Cross country in to the desert

This is the second cross country that our students fly. It's from Gillespie (KSEE) to Imperial (KIPL) The change of scenery is incredible, we fly over suburbs, mountains, desert and farmland.

Airport in the sky

Beautiful approach in to Catalina Avalon (KAVX).

First glimpse at San Diego

As some of you know I've moved to San Diego. This is the first video I've managed to finish.
More to come!

"Let me tell you something you already know.The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place, and I don’t care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done!

Now if you know what you’re worth, then go out and get what you’re worth! But you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain’t you! You’re better than that!"

-Rocky Balboa

This quote and specially the part in bold letters are specially true when it comes to pursuing an aviation career. There will be setbacks along the road but as long as you don't let the setbacks kick you to the ground you will eventually succeed.
The second is also extremely important. No one but you can get you where you want to be, stay true to your goals!

I just wanted to share this since it has kept me moving forward when facing setbacks and hardships.

GoPro Winter flying

This is what winter flying CAN be like. Most of the winter is pretty useless for VFR flying as most of you know but here I've shown the other side of the Swedish winter.
Enjoy! (In HD for best experience)

GoPro Beatuiful snowy timelapse

This is a timelapse out of the window where I sit and work and chill. Unfortunately I wasn't able to fly that day.
The 50s video is actually shot over 4 hours taking 1 picture every 5 seconds.
Enjoy!

Swedish winter

You know it's winter when you have to shovel snow out of the hangar.

GoPro Da-42 takeoff and ILS engine failure

This is from a little while back when i flew the Da-42 from Bromma to Västerås and performing a couple instrument approaches.
In the video the approach I'm making is a ILS with engine failure on final.

GoPro Emergeny Landing Practice

Here is a short clip of one of my students simulating an approach in to a field after the engine died quite mysteriously.

Gangnam Style Pilot

Best version of gangnam style so far!

Ultralight emergency landing on beach

This is a school book example of how a emergency landing after an engine failure is supposed to be performed.

GoPro Power off landing PA-28

This was during my Fi training. I was out flying with another FI student and did a power off landing just for practice.
You'll see that I came in way to high but fixed it by setting full flap pretty early. The black line seen just before touchdown was my aiming point.

GoPro Formation flying (Including take off and landing)

After going on his first solo one of my students also got to try some formation flying for the first time.
Great fun after a big milestone in his flight training.
Remember to watch in HD and fullscreen.

Formation flying

Me and the head of training at SAS flying club did some formation flying with our students the other day.

Video coming up!

747 - thrust reverse

This is the amphibian version of the 747 with floats.

First Customer ViperJet Takes Off!

The want factor on this beast is at maximum level!

Sunset approach

I'm back from a nice vacation in Croatia. On the way back I put the GoPro in the window overlooking the wing.
I love approaching an airport in sunset. Make sure to watch in HD.

Junk in the trunk

This is what goes on in the back of the plane when I drop off the skydivers.

As we approach the drop zone I give the signal to the jumpers. The spotter opens the rear door and looks out to make sure we are in position to jump.
When we are in position the spotter signals me to reduce the power so the skydivers can exit the plane easier.
The skydivers exit the plane in whatever manner they choose, in this video there were only tandem jumpers.
After the last skydiver is out of the plane I put the plane in a steep dive heading north of the drop zone.
You can see me turn and hear the air rushing faster when the last jumper has exited.

Flying the AN2

I have started the path to becoming checked out on the An-2. This brute has had me intrigued for quite some time so I'm really excited that I get to fly it.
The An-2 isn't like other airplanes, you refill the oil and check the fuel level. It might seem like the An-2 is constantly leaking oil but what it is really doing is marking it's territory since the pilots have to wipe the thick black oil from the cowlings and the wings.

The beast handles beautifully in the air although you have to be pretty darn strong to handle it and specially to land it.
The layout of the cockpit feels very Russian as nothing besides the artificial horizon is where you would expect it to be. The picture is taken from where I would have my head while flying, as you can see there is a lot of gauges to keep track of. A couple of them are strategically placed so you have to move to be able to see them.

FINALLY!

I finally got my instructor rating! I can finally sleep again and go back to being a regular person who is not constantly stressed and not on the verge of a mental meltdown.

I can't even begin to describe how good it feels to be done with this check ride.

The day consisted of two parts that I had to prove I could handle.

First I had to hold a theory lesson about warm fronts and cold fronts and meteorological codes (METAR, TAF and SWC). The lesson went great except for that I ran 15min to long. I didn't anticipate the check pilot to as talkative and active during the lesson.

Second I had to instruct a lesson in the airplane with the check pilot as my student. I got level turns and the traffic pattern.
The whole lesson went very well, the mistakes he made were very easy to detect and correct. He was a much sharper student than my instructor ;).

Anyway, I have my flight instructor rating finally and it seems that I might be getting my first student pretty soon.
What is also awesome is that I'm currently going through the technical course on the An-2 which I will soon start flying skydivers in!

Exciting times lie ahead my friends!