YouTube pilots are the WORST! 

Best quote: 'I had 10 hours sleep last night, just in case anyone from CASA is watching" XD Great video Stef, thanks for the encouragement!!

That gigantic hole is a copper mine at kanmantoo, near mount Barker.

Hey Stef, thanks for the mention...

I just want to add FlightChops to that list of youtubers. He even made an entire staus vlog series about his struggles with the IFR written test. You could notice how emotionally torn apart he was some days. Thank you for your honesty. I think that is what makes the best content on youtube, for any kind of video. - A student pilot that just f-ed up his theoretical exam. We all have those days :) I'll surely finish it next week.

Stefan, you are my favorite RU-vid pilot by far, and the reason is because you make videos like this. I am a very new student pilot (5.5hrs) and I often wonder if I am actually skilled enough to be a pilot. Then I see your down-to-earth videos and I feel like maybe my feelings are normal and learning to fly really is a difficult and daunting task. My CFI assures me that I am well on the learning curve, but as you say I watch some videos and they make it look like they've got this in the bag, super simple, no dramas at all. And then I feel like all pilots feel that way I get discouraged. It's your videos, especially like this one, that renew my hope and realization that all pilots are super unsure of themselves at this stage of training and even experience those feelings as an experienced pilot long after your PPL. Please keep on keeping it real! I also love Mentour Pilot, but that is more for recreational learning, as I have no aspirations to become a commercial pilot.

I really loved your 'why do I fly' video. I watched that video about 20+ times already. Really inspirational

I don't usually comment on RU-vid videos a lot but boy am I glad I clicked on this one. I'm not a pilot but I enjoyed your video a lot. Guys, aviation is hard! Steveo, Flight chops are now you are my favourite internet pilots right now.

99% of my flights, I feel like a million bucks. When I'm IFR or at a controlled field...I realize that I've got a thumb for a tongue...and all confidence in ever getting a pilot job goes down to ZERO.

Gotta love the aircraft behind on approach reading back follow Stef's cirrus

Jon, the Flying Reporter is best person I see for someone that shows everything like mistakes, decision making, stuff going wrong. Very honest and great to learn from. I’ve been in a couple of scenarios where I’ve learnt from his honest mistakes and changed my decision in the air from it

Learned how to land our boss's Cessna 150 last month, it's so hard learning the muscle memory, many go arounds and hard landings. I had my first smooth landing on center line two weeks ago. What sucks is that when my pop and I's schedules don't work out, or the plane isn't there for a while, I have even more trouble retracing my steps getting back to it after a hiatus. But I don't think people understand that if you don't continue flying regularly you lose a lot of that muscle memory. At least once you first start out.

Cruising at 7,000ft, alone, in peace, eating cookies... you’re definitely living your best life! Lol. Honestly, thank you for this video. I have a huge interest in aviation, I have only actually completed a flight lesson and am going for a second in a couple of months. But even though it’s instructed, not a whole lot is expected of me as it’s not ‘training’, I always get nervous. I’m unsure if I’ll ever accomplish my dream of flying commercially due to finances, but I do hope at some point to obtain my PPL, so I too can fly at 7,000ft and eat cookies!

Brilliant!, the "countdown" clock made me chuckle

Glad to have you flying around melbourne, doing the city proud with your awesome content and down to earth way of talking about getting off the ground :p

I’ve caught a couple of your vids from YTs suggestions. This one made me subscribe....the ‘telling it how it is’ approach def resonates with me...great job! And thank you.

I understand exactly what you're talking about myself having my own flying channel! It's easy to edit out mistakes. It's a double edged sword because you want to be frank and honest but also don't want the negative comments etc. I think Jon, The Flying Reporter is also good at talking about his mistakes and showing them. I'm slowly building up the courage myself to point out my flaws in flights and promote the good, honest video where people can learn from my mistakes. I had a flight the other day I didn't enjoy purely because of delays and extra paperwork and despite the flight itself being fine, I didn't enjoy the flight. Love the video, big fan of the channel, keep them coming!

