YouTube Flying Videos by Jan Nademlejnsky

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January 23, 2024

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141. Using 3 Axis Gimbal Stabilizer, with GoPro Bar Camera, Dec 27, 2016

The camera view does not look too impressive, unless it would be placed up front and facing back or the other way around. The stabilizer was sometimes "hunting" around vertical axes at about +/- 3 deg, which is annoying. Battery lasted only 30 min at -2C, while manual says 4 hours.

Stabilizer FY-WG X3 has 3 gyroscopes and could be mounted on helmet too. I used "GoPro Hero3+ Silver" camera with this stabilizer.



140. Using 3 Axis Gimbal Stabilizer, with GoPro Wing Camera, Dec 27, 2016

The camera view looks interesting, but there are some negatives too. The stabilizer was sometimes "hunting" around vertical axes at about +/- 3 deg, which is annoying. Battery lasted only 30 min at -2C, while manual says 4 hours.

Stabilizer FY-WG X3 has 3 gyroscopes and could be mounted on helmet too. I used "GoPro Hero3+ Silver" camera with this stabilizer.



139. Flying to Mt Peter & Paul and Chasing Clouds, Dec 10, 2016

After about 10 days of suddenly cold weather we got break. It was sunny, -5C and ground just covered with show. I like these conditions, because everything looks nicer from the air. The Kamloops area complex terrain looks even more complex with contrasting white snow and dark bare faces and ridges. I flew around and above the Mt Peter and Paul, Kamloops beautiful landmark. I also spotted several wild horses there. I could not keep my fingers warm, so I was looking for different layers with warmer temperature. It was amazing to feel the temperature differences in higher elevations. It was actually very warm at about 1000' above the ground.

I flew over bunch of clouds above the Mara Hill. I had fun there. I even forgot that my fingers are really getting numb. It was good day



138. Black Friday Flying around Kamloops Lake, Nov 25, 2016

Everybody rushed to spent money on Black Friday specials, but I went for Fun Friday flying tour. It was perfect day to fly in this beautiful blue sky over our region spectacular scenery. It was another first for me, because the north side of the Kamloops Lake is not very accident friendly area. The micro weather is also challenging there very often. The Kamloops Lake is sitting in deep "canyon". It is around 25 km long, 2.5 km wide and down to 150 m deep. The north ridge, lake shore, cliffs and steep hills are spectacular and favourite place for my ground explorations too. I was originally planning to fly just half way following the north ridge. The weather was perfect, no turbulence, no unexpected surprises, so I decided to fly to the end. The lake south side is mostly accident friendly place, so much safer to fly, which I did many times before. I was surprised, when I was editing my video from 3 GoPro cameras that I flew through very good turbulence too, but I did not even notice. I guess, I am getting more resilient now.



137. Flying in Kamloops Following North Thompson River to McLure, Nov 16, 2016

A friend asked me to take some pictures in McLure area. The weather just turned to very good from gloomy a few minutes before. I jumped into my trike and flew in the coldest day of the year to North. The sky was beautiful, but just 3 km before the target area, the clouds closed in. The photo conditions were the worst possible in very big contrasts. Later I learned that I took pictures of the wrong area. Oh, well, at least I had some fun.

Note: All my videos are taken in 4x3 (1280x960). This is default setting on all GoPro Cameras. This wide angle of view in vertical direction is perfect setting for skiing, snowboarding, flying, water sports, because it captures max possible angle in vertical direction. It shows all from sky to skis or from sky to what is under me when flying. 16x9 format is cropped out strips from the top and from the bottom of the existing captured information, which does not make any sense. These days everybody is going nuts about 16x9 because all TV are in more less 16x9 format. iPads are in 4x3 format so my video covers full screen.

My posted videos are converted by YouTube to 16x9, but 1280x720 from original 1280x960. The resulting video has lower resolution then the original with black strips on left and right. My original video is shrunk from 1280 x 960 =1228822 pixels per frame to 960 x 720 = 691200 which is only 56% of the original frame resolution. I am not happy about it.

I saved another version of this video in the 16x9 format while I padded sides of the frames with black strips myself while maintaining the vertical resolution of 960 pixels. I converted it from 1280x960 to 1920x1080 by default Corel VS X9 format for my video. I will see if this makes any difference on YouTube: It was even worse the before. YouTube resized it to back 1280x720. It did not work as I thought it would.



