The STOL Collective

In this live “under the wing” episode of TSC at The REAL STOL FEST from the Real Aeroplane Club in Breighton Airfield - Yorkshire UK which took place on 17-18th May 2025, we talk first with William Newton, the master mind of RSF and then with @Indopilot Matt Dearden.In his early 20’s and an air ambulance navigator, William is already an experienced pilot on rare vintage aéroplanes like the unique in the world Dart Kitten II from 1937 or the Aeronca Gap. He recently discovered a passion for farmstrips flying, backcountry aviation and beautiful bushplanes which ultimately lead him to organize the very first STOL Fly-In in the UK, The REAL STOL FEST 2025.During the Fest, I had the chance to finally meet Matt Dearden aka @Indopilot, who very kindly accepted to record an awesome live episode in front of his beautiful 1953 PA-18 Super Cub. He shared with us his road to aviation and most of all his seven years experience as a PC-6 mountain and bush pilot for SUSI AIR in Papua. Please do not forget to checkout Matt’s website https://mattdearden.co.uk and especially his newly released book “Flying from Shangri-La”. And as this would not be enough, Matt is also an avid seaplane pilot having a deep experience and connection to one of the most beautiful flying boat in History: the PBY Catalina.William‘s Book of the episode: "Sky Fever: The Autobiography of Sir Geoffrey de Havilland" - Sir Geoffrey De Havilland - Airlife, 1999 - ISBN: 184037148Xhttps://books.google.co.in/books?id=_vcfAQAAIAAJ&source=gbs_book_other_versions_r&cad=4William‘s Song of the episode: “She sells sanctuary” - The Cult, 1985Matt‘s Book of the episode: "Flying the knife edge: New Guinea bush pilot" - Matt MacLaughlin - 2016 - ISBN: 988140360Xhttps://backcountrypilot.org/features/category/tales-from-yesteryear/flying-the-knife-edge/68-flying-the-knife-edgeMatt’s own book: “Flying from Shangri-La” - Matt Dearden - 2024https://mattdearden.co.uk/book/Matt‘s Song of the episode: "Fortunate son” - Creedence Clearwater Revival - 1969https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0Upk41P7awAs usual, don´t hesitate to check out the webpage of the episode on our website - . You can shoot me an email to let me know what your thoughts are about the show and if you have any questions.Music credits: "Slowly", Amon Tobin - Supermodified, 2000Cover picture: The REAL STOL FESTDesign: Maxime Compagnon - The STOL Collective

From Louisiana - USA and based in Florida for several years, Maurice “Reese” d’Aquin is the One who loves to tell the story of other pilots; from FPV drones to paramotor to STOL aircrafts.A studied graphic designer, photographer, filmmaker , and editor; he is a digital multimedia storyteller best known for his unscripted “in the moment” documentary style.Maurice is also CEO and co-founder of FLYING HOME PRODUCTIONS L.L.C. (https://www.flyinghomeproductions.com ), which is a unique blend of creativity and technical precision, rolling out the cutting edge in aerial technology (UAV/UAS systems, or drones), aerial photography, and aerial cinematography to offer up dynamic solutions that can be individually tailored to any projects’ needs.Sharing the same passion as his grandfather for aviation and waterskiing sports, Reese joined the AVIATOR PARAMOTOR (https://aviatorppg.com) team as a filmmaker in summer 2020 then soon after in 2022 the NATIONAL STOL SERIES (https://nationalstol.com).In this episode of TSC, Maurice shares with us his road to aviation and film making with great insights about FPV drone racing, paramotor flying in USA, the National STOL Series and the newly created “Paramotor STOL Classics” competition.We also touched on our common goal to make the FAI recognize our STOL competitions as official discipline.Book of the episode: The Powered Paragliding Bible 1 to 7 - Jeff Goin - 2005/2019Song of the episode: “RODEO”, Garth Brooks - Ropin’ the Wind, 1991.As usual, don´t hesitate to check out the webpage of the episode on our website - https://www.thestolcollective.com. You can shoot me an email to let me know what your thoughts are about the show and if you have any questions.Music credits: "Slowly", Amon Tobin - Supermodified, 2000Cover picture: Maurice d’Aquin Design: Maxime Compagnon - The STOL Collective