I just want to thank you for posting a video like this... Honestly as a student pilot currently learning and having to fight through odd feelings of not knowing everything and what to do, this gives me a nice sigh of relief that even the experienced pilots go through this. This video helped me feel better about my flights, even one coming up tomorrow. Thanks for sharing that reality check, I have been watching youtube flight vlogs for some times now, and I felt the same, that they make it look so easy, how the heck am I going to handle it like that? But I guess there are off days that you just have to learn to get thought and it's very comforting to hear. If you have any advice for me, I'd be glad to hear. Great content!

I agree. There are a few channels that are like “look how awesome all of my flights are.” But conversely, I think there are plenty of great channels out there that have plenty of videos of thinks going horribly wrong or not according to plan at all. Those are the videos I try to watch from those channels because I can learn the most from them.

Another great video 👍 I would personally also include The Flying Reporter aka Jon Hunt in the list of very human RU-vid pilots.

Thanks for the transparency that sometimes even the "best" pilots on RU-vid make mistakes! Keep up the great content - it keeps me motivated while I begin my PPL

As I look to start making flight content....one thing that has stopped me has been the fear of mistakes being out there for everyone but this is exactly what I needed to see thanks Stefan!

I've been there. I live and breathe aviation, I went solo at 16 years old and have been interested in it my entire life, to the point where I just left home for university to do my commercial licence. I adore aviation, its the only thing I want or like to do. But I still get days where I don't really want to fly and hope the weather doesn't play out. Some days its a good idea to not fly that day, but my best flight ever, one that completely rekindled my "mojo" so to speak, happened on one of those days too. Its okay to get disheartened, its okay to be human about it.

Got my checkride in 48 hours. Really needed to hear this. Had a great flight today, but sometimes I feel like I have no business in an airplane. Lol. I guess if we always though we were amazing pilots, we wouldn’t last very long. Thanks for sharing

This Stefan has to be one of my favourite videos you’ve done. I’ve noticed through my flying experience with people I’ve flown with including me go through doubts and comparing themselves to pilots on RU-vid and the fact is we all make mistakes but learning nothing from the mistake is the mistake and that’s aviation. Thanks for posting this video mate 🛫👨‍✈️✊

12:15 "follow Stef's cirrus"

Have been watching a lot of Premier1Driver lately, he shows the good and the bad too. Enjoying your videos as always, thanks for sharing! :)

I'd also give flighchops a look for open and honest videos. Love your work.

Awesome video as always Stef. Starting my blog, this was one of the things I promised myself I wouldn't do. I wanted to make sure I shared both my successes and struggles through flight training so that others may see that it is normal. Stay humble!

As a pilot I totally hear you. The reality is that is not always fun and not always straight forward. Thank you for sharing and keeping it real. By the way love Nikos wings and Steveo.

What a great point you make here. I talk to my Locksmithing students about this all the time. Teaching online means I make heaps of mistakes and technology doesn't always work perfectly. It's a good chance to let everyone know we are always learning, even if we are teaching. You show great empathy Stef. The amount of effort you have put into making and editing this video just to show flight students and your fellow pilots that they aren't alone, is ok important. Another great video.

I just wanted to thank you. You, and others... Niki, Steveo, P1D etc. are the cause of me finally getting off my butt and making things happen. I am almost 59 and had a life dream of learning to fly. I became disabled with osteoarthritis 15years ago. On Wednesday I took an experience flight with Aerobility here in the UK, and had 20 minutes at the controls on a gusty day. But I could do it... no beginner's death grip, years of sailing making me very aware of the wind affecting the 'plane. I'm hooked. Now I need to find a way to make the finances work. Thank you so much Stef!

Stef your honesty and integrity is inspirational.

Did a few hours flying Foxbats out of Moorabbin, so we might've gone past one another at some point, it was pretty nostalgic seeing the airport again. Hopefully I can pick it up again despite my physical limitations. Thanks for the inspiring video!

Thank you for this video. Spot on. Keep up the amazing work! An aspect of RU-vid piloting is that any transgression can bring reports to authorities, who are genuinely cool about RU-vid content but have seriously better things to do than deal with keyboard warriors. I feel pilots have always benefited from an honest discussions of their mistakes. Thanks for championing this!

Another great video Stef. Top camera angles for some beautiful flying.

