The STOL Collective

Arturo Polo Ena and his wife Elisa Fernández Esparza have backcountry aviation in their blood and you know how Spanish blood is!

Arturo Polo Ena started to fly hang gliders at age 16 and very soon discovered the unlimited possibilities offered by UL/LSA in Europe. Rapidly becoming an instructor at Torremoncha de Jiloca aerodrome in Aragon - Spain, he explored most of Europe and developed a dedication to mountain flying, especially in the French Alps as well as in the Massif Central and also in the Pyrénées both in Spain and France. A PPL (EU & US)  and CPL (US) owner with taildragger and ski rating, he loves to fly his Piper Super Cub "The Green Machine" on AKBW 35's during summer in Alaska and works as an UL/LSA-3axes instructor in Spain at his school "Amilpies", focusing on taildraggers, mountain and bush flying. He is also a Zlin Aviation dealer for Spain.

Elisa Fernández Esparza is a lawyer and attorney in Spain. Coming from Teruel - Aragon, she met Arturo while hang gliding and they both share the same love for backcountry aviation. A UL/LSA pilot since 2002 then an instructor in 2004, she also owns a PPL (EU & USA) with taildragger and float rating. She teaches during the winter time in Spain at her local Aerodromo municipal S/N Torremocha del Jiloca and works as well as a Lawyer and attorney, specialised in international law and aeronautical advice for several companies. During the summer season, she lives in Alaska enjoying the bush flying and wilderness of the Wrangell St Elias National Park.

In this episode, Arturo and Elisa share their story about how they fell in love with backcountry aviation and especially after discovering the Zlin Savage UL/LSA more than 15 years ago, leading them to create the first and only bush flying flight-school in Europe. They also explain us their deep fascination for Alaska, having pushed them to spend every spring and summer in the Wrangells for the past eleven years.

If you want to learn to fly taildraggers with Arturo or Elisa and even better, attend the best and only bush flying training in Europe, go to: https://www.amilpies.com/en/

This episode´s book tip is: Wager with the Wind: The Don Sheldon Story, by James M. Greiner, 1974 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/119375.Wager_with_the_Wind

Because I love skateboarding and because Spanish skateboarders are one of my favourite since I started to skate, check out all three Episodes about Jesus Fernandez from Freeskatemag: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BX7ywQtWMw

Music credits: “Slowly”, Amon Tobin – Supermodified, 2000

Cover photography: Arturo Polo Ena

Marius Jumolea is from Cluj-Napoca - Romania and although having been raised in an aviation family, he only found his own passion for aviation and especially bush flying at the age of 25.

Since then, Marius developed an avid need to fly and perfect his backcountry skills. This dedication pushed him to be one the few European owners of a Cub Crafters Carbon Cub EX2 back in late 2016. First pushing the limits on his own bush plane and exploring his amazing birth country, his passion saw him sharing a seat next to Philipp Sturm in his PT6 on his way from Switzerland to Alaska back in 2019. After spending two years in the birth country of bush flying, Marius came back to Romania with countless lessons learned and his passion still burning.

Today an UL/LSA and LAPL flight instructor, Marius shares with us his personal story about backcountry flying in Romania then Alaska, his thoughts about flying safely in the backcountry as well as carrying the appropriate safety gear but most of all, the joy of meeting awesome people around the world, sharing the same passion.

This episode´s book tip is: Notes from the Cockpit: A Mountain Pilot´s Perspective, by Richard K. Williams, Dominique Etchevrry - 2015 - ISBN 1507665385, 9781507665381

If you want to watch a video of Marius backcountry flying in his Carbon Cub in Romania: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQQvY3_yM38

Music credits: “Slowly”, Amon Tobin – Supermodified, 2000

Cover photography: Bogdan Pop

In today´s episode, It is our pleasure to welcome Sam Rutherford from the UK and Belgium.

For those who may not know about him, his flying career started at age 13 and pushed him to be commissioned officer at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 1991. Born a pilot, Sam qualified as an Army helicopter pilot and left the British Army as a Flight Commander after eight years of service. Later, he became an FAA/EASA commercial helicopter and airplane pilot. He logged more than 3500+ hours Total time, delivering aircrafts worldwide since 2008 as a ferry pilot and organizing Air Trophies and Air Rallies.

This episode´s book tip is: Flying the Knife Edge: New Guinea Bush Pilot, Matt McLaughlin - 2016 - ISBN 988140360X, 9789881403605

Music credits: “Slowly”, Amon Tobin – Supermodified, 2000

Cover photography: Thibault De Schepper - https://tibods.com/

René Petersen was born and raised in Greenland´s capital Nuuk. He has now been working for thirty years as a helicopter mechanic and logged almost three thousand hours on the left seat of different helicopters mostly in Greenland. He is also a private pilot for many years but most of all, he is the only owner of a bush plane (an experimental registered Just Aircraft Super STOL) in Greenland and one of the only two guys flying private GA in the entire country... which is the considered to be the biggest island in the world!

As you will discover, Greenland is really a true Last Frontier deeply connected to both European and North American continents.

If you want to watch René flying his Super STOL in Greenland, checkout his Instagram account - https://www.instagram.com/rep.air/

Music credits: "Slowly", Amon Tobin - Supermodified, 2000