''Just when I convinced myself that this was basically a Super Cub with an overhead engine, the out of sync harmonics of the props winding down begin to create that distinct: ... THAT SOUND!" - Zane Jacobson in "THE PROTOTYPE" Zane Jacobson is the founder/editor of Backcountry Pilot and currently flies a tailwheel Piper PA-22 Pacer around his newly adopted home area of Eveleth, Minnesota - USA. An Oregon native and former avid dirt bike rider, he has been a pilot for the better part of 25 years. Father of two young girls, he enjoys writing and producing articles and short films about anything to do with backcountry and bush flying, and makes baby steps on the build of his 4-place Bearhawk when time allows. In this episode, Zane Jacobson shares with us his family roots which got him into flying, how the idea came to launch https://backcountrypilot.org/⁠ in late 2004 as an alternative to the many type-specific forums that were already popular at the time, his wish even right after getting is PPL to transcend the type focus forums and unite pilots' common interest in backcountry and bush flying, how he found his passion for film making unlike vlogging by bringing a more cinematographic touch to backcountry aviation videos, his passion for music and building synthesisers and many stories from past expeditions. If you want to discover more content about Zane, go checkout this episode's page on our website: www.thestolcollective.com Obviously don’t forget to visit Zane’s https://backcountrypilot.org/ as well as watch his awesome videos on https://youtube.com/@BackcountryPilot Music credits: “Slowly”, Amon Tobin – Supermodified, 2000 Cover picture: Zane Jacobson - Backcountry Pilot

“Everywhere we are landing on water now [in Japan] is basically a first!” – Ben Kerr Originally from Sydney - Australia, Ben Kerr moved to Japan almost thirty years ago, to pursue his dream of racing motorcars up to formula 3. After having discovered one of the deepest and lightest powder snow in the world on the northernmost island of Hokkaido in the mid 90`s, Ben started his backcountry ski and snowboard operation next to the small town of Niseko, right at the foot of the magnificent Mount Yotei (which is of course a volcano). A short hop from mainland Honshu, Hokkaido's natural beauty offers spectacular views from the air with an extreme variety of different landscapes and of course the proximity to the sea. Having flown general aviation a little bit in Australia, especially with his dad, Ben recently discovered bushflying at its birthplace in Alaska and went on a mission to be the very first to import, register and fly not one but two Cub Crafters Xcubs in Japan… one on 31’s AK bushwheels in 2018 and the second one on amphibious floats in 2020. Niseko Aviation [https://www.nisekoaviation.com/en/] was born, with its multilingual team having a passion for flying, snow skiing, cycling and promoting Hokkaido's natural beauty. As a full AOPA Japan member, Niseko Aviation goal is to grow the local general aviation community and promote backcountry and float flying in Japan also to international pilots. Since 2017, Ben and Niseko Aviation opened several airstrips in Hokkaido and have been pushing the exploration of Japanese fresh water spots all around the archipelago up to the point of being the very first to land a float plane on many rivers and lakes! … all of this in 2021! In this episode, Ben Kerr shares with us his love for Japan´s northernmost Island - Hokkaido, his dedication to grow the backcountry and float flying community in Japan as well as his constant search for new water spots all around the country. If you want to discover more content about Ben, go checkout this episode's page on our website: www.thestolcollective.com Music credits: “Slowly”, Amon Tobin – Supermodified, 2000 Cover Art: Ben Kerr 

