Mason Shopperly

Field

Where the engineering
happens

  1. Three Mooneys in close formation, seen from above. Aviation

    Formation flying with the Mooney Caravan, the airshow it arrives at, and the Air Zoo.

    Caravan · Oshkosh · Air Zoo · films from 2014 and 2015

  2. The Stratus tiltrotor UAV on a taxiway at golden hour, twin motors on the wing. Building

    Two competition airframes, a shop, and the engines in the notes.

    UT-24 Minerva · UT-25 Stratus · SBach 342 · the bench

  3. Aurora over a dark landscape at night, Iceland. Outdoors

    Alberta, and the places reached from it.

    Rockies · Iceland · Kauai · the gorge

01

Aviation

Caravan, Oshkosh, the Mooney, the museum
Two Mooneys in echelon formation seen from the cockpit, the camera ship's wing in frame.

The Mooney Caravan is a mass formation arrival: a fleet of Mooneys launches together, holds a briefed formation en route, and breaks overhead the field at Oshkosh.

  • The formationFlown in it, and photographed from inside it. The echelon frames are taken past the camera ship's wing.
  • On recordTwo films I cut: Oshkosh 2014 and Mooney Caravan 2015.
  • The airshowEAA AirVenture at the end of the arrival. Snowbirds in a nine-ship, the heritage combat flight, and the Caravan aircraft parked on the grass.
  • The museumAir Zoo, Kalamazoo: SR-71 NASA #831 and its trainer, the J58 beside it, an F-117, and an F-1 nozzle.
  • Canadian Forces Snowbirds in a nine-ship echelon.
    Snowbirds, nine-ship echelon.
  • SR-71 in NASA markings, tail number 831, side view.
    SR-71, NASA #831. The J58 that drove it is displayed alongside.
  • Mooney cockpit view with Alberta storm cells building ahead.
    Cockpit, Alberta, cells building ahead.
  • Mooney Caravan aircraft parked in a row on the Oshkosh grass.
    The Caravan on the grass at Oshkosh, after the arrival.
  • Pilot training in progress; no licence or rating yet.

The full aviation chapter →

02

Building

Airframes, the shop, the engines
A competition airframe part-assembled on a picnic table at a flying field in late winter, tools laid out beside it.

Two UTAT competition airframes a season apart, and the same habits applied to a solar-car chassis, an aerobatic model and the engines in the notes.

  • Year oneUT-24 Minerva, competition number 216. First place, Advanced Class written design report, SAE Aero Design West 2024.
  • Year twoUT-25 Stratus, competition number 213, a tiltrotor. First place, Design Report Award, Advanced Class, SAE Aero Design East 2025, Fort Worth.
  • Also on the benchAn SBach 342 aerobatic model built from a cut-away, a Western Sunstang solar-car chassis, and an Altair topology-optimised component.
  • The enginesIgnition, VANOS, intake. Some of these are still open in the notes.
  • UT-24 Minerva on grass at tech inspection, tail assembly detached and the bay open.
    Minerva at tech inspection, tail off and the bay open for the inspector.
  • The finished Stratus wing on a bench: constant chord inboard, tapering outboard, two carbon spar stubs at the root.
    The Stratus wing on the bench. The planform the MDO chose.
  • A laptop screen showing the SBach 342 assembly in CAD, wing skin cut away over spar and ribs.
    SBach 342 on the screen it was drawn on: spar, ribs, and where the servo tray goes.
  • BMW Z4 N54 intake manifold removed, ignition coils laid out on a table.
    N54 ignition service, manifold off and the coils laid out in order.

The full building chapter →

03

Outdoors

Alberta, and what is reached from it
Volcanic cliffs on Kauai, seen from the air.

Most of these are taken from an aircraft. The rest are on foot or on a sled, in the mountains behind the city.

  • From aboveAlberta and the Rockies from the air, and Calgary from an airliner in late fall.
  • WinterSkiing in the Rockies, and a snowmobile in spruce at blue hour.
  • Further outIceland, including a glacier ice cave and the aurora over it. Kauai, from the cliffs to the coast.
  • WaterThe Aguasabon Gorge, Ontario.
  • Skiing in the Canadian Rockies.
    The Rockies, which are the reason for living where I do.
  • A figure standing in a narrow blue crevasse in a glacier, ice walls rising on both sides.
    Inside a glacier, Iceland. Ice this colour is ice with the air pressed out of it.
  • A snowmobile in spruce forest at twilight.
    Spruce at blue hour, from the seat.
  • The Aguasabon Gorge from above, looking down it to Lake Superior on the horizon.
    The Aguasabon Gorge, looking down it to Lake Superior.

The full outdoors chapter →