How to Make a Good Landing

Be sure you evenly distribute the weight onto both wings of the aircraft

If there's one thing harder than landing on a rough back-country airstrip, it's landing on a rough back-country airstrip in a tractor plane with four of your friends holding on for dear life --- especially when you aren't in the cockpit. So I've developed a foolproof method to land in the most rugged terrain, even when your friends are hanging on the wings like a pack of apes:

1. Scream. It always seems to even out the group's collective anxiety level. If you're getting scared, so should everyone else.

2. Deflate your tires. Or in this case, take them completely off. Usually the friend that's hanging closest to the landing gear can reach down there and remove them comfortably in flight (if you forgot to do this before you took off).

3. Balance the weight of your entire party on the aircraft. If one of your passengers hops on the right wing, hop on the left wing. This is just common sense.

4. Take it slow. The slower your landing, the better the pictures come out later.

5. Use your flaps. Here, for instance, you and your friends' legs act as the plane's control surfaces. So stick out your legs and start moving (note: swimming flippers come in useful at this time as well).

This kind of landing obviously takes some practice, but with these tips you'll be well on your way to being the best bush pilot out there.