‘’As a surfer or a snowboarder, we like to draw a line as an artist on a canvas’’ – Géraldine Fasnacht Born in Lausanne - Switzerland, Géraldine Fasnacht is a world known freeride snowboarder, base jumper and wingsuit pilot. She is a pioneer who constantly draws new lines in the mountains with her snowboard and her wingsuit. Based in her favorite playground, Verbier, Switzerland, she gets inspired by the mountains and explores the most remote places on earth. Be it from the depths of Antarctica to the top of the Matterhorn, Switzerland. In 2002 Géraldine Fasnacht won the most extreme freeride competition in the world; The Verbier Xtreme. That was when her snowboarding career took off. That same year, at the age of 21, five additional victories catapulted her to the top of the freeride world. Always ready to go beyond her limits, she took part in International Freeride Competition and the Freeride World Tour for eight years. Géraldine loves discovering new horizons and experiencing new sensations. Since 2005 she has been carrying out groundbreaking expeditions to conquer the most beautiful summits. She has left traces with her snowboard on incredibly steep slopes, and has performed breath-taking wingsuit flights. Her high mountain knowledge gained with freeride snowboarding since the age of 15, combined with her experiences in parachuting since 1998, Géraldine performs world premieres in base jumping and wingsuit flying. Opening some of the most beautiful summits around the globe: Switzerland, France, Baffin Island, Greenland, Iran, Mali, China and Antarctica – from mythical peaks ranging from Les Drus in Chamonix - France, Holtanna - Antarctica, to the Matterhorn in Switzerland flying alongside great eagles. Her life is about risk management, pushing  boundaries and team building. For about 10 years, Géraldine has given conferences worldwide, in French or in English, for individuals or companies. She shares her vision through the adventures and the experiences she has achieved. She keeps pushing the level of her passions higher perfectly managing the risks and she loves sharing her adventures through her conferences. For more than 11 years, Géraldine has been flying UL/LSA airplanes. Four years ago, she had the opportunity to obtain her PPL, instantly followed by a mountain rating on skis and wheels. Constantly drawing lines in the mountains, either on her snowboard or in her wingsuit, an idea started to grow bigger after fulfilling her dream of owning her own mountain UL/LSA airplane, an ICP Savannah taildragger named "Roméo". This idea, first made visible through her series of videos "LinéAire", is to go on a constant quest to find and ride new lines, combining mountain flying and snowboarding deeper than ever. In this episode, Géraldine shares with us her love for mountain flying and especially her constant quest to draw new lines with her beloved "Roméo" and on her snowboard, in the deep and immaculate powder snow of Swiss glaciers. If you want to discover more content about Géraldine, go checkout this episode's page on our website: www.thestolcollective.com Music credits: “Slowly”, Amon Tobin – Supermodified, 2000 Cover photography: Raphael Surmont

Arturo Polo Ena and his wife Elisa Fernández Esparza have backcountry aviation in their blood and you know how Spanish blood is! Arturo Polo Ena started to fly hang gliders at age 16 and very soon discovered the unlimited possibilities offered by UL/LSA in Europe. Rapidly becoming an instructor at Torremoncha de Jiloca aerodrome in Aragon - Spain, he explored most of Europe and developed a dedication to mountain flying, especially in the French Alps as well as in the Massif Central and also in the Pyrénées both in Spain and France. A PPL (EU & US)  and CPL (US) owner with taildragger and ski rating, he loves to fly his Piper Super Cub "The Green Machine" on AKBW 35's during summer in Alaska and works as an UL/LSA-3axes instructor in Spain at his school "Amilpies", focusing on taildraggers, mountain and bush flying. He is also a Zlin Aviation dealer for Spain. Arturo is an extremely talented photographer, having published in many international aviation magazines. He shares his love for aerial photography and more on his website https://chasingalaska.smugmug.com/ and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/arturopoloena/?hl=de Elisa Fernández Esparza is a lawyer and attorney in Spain. Coming from Teruel - Aragon, she met Arturo while hang gliding and they both share the same love for backcountry aviation. A UL/LSA pilot since 2002 then an instructor in 2004, she also owns a PPL (EU & USA) with taildragger and float rating. She teaches during the winter time in Spain at her local Aerodromo municipal S/N Torremocha del Jiloca and works as well as a Lawyer and attorney, specialised in international law and aeronautical advice for several companies. During the summer season, she lives in Alaska enjoying the bush flying and wilderness of the Wrangell St Elias National Park. Elisa is also a strong advocate to aviation safety enhancement and support initiatives that benefit pilots and make grow the aviation community. She writes articles for major aviation magazines together with Arturo's pictures. In this episode, Arturo and Elisa share their story about how they fell in love with backcountry aviation and especially after discovering the Zlin Savage UL/LSA more than 15 years ago, leading them to create the first and only bush flying flight-school in Europe. They also explain us their deep fascination for Alaska, having pushed them to spend every spring and summer in the Wrangells for the past eleven years. If you want to learn to fly taildraggers with Arturo or Elisa and even better, attend the best and only bush flying training in Europe, go to: https://www.amilpies.com/en/ This episode´s book tip is: Wager with the Wind: The Don Sheldon Story, by James M. Greiner, 1974 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/119375.Wager_with_the_Wind Because I love skateboarding and because Spanish skateboarders are one of my favourite since I started to skate, check out all three Episodes about Jesus Fernandez from Freeskatemag: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BX7ywQtWMw And if you want to watch one of his best video part ever (IMO), just search for “Jesus Fernandez – Pretty Sweet” on Youtube or even better, just buy the video! Music credits: “Slowly”, Amon Tobin – Supermodified, 2000 Cover photography: Arturo Polo Ena

