And.... it begins

KAVU days in the AirJeep by: Jeff Shapiro

By KAVU

October 1^st, 2019

lifelong dreams

I discovered flight when I was 17 years old. I felt as though..... never could a kid be so lucky.

Hang gliding was an answer to how I could soar over mountains and attempt to touch the clouds and honestly, flying was something that I'd dreamed of doing in my earliest of memories.

Over the years, that fascination with flight (of various types) has been a vehicle to see the world, discover amazing people and to find exploration and adventure. KAVU is an aviation term in it's origin. Klear Above, Visibility Unlimited and my whole life has been driven by the search for KAVU days.

My Dad told me once that, "everything we do in life, perfectly prepares us for what's coming next". The years of hang gliding, paragliding, and flying wing suits in the mountains had lit a fire that can't really be put out. During a recent expedition in the Brooks Range, Cody Tuttle and I hiked and flew our paragliders over a portion of the ANWR (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge) which, is another story for another time. But during that trip, we were supported with a supply drop and an eventual flight out of the mountains by friends and legendary bush pilots, Jonny Olsen and Ken Macdonald. I'd been flown in Bush Planes before on climbing expeditions but never the way those guys flew them. Flying in a SuperCub..... 150' off the deck through those mountains made me see aviation, and how it can be practiced in a whole new light. I was instantly hooked and yet again felt that strong and unique pull.

Dream come true

Sometimes..... when a dream happens at just the right time, and just the right place, the path before us becomes lit up at every turn.

All of the best things in my life have felt like they were supposed to happen..... the proverbial "meant to be". In this case, that saying again proved to be true. With support in all of the right places from the most amazing people in my life, I began to put one foot in front of the other to figure out the steps toward my goal: to fly my own Bush Plane..... to discover new mountains and ultimately, to use this amazing tool to access new and wild places... for new and wild KAVU adventures.

Throwing a paraglider, packraft, surfboards, a mountain bike, climbing gear, BASE jumping gear (or a combination of them) in the back of my little plane and flying into remote locations to explore potential...... to me...... sounds like a life being well lived;-)

Canada

After a "head down" search, I was incredibly fortunate to find exactly what I was looking for in an airplane..... a BackCountry SuperCub replica PA12. What was interesting was, it was owned and registered by a pilot from the outskirts of Toronto, Canada in a town called Geulph.

It turns out, it's quite a long and specific process to de register a Canadian airplane, re register it with the FAA, and then manage all the paperwork to not only fly it out of Canadian airspace but, all the way back across the country to my home in Montana!

I attained the Special Ferry Permit to do just that, and then recruited my super good friend, Alex McCulloch to sit back seat for the grand adventure. Alex is a CFI (Certified Flight Instructor), a captain for the Airlines and can pretty much fly anything. We met flying hang gliders years and years ago and I couldn't imagine a better friend to have this type of adventure with. Plus, because he's an instructor, I would learn a ton and be able to log the hours toward my license.

So, after formalities and getting to know the airplane a bit..... off we went. Our first stop was to file the necessary flight plans to cross the border into Port Huron, MI and meet US Customs agents to clear us for the remainder of our journey toward Montana.

I have to say....... it felt amazing to finally be underway after months of planning and paperwork!

Customs turned out to be a piece of cake, since we had all of the necessary documentation pretty dialed...... thanks to the super nice people at the FAA that helped me through that process.

With my Garmin Pilot app and all of the weather tools we had, we quickly saw there was going to be significant weather to avoid on our way home.

So, we decided to divert further south than the route we'd originally intended but, all of the best adventures start when you realize that "control" is only an illusion;-)

It may sound trivial but, camping under the wing after a full day of flying in my own airplane was literally a "life-goal" realized.

We met super nice people at the small grass strip and spent our evening learning about airplanes, sharing good conversation and planning our next legs.

Not sure I've slept much better;-)

Storms and wind were becoming the theme so, Alex navigated us to bypass the worst of it while, I concentrated on learning how to fly the airplane.

Every day there were challenges and every day we had critical decisions to make but, we were having a blast and loving every minute of it! It's one thing to cross the country in a few hours while riding in the back of a commercial jet.

I discovered that it's quite another to fly 1000 feet off the deck at 95 mph in strong wind!

Slow and low.....that is the tempo!

Crossing the mississippi

We had to continue to push a bit south to get around the developing weather in the midwest portion of the country but, it felt like we were making progress as we buzzed over the mighty Mississippi River.

As we approached the end of our third day of flying, the storms were getting to an impressive level. We shot a gap between two developing super cells and landed in a place we thought was the right spot to tie the airplane down overnight without risk of hail.

Alex guided us to Yuma, Colorado and after landing there in the evening, we unfortunately discovered that we couldn't get fuel at that airport. So, we immediately took back off for another strip a mere 20 minutes away.

About a quarter of the way to our new destination, we ran into a gust front from a storm cell which was developing faster than expected. I made the call to turn around and land again at Yuma to wait it out. After we landed...... and by the time we got the plane tied down and properly secured...... a 40+ mph gust front rolled through.

The thunder and lighting show was impressive but, I think when the Tornado sirens started blaring over town, we got a little more than we were hoping for;-) In the end, it all turned out fine and we woke up to sun (and more wind!)

back at it.... and almost there!

Pushing north into Wyoming and seeing the mountains for the first time felt incredible. Although the wind was still strong and gusty, we made the flight from Cheyenne to Casper, landing to witness one of the most epic sunsets I've ever seen!

The next morning, we got an early start and flew past Cody and Redlodge, finally arriving into Montana airspace! Shooting the pass between Livingston and Bozeman made for some exciting moments for me (Alex was in the back seat laughing at me) but when we landed in Bozeman..... so close to home.... I couldn't help to feel like we were "making it".

The weather was still presenting challenges and it looked like the trend would continue all the way to my hanger but..... we were "making it"!

KAVU indeed!!

It started getting pretty cold as we flew on our last day. We had to climb to above 10,000' to get over the strong rotor and wind-associated turbulence in the mountains. Luckily, Alex had his wearable sleeping bag! I told him that what he really needed was a KAVU onesie!

We hopped over the pass into Butte, flying over the famous copper mine and onward toward Missoula.

Lady of the rockies

Neither Alex, nor I, ever thought it would take 5 days and over 28 hours of flying to make it home so, it was going to be close to get back in time for Alex's flight home to Denver. To make up time, we climbed high enough to cut the corner at Rock Creek and flew directly over the Sapphire mountains into our final destinations..... Stevensville, Montana!

It was so cool to fly the last 50+ miles..... terrain that I've flown over in hang gliders and paragliders for years. When we touched down and our journey was over..... I quickly realized that really......

.... it was just the beginning.

We made it back with 18 minutes to spare. Alex ran into the Missoula International Airport and barely made his flight home...... but barely always counts!