Apologises for thinking ATC said YXZ not EYZ when mentioning the traffic at 2:45

Thanks Stef that's a good bit of useful advice for a relative new comer. You guys do make it look so effortless so a bit of honesty like this is refreshing. I have had times when I have beaten myself up about a poor landing or a garbled radio call and it takes a bit of a concentrated effort to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and try to work out why it wasn't as good as you thought it should be. Lets face it, everyday is a school day if you want it to be.

That hole almost equals the one Boris has dug for himself in the UK !! I am trying to guess what music Milkshake would like during your flights ? The Theme from "Rawhide" ? (showing my age there ) Foo Fighters "For all the Cows" ? and the classic "Joanne" by Michael Nesmith of The Monkees fame !! Enough !! You may have too look up some of these !! Another great flight and most honest chat about "if in doubt" ! Thanks Stef and I see the Rego has been transferred for EYZ !!! Well done mate !!

Gotta love how some Social media pilots are like, all you need to do is study and have a lot of motivation, yeah what about the financial training costs smh, nice video new sub

I've been watching for quite a while now and used to prefer your flight review vids on airlines. However, in recent months i've been enveloped in your journeys through Europe and even in Australia flying yourself. Super excited for whats to come!

Stef, great job. Flying is a passion indeed. What can I do to learn cheaply and take the art to poor countries of Africa like Kenya where I am from and inspire young kids there! I love to see you the way re are relaxed and enjoying flying.

I agree with you about those less than fun moments in flying. What i have noticed about you, the guys you mentioned and several other is that you all never forget to first fly the airplane and then deal with the other things. Always the mark of a good pilot. Thanks for sharing. Cheers mate.

Melbourne to Adelaide in two hours in the family wagon sure beats an eight hour slog up the highway for us ground bound mortals. Must get that rivet gun out again. ..

You have inspired me to share an honest video about the struggles that I have been facing over the last few months. Thanks for the inspiration!

"just any case someone from CASA is watching!!" thaat made me chuckle xD

I am a commercial pilot myself. I have had similar thoughts from time to time during my training and yes, once I really wanted to give up on this whole aviation thing. I took a gap year, tried to find different things to do and during that time I realised how much addicted I had got to flying. I came back, have passed atpl theory, performed IR/ME and CPL in less then month, then MCC. I felt in love again. Not always things go perfectly, but it matters how hard you try! Thank You for this video, it's a great reminder for all cadets :)

Aviation101 ist a great channel too and shows good and bad times

There are periods when i seem to have more bad days than good, though i always manage to get through the bad stuff and move on. I think i saw that A320 in the distance. Nice flight, thanks mate.

Awesome videos Stef! They keep getting better and better. Very entertaining and at the same time helpful for novice pilots like myself. Hope to see you one day in Spain!

Im hoping to go into aviation for Uni next year and these videos are amazing for just getting that insight into it all. Keep up the awesome work

Thanks for the shoutout Stef! Sorry I couldn’t say thanks earlier, I wasn’t in Adelaide!

What a fantastic video, very good message and really reassuring, thanks Stef.

Great video Stef and great words of advice to anyone learning out there. Your exactly right there are those days where your anxious or nervous and question what your doing. Love what your doing mate keep it up.

Great Video Stef as always. I'm possibly going to Melbourne for the entire next semester, would love to organize some flights and share them with my latino audience. Cheers!

this is so true. watching videos on youtube seems like flight training is straight to the point but in reality, we all have our strengths and weaknesses. good and bad

Thanks Stefan , as an older (43) guy who is learning to fly videos like this really make me want to push on when i have days that i just say its not worth it.. Yeah its worth it.

I love your videos, honesty and your choice of music. Keep doing what you do Stefan.

Fantastic video. I recognized Adelaide airport. I had subway there also. No cookies though. Really enjoy your honesty and seeing the sights.

Great vid, again... ! And absolutely agree, we all have those days. We reset, try again and push through. And then we look back and think “what was the fuss about?” 😉

Love your vids Continue doing what u do

Flightchops will also show you it's a non-stop learning process.

finally an honest youtube pilot! as a pilot with 50 years of experience i always wonder how much video hits the cutting room floor - yes nicko is another thats for killing the BS

On more than one occasion I've made it to the airfield and I've just doubted myself, the aircraft or conditions. I 100% apply the rule that 'if there is any doubt there is no doubt'. I cancel the booking, go home and have a cuppa or go to the pub. I have this terrible feeling that if I go against my instinct it will punish me to prove itself right - I'm not superstitious really...

