Hey thank you Juan!! appreciate that man!!! -Todd

thank you!

Thank you!!!

@@GravityKnightFlyingYou have the desticular fortitude of a 26 year old man- flying into these rough, remote locations ALONE. Props to you Brother. Do NOT apologize for the video being long. This was Awesome! 😎🎩♠️💙

wow thank you James!!! appreciate that man

thank you neighbor to the north! very kind words!!

Thanks Mark!!

If you can keep it light, that will go a long ways in offsetting power. Thanks for the comment! Enjoy that thing when the weather will cooperate.. Has not been good here either with high winds so I hear you on that!

Thanks Grant!!

thanks!!

Mexican and Hidden Splendor aren't too bad. I wouldn't think you would have too much trouble unless your tires are tiny. Total trike friendly strips if the tires are not shopping cart sized. I would stay away from Poison Spring of course, and Gold Creek was pretty rocky so I would avoid that too. Wee hope wasn't too bad, fairly smooth. There is a Utah back country flying website that has a good database on the strips, with decent trip reports and such.. that is a good resource to scout out some strips before hand too.

There are definitely some times when I'm inside going "just not right now, please!" ..... one could argue, we should never trust the machine... and that is for good reason, but the reality is, we all are trusting them at some point when flying backcountry or off airport, especially in places like UT, ID, CO etc. I've had 3 engine outs over the years.. and I'm sure there is more to come in the future. I hope and pray when it happens again it will be in a place I have a little something to work with! There are small windows of time where it would be totally bad if it happened though... just reality. There is a risk for sure, but I'd rather take that risk, than not do any of this type of flying etc. Thanks Murdoch

Thanks Michael!

Thanks Janet! Most of the video was one (LONG) day of flying out there. If you can setup to have 2 full days of flying out there it would be better. More time to enjoy spots etc. The route was mostly how it appeared in video. I stopped in Canyonlands for fuel, and then went back to Mexican mountain (making a big loop south, east, north, then west), then back out to Factory Plateau in the evening for the second time there. It was a lot of ground to over in one day. Mex Mountain, hidden splendor, happy canyon, factory plateau, and mineral canyon are all great spots to see. This map really helps to research the strips and map them out etc. utahbackcountrypilots.org/airstrips/map There is an email address on the about section of my youtube page if you want to keep in touch that way. Thanks! -Todd

Thanks Jayden! Our hanger at home was all one off, custom Dad designed and built lol. He comes up with some interesting stuff. The trussed beams were something he found, but the solid non see through beams were all built by him. (Wood and metal both). Thanks -T

I know Mark and Jason a little, flown with them a bit. Haven’t flown with any of the other cowboys. Talked to a few of the others online etc. hopefully we’ll cross paths at some point.

I have in some other videos. Check out the edge mods playlist on the channel if you can, that shows some stuff. But the quick rundown is: 2014+ Rans S-7S kit, finished in beginning of 17. Roberts Bush Gear. AKB 29's, Edge Performance 912STi (turbo, intercooled, fuel injected, 154hp capable, I de-tuned it to about 135-140hp). 79" NR prop, Balance Master, 12" Whirlwind spinner that I adapted to fit. Carbon fiber cowling and boot cowl. Double Matco calipers, braided lines, T3 tail wheel thats modified. 11" tailwheel on a Matco fork. VG's everywhere. S-20 flap handle (more notches, more angle than stock, relocated for easier reach). 2 EarthX batteries, mostly MGL instruments (lots of engine parameters), Garmin G5, Flightcom radio, NGK AFR gauge. Electric trim, Custom window, single side door setup. Ported oil pump, dual oil coolers, larger lines etc. Special Mitubishi TD04HL turbo with a billet compressor wheel. Lots of little custom things like the throttle handle setup and stuff along those lines. Lots of effort into the tune to dial it in just right across different altitudes etc. Lots of money and time basically lol! Thanks CSM -T

Rans S7 Courier, kinda like a modern Super Cub in Todd's own words. I would really like to have one! I believe Rans did a heck of a good job on this airframe.

