Land safely. In a missions darkest moment trust mid continent instruments. Now, for the first time on tv, the stories and reports of the people who fly, and the aircraft they fly. And you are invited in an exciting, housebumping, new Television Series designed for everyone who has ever gazed skywards and dreamt of slipping the bonds of earth this week on the aviators, we take a look at the russian mig15. We explore the legacy and influence of the cessna brand. We take a look float training in the winter on canadas west coast. We talk to legendary aerobatic pilot patty wagstaff. And we go inside a simulator to learn how to land an airliner. From the boundary bay airport, this is the aviators. Im jeff lewis and im the pilot on the mig15. The aviators staff correspondent jeff lewis, codename biscuit, has a passion for aviation. Normally on the aviators, jeff is a field correspondent. But on todays show, he is the subject of a segment. We caught up with him just before one of his air show performances in the legendary mig15. Well, ive been flying for a long time. My background is im, um, a professional pilot captain. To fly an aircraft like this, you do require a couple thousand hours and, um, some jet experience. Either professionally or on corporate jets is a good background for it, and as well as flying other aircraft like our l29 delfin. That sets you up with the skill set required to fly this type of highperformance, swept wing jet. This is a neat airplane. The mig15 was the most widely produced jet aircraft in history. Over 18,000 examples were built, mostly by the russians, but also under license by the polish, the czech, and the chinese. This particular mig15 is, um, manufactured in 1954 in russia. And the aircraft was operated by the soviet air force from 1954 to 1968. After flying the l29, we started thinking, oh, thatd be kind of a neat airplane. I think, um, a lot of people are asking us, is that a mig . Is that a mig . And we didnt have a mig at that time. So we started looking around and, um, this aircraft caught our attention. And once we saw it and obviously then had the opportunity to fly it, we had towe had to have one. Back when the aircraft was in service, the instructor sat in the back. So, actually, if youre sitting in the back and you know what youre doing, you can override all the instrumentation in the front and give the guy a run for his money whos flying the aircraft. But, um, overall, you know, the airplane, if you respect it, its aits a beautiful aircraft to fly. Its very responsive. But it will bite you. And, unless you know what youre doing, you can end up in some trouble. But, you know, hey, 1947 technology. Um, what do you expect for a first time . The mig15 was the most widely produced jet aircraft in history. 18,000 examples were produced. However, theres not very many of them flying anymore. Um, i would hazard a guess that theres probably in the range of 20 aircraft actually flying in active flying condition today. As a twoseater, i would say thats less than a dozen. This is a rare aircraft with a second seat. Shes a thirsty bird. The mig15, youre looking at 460 gallons an hour. The aircraft holds 462 gallons, and one hour, thats it. You now, during an air show routine, we go through 500 liters pretty quickly, and thats in a tenminute, twelveminute routine. She drinks the gas. Even at ground idle, we are in a 100gallonanhour type range. So, its a thirsty bird. And my Carbon Footprint is larger than texas. But you know what . Its a lot of fun. In 1911, a small town kansas farmer named clyde cessna built his own airplane. Little did he know that this would lead to the birth of the most prolific aircraft manufacturing brand of all time, with total production and delivery exceeding 190,000. Cessna originally partnered with lloyd c. Stearman, future president of lockheed martin, and walter beech, cofounder of beech aircraft. The three founded travel air and focused on building biplanes. It wouldnt be until 1924 that cessna aircraft was founded. The companys goal was to focus on single engine monoplanes. It would be this very style of aircraft that the cessna brand would become synonymous with, along with general aviation as a whole. I caught up with cessnas Angela Baldwin at airventure in oshkosh, wisconsin. Did clyde cessna have any idea that the cessna of back then would become the cessna of today . No, and we think hed be quite proud of what weve been able to accomplish. I mean, weve got the fastest business jet in the world, and yet, were still teaching the world to fly with with a new trainer this year. So werewere trying to cover every aspect of the business and have a solution for everyone who wants to fly. While primarily a single engine aircraft company, cessna has a vast product line ranging from the single engine 172 to the large twin engine citation x, the fastest business jet in the world. We like to think that our product line is, you know, appealing to anybody who has ahas a need to fly. In december 2007, cessna bought columbia aircraft manufacturing, so now weve got a low wing, allcomposite airplane that are now part of the cessna family. We also have the caravan, which is known as the suv of the skies. Itll do anything. We have the Cessna Skycatcher that i mentioned, which is reallywe see to be the next generation of pilot training. Its the new twoseater. And wewe see that being a real game changer for training. We also have the 172, the 150. Typically, most people have learned to fly in either one of those products. When i tell people who are nonaviators the kind of airplane i fly, if you give them a model number, they dont get it. But if you say, i fly a cessna, they know. How did cessna end up being thatsuch a powerful brand name . I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that we did teach the world to fly. We like to say that we taught the world to fly. More people have learned to fly in a cessna than any other airplane. We have a very large pilot center network, over 300 places in the United States where you can learn to get your