We can’t always be flying. Weather, money, and life often get in the way. But the good news is that, thanks to YouTube, you can virtually fly with some awesome, entertaining pilots in some amazing aircraft.
The flying content on YouTube runs the gamut — but there are a few channels that consistently put out top-notch flying videos. Today, I’ll show you four of my favorite YouTube pilots:
1. Flight Chops
I can’t talk about flying YouTubers without putting Flight Chops front and center. Steve, the man behind the chops, makes the best flying videos on the internet — and in my view, he’s one of the best GA ambassadors we have today. He’s a video editor by trade, and he’s brought that professional level of production quality to aviation videos as well.
Some of my favorite videos from his channel include this flight in a TBM 850, his awesome series on TFP’s mountain flying course (which is now on my bucket list!), and his series on learning to fly a World War II-era Stearman.
Whenever one of Steve’s videos come out, I usually save them so I can watch them on the 65″ TV in my basement — they’re just so high quality that they’re worth watching on the big screen.
I personally think that AOPA should just hand Flight Chops a big budget and let him make flying videos full-time — but in the meantime, I’m a proud supporter of his channel on Patreon.
(Note: He also runs a great monthly contest for viewers — check it out here.)
2. steveo1kinevo
Ok, onto another YouTube pilot named Steve. Steveo1kinevo is a professional pilot who flies a corporate TBM 850 as well as a Cessna Grand Caravan, with most of the flying happening down in Florida and the Bahamas — the scenery is pretty hard to beat.
Steveo1kinevo’s channel is a VLOG format, and it’s definitely fun to watch him carry out flights in that pair of very capable aircraft.
3. Guido Warnecke
Guido is commonly referred to as “the most professional pilot on YouTube”. He’s another working pilot, and his channel features everything from hard IFR in business jets to ferry and pleasure flights in single-engine Cessnas and Mooneys. He’s a great resource for watching best practices, and crew resource management.
4. Backcountry Pilot
It’s really, really hard to limit my list to only four channels. But if I’m limiting it to four, Backcountry Pilot needs to be one of them. This channel is just what it sounds like — flying in the backcountry. I’d really love to experience some real backcountry flying, camping out under the wing of a Cessna 180 with tundra tires, but in the meantime, this channel helps to scratch the itch.
These guys do a fantastic job showing the feeling of flying in the backcountry. The cinematography is utterly beautiful, and totally makes you wish you were there. Backcountry Pilot also runs a fantastic website for anyone interested in more about this amazing flavor of flying.
Do you have a favorite aviation YouTuber that I missed? Share them in the comments!
Update: Since posting this, I’ve stumbled across some more great aviation YouTube channels. Check them out here.
On twitter matt deardon.
He was in the tv show “worlds worst place to be a pilot” His twitter adrdress is @IndoPilot
Really good series.
Thanks for the kind words!
Happy Landings,
Guido
Take a look at http://www.mullervlog.com for cool videos, around the Northern Virginia, Washington DC area.
Thanks for the tips. I was looking for more pilot vlogs like these. I’ve found a few of course but it’s handy to have a list that has already sorted the wheat from the chaff.
You should check out Premier 1 Driver on YouTube. I love his videos the are much longer, almost the whole flight, very informative and some of the BEST scenic “in flight” videos ever.
I agree, Premier 1 Driver should be on this list. There’s a video of steveo1kinevo and Premier 1 Driver together flying the premier to Key West. Definitely worth checking out
I like watching Steve in his TBM and Caravans. I enjoy him talking about the instruments the most.
Along with all those mentioned, I also like MrAvaition101. College kid and his 172 does a great Vlog out of Central Texas.
Trent Palmer has the best produced vlogs on YouTube if you’re into the whole back country flying.
Check out Between Layers Aviation. It’s a new channel with flights in a Cessna 310 and drone media. Pretty sweet.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb88sGjHCeT5VEnggUUGunQ
You guys left out one more flight you tuber and that is citationmax.