I would like to add to the list of honest youtube pilots: - Guido Warnecke - Flight Chops - Premier1Driver

Spot on video! You are so right, it doesn’t always work out perfectly. Thanks for sharing!

Hi Stefan, I like James Clarke would like to mention Jon the Flying Reporter. He is great at letting you know it’s not always straight forward. Great Video and that hole was big ✈️

Stefan I am wondering if if you heard of or saw on the news about the student pilot somewhere in Australia that had to land the plane when his instructor had a stroke in flight? It was only his 3rd lesson and first in that type plane. He made a perfect landing. It was his first landing ever. He said he just kept his head and flew the plane. He declared an emergency and ATC got him down. Pretty cool.

Subs are coming along nicely Stef! Was about 15k when you flew around this wonderful little island of ours. Congrats Man!

I like that you talked about the self check before the aerobatics flight. If your heads not in the right place, it’s better to wait to fly another day.

2:26 I heard Avalon Approach there ;D Nice video mate

Hey Stef!! Thanks for the awesome vids!

Niko has a video where he taxied to the runway and couldn't find the weather for his IFR that he wanted and taxied back to the hanger. If memory serves he said "You Don't have to get there, you just have to be Safe"

Yep - agree. Having removed some embarrassing moments myself, I felt a little 'squirmish' at your rather honest expose. Another point is that most of us leave out the 'boring' prior prep and planning that goes into each flight. It ain't just jumping in and being awesome in clear blue skies it it? A classic analogy is a 'standard' F/A-18 2v2 ACM mission I used to be a part of in my younger days. At least an hour or so mission brief, followed by the pre-flight prep, ground-based radar set up, freq allocations, cleaning and adjusting the Ray Bans (joke), launching, checking in with ATC, checking in with fighter control (me), doing the mission (45min - 1hr), recovering the jets, at least one hour of debriefing, and finally back to the unit. One 45 min mission would take a half a day of work.

Gotta love those subway cookies. Nice flying.

Great job on the video. It's important that others can learn from our mistakes.

Nice video! Keep up the great job. BTW What cameras and mountings are you using for your videos?

I watch Niko & Steveo and I like it when they do show a bit of concern. I wish more pilots would leave in bits where they get worried and things do not g right. Some of the others show a crash and breakdowns, these happen, let us see the bad side of it as well. lol, love the Countdown clock! Yeah, leave in the bit where you get stressed or do not get what you want, which does happen, it is not all smiles and a wonderful life out there. We do know that, but it is nice to see the not so good times as well. I remember Niko aborting the landing as he didn't like the look of the landing strip and Steveo wondering what he should do. It is good stuff, it shows it is not plain sailing all the time. Well done Stefan for bringing it up. Did you enjoy Scotland when you were there? Wick can be a cold place and the airport is a bit away from it all, but nice.

Stefan these videos are awesome - What camera's are you using to film all of this !

Checkout Malibu Flyer on RU-vid. He’s a really nice guy and he leaves his mistakes in there for others to learn from.

Great video Stefan! Not sure if you're in the States next summer, but if you are, let's do some bush plane and butt fan flying!

I love your videos Stefan. I'd concur that learning to fly is anything but a perfect exercise. I've been flying for 3 years now and there are days when I think I really am becoming a good pilot and then as soon as those words leave my mouth I do stupid things that make me wonder how I ever got a license to fly.

Hey I made the cut! Hope you and EYZ had fun in Adelaide!

Hi Stefan, love the videos! 'The Flying Reporter' is great for this, as he shows mistakes and all which is a great confidence for someone looking to get back into flying again but worrying about being perfect. EDIT: Although Jon is still an awesome pilot however ha!