pilots license. And so, when you get people in the family, you know, you develop a relationship with them. They have a loyalty about them. And so, we just like to think that were every mans company. Arguably, the most recognizable of all cessnas is the 172. If a pilot hasnt flown a 172 themselves, theyre almost guaranteed to know someone who has. This has helped to make this cessna model the best selling aircraft ever. The cessna 172 has been around since the early 50s. And we sold more of those than any other product that weve made. And, you know, i think thats probably what weve been known for, is the cessna 172. And were quite proud of that airplane. Early in the 1970s, cessna expanded their Product Offerings to include the citation business jet line. Since then, theyve delivered more than 5,700 citations, more than any other business jet manufacturer in the world. This is an incredible cockpit, and were in a cessna. Absolutely. Youre in the citation mustang, which has been an incredible success for us in the very light and entrylevel Business Jet Market for us. Weve recently delivered over 200 of those in the short time its been in the market. And then we have everything from the citation mustang to the citation x, which is the fastest business jet in the world, so. And, you know, they all bear that cessna brand name, but theyre not your granddaddys cessna, you know . Theyre not the 172. The mustang isis far removed from the 172. But theyre both amazing planes. Whats in store for the future with cessna . Whats new for the future . We dont know. Is itis it alternate fuels . Is it new avionics . Is it different engines . Is it a bigger cabin . We dont know, but were constantly looking at everything. We just want to make sure that whatever our customers want, we can provide. So whatever the future holds for cessna in terms of designs and technology, the aviators will be there to report it. Stay tuned. The 2010 Winter Olympics in vancouver drew the attention of the world to beautiful British Columbia. B. C. s snowcapped mountains, river valleys, breathtaking coastlines, and sheltered Emerald Lakes make the West Coast Region an outdoor wonderland. Its this unique mix of landscapes that makes b. C. An ideal place to learn to fly floatplanes. Just about every challenge and scenario that a float pilot is likely to encounter is all right here, within a onehour flight of vancouver. On a single training flight, the new pilot can experience flying in mountain passes, compensating for tidal currents, salt Water Operations, dealing with river currents, and highaltitude takeoffs and landings. But the beauty of training in b. C. Is that the pilot can come out here and train in the dead of winter, because float flying in vancouver is a yearround love affair. To find out more, the aviators visited Pacific Rim Aviation Academy on a notsochilly day in march. So right now, here it is. Middle of march and we got a hihpressure system. So take us through it. Its a beautiful cold, crisp day to go flying, but not too cold. Obviously, the waters not frozen. So we can still go fly in our seaplane here. One of the few places in canada is b. C. West coast we can fly yearround. Sometimes the Winter Weather can be challenging, but thats good to expose your students to some challenging weather. So you guys got people coming from all over the world to come here. I understand you got somebody next week from where . Got someone coming in from holland. And thats quite common. Europeans love coming to canada. Were kind of known as the floatplane destination. And what a better place to get you float ready than right here in beautiful British Columbia . Pacific rim Aviation Academy is located right off the apron at pitt meadows regional airport, in the Fraser Valley of b. C. We spoke with the owner of pacific rim, chris georgas, about the airport. Um, pitt meadows airport is one of five airports in the lower mainland of British Columbia, about 40 kilometers from downtown vancouver and 40 kilometers from Abbotsford International airpor. Um, pitt meadows is gifted by virtue of its location because we have three major runways, and theyre associated with the fraser river, which gives us an allpurpose airport with floatplane operation capability. Chris, a lifetime pilot, is also a former high school teacher. The two passions led chris to open Pacific Rim Aviation Academy as a second career after chris retired from teaching. In just ten short years, pacific rim has had tremendous growth and today is one of the leading flight schools in western canada. Uniquely situated on the banks of the fraser river, pacific rim is excellently positioned for float training. And the winter months, according to chris, are as good a time as any to learn to fly. Contrary to what a lot of people think, winter flying is absolutely the best time of the year to go flying. Number one, there usually is a High Pressure area associated with the winter time. Its a very dry atmospheric type of condition. And the density of the atmosphere allows the airplane to perform really, really well. So in ontario right now, its the middle of march. Lakes are frozen. I know that for a fact. Usually they open up around the first week, second week, of april. But here in British Columbia, year round we have pitt lake, stave lake, alouette lake, harrison lake, the fraser river, and the whole Pacific Ocean to use as our training area. So you use this airplane on the sawchuk. Yup, we could take it out into the gulf islands and the open ocean. Do some training there. Most of the initial training is here at the local lakes and rivers. They get some experience in current, some experience on the glassy water of the lakes. And, um, during the more advanced training, we take them out to some bigger water out in the open ocean. British columbia has 1,000 miles of protected coastline, has some of the most beautiful lakes in canada, and has 10,000 miles of navigatable rivers. A floatplane makes all of this accessible with a virtual runway everywhere. This freedom brings with it some