Brett Baker

However, if he had to guess, he would say he’s accumulated roughly 10,000 hours since earning his private pilot certificate in 2005. Baker now estimates he flies about 1,000 hours a year creating videos for his YouTube channel, “Cleared for Adventure.” He originally started the channel to show a friend in the Lower 48 what his daily backcountry flying in Alaska looks like. Today, the channel has more than a million followers.

“It’s been a wild ride,” said Baker. “I’m stunned at how many people sit back to watch it, and not even on their phone or on their computer….91.6 percent of my audience watches it on TV, which means they’re sitting back, hopefully with their families, watching GA and hopefully inspiring a younger generation to want to go fly and keeping the industry alive, which is 100 percent my goal. So, it just makes me super, super happy.”

Baker’s channel features biweekly adventures in the fleet of aircraft he’s accumulated, including but not limited to a Beechcraft Bonanza named Fast Chad, a Cessna 180 on floats called The Family Wagon, and a Robinson R44 named The BoldCopter. Some weeks, he’s carving through scenic valleys in Oregon, and during others, he’s flying his wife to a remote island to “glamp.” The week after that, he’s delivering pizza via floatplane.

If the past few years of “Cleared for Adventure” are any indication, Baker isn’t slowing down anytime soon. As the weather gets warmer, Baker has several videos planned—going to his first airshows, more backcountry flying, and even a cross-country journey across the United States. And if he’s in the sky, his audience is going with him.

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