In today´s episode, It is our pleasure to welcome Sam Rutherford from the UK and Belgium. For those who may not know about him, his flying career started at age 13 and pushed him to be commissioned officer at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 1991. Born a pilot, Sam qualified as an Army helicopter pilot and left the British Army as a Flight Commander after eight years of service. Later, he became an FAA/EASA commercial helicopter and airplane pilot. He logged more than 3500+ hours Total time, delivering aircrafts worldwide since 2008 as a ferry pilot and organizing Air Trophies and Air Rallies. But Sam is more than a pilot. At ease in all societies and cultures, he is proven ability to work in international environments using more than five languages. Managing Director of Prepare2go, he led multiple trips with groups of light aircrafts (Cape Town and return five times, Trans-Atlantic 15 times, Libya, Algeria, Turkey, North Pole, Niger, Russia etc. etc.). More recently, he created and ran the first ever beach STOL competition in Belgium: the “Zoute Air Trophy” as well as the first “Greenland Air Trophy” where two teams, Europe and North-America, meet in south Greenland for a STOL competition. He also created and ran the first ever event “Vintage Air Rally”, 22 teams from 17 countries – traversing Africa with vintage biplanes from Crete to Cape Town. A certified Rescue Diver, Alpine Ski Instructor, Royal Yachting Association Skipper and also Chairman of the Royal Geographical Society “Vehicle Dependent Expeditions” Panel; Sam Rutherford is for sure different! The kind of person making the impossible, possible. If you want to learn more about Sam´s projects like the coming Greenland Air Trophy 2021 and VintageAirRally Crete2Cape 2022, need a ferry pilot, a film crew, organize a team event in a wilderness area, or more simply put, move people and equipment in, out and through difficult places. Go to https://www.prepare2go.com/ This episode´s book tip is: Flying the Knife Edge: New Guinea Bush Pilot, Matt McLaughlin - 2016 - ISBN 988140360X, 9789881403605 https://books.google.de/books/about/Flying_the_Knife_Edge.html?id=yIRejwEACAAJ&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y Music credits: “Slowly”, Amon Tobin – Supermodified, 2000 Cover photography: Thibault De Schepper - https://tibods.com/

René Petersen was born and raised in Greenland´s capital Nuuk. He has now been working for thirty years as a helicopter mechanic and logged almost three thousand hours on the left seat of different helicopters mostly in Greenland. He is also a private pilot for many years but most of all, he is the only owner of a bush plane (an experimental registered Just Aircraft Super STOL) in Greenland and one of the only two guys flying private GA in the entire country... which is the considered to be the biggest island in the world! As you will discover, Greenland is really a true Last Frontier deeply connected to both European and North American continents. René explains us how he came to aviation, what it means to fly his Super STOL in one of the most remote country on the planet (mostly alone) but  also simply living up north, dealing with the weather and the wild animals.  If you want to watch René flying his Super STOL in Greenland, checkout his Instagram account - https://www.instagram.com/rep.air/ Music credits: "Slowly", Amon Tobin - Supermodified, 2000

Craig Lang, the owner of Flying Frontiers, has had a passion for flying for as long as he can remember, and has been involved in various forms of aviation for many years, holding both a Commercial Pilot's License and a Grade B Instructor’s rating. Based in the KwaZulu Natal Midlands, Flying Frontiers is a small company passionate about Bushflying and Classic aircraft. Craig has been one of the very first to import a Zlin Savage Bobber in South-Africa and is the first one who started to offer off-airport bush flying safaris in South-Africa up to Namibia. In this episode of TSC, we discover Craig´s aviation path, the particularities of real bush/off-airport flying in South-Africa and Namibia as well as what it takes for us, European UL/LSA pilots, to be able to fly PIC on Craig´s beautiful birds. You can check-out Craig´s website here: http://flyingfrontiers.com/ ... and watch the video I released about my (short) bush flying trip in South Africa in 2018: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fB9j7GeRGo Music credits: "Slowly", Amon Tobin - Supermodified, 2000

Roland Primus is a legend in the European and international snowboard industry. But he is also a true aviation enthusiast since a very young age, having explored so many types of flying and airplanes. An award-winning aerobatic pilot, he discovered thanks to a very good friend the ease of use of Ultra Light / LSA bush planes and the awesome possibilities they offer to fly deep in the mountains and land and the most prestigious glacier of the European Alps. Joining us in The STOL Collective, he shares his journey through aviation and into the wonderful world of mountain flying with the professionalism of a multiple snowboard world champion trainer and founder of the oldest snowboard school in Europe. Music Credit: “Slowly” Amon Tobin - Supermodified 2000