136. Flying in Kamloops North Ridge and Sand Bars, Nov 14, 2016

It was beautiful day, perhaps the last of relatively warm autumn days. Fluffy clouds created beautiful spotty patterns on the rolling hills. I really like these days. Kamloops nature is very spectacular and it shows in my video.

I used my third GoPro camera on the helmet, but the result is disappointing. There is too much head movement. I wanted to use it mainly to maintain horizon level in the turns, which is how it should be. The airplane is tilting while horizon is level. Even in commercial movies the airplane is horizontal, but the background is tilting, which is not normal.

I will not use head cam anymore. The next time, I have to find some camera exciting location to mount it.



135. Flying in Kamloops Following South Thompson River East, Nov 6, 2016

It looked like perfect day for flying: sunny, very few clouds and no wind. I wanted to fly to Chase, but as soon as I crossed the North Thompson Rive the turbulence started with wind shifting 180 deg in few minutes. It was no fun flying, because it was getting continually more intense. As I did not want to push my luck, I decided to head home. I hope next time



134. Flying in Kamloops to Rose Hill Rd Area and Sand Bars, Oct 22, 2016

It was nice day to go flying, so I vent. I explored the area east of Knutsford and found some beautiful places. I used my all road motorcycle in the afternoon to take also ground pictures, but all roads and access were private. It was very disappointing.



133. Flying in Kamloops to North Ridge and South Thompson, Oct 11, 2016

It was cold (8C) sunny morning, total contrast to hot days just 3 weeks before. I was flying about 10 minutes, when I realized that I left my camera on the back seat. I was not sure if I will see my popular camera ever again as there is nothing preventing it from falling out of sky. I turned very gently to prevent camera to slip out. Luckily, I found it still on that seat when I landed.

I took off again to North Ridge with intend to fly about 20 km north. The heavy rolling clouds right in my intended path scarred me, so I turn back south, following the North Thompson River to downtown. The highlight of the flight was low flying above the spectacular and never the same South Thompson River sand bars. I was very close to circling three eagles, but did not manage to capture that experience.



132. Exploring Rolling Hills of the North Ridge, Sep 10, 2016

I was filming my contribution to Canada in a Day in the morning, but the sky was not too impressive. Finally the sun showed up and with it the flying mood level went up too. I explored beautiful area of the Kamloops North Ridge with rolling hills and many small lakes. The surrounding areas of the lakes (slews) turn purple as they drying out in this time of the year. It is very beautiful there.



131. "Canada in a Day", Kamloops Flying, Sep 10, 2014

This is short video of my story as Canadian. It is my contribution to CTV campaign to collect as many videos as possible from people documenting what they are doing on Sep. 10, 2016



130. Flying to Downtown, Mt Paul and NW of Kamloops Lake, Sep 4, 2016

It looked like almost perfect flying afternoon. I received few kicks from the Mother Nature right at the start, but eventually the weather settled down to let me enjoy my time in the air. I flew to downtown and then north around Mt Paul, where I was knocked down very good be a downdraft. The rest of the flight following the North Ridge west was just pure joy. Beautiful, blue sky with heave and interesting clouds made it even more enjoyable. I flew farthest west then before to have that magnificent view of the Kamloops Lake north shore. I played around there and above still to me mysterious Frederick village. I explored this area several times on my terrain motorcycle, bicycle and on foot, but never from the air. It was worth it.

I ended my trip over the river sand bars which are developing very nicely.  The river level is dropping steadily by this time of the year and exposing intricate forms of newly created sand bars. It is really joy to fly over and to have this rare opportunity to see it like that.



129. Flying to Downtown, Mt Peter and Paul, North Ridge and Sand Bars, Aug 20, 2016

Just needed my flying fix. One hour flying in Kamloops in very hot (36C) and calm weather.



128. Flying to Buse Hill Again for Close Look of that Beauty, Aug 12, 2016

After my previous flight to Buse Hill area in Aug 1, 2016, I drove my terrain motorcycle there to explore that beautiful region. I was so impressed that I decided to fly there again for close look. I wish the camera could capture exactly what human eye can see. I also tried my hand GoPro strap for some more interesting camera angle views. The result was disappointing, because the camera is too loose-fitting resulting shaky videos. The hand signals do not indicate that I got mad; they are used to synch my 3 GoPro cameras.



