+DrCash7 I actually know a good friend from the Navy whom I met in Afghanistan...he was queer and was jets.

Haha That's actually funny. Yep, it takes all types to keep this much steel up in the air, and our community of pilots is a beautifully diverse one.

Well, did he do some?

+santgil Thank you so much! Being compared to Josh is the highest praise. That's the idea, though, for sure. There is so much great film of aviation out there, and just so little of it compiled in a compelling way. You can help share aviation too by posting links to great videos and joining ShareAviation.com, if you haven't already. No, they don't pay me to say that, the community of people is really just that great. Thanks again!

Friendly Skies Film much better than Josh's work. Same format with him. At least you have more of a production. I'd compare you more with Steve of FlightChops as far as production goes.

MORE AUSSIE PILOTS! Have you caught any of my videos where I talk about renting from Moorabbin outside Melbourne?

Craig every time it transmits. 👍🏻

Thanks so much, mate :)

Yay! Glad you're enjoying :)

We'll see. Yeah, I definitely try to make flying sound as cinematic as possible, on the ground, and in the air. It keeps them coming back for more ;)

You're never too old :)

+Erick Jackson Wow, that means a lot! Thanks so much. I've seen a couple of people go though the process, and I'll admit, it scares me more than a little. We'll just have to see where life takes me. You, on the other hand, good luck!! It must feel so great to say that you are not just knowledgeable about aviation, but you can actually profess it! Let us know how it goes, -Nick

+Matt Hall I will do my best to feed your aviation video appetites! Definitely go flying with a friend or at an airshow if you ever get the chance. I guarantee it could change your life. Introductory flights at flight schools are also an excellent chance to go flying, and they're usually very well priced. (A great gift for family members, if you know what I mean ;) )

No way! I'd love to get up there for a tower tour and meet her one of these days. I've spoken with her many times and waved goodbye as she's gotten in her car to head home for the night. Really great pair of controllers they have up there. So glad you enjoy the channel, btw :)

Friendly Skies Film yeah i meant to put ATC*^ not ACT i feel like an idiot

So, I've been getting a lot of requests about visiting a tower or talking to a controller recently. Do you think it would be possible for you to connect me with your friend's mom? If you're not that close, or it would be weird, don't worry about it. I'll work some other angle. Thanks, mate!

+Zane Trotter Thanks, Zane! I'll have new content for you guys in the next couple of days, actually. This one's a big one: Hopefully the definitive preflight video on youtube. I'll let my girl know that she has another fan out there.

+Friendly Skies Film really appeciate the fast reply, i ended up watching it again lol i logged 33.5 hours in C152 at Camden Australia before stopping due to a fear i had regarding Tubulance but really want go back and finish any advice on that? i do love flying

Weird coincidence... I just went for my first flight in Australian airspace last week out of Moorabbin. So different, yet similar enough to convert your license by mail. I'm hoping to take some friends flying along the Great Ocean Road and Phillip Island before I head back to the states. I don't know exactly where your fear comes from specifically, but I'll tell you what I do to ensure passengers of the structural integrity of the aircraft before leaving the ground. I go over to a wingtip and manhandle the wing. They can take a heck of a beating with no problem. 33.5 hours is so close! You are almost there!

Best fun you'll ever have ;)

+john hart You're obviously not the only one that thinks so. I hope he'll find some free time in the next couple of years to take on the challenge.

+Ken Lynch Thanks a bunch for the support!

I'm not surprised! They are kept in incredible condition and were built so well.

+MrMtackman I think that's the most powerful thing anyone has written to me thus far. I'm so glad that I could have that part in your life. Please keep me updated at friendlyskiesfilm@gmail.com I really want to hear about your adventures.

+Matthew Kosmoski Yeah! So I've heard. I've even got some really good explanations about this from my fellow pilot friends. The best demonstration of it that I can offer, is to watch this video, and compare it to another where I pass through class B airspace close to Boston, and you can clearly see how much more rapidly the light is blinking in the latter. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/oa9pq85229XZmI0.html&lc=z125gddyltymddkts234gppj2nvjh1fqy04

Thanks, bud ;)

You're obviously not wrong, but which one is easier and more fun to explain to a passenger who knows nothing about airplanes? "It's all part of the show" ;)

All done by hand in Adobe After Effects. Glad you enjoyed :)

You got mad skilz!

You're too kind ;) Maybe I did a few years ago, but I often fear it's been lost to time.

I can confirm that he still remembers most of it to this day, but can you blame him for being a little excited about his first GA flight? ;)

Nope :)

+Jonathan Boes I've heard so many stories about this, I don't know what to think anymore. I think I should ask Bendix or a transponder manufacturer to clear this up for us. I have to say, though, your explanation comes the closest to what I thought.

