For those that don’t know, for a few months I attempted to get my pilot’s license back in 2011. Several days a week for six months, I was in a Cessna 172 Skyhawk trying to learn the basics of how to be a pilot. In case you were wondering, I was good enough to fly the thing, was trying to sort out landing the thing, and was right against my first solo flight when I had to abandon the program due to financial reasons…and the fact that I often scared myself stupid when things went even kind of haywire. At the time, I felt that flying was the perfect way to add on to a nearly decade’s worth of working on helicopters.

One thing I quickly learned about the 172: it’s a stable aircraft, it’s a forgiving aircraft, but it is not a powerful aircraft by any stretch of the imagination. With my big ass in the seat and an instructor on board, we actually had to be cautious about the fuel load in the Cessna before take-off, and more often than not we used quite a bit of the runway at Love Field in Prescott, Arizona before the Skyhawk would climb into the desert sky. One thing that did stick with me in those flights: whenever the weather was going to hell on the ground, I tended to enjoy flying better because the wind was so helpful. Cloudy and gusting winds? Smooth as butter. Sunny and gorgeous? I’d be the color of my old Mustang when I landed, gray-greenish, and was puking up whatever was in my stomach at the end of the day.

In Valdez, Alaska, the wind is always stirring a bit and the Valdez Fly-In and Air Show turns out one of the coolest flight competitions you can find for pure pilot skill: the short takeoff and landing (STOL) event. This footage is from the 2018 event that saw Frank Knapp, in his very modified Piper Cub, take off in eleven feet and saw Dan Reynolds in a Birdman Chinook land in nine and a half feet. You’re likely to see more movement one way or another with a Harrier or a helicopter!

The next Valdez Fly-In and Air Show will be held on May 10-12, 2019.