Mountaintop Landings And Waterskiing In An Airplane

Kevin Quinn throwing up smoke as he touches down in the backcountry. Photo courtesy of Kevin Quinn. 

Kevin Quinn is a flying fanatic. 5,400 hours in a plane, 2,000 skydives, 70 glider flights—he’s done it all. And he might just live the dream, splitting his time between Lake Tahoe and his heli-ski operation in the Chugach Mountains of Alaska, and flying everywhere in-between.

It was at just two-years-old growing up in Anchorage, Alaska that Quinn got his first taste of flight, in the backseat of his dad’s plane. He flew solo at 15, and officially got his license in his mid to late twenties. Now, with almost 25 years of flying under his belt he has been invited to fly in a demonstration at the largest aviation event in the world happening this week.

EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, draws in 500,000 visitors over the course of a week, with demonstrations, clinics and more. Quinn was invited as one of only 16 pilots performing in Short Take Off and Landing demonstrations, known as STOL. 

“Out of nowhere I got invited to Oshkosh, the largest aviation gathering on the planet,” Quinn said. “I got a phone call one day asking if I wanted to be part of the STOL demonstration and I thought, ‘man oh man, absolutely.’ It’s an honor to be part of it.”

Quinn posing in the Nevada desert with his 1953 Cessna 180. Photo courtesy of Kevin Quinn.

As Quinn explains, in the STOL demonstration, the pilot has to land behind a chalk line marked on the ground, and stop in the shortest amount of time. In a perfect world, he said this would be landing just half an inch past the line and stopping in under 50 feet. After AirVenture, Quinn and friends will head to New Holstein, WI for another STOL event.

Of Quinn’s 5,400 hours flying, the great majority have been spent in the backcountry—landing on top of mountains, skiing across water, and accessing remote airstrips.

“Everything’s different. I’m a big fan of waterskiing the airplane," he said. "People think you’re nuts but the big balloon tires allow you to get on the water, set the landing and ski across. I’ve gone from one end of Lake Tahoe to the other on the water with my wheels. I’ve landed at 14,000 feet in the White Mountains, it’s pretty darn cool on top of the mountain.”

Who says water-skiers and pilots can't get this close? Quinn about to touch down on the water. Photo courtesy of Kevin Quinn. 

“It’s also fun being able to come in low on a river, your wheels hit the water, you bounce up on a gravel bar and go fishin’ for the afternoon. And you’re in a place no one can get to unless they’re in a boat.” 

Quinn is well versed and prepared for the STOL event that will happen on tarmac and grass, though he avoids pavement whenever possible.

“I avoid pavement sorta like the plague," he said. "It’s kinda like going to the ski hill; you aren’t skiing groomers, you’re skiing pow and steep lines. Where the pavement ends, everything else starts.”

Quinn avoiding the pavement in the Nevada desert at the High Sierra Fly In. Brent Beck photo. 

Much of Quinn’s time flying is spent in the backcountry of Nevada, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, and he said Idaho provides some of the most challenging backcountry flying in the country.

Most of his flying is done for pure fun, but he is commercially rated and can bring customers on sightseeing and fishing trips if he chooses to, and is also licensed as a big game hunting guide in Alaska.

At his heli-ski operation, Points North Heli-Adventures Inc., Quinn opts to get out on the snow with his customers, getting to ski pow and show them the goods, though he does have some time behind the stick of a helicopter as well. 

Quinn doesn't want to fly the heli in AK, he wants to be in the white room instead. Alain Sleigher photo.

If you want to learn more about Kevin and his flying endeavors, check out his website, BigTirePilot.com. In the video below, see him taking off from a mountaintop.