This ultralight flying video is popular

I don’t know why this video is popular but quite a few people have viewed it on YouTube so I thought that I’d include it here in a short post. It was actually an experiment where I had one GoPro camera mounted underneath the aircraft and another one mounted on the wing. I was using Adobe Premiere to perform what is called multicam editing which is where you have the two videos synchronised on the edit timeline and you switch between one and the other.

I think people like it because it gives them a sense of being in the aircraft and flying along with me. Not to mention that the scenery is quite spectacular. This area is known as the Howard Springs hunting reserve and is located really within the boundaries of Darwin. I fly over this area all the time on my way out to Gunn Point or the Tiwi Islands.

Sometimes you have to be on the lookout for thousands of magpie geese, especially during breeding season. There is another short period of time where I have to be on the lookout for hunters who are trying to shoot those same magpie geese. During the wet season the grasslands are filled with water creating an ideal nesting environment for the geese. Once the water subsides then it is time for feral pigs to move in. Throughout the year we can have flocks of brolgas, pelicans and the more solitary jabiru can be seen strutting on the mudflats looking for fish morsels either for themselves or for their fledglings in the incredibly large nests they create in high mangrove trees normally along the side of rivers.

The Howard River spills into Shoal Bay which can sometimes be a trap for the unwary fisherman in their boat as the tide can vary by 7 m. It is a great place for fishing and along the Gunn Point camping area it is extremely popular during the dry season when the nights are cooler.

Even though I fly in very similar places on my weekends and of course many things stay the same there is always something new and exciting to see on each and every flight.