HD Video: Ride Along With Matt Younkin In The Airshow Twin Beech!
Tuesday, November 13, 2012 at 09:10PM
Here's a truly fabulous video uploaded a couple days ago to the Learn To Fly Canada youtube page that features an interview with pilot Matt Younkin, his crew chief Jeff Gibbs and then the most exciting part is the ride with Matt from the cockpit (and a few other HD cameras) as he performed his first ever airshow in Canada back in June at the 2012 Hamilton Airshow in Mount Hope, Ontario. The video runs a little over 28 minutes in all, so if you're in a hurry skip up to the 11:30 mark where you'll pick up with Matt making the long taxi out to get in position for takeoff. You'll notice on the taxi he pulls a couple strips off a roll of duct tape... I was thinking, hmm, what's that for? You'll just have to watch to figure that one out : )
The way this video puts you right there with Matt in the cockpit of the Twin Beech as he horses the big ole gal around the sky is just fantastic. Plus, the classically styled Twin Beech with a really cool retro looking paint scheme and two perfect Pratt & Whitney 450hp radial engines making lots of music almost puts you right back in that Golden Age of Air Racing that I posted about yesterday. I know I sound like a broken record (I guess that would be a skipping CD these days) but airplanes were just way more awesome back in those days!
Anyway, the video is a great piece of work done by (or maybe for) the people at LearnToFly.CA and definitely gets a 'must see' rating from me. You might also be interested in checking out my AirPigz Podcast #8 - Matt Younkin & Kyle Franklin: Sons Of Legends from February 2010 where Matt shares some details on what it's like flying the Twin Beech aerobatically, including the very challenging night shows he does as well. The interview includes a great chat with Kyle Franklin too. If you know much about Matt and Kyle, this podcast will certainly stir memories of Matt's sister Amanda Younkin Franklin (who was Kyle's wife) - a beautiful person and a great wingwalker for Kyle who tragically lost her life after a long battle with the injuries sustained in the forced landing and fire at the airshow in Brownsville Texas back in March 2011. Amanda is gone, but she will never be forgotten.
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Screenshot showing a relaxed Matt putting the Twin Beech thru lots of unusual atitudes!
Reader Comments (3)
Loved watching the gauges during the presentation. Great job!
Fantastic video!! I really enjoyed it. Thanks.
Thank you VERY much for posting this amazing video! The Younkin family has paid such a high price to fly the planes they love and to entertain the public, that I can only marvel at the courage it must take for Matt to do his shows. His pauses for prayer while in the cockpit seem most appropriate. I love airshows, but have seen enough tragedies that they now also scare the ****out of me! So little room for error; such a slim margin between life and death. What do you think, Martt? -Best wishes, Dave H.