So, I was searching for a nice video to post today... there was a fresh people are awesome video with a variety of extreme death-defying sports feats including various airborne activities... then there was a new-just-yesterday extreme wingsuit video with an impossibly long-and-low flight down a slope (literally just a few feet off the ground)... and then I stumbled onto this video of a humble Cub on skis landing on a packed and icy patch next to a runway at an airport up in Canada last January. Sorry extreme freaks, the Cub wins.
Honestly, I'm worn out on extreme today. I want real. I want doable. I want everyday.
I want to savor the simple pleasure of a 65hp 1939 Piper Cub touching down gently, right ski first, with a little wind on the nose. I wanna hear the gear legs and skis make noises as they slide across the icy packed snow. I wanna see a skillful pilot simply land a lowly Cub with a gentle hand and ready feet.
As a guy with a lot of low-n-slow taildragger time, the joy I get from seeing that Cub touch down so gently is a more powerful feeling than seeing a guy fly down a hill at a hundred miles an hour a few feet off the ground in flying squirrel suit. Don't misunderstand, I like extreme, but I love pure and simple.
Here's to the new extreme: slow, simple, humble, pure... and awesome.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Video screenshot of the Cub's incredible moment of touchdown!
110 years of powered flight... thanks guys!
Dec 17, 1903 - Dec 17, 2013