Yep! Love that airport.

no flight school. Can't pay for that kind of intro ;)

I never wear them... I'm pretty much banking on them having figured out a quick fix to cataracts by the time I'm 50...

Gary Veduccio Nope! I don't even consider myself a seasoned pilot yet! I know I'm going to have a plane at my disposal for three years, so in theory I'm building up enough time to make my CFI possible if I ever choose to get it.

Friendly Skies Film You make an effort to explain things to people better than some instructors...I do the same so that people with me understand it is not magic and they feel like hmm I could do this some day

Gary Veduccio I find the hardest part is changing your explanations to fit the person's technical knowledge each time. Preston in this video can handle "radar beacons," "gyroscopes," and "power settings," but he is a computer programmer at Dell. Sometimes I feel like my passengers would understand better if I simply told them it was magic...

+Friendly Skies Film your videos are well done and you definitely do a good job explaining things to your passengers! I have a couple of videos of my flights but I';ve only got around to editing one of them so far and its not nearly as well done. How do you capture your audio? I also have a request or minor critique if you will though, as good as a job you do explaining to your passengers what to expect, in some ways we are your passengers too but we dont have the benefit of the pre-flight "where are we going to go" briefing. It'd be great if you added a short part introducing your video (what you planned, how you deviated and why); I know some of the information (like how/why) can be found in the video description but sometimes it's tough to tell exactly what you planned for in the first place Your friend Preston was actually correct regarding the transponder. Just like the TX/RX lights on our radios, the transponder light flashes every time it is responding to an "interrogation request." There's a great article that talks about how the transponder and radar systems come together and why transponders have multiple "power" settings (particularly the common analog king model with its off/stby/on/alt/test positions); its something I found when going through my primary and can be found here: www.avweb.com/news/avionics/183231-1.html It's an interesting article and it seems pretty accurate but I havent cross checked it against modern regulations and having been published in 1998, it's 17 years old so things have likely changed some. I also dont know if the modes, particularly the Stby/Gnd mode, apply to the frequently seen Garmin 300-series transponders with digital display read out and push button squawk codes. Off/On/Alt would seem obvious but I dont know if the Garmin 300 needs the "warmup" period on Stby/Gnd that the King models did. Of course the Garmin does a fantastic job of detecting it needs to switch to Alt mode all on its own; I've intentionally taken off with it in the Stby/Gnd mode and it jumped to Alt before I was barely off the ground. As for the "magic" of flying... As an IT person myself, there is an old joke the source of which I have long since lost and have been unable to relocate about FM Technology. Somewhere, someplace at sometime there was a company that had a datacenter where no one really knew how all the systems worked and so they took to referring to it as Magic Technology. When things inevitably failed the sysads would complain about the F<expletive> Magic Technology but being a conservative work place, you couldnt just say an expletive so "FM Technology" was born and eventually it became a catchall for everything... Why are we having problems with the network? Must be the FM Technology must be acting up again. Why is the website suddenly so fast? Must be that FM technology. Eventually word got around to the Marketing and Sales team and doing as they do, they wanted to market FM Technology as the differentiator so they asked some engineers what FM Technology really was and how it could be used to help them capture new business... Imagine their surprise to learn what it really stood for

I want to do a video of all the preflight stuff I do

+Dafydd Rees You can ask the tower for almost anything, but barring there being closed taxiways, you would most likely exit the runway, then ask ground for taxi for take off on the same runway again. They won't think it's weird. I promise :P

Haha ;)

Not bothering me at all! I love answering great comments, and frankly, it's how I get my ideas for future videos! I would say that most pilots leave the exact time to begin their descent (T/D = Top of Descent) up to their instincts, kind of like deciding when to start braking your car when exiting the highway. There are rules of thumb that you can use, but they work better for faster aircraft, since the winds will have less effect. I personally use a little known tool in my Garmin 430W GPS. I program in the descent rate that I want (-800fpm is comfortable) and it notifies me when to begin my descent. Not 100% sure what you mean about the angle we enter final at, but the maximum bank angle that you are supposed to use while flying in the pattern is 30 degrees. I wish I did this full time... I just love flying with friends :)

Very helpful and I will look back at this if I ever get confused again, thanks!!!

I also had one more question. You seem pretty experienced when your flying like in this video, how long have you been flying for and how long did it take for you to get your license? just as a perspective for when I start pilots school.

Hahahah Thanks so much! This was my second flight after getting my license! XD I got it in 42hrs, which is pretty much the minimum after the actual exam. I had been flying since I was a kid, but not really in control until age 18.

Wow, very helpful!

Cool! Where abouts?

