Normally I am inclined to agree with you on everything....EVERYTHING.
Why? Because the guy who hired me to edit the Leon Russell concert video owned a Cessna and his favorite thing was to try and duplicate this guy's methods, only he was trying to do it in a Cessna.

He would light up a massive spliff, yank the throttle and try to take off from Santa Monica Airport in a hundred or so feet and he would shake and shudder, barely clipping suburban rooftops on the way out of town, all while turning around and yelling "Didja see that?!! If the Big One ever comes and destroys this airport I won't need a damn runway to get outta here!!"

The memory of watching the postage stamp that is Catalina Airport looming large as he dived toward it is something my ex wife (of the generous bosom) and I will never forget, our gorge becoming buoyant in our craw as he nearly crash landed on the runway screaming "Yeeee Haaaa!".

[Linked Image from deepfreezevideo.com]

How he never got cited or got his plane confiscated I will never understand.

ALMOST FAMOUS AIRPLANE SCENE



So yeah, normally I would agree with you.
But this little kit plane seems to have a great deal more lift than the average Cessna.
No sane person would hot dog any plane, even that one, that bad, so clearly he does think he leaves three tracks in the sand when he walks.
But just as clearly, this little plane does have some pretty impressive STOL characteristics.
It really is a short take off and landing craft.

I would never try to go as radical as he does, nor should anyone but that plane still impresses me. My ex wife probably wouldn't have lost her lunch all over her swollen blouse had we been in a plane like that instead.


"The Best of the Leon Russell Festivals" DVD
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