The Red Bull Speed Run is probably the ultimate competition for the hang gliding adrenaline junkie. Get as fast as you can as low as you can through a series of gates… a recipe for a fantastic show. Lots of cool low passes, water skimming, loops and more crazy action performed by these professional dare devils.
Great footage taken at the Helicopter pilot school in France. The video is a bit old and shows training procedures with the Aerospatiale SA 318C Alouette II including takeoffs, landings, and no flare autorotations. The guys flying are military pilots from the french Army.
Nothing really special here… just a guy in a helicopter collecting passengers. The special thing about it is the place. Check it out and see the great skill of the helicopter pilot.
Ground resonance is a hazardous condition during touchdown or at other times when the helicopter is running while sitting on the ground. A series of shocks to the landing gear can pass through to the rotor disk and cause an imbalance in the rotor system. Under extreme conditions, the imbalance causes violent oscillations that quickly build and result in catastrophic damage of the entire airframe. While filming an episode for MacGyver this Gazelle helicopter pilot encountered the first symptoms of ground resonance and managed to recover from this potentially dangerous situation by taking off. During takeoff, the helicopters door opened in flight but the footage was kept and was aired in the episode.
Tiff Needell, the host of the television show “5th gear” takes his yellow Porsche 911 GT3 against a Gazelle helicopter, in what he calls a race of speed and agility. Anyone can do a drag race against a jet fighter… but what about doing a full lap on the circuit?
There are some in the world that really really want to fly like the birds… but they hate paragliders, hang gliders and sailplanes. So what is left for these people? Maybe strapping some small engines to your legs and using a wingsuit might do the trick… this guy claims he managed to fly straight and level for almost 30 seconds and that is quite impressive considering he was propelled by two small rc jet engines.
Bernd van Doornick had some 22,000 total flying hours and is credited with more than 5,000 people rescued. September 1, 2007 marked his last flight at an air show, Bernd van Doornick showing the crowd gathered at Bex (Switzerland) what an Aerospatiale SA 315B Lama can do. The Lama holds to this day the absolute altitude record for all types of helicopters since 1972: 12,442 m. Quite an impressive helicopter, and with a skilled man at the controls this helo can do impressive stuff.
Footage taken at the World Hang Gliding Free Fly Championship held in 2003 in Brazil.
Six years of hang gliding at Point of the Mountain, Utah compressed in a few minutes of intense video. To me, this is one of the best hang gliding videos out there. The stuff these guys do is absolutely crazy but seems they have a lot of fun and that’s what flying should be all about… hanging out and having fun with your mates. This is absolutely a must see video, whether you are or aren’t a fan of the hang gliders.
Great way to depart the drop off point. Nothing like taking your helicopter into a monumental dive over the cliff face. Yeah… a pure adrenalin rush. After watching this video I thought to myself there is nothing I’d like to do more than to switch places with that lucky bastard flying that Ecureuil helicopter.