Friendly Skies Film Abilene, Kansas

Friendly Skies Film The Warrior is white with blue stripes reaching from the nose back to the tail and it goes up onto the rudder

Aw, thanks mate ;)

+jamani1086 Haha! I'll let him know ;)

+Friendly Skies Film cool beans, thanks

George Charles Allen why do you have two channels?

Lol nope. It's funny to see which ones have and haven't after a few years of doing this, though. So far I think I've gotten... 8/250 total who will definitely be getting their pilot's license soon. That's over double the ratio of pilots in the US, though! So I guess I'm doing something right! :)

LOL! You sure are! Keep up the great work. Love your vids.

Too kind ;)

Oh cool. Owned, rented?

Friendly Skies Film rent

Well, in this case, it take no money to bum a ride off a new pilot, but flying really isn't as expensive as everyone makes it out to be ;)

It'd be more than $1000 and that's all I have aside to work with. Was thinking about just going to the local airport and asking random people for a ride, but I'm not so sure everyone would take kindly to it.

Haha yeah, can definitely be weird if you haven't done it in a while.

Yep, have you done any narrow runway landings?

Oh yes. Not fun at all in a crosswind.

always fun when your airplane is much wider than the runway

+Andrew Kennedy You'll find all of my videos there and pictures of any other aviation fun that I have too! Thank god somebody else on youtube knows about shaveaviation! Thanks for commenting, and your kind words. See you over on shareaviation!

Oh I'm familiar with your type by now ;P 5 Million views and 10,000 comments later, you kind of get used to it. As one of my favorite regulars pointed out in another video recently 129(e)(3) says that this only applies in class D airspace to turbine powered aircraft. Piston aircraft are responsible to maintain above the GS until it is safe to descend and necessary for a safe landing. Since every instructor I've ever had taught me to "aim for the numbers" and "exit the runway as quickly as possible," I believe my interpretation to be acceptable (and all legal aspects aside, exactly what I've been told and shown by literally countless instructors) Remember, posting a comment will get you the same snarky pilot response right back! :D

Whoa there, big snarky fella! Sorry to say, your interpretation of 91.129 is incorrect. A lot of pilots mistakenly believe that all of 91.129(e)(3) pertains to large or turbine airplanes. It does not. Your "favorite regular" is also wrong. I myself have made the same mistake. But I have seen the light, my brother! In reality, the entirety of "91.129 Operation in Class D Airspace" pertains to *all* aircraft. In fact, if you read (e), the heading says... "Minimum altitudes when operating at an airport in Class D airspace." Note: No mention of any particular type of aircraft. Then it goes on to specify a few things. Like many FAR's it is confusingly written because *some* sections of part (e) do apply to large and turbine powered aircraft. But not all. 91.129(e)(1) and (2) do apply to large and turbine powered airplanes because they say so. But Section (e)(3) is a stand-alone part, as it makes no such specification. If part (e) said, "Minimum altitudes for large and turbine-powered airplane at airports in Class D airspace" (or some such wording) I'd be right with you. But that's not how it's written, is it? The FAA is very particular and specific in their wording, and it sometimes takes a lawyer to figure out what they mean. You would not be the first pilot to make "the 91.129(e) mistake," obviously. And again, maybe I'm being pedantic. I appreciate your good-natured response. But like I said, when you put a video up on KZfaq in front of God and everyone, you have to expect some, um, feedback. And the fact is, at a tower-controlled (Class D) airport, a pilot may not descend below a VASI in any type of airplane.

Like I said, totally used to my overly pedantic commenters :) It's how we all learn. Reading the actual text, and not relying on a quote, my only question is, when does "until a lower altitude is necessary for a safe landing" apply? In theory large runways with glidepaths are hopefully long enough as to not present danger to a small plane, but then again, "runway behind you, altitude above you..." When would it not behoove the pilot (and the efficiency of the airport) for the pilot not to land and exit as quickly as possible? I ask these questions out of pure curiosity, because I'm an engineer, and like exploring answers :)

Good question! I guess it would come down to the FAA's definition of "necessary." If you come dragging in the last two miles below the VASI and the FAA might not think that's "necessary." But as with most everything in aviation, it's gotta be a judgment call. I think the point is that one cannot simply ignore the VASI at a tower-controlled airport merely because he or she wants to land and turn off early for the sake of convenience, or to "clear the runway more quickly." The Local controller is responsible for the spacing, not you. I don't know why the FAA made that rule and made it only apply to tower-controlled airports. No idea. But they did.

Right? It's really weird, especially buried in there with all that turbine stuff. It's also weird that you can ask to do a simulated engine out at a controlled field, where you will obviously not be paying a lick of attention to the GS. Thanks for pointing this one out. Super weird, actually.