Beautiful photos of Alaska backcountry - bush flying in a Super Cub.

[Cobra516]

Not my photos, but I thought they were just too pretty not to pass around.
 
The pilot who took all of these photos was killed in a crash in June of this year while bush flying in Alaska, really sucks. His dad makes a pretty moving post in the thread.
http://www.supercub.org/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=16178

Where bush pilots fly they don't need airports! - I fly a Super Cub but not like they do, they certainly fly on the edge, that's gotta be a lot of fun.

Here's a link to the rest of the photos, has a ton of them, all are outstanding.
http://shaunlunt.typepad.com/shootings/
 

[CAVPFCDD]

way cool 

man o man is that high quality camera too

[SFRT - Frenchy]

Dam ... great shots.

[CyranoAH]

Thanks for sharing, incredible pictures.

Daniel

[avionix]

Truly bueatiful country.  Would love to live up there.  Thanks for posting.

[SpazMan]

Very Nice.......

[Spikes]

Beautiful country there. Nice pics!

[druski85]

That site is impressive.  Spent a good chunk of the work morning looking at it 

[moot]

Photoshoped but very nice, thanks for sharing.

[Halo]

That is fabulous, except for the part about getting killed.  Why did he crash? 

[druski85]

According to the site, he was banking at low altitude looking down at something, lost airspeed and stalled.

Nosed in and instantly killed.  Certainly a shame...

[CAVPFCDD]

Photoshoped but very nice, thanks for sharing.

you sure about that?

I know in norway some lakes and streams are a similar bright green color because it's melting glacier water, it gives off its own unique color, pretty wild stuff, thats the only part of these pictures that look almost unreal and would lead one on to believe its photoshopped.

[Cobra516]

They may be photoshopped somewhat to liven up colors - but I think that's about what it looks like up there.  Like CAVP said, those glacial waters can really look surreal sometimes.

According to the site, he was banking at low altitude looking down at something, lost airspeed and stalled.

Nosed in and instantly killed.  Certainly a shame...

They think he was trying to photograph some whale bones on the shoreline, believe he was down around 100 ft and slow - at that altitude if you stall there's not much you can do, you quickly become a passenger.   

His Cub was equipped with vortex generators.  They're mounted on the top part of the leading edge of the wing and help delay the flow separation on top of the wing at high angles of attack.  They really improve the slow speed handling / stall characteristics and make it somewhat spin resistant.  It will still break at the stall but with a less violent departure than without vortex generators, but at that altitude a stall/departure is all it takes to send you into the ground.

There was also a strong wing blowing from the bay onto the shore - and when trying to maintain a constant ground track around an object on the ground in high winds it's very easy to be tempted into pulling it around too hard on the downwind side (because you're getting blown away from the point on the ground) - so that leads to an accelerated stall which usually has a much more sudden stall break - I'm betting that's what happened to him. 

[Curlew]

wow, makes me miss alaska, speant 2 weeks there last summer, absolutley amazing, anywhere ou go everything is like that, such a beautiful place

[lagger86]

Those are wonderful pics, and Alaska is one of the most beautiful places on this earth.

 I actually read all the posts on the link provided by cobra(which is rare for me). This is truly a sad, yet inspirational story about a man chasing his dreams. The outcome was tragic, but he touched a lot of people with the pictures he took(and it's obvious why, just look at those). I just wanted to chime in and say thanks for sharing something I probably never would have found. I had never heard of Shaun Lunt, but having seen those pics and reading how people felt about him and the person he was, the world lost a great person, pilot, and photographer...it's a shame, but he seemed to touch peoples lives and made a lasting impression on the world around him...and when it comes down to it....that is living your life to the fullest even though his was shorter than maybe it should have been, but sometimes the reward outweighs the risks.