Finally got the camera hooked up properly to record air traffic control audio in the cockpit. All in all it was a pretty slow afternoon, I figured there would be more people flying around on a holiday weekend, but apparently not. A few police helicopters, and some banner towing planes and that’s about it… I had the pattern to myself for an hour on a Sunday. While I was in the pattern, Esteemed Freeskier editor Matt Harvey was suckered into going for an aerobatic demo flight with my flight instructor from Sunrise Aviation. Harvey managed to not throw up, despite a raging hangover.

Here’s a little edit of some footage I shot a couple years ago and came across again today… This is my buddy Andy Chiavetta of Aero Chia barn storming the beaches of South Laguna in his aqua equipped ultralight dubbed the Sea Mosquito… He launched at Dana Point harbor. The harbor master said he couldn’t start the engine inside the harbor so he was towed out to sea by another buddy Paulo on his jet ski. Paulo followed him around after he took off in case his glorified lawn mower engine crapped out and he needed a tow back to the harbor. Look for the pontoon bounce at 1:51, way to not wad it up, Chia.

So apparently Greg Stump has come out of hiding to release another movie, this aught to be interesting. I’m always into skiing history, and by the looks of his teaser he’s got the whole gang back together for a nice little retrospective on the history of ski film making. Check out http://legendofaahhhs.com for more info…

No, I’m not talking about sexual orientation, I’m talking about flying. About a month ago I enrolled in flight school at Sunrise Aviation at John Wayne Airport, and I’ve been dedicating every last second of the little bit of of free time I’ve got to getting out and flying around, working towards a Private Pilots license.

Today’s lesson was something that most flight schools don’t teach their private pilot students. The FAA doesn’t actually require private pilots to learn how to properly enter, recover and exit from spins, however, Sunrise Aviation does… so let the fun begin.

After my instructor Chris gave me the low down on what was going to happen and how to handle it, he turned me loose on the controls to get a feeling for myself. I did a few single turn spins, left and right. Once he was satisfied I was comfortable and performing the maneuver sufficiently, I asked him if he could show me a few tricks… this little video is Chris at the controls in a Super Decathlon, not our standard DA-20 trainer. First up is a two turn spin to the left, a loop, and then a roll… I’m hooked, and can’t wait for more!

It’s been a long time coming… a month or so to be exact. Nimbusindependent.com is live. I started the design phase for this website in conjunction with BNQT.com while in japan, traveling and shooting photos with the Nimbus Crew for their first webisode of the season En Route: Japan. And its the main reason why I haven’t been updating my own blog recently.

Nimbusindependent.com has come along way in a short time since then, thanks in no small part to the tireless efforts of their brilliant and dedicated programmers Derek and Alan. Check out the fruits of everyone’s labor, En Route Japan, shown here in three chunks. if you head to the site you can download the webisode in its entirty in full 1280 x 720 High Definition or iPod versions.

En Route: Japan (Part 1)

En Route: Japan (Part 2)

En Route: Japan (Part 3)

Go to Nimbus Independent for more videos.