Thanks Jay! Sorry I didnt see this comment earlier. It reads in MPH, but it reads low. It seems like its about 5 mph low at speed, and maybe not quite as bad down low.. 3? both airspeed indicators read the same, and read low.. its wierd. High AoA at touchdown also makes it read a little low. I think realistically, it can touch at 33-35mph when light and the stars align... and most of the time closer to 40mph.

@@GravityKnightFlying Thanks for the info Todd, I thought you had helium in those bush tires 😂 Makes sense now as I thought those touchdown speeds were really low.

I have a garmin inreach, so satellite messaging, and sos button if things get really dire.. thanks!!

The rear cam mount is hooked to the T3 tailwheel setup. An adel clamp on the one of the spacer tubes on the T3, hooks to a gopro style mount. T3 makes it a lot easier to fix a cam to the tail. Stall will read as low as 25, but it reads about 5mph low across the board, and of course at that AoA, its not accurate (even though I mounted the pitot tube down some). I would say it will land at about 35 when light, and more like 40 when under normal weights. This one does land slower than another 7 I flew before this one. I worked with the rigging, VG's and some other stuff to bring down the stall. Lots of VG,s fairly far forward on the wing. Ailerons are every so slightly dropped. Tail rigging to enhance elevator effectiveness. And I have a 2 gallon header tank under the rear baggage to offset turbo weight, and I keep about 20lbs of tools, tie downs, survival gear etc in the back which makes it land much nicer (can usually touch tail first power off if I want to, no passenger). The Roberts gear, and 29's also help as you can get more AoA (more so on take off, but also on landing as you can bring the nose up, without it falling onto the gear). Is your 97 a short tail? I don't remember when they switched, but that might play a role in it too? If you have not, put a little weight in the back and see if that helps. It seemed all these little things added up and knocked off a few more MPH which was pretty noticeable. Oh- I have an S-20 flap handle too, so more flap angle, which helped a bit too.

@@GravityKnightFlying wuauuuuu ¡¡¡. I dont see this message. Thanks. Very good information. But ....what is T3 and what king of VG´s do you have.???

I think he goes over that a little in this video kzfaq.info/get/bejne/Y5tdhpti1LyRn4U.html

I use Gaia GPS app mostly (public land overlay costs per year). In this case, I did some reading about that particular area. Utah has a ton of BLM land, but much of it is not accessible by vehicle/ohv etc. So it's tricky and a good idea to read up. When I got there, and landed on the road, there were actually signs telling that the area up and around the butte was now open to ohv. On the otherside, it said ohv has to remain on the roads. It can be quite confusing, and hard to know some of that stuff from the air. And quite often, the BLM and other sites like the Forest Service especially do a piss poor job of really showing what's what online. Main thing is, wilderness areas - no go. National and state parks - no go outside of designated airstrips of course. Forest Service is a big grey area, best to probably stay off of it. BLM is the most friendly to aircraft, but studey areas, and wilderness areas are a no go. There are some other types of state land like SLB land that are a grey area as well.. very unclear lack of rules which is probably actually a good thing! Good Q though.

@@GravityKnightFlying Well, I think you have just confirmed my suspicion that there is no central database or easy way to determine what's a go/no go landing area. Each place requires a study. For now, I'll just follow the lead of those like you and Trent Palmer. Cheers mate and happy landings!

Good Q. The rotax runs on avgas as well.. they don't prefer it.. and its better to avoid when possible.. anytime I can land near a gas station or have friends who can shuttle to a gas station etc. I avoid it. But they run on it ok. Couple times a year when out on these kinds of adventures it doesn't hurt anything, just daily use should be avoided.

hi Thomas, I have Roberts Gear (made by John Roberts). Great stuff, very stout! And I run acme gen 3 black ops shocks.. also very good!