My mother worked at the Bellanca Aircraft Factory in Alexandria Minnesota where they built the super Viking she was in the upholstery department and did all the interior.
I love how the old advertisement shows the aircraft doing all kinds of maneuvers that aren't even legal to do with the plane today. Those were the days...
Love it !!! Family And I were Just there!!! First time out West. My Daughter and Son'n Law have been Living in Leadville for 5 years now ! know exactly where that is, looks like you took off south bound Towards the Twin Lakes off RT.24 we drove past there! Great stuff!
The only small airplane I have ever flown in was a Bellanca Viking. I am not sure if it was a Super Viking. It was owned by an optometrist in Lincoln, Maine.
I flew in there over 10 years ago for a Cessna 150 fly in weekend, thankfully they had fuel back then as I was almost out! Now the runway is too rough for small tires and there is no more fuel. The other airport in Death Valley, Stovepipe Wells will be closing soon for a B.S. reason, but you can still land there for the time being.
Nice vid. I have landed at Leadville many times. Unless the winds are really high (like >30 knots out of 180 deg.), I always land on RW34 and takeoff on RW16. The runway is sloped downward to the south and terrain is falling away from the end of RW16, therefore a safer choice. I never fly in the mountains with full tanks -- the lighter the better. I have taken off from Leadville in a Saratoga (not turbocharged) when the DA was over 14K. Be careful out there, folks.
SUPERB video by all measures. Bellanca, Curtis and the Wright brothers were the top pioneers of human flight. I've always been enthusiastically impressed with high-technology wood, fiberglass, and canvas aviation material engineering because of the nearly miraculous resulting Mosquito, Lancaster and Hughes heavy-lift amphibious Hercules. Wood is cellulose, a superb lightweight, abundant material comparable to steel, aluminum and other artificial fibers. As such, Bellanca, used wood instead of aluminum and lotsa steel, great aviation designers like de Havilland and Hughes, Bellanca's Super Viking is the American made, hand-made Corvette Stingray of GA AND the Criscraft of GA high production, commercial models too. OMGoodness! Whotta performer! The Bellanca folx and Super Vikings is/are definitely masterwork aircraft builders and I loved every second of this video. And there is, of course, Italian-style beauty seamlessly included in everything, with its impeccable performance, which is unmatched anywhere.
Windy as f. Start listening at 3:57 - an amazing mix. Love unicom transmissions, Bitchin’ Betty, and pilot comms blended in there. The Ercoupe pilot at 5:42 just crabs it the f on. (This is correct and proper landing technique for that aircraft.). He don’t need no stinkin’ rudder pedals! The crowd loves it! Love those Bananas who land after him as well.
Before Trent Palmer, Flight Chops, Aviation 101 and all the other wonderful aviation content creators out there now; it was fholbert who started it all. Thanks for sharing all those flights in your beautiful Viking. And double thanks for getting so many folks excited about aviation. Including me! :-)
Wow!!! I remember the first time I saw a brand new Bellanca Super Viking when I was a kid... I was blown away by it's muscular looks! The owner gave me a walk around and was telling all about it's power and speed but when he mentioned that it was WOOD and FABRIC my smile dropped (LOL) He told me to press my hand on the fuselage and it gave a little... I said in my mind "I wouldn't fly in that thing!"... and this was in the mind of a certified AIRPLANE-AHOLIC.. normally If it had wings,I was in love but not this round!!! Flash forward to today... I WANT ONE!!!
We went flying there this sunday and tried to make it back to KEMT , cieling 400, vis 2mi.. that resulted in a missed app. And return to KFUL..and a $20 uber ride back to elmonte lol
Nice to see you back! Thanks to you and others, I also started videos on you tube. I have a 1979 Bellanca "Super Charged" Viking. You tube search...N623AM.. Please get us some videos..Albert Melgar
God I miss flying. Had a TSIO540 BL-17ATC absolutely solid response. Flew mine out of an ultralight one-way strip. Good times. At least I managed to take the family on trips they will never forget. And that maybe we could not have afforded to do commercially, so the small investment in the Viking was worth it. Wish I'd have been able to get it sooner, (and keep it longer) before some "work" was done on it but it all worked out OK. Stephan if you are reading this may you always have smooth air underwing and more than enough fuel and trust your mechanic they are magicians. (I also had a Cessna R172K "T-40" with 210 H.P. and STOLkit but the Viking could easily outperform it on takeoff and landing, if you know how. If I had to crash I would prefer to do it in the Viking because I think it would be more likely survivable. Take care everyone, be safe.
Nice video (and a bit old), but a little comment, if I may: I'm not sure at what altitude you were when you canceled IFR, but depending on the airspace you're in, it might not be enough to be clear of clouds when canceling (or when getting a visual approach), you'll need to be at VFR minimums, which in most airspaces is 500' below, 1000' above or 2000' horizontally from clouds. I'm not saying you did anything illegal - if anything, I'm emphsizing that you probably did everything properly - but it is exactly 30 seconds from breaking out of the clouds to canceling IFR. Good job maintaining at least 1000' per minute descent rate!!!
