvgDude]

Texas does indeed have tough winds.

[@Cherokee140Driver]

Awesome. Such a great production.

[@rtonesrem]

Great video! Looks like a lot of fun. Thanks for sharing!

[@BackcountryPilot]

Let's go make a vid soon! I'm just over here in Portland.

[@rtonesrem]

Backcountry Pilot I would love that! I will be in Kotzebue, AK until September 10-ish. When I get back there's myself and a couple of guys in the Walla Walla Valley with big tires that I'm sure would love to do something. Maybe that trip down Hell's canyon?

[@zacariasmachadofilho8908]

Good airplanes guys , very nice !

[@tedphillips7727]

great hi res video of fun flying

[@granskare]

shiny chrome! amazing :)

[@BackcountryPilot]

Trip report from the Texas STOL Round Up back in April.

[@RobertCollette]

Love that polished TD conversion! You make some really nice videos

[@RenaissanceThinking]

Do they still do STOL events in Llano? Where is the Texas round-up for 2020?

[@SyberPrepper]

Absolutely loved it. Great camera work: depth of field, dolly shots or whatever the left to right camera movement was. Good coverage of the event with not too much of any one thing. Loved it.

[@BackcountryPilot]

Thanks!

[@danielwillets2346]

Beautiful airplane

[@aerospacenews]

Really nicely done just like your other videos. Even more impressive seeing your gear list down in the comments. Your talent is clearly more important than hardware. :)

[@tomwise1109]

Thats the water fall on lake Buchanan, during the drought. I ride my SeaDoo up to that thing now. If the weather keeps like it's going you will be able to land there again. Sucks for me good for you. I can't believe the flow off the falls with that much land for you Sky ski's to land on.

[@avoidingtrees6692]

Bravo👍 You guys could probably land on a post stamp😉.cheers from France America.

[@michaellebleu3376]

I love that airport

[@ZeroByteInFlight]

I was impressed by the Skylane at 10:40. He obviously has manual flaps.

[@glenn_cheatham]

This is awesome! Filled with great narration, footage, and airplanes. You do really great work! Do you have a documentray that I don't know about. If you don't have one you should make one! lol Thanks for sharing!

[@BackcountryPilot]

Thank you. All our videos are posted in our channel: kzbin.infovideos

[@SommerAdric]

Awesome channel man! Liked and Subbed.

[@slick4401]

Awesome.

[@JacobDavidCCunningham]

1:05 wow that landing was so slow 11:15 god damn look at that drop

[@lw216316]

at 6:25 that tail dragger took off with 3 wheels on the ground without bringing the nose down, tail wheel off the ground first.... please explain... at 11:09 the last plane still had his flaps all the way down while taxi..... did he just forget to release them?

[@GhostZodick]

Since pretty much all lands are owned by private entities or citizens, how could bush pilot in Texas access the remote land bush pilots usually land on? Do they know the landlord and have permission to land? Or do they own those land? I am very curious. I've heard people say land ownership is a big hassle for back country flight in Texas.

[@zsoltpapp3363]

Whoa. What distance do these need for taking off? 100 m? It looks really short.

[@bigroy38]

Any events in Texas soon?I'm in Austin & finally don't work weekends.

[@doycowzintexas1672]

How could I get a flight with Luke aka Skalywag,,, would love to make some off airport landings in that beautiful plane,,, does he have a website????

[@angusmackenzie2540]

What type of plane was the one at 5:51?:) thanks for the video!

[@BackcountryPilot]

That is a Backcountry Super Cubs SQ-2.

[@vida3918]

8:07 what song is this? It’s beautiful!

[@BackcountryPilot]

"On My Way Back Home" by Band of Horses.

[@vida3918]

@@BackcountryPilot you rock! Thank you!!

[@blhornertube]

They coming in way too fast for a stol competition

[@nicklivingston3179]

Hello there, is that waterfall strip public or private?

[@Bigdogzq]

+Nick Livingston Probably not even an official strip.

[@Dcred45]

That water fall is private and I would stay away from it. I was circling it last November at 800 feet and someone from the property with the waterfall shot and hit my Kolb Firefy. I notified the authorities and they told me the the owners of that land have long standing bad blood against pilots because they always land their trespassing by default.

[@Bigdogzq]

ah

[@cinnamanstera6388]

Dcred45 sorry to respond to such an old comment, but did you see them shoot at you, or just find the bullet hole? Crazy story.

[@Dcred45]

Cinnamanster A well, i was doing a steep left bank and looking at the ground and my wing. I saw a blur which resulted in the hole. It looked like the same hole a tumbling .30 or smaller would make in paper.

[@TAShannon1]

WHERE IS THIS AT 4:00

[@Dcred45]

Down land their. The water fall is private land and they hate pilots. The creator of this video got lucky. Someone from that property shot and hit my Kolb fire fly last november

[@kurtler1]

Что за колёса стоят на этой хрени?

[@Hackanhacker]

who dislike that xD !!!!

[@maxwelll1978]

I know right! What's not to like?

[@DeadRoman]

2 L= Y

[@BackcountryPilot]

Indeed. But try telling that to the locals.

[@michaellebleu3376]

I love that airport