unique challenges, as planes are maneuvered outside of sterile airport conditions. So, basically, when you come out to British Columbia, you have more than just freshwater training. I mean, itsyou got tidal. You got currents. Thats right. And, of course, you got salt Water Operations. Now, tell me about salt Water Operations. Well, the thing about salt Water Operations you know, the water is still the same. So the landing and taking off is similar, but now you do youre rightyou have to look at current charts, tide charts, and things change a lot in the ocean. You may go to a beach that was there one day for you, and then you come back at high tide and the beach is no longer there. The ocean isnt the only place spot tides can become an issue. On many of b. C. s Salt Water River deltas, floatplane pilots can run into trouble when tides and currents meet. Everybody think the rivers always flowing towards the ocean. But sometimes, when the tide is rising, the current will flow the other way. And some people get into trouble and go to the dock and go right past it because the currents going the opposite direction. And then, another thing youve just brought up, when the wind and current are both at opposites, your plane wants the weathercock, but youralso, the current wants to drag you away from the dock. So i think we got some tricky situations, especially when you got a milliondollar caravan in front of you and a, you know, a halfmillion dollar turbobeaver behind you, to get between the two. So somebody is coming in fromlets say theyre watching this and theyre sitting in tennessee and they decide to come up here. Is there a nice place to stay . What do they do when theyre not flying . Is there a pub . Oh, there iswe can the nice thing about the floatplane, we get to fly to the pubs. Theres a dock just downriver here called the gillnetter pub. Well, youve been to the four pub with me. We dock there all the time. We dont drink, of course. Well, i drink coffee. Yeah, theres great food at the pubs and, on the gulf islands, beautiful resorts to go to. And theyre happy to see you. Thats the nice thing about the floatplane. I make it my, um, meal ticket. I make my students by lunch for me, so. So if youre thinking about learning how to fly a float, theres no better place than to come right out here on the west coast and fly with pacific rim aviation and luke howard. Luke, its been a real pleasure. Thanks, john. Aerobatics is the practice of flying maneuvers involving aircraft attitudes that are not used in normal flight. Its taught to all military pilots as a way to develop combat flying skills. In general aviation, aerobatics are taught to pilots who want to learn how to push the flying envelope in ways that will make them better pilots. Aerobatic aircraft fall into two categories. At the basic level, aerobaticcapable aircraft, such as some cessnas, can be dualpurpose, equipped to carry passengers and luggage as well as being capable of performing basic aerobatic maneuvers. The more advanced specialist designs aim for the ultimate in aerobatic performance. This comes at the expense of generalpurpose use such as touring, or ease of nonaerobatic handling such as landing. The extra 200 and 300 design is a bulletproof aircraft in the specialist design group. Patty wagstaff is one of the foremost aerobatic pilots in the world, and she uses the extra aircraft. One of her earlier extraaircraft designs is in the smithsonian. The aviators caught up with her during a timeout in one of her air shows at sun n fun in florida. She has a brand new extra design with a new highperformance engine. This is a 300s, and it was built for me. Itsits actually a production airplane, but this one is certified to plus or minus 10gs. But this one is experimental. It was built in germany. Its got a lycoming engine. Its got a io580 thunderbolt engine, which is very rare. Theyve only built two of this specific engine. Its got highcompression pistons and a lot of other tricky stuff in it. So it puts out a lot of power. Um, its got a german mt propeller. And the whole plane is made of composites, made of kevlar, carbon fiber, fiberglass, with a steel tube frame, which gives you a lot of structural integrity. And its like a roll cage. A then it has a onepiece wing with two box bars for the full span. So its just super, super stout. Can you talk a bit about what its like training for and participating in an air show season . Its a lot of training. Its a lot of work getting ready for it. Every year its the same thing. You park your plane in november and you take it apart. You do a really big annual on it and, you know, inspection and, um, replace the engine if you need to, that kind of thing, and you have to work your way up to pulling all these gs. cause we pulli pull 10gs in my flight and about 78gs negative. And you gotta work your way up to it. And it takes a couple of months every year to get back into the swing of really feeling good while youre doing it. Most aerobatic maneuvers involve rotation of the aircraft about its longitudinal, or roll axis, or lateral, or pitch axis. Maneuvers are often combined to form a complete aerobatic sequence for entertainment or competition. Aerobatic flying requires a broader set of piloting skills and exposes the aircraft to greater structural stress than normal flight. So minus 8gs is lot of force trying to throw you out of the cockpit. How are you staying inside and keeping your feet on those pedals . Got hooker harnesses that we all use. And we have ratchets on either side to tighten us in there. You really need to be tight. I feel like im a professional athlete. I dont know that everybody sees it that way because were in a machine. But i think, if you look at nascar drivers or aerobatic pilots, you have to be an athlete toto have the stamina to do it and to be as good as you want to be. Now, ive also read about your exposure at paris and fargo demonstrating a different kind of aircraft that somebody who is a future thunderbird might be learning to fly in today. Absolutely. All the air for