127. Flying to Buse Hill, Hwy 97 and Hwy 1 Loop, Aug 1, 2016

It was very calm morning, unusually cold at 15C compare with previous days at 25C. This was second time trying to fly east across Buse Lake area to Hwy 97 and then north to Hwy 1 and back to Kamloops. The only problem was the hazy air and very low rising sun directly into my face and cameras. I was surprised by the landscape beauty south of the Buse Hill around the Disdero Lake. It is something to explore on my terrain motorcycle, as soon as current heat wave eases a bit.



126. Happy Day. Finally Flying to Merritt through Nicola Valley, June 29, 2016

I finally made it. The weather always won over my bravery during my many unsuccessful attempts to fly through Nicola Valley. The weather was very flying friendly the last 3 days, especially after almost 3 weeks of totally unpredictable weather. I flew to Merritt airport through the very beautiful Nicola Valley. This time the conditions were right without any nasty surprises. Unfortunately, my wing camera quit just 3 min after take off. I rest it in Merritt. This was so far my longest flight of 167 km, about 2:20 of flying time. I encountered one scary cloud for about 20 min during my return leg, but fortunately we did not cross our path. The Nicola Valley is one of the most scenic highway routes in BC as shown from my dash camera here: https://youtu.be/7bTRhtiE6RU



125. Flying to North of McQueen Lake and NW Area of North Ridge, June 26, 2016

It was new area for me to fly to, which is not very engine-out friendly. It is beautiful like all this region of BC. It was one of the most enjoyable flights, without turbulence.



124. Elusive Flight to Nicola Valley, June 7, 2016

Another attempt to fly through the Nicola Valley did not happen. I wanted to fly to Merritt airport following the beautiful Nicola Valley, refuel there and return above the Coquihalla highway. I did not make it too far due the sudden weather change. Nicola Valley is famous (to myself) with nasty winds and unpleasant turbulence.

I took off from Kamloops with no wind, turned south shortcut over the beautiful rolling hills, small lakes and numerous animal pastures towards the Valley. It is shown and annotated in the video, how the peacefulness could turn instantly into nastiness. It felt like someone turn on a switch. It did not take too much time to decide to turn back. Even the places absolutely steady just 5 min before were very bumpy. I hope I will make it one day through.



123. My Dream Gyrocopter Flight Penticton - Oliver - Osoyoos - Penticton, May 30, 2016

My big, about 45 year old dream to owe and fly a gyro almost fully materialized in Penticton. I took my wife there with a hope that she would like the fight so we could fly together. Unfortunately she told me that nobody would ever get her into that thing. Her limit is Dash 8. This answered my gyro ownership. I realized that it would be a lot of dedicated time and expenses to get pilot licence before I could legally fly "this thing". My remaining life expectancy and at least $100,000 cost did not look too good.

So I just relaxed and enjoyed very good instruction flying from Mark Humbke, long time gyro flyer. It was actually my second gyro flight. The first attempt to get gyro license was in 1999 when I took my tent and check book to Wetaskiwin, AB.

My intent was to stay there until I have gyro license. My 20 min intro flight in RAF gyro was not what I expected. I did not like that screaming engine at 7,800 rpm behind my back and extremely sensitive control. I could not control it and I was airsick like dog. I bought 6 month old Ford Taurus station wagon instead. I still have this car with only 100,000 km and like new.

The flight in MTO Sport by Air Pro Gyro, made in Germany, was totally different story. It was perfect. It was hot day after cool morning. Flying above fields and lakes must produce a lot of turbulence, but I did not feel any. I guess I am now well trained in turbulent air from Kamloops. Mark is excellent instructor. First he showed me what gyro does and its basic limits. From about 90 min flight I was in control for around 25 minutes. Everything was very natural to me after about 10 min. No surprises and just pure pleasure. I was ready for complete flight, which, I hope will happen someday. I will be flying with Mark just for pleasure, without hassles of studying, exams and major cost.



122. Kamloops Flying to Knutsford for Club Flying BBQ, May 14, 2016

Blue sky, cold(er) morning and no wind is perfect combination for some serious turbulence. I flew to Knutsford for our flying club annual BBQ. The air was bumpy but not too bad. Landed safely at Knutsford, had my hot sausage, and watch some planes still arriving. It was perfect day to be outdoor with sun cooking in full force. I knew it would be challenge to fly back down to airport valley. I was not disappointed in my assessment. It was kicking like wild horse down to the hot runway radiated the heat right into my face. Overall, it was good day.