Steveo is awesome and love his channel, probably a lot of the reason I began my pilots licence

When I lived in AUS I flew first at Bankstown, for training continuation (47.80 hrs in NZ), two flights was enough there to decide to go somewhere else, [aircraft in shabby condition, instructors seemed just to be building hours to go fly jets, and with three runways in use a nightmare to get a slot for training]. So I went to Camden, trained there until I returned to NZ.About 25 hours total, enjoyed it a lot. My total hours 98.2. Mostly in Cessna 172's and 150/152's, a little in PA28/38's. The Cirrus looks like a real 21 century machine compared to the ancient old machines I flew with basic panel, the 150D I flew had compass, RPM, ALT, Turn/slip, and AS only, radio was a handheld LOL.

I drifted up to nearly 6000 asl on my first real solo because I wouldn't stop looking out the window. This was from an incident the previous week of ATC forgetting to mention that a private jet was leaving on the opposite heading and we cleared each other by about 100 feet.

I'm glad you went on the tangent you did. When you mentioned Niko & Stevo I was like yea buddy!

I had one of those sundays 2 weeks ago , and its on video , winds were strong and right on the upper limit of my personal limits , when I got the clearance for take off and I got the wind from the tower , the look on my face is captured on the video .!!!! In my head I was saying Holy ( BEEP ) should I even take off , I did , went to the north practice area , low cloud , didnt want to fly over water at 1500FT with a strong headwind , did one hold and came back home , touch crosswind on final approach , man I was glad I got it down , crabbed it all the way in , but ya I was like WOW thats a crosswind , so your right , some days are better than others but as a saying I heard in Ireland once goes , " every day may not be great but theres great in every day " .. nice video mate ...

Stefan, great content as always and your editing is on fleek *thumbs up*

@stefandrury Hey Stef, after watching your video and listening to your experience with aerobatic flying, its comforting to hear from someone I look up to to know that they themself were first afraid or hesitant when doing something out of their comfort zone just like when you said that you went home whilst on the way to an aerobatic flying lesson. It gives me confidence that someone I look up to has gone through just the same experiences as I have. I remember when I did my first lesson on stalling, I had that gut feeling of rising the nose so that I couldn’t see the horizon in my peripheral vision was just not right really freaked me out. I will admit it did take me a few goes at stalling to get it right, however, when I landed I wasn’t proud of myself because I was scared in that moment and I thought how can I be a fighter pilot if I get petrified by a stall in a very stable aircraft. Your words and experiences have given me the confidence to just do it, give it a go because hard things aren’t easy to get (if that makes sense). Just gotta keep trying and not be afraid to be afraid. Next time I do any aerobatics I won’t be so afraid.

Great to see a complete other world as a simple german motorglider pilot. I have a small channel and yes there you can see my failures as well. I found you channel landing in Norway, what the ... is a pilot from Australia doing in Norway with landing trainings? never mind, I subscribed, nice channel.

Thank you for the honesty.

yesterday I flew my private gig down to Houston, TX and had to dodge storms, in and out of IMC using radar and I felt very unsure of my abilities. My butt was puckered up quite a bit. You're absolutely right, everyone has those days.

If you want to see an "unpolished" youtube pilot just go and watch Jerry Wagner's channel. Great content and no fancy editing, no begging for subscribers, no "hit that thumbs up button". A breath of fresh air amongst most now, who are succumbing to the pressure of begging for patreon money, subscribers and plugging products for sponsorship....

One thing i would suggest is to remove that cover from over your CAPS handle. if you need that parachute, you don't want to fool around with taking off that cover first. Is your CAPS pin in during this flight?

In my experience, because all the procedures, policies (company) we try to perform perfectly. but we are humans and we can make mistakes or have dudes about procedures, decision making etc etc. Also in other hand other pilots or people who know about aviation maybe they will try to find mistakes in our videos (haters) and maybe other youtube pilots prefer to not show that scenarios because is uncomfortable. but I think that can of videos is not bad.

Awesome video, loved the Countdown clock in particular! One question you probably get a lot, what do you do for a living to afford that much flying? As someone who just got his PPL and spends way too much on this hobby I wonder how you mange it. (If you already have a vid about the subject, please let me now!)

Waaaait, I didn’t think us Cirrus Pilots ever doubted ourselves! We have a parachute after all! Haha, great video and very true

How could you have forgot FlightChops!? The guy who started to show mistakes in detail on youtube! Go FlightChops! ru-vid.com

niko and steve are the ones too. sweet video!