121. Kamloops Flying to Nicola Valley and Flying around Clouds, May 13, 2016

I attempted several times to fly through Nicola Valley in the past, but had to return because of almost always present strong and gusty winds. This deep valley with many lakes and steep cliff sides is famous for this type of weather. Finally, the conditions were almost ripe in that early morning, except I was pushed by 15 km/h tail wind. I enjoyed my flight, but eventually I turned around before it would be too late, because I had to fly into 15 km/h headwind. It feels like slow motion movie to go so slow. It was also bumpy as I was influenced by the undulation of the terrain and the wind following those contours too. I had again chance to play a bit in tow morning clouds, my best and favourite part.



120. Kamloops Flying to Greenstone Mtn, Ajax Mine, Knutsford, Downtown and Tranquille Farm, May 5, 2016

I took off early morning to prevent any Kamloops typical nasty weather surprises. I flew to and around Greenstone Mountain, Ajax mine and landed at our flying club airstrip Knutsford. Continued to downtown, North Ridge and then to check the state of the flooded Tranquille farm area land.



119. Chasing Clouds, Kamloops, Apr 22, 2016

After many days of very hot weather we received some rain. The air was loaded with evaporated moisture with many beautiful, layered clouds over and around high mountain peaks. I could not miss this rare opportunity to fulfill my childhood dream to jump and play in this fluff. That morning the weather was almost sunny and no wind. I had fun by flying close, beside and above those clouds, but still did not dare to fly through.

I checked also the South Thompson River. My popular sand bars and beaches were all gone under the already very high water level.



118. Flying in Turbulent Air, Kamloops, Apr 3, 2016

The weather was good, practically no wind and overcast sky which usually brings more stable air for flying. Well. I was wrong. I felt like riding on wild horse, especially around downtown and Mt Paul. I had hard time to judge the wind direction, because it was changing constantly in 180 deg in different elevation layers. Originally I wanted to fly over the Mt Peter and Paul to video wild horses which I could see from a distance. I gave up on that idea, because I could not judge if I am on up or down wind of the mountain. Eventually I flew back in not very pleasant bumps and stayed over the South Thompson River and its sandbars.



117. Kamloops Flying to Knutsford, Nicola Valley and North Ridge, Mar 31, 2016

It was just another beautiful day to go flying. Flew over downtown, Knutsford airfield and intended to fly through Nicola Valley, but it was too turbulent and unpredictable for my taste. I turned around and flew to my favorite North Ridge then sand bars on South Thompson River.



116. Kamloops Flying to Knutsford and River Sandbars, Mar 26, 2016

I was asked by someone to take video of the South Thompson River to see how to navigate through the sand bars by a boat. I thought it is good idea to give to Kamloops boaters information how to avoid getting stacked in the middle of still very cold river. Also I asked my fellow pilot to test his Christmas gift SLR camera while I am flying. He would take pictures of me in the air at Knutsford airstrip.

The weather conditions looked good and the wind speed forecast was low. It showed very quickly that this was not the case. The air was very turbulent with strong variable wind from south. But I had commitment to fly over my photographer at Knutsford, so I pushed forward. I made several passes to pose for the camera and eventually landed for few minutes at Knutsford. Since I did not like the horizontal wind sock, I decided to head back while it is still flyable. I flew back towards the airport following the river while taking pictures and video of the sandbars.



115. Kamloops Flying to Take Pictures of Sandbars, Mar 26, 2016

I was asked by someone to take video of the South Thompson River to see how to navigate through the sand bars by a boat. I thought it is good idea to give to Kamloops boaters information how to avoid getting stacked in the middle of the very cold river.

I took video by two cameras and pictures from the rivers junction up to delta of Kamloops lake. The result is the overall view of the very shallow river where it is almost guaranteed to stack on the sandbars unless you have aerial view to see where to go. I used minimal editing to show as much info as possible.



114. Kamloops Short but Rough Flight, Mar 14, 2016

It looked like perfect flying day, but it was not. First it was raining a bit, but no cloud around. I turned from downtown to north following the river up to golf course. The air became very turbulent. I was bounced like yoyo, so I decided to take short cut over the North Ridge back to the airport, but it did not want to move. At one point my control bar was pulled from my hand and into the turn, because my left wing got into updraft. A year ago or so I would totally freak out, but I am getting more used to these funny weather phenomena.



113. Kamloops Flying with GoPro on the Selfie Stick, Feb 29, 2016

The perfect weather continued so I decided to go for second flight. I mounted GoPro camera on telescopic hand held selfie stick. I was hoping for some interesting shots while "steering" with one hand and fiddling with camera with the other hand. I chose the sand bars on South Thompson River where the wind and turbulence are more predictable. One hand operation is not always the most pleasant experience, so I wanted to have as few variables as possible.

I was particularly after the video and pictures while in turn. Normally camera does not take true representation of reality, if the camera is fixed to the plane. The plane stays horizontal, but the actual horizon in background is tilted. While flying I tried to rotate camera so that it is horizontal to the actual horizon. It is not always easy to do, because I cannot watch the camera 100% of time while flying. I think I took some decent videos and pictures from the screen shots.



112. Kamloops Flying to See Wild Horses, Feb 29, 2016

It was one of those "Must-Fly-Days". The weather was perfect for whatever doing outside, but especially to fly. I decided to fly pack to SE of Mt Peter to see and video the wild horses again. I flew there on Feb 6, but my GoPro did not work so I flew there again. Unfortunately the horses were scattered all over and especially on the downwind slope of the ridge. The snow was gone so they have no reason to stay down on bared land. I made several passes around them and the "meadow" and on the top of Mt Paul. I was also very close to soaring eagle north of the airport. I tried to follow it, but I had no chance with my 65 Hp engine versus the perfectly natural creation of the eagle. It was fun.



111. My Birthday Flying in Kamloops, Feb 6, 2016

This was my 69th birthday, which is frightening and unfair. It is the last year when I will not be in seventies. Regardless, it was very good weather to go flying. My original intend was to fly to Harper mountain ski hill, but I did not find it. I stayed in South Thompson River valley and on the way back I buzz above herd of wild horses. I counted 22 horses in that spot and 6 in another place. I was flying so, that I could take video of them from my control bar camera, which I can control by hand. When I landed I found that the memory card was full from the previous flight, so no video from that and intended angle. You can still see them from my wing camera.



110. Exploring West part of Kamloops North Ridge and Sand Bars, Jan 24, 2016

The weather was perfect for flying. I decided to explore the mountain area north of Frederick Rd. This is very beautiful and popular area for hikers, particularly the section between Kamloops Lake and Frederick Rd. The north parts of mountains, north of Frederick Rd is very steep and rugged terrain, which I knew very little about. Now it was time to expand my knowledge.



109. Flying from Kamloops to Tobiano, Jan 20, 2016

It was absolutely perfect day to go flying. I just installed engine electric carburetor heaters to prevent icing of the carburetors. I am very well experienced with carb icing, but it was not a big deal when flying in Fort McMurray. There was always place for an emergency landing. I removed the iced up carb there and used hair dryer to melt the ice and then dry it. I installed it back and flew again.

The carb icing is much more dangerous in Kamloops region. There are very few places for an emergency landing. The heaters gave me an extra confidence in my beautiful bird.

The air was very smooth so it was pleasure to fly in +5C and blue sky weather. Flew west over Tobiano golf course and residential area situated on the south side of Kamloops Lake in spectacular location. Flew further west over the hoodoos and back. Took a lot of pictures. The day was so perfect that I decided to fly again. See the next video #108.



108. Flying from Kamloops to Ajax Mine and Nicola Valley Clouds, Jan 20, 2016

The weather was so perfect that I could not waste it. I decided to explore Ajax Mine area, which is very often in the news because of the "pro and against" mine issues. I took many pictures from low level and 6,000'. When at 6,000' I noticed further south that Nicola Valley was totally covered by clouds. This very deep and wide valley looked like river filled up to the brim with clouds. I had to explore it. It was phenomenal.

The west side from intersection of hwy 5A and Campbell Creek Rd was 100% in clouds and the east side was clear with cloud transition by the intersection. I never had seen something like this and especially not from the air. I took a lot of pictures while flying across the valley above those clouds. The sundog was leading me on my NE side when flying back. I had very strong urge to burry myself in those clouds, so only my head and the wing would be above them. I chickened out. I had no idea how this would influence my flight and I did not want to take any chances.



107. Flying from Kamloops to Harper Mountain ski hill, Jan 13, 2016

Plus 5C was inviting temperature to fly in snow covered Kamloops. Flew to Harper mountain ski hill. The area below me was partially covered in clouds which added an extra excitement.

 

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