Interview With Rosita Smeenk, Pilot of Bambi

Interview with vlogging pilot Rosita Smeenk

Rosita Smeenk is also known as Pilot Bambi. She always wanted to be a pilot from a young age, just like her father, and that dream has come true. She started with gliding, earned multiple pilot licences and went to work as a skydive pilot. In 2020 Rosita and her boyfriend Maurits made a video about her life as a skydive pilot on Sint Maarten and uploaded it to YouTube. Their vlogging career then took off. They now have over 100,000 followers. Rosita tells us all about her work as a full-time content creator (and pilot), about the six-week journey she made at the end of 2022 from the Netherlands to South Africa, and of course she also shares tips if you want to start vlogging yourself!

A day in the life of a skydive pilot

Rosita always wanted to be a pilot. When she was two months old, her family moved to Tanzania for her father’s work, where her father completed a flying training. "He was allowed to fly sports planes," says Rosita. "We made lots of flights in East Africa and Tanzania after that. That is where my passion for flying began." When Rosita was 12, the family moved back to the Netherlands, where she started gliding at the age of 15. "I learned to fly from former KLM pilots and ex-military pilots." She says she learned a great deal during that time. "That is where I became who I am. I gained my self-confidence there, but also my humility, and I learned to make mistakes."

Over the following years, Rosita obtained several pilot licences and went to work as a skydive pilot. "In short, that means people jump out of my plane." In early 2020 Rosita started as a skydive pilot on Sint Maarten. Her boyfriend Maurits came to visit. "He makes videos of his whole life. He had a simple camera with him and said: 'Your life here is so much fun. Do you want to make a short film and put it on YouTube?'" Rosita quickly got over her initial embarrassment and they made a day-in-a-life video. "We shot it with an old GoPro and I put it together with iMovie." She created a YouTube account with the name Pilot Bambi — based on her nickname from the flight school in South Africa. "Now we end up in the craziest places and people recognise us from the YouTube account. We were once in Kenya and someone said to me 'Hey Bambi!'"

A rough DIY film

It would never have got this far if Rosita had not uploaded that first video. At first it was barely watched — just a few hundred views. But then coronavirus arrived. Everyone was at home and the viewing figures shot up. "After a month I saw that the video had nearly 300,000 views and followers started pouring in. We were in stitches," Rosita recalls with a laugh. "It was a rough DIY film, but people liked it." During the corona crisis, Rosita and Maurits had the time and space to figure out what they wanted to do with the YouTube account. "Suddenly we were content creators. It was never in our plans and came completely out of nowhere." She says they are still figuring out what they want with the channel. "How do we make it grow? And can we combine it with a normal life? That is something we are still working out."

Rosita now works full-time as a content creator for the Pilot Bambi YouTube channel. After that first video she kept filming her work, and that also led to requests for ferry flights — flying a plane from A to B for its owner. "My first ferry flight was during the corona period for a Norwegian man. He had bought a plane in Germany but was not allowed to leave the country due to corona restrictions." Rosita and Maurits were allowed to travel, collected the plane in Germany, and flew to Norway. It was summer and the views were stunning. When flying along a mountain top they opened the roof. With the wind in their hair and camera in hand, they flew past two deer — two Bambis. "It was like a fairy tale. A magic. It was made possible by the YouTube account, because we once uploaded a video and someone trusted me with their plane."

Six-week journey

Such beautiful moments motivate her to keep flying and to keep sharing things online. In autumn 2022 Rosita and Maurits made a six-week journey from the Netherlands to South Africa with several stopovers, filming everything from A to Z. "It was a great learning experience and incredibly fun. On top of that, the views were breathtaking." Their stops included Greece, Egypt, Sudan and Tanzania. Although the journey had many beautiful moments, it was sometimes nerve-wracking too. Above Sudan they encountered a thunderstorm. "The last half hour of our flight to Sudan we dealt with very bad weather. There were huge thunderclouds above the city where we were due to land. We could barely see what was around us." A plane from Air France flew over them and shared extra weather information. "That allowed us to avoid the worst thunderstorm."

They were also essentially saved by their gear. Before heading off, Canon sponsored a camera and lens — a Canon R6 with a 24-105mm lens. "With this you can see a lot even at night. Due to the bad weather we could not tell the difference between clearings and thunderclouds. When we looked through the Canon R6, we could see exactly where the thundercloud was. That helped us enormously in deciding where we could and could not fly." She explains that they flew through a tropical conversion zone — an area with extremely dangerous storm build-up where the airstreams converge, creating enormous thunderclouds that even large Boeings have to fly around. "If you fly through such a zone, nothing is left of your plane. We were quite literally saved by the lens."

Favourite photo

Once in Sudan they were warmly welcomed. "The people are so friendly. I felt safe in the capital Khartoum, we ate wonderfully and saw beautiful things." They stayed for several days and visited the pyramids with a guide. On the way they stopped in the middle of nowhere for a picnic — and a boy on a donkey came over to see what they were doing. "I asked him through our guide if I could take his photo." That was no problem, and she captured her favourite photo to date. "The boy struck the pose himself and the donkey was in exactly the right position. The photo is fairly light, but it is precisely the light you get in many parts of Africa — very soft, but simultaneously bright, with the contrasting sand."

After Sudan, more stopovers followed. One of the last was Tanzania, where Rosita showed her boyfriend the country she grew up in for the first time. "He found it beautiful. He completely understands where my passion for Africa comes from." Africa is her favourite continent to travel to and photograph. Of course not everything went smoothly — in Tanzania a wheel spat broke off the plane while she was turning enthusiastically into the runway. She called the owner with a heavy heart, but he could laugh about it. "He said it was not a real adventure if a wheel spat had not broken off." In the end the second one broke off too. "Fortunately the owner only found it funny and did not mind at all."

Editing

Back in the Netherlands, the editing begins. "For one minute of video we spend an average of one and a half hours editing." They film with various cameras during flights — usually two GoPros, a camera and sometimes even a drone. The GoPros are kept off most of the time and switched on for important shots. "By being selective about what you film, you save a lot of editing time. Over the past years we have developed a better feel for which shots we need." She describes their video style as personal and accessible. "I do not like holding the camera while I talk. So when I talk, Maurits films me. This gives viewers the feeling of being there when I explain something — and that is the feeling we want to convey."

In the coming years Rosita wants to keep travelling. Her dream is to discover South America from the air. "I have seen footage of people flying over South America and it looks absolutely incredible." That trip sits at the top of her bucket list, and she is optimistic they will make it happen. "We have learned that everything is possible and there is no limit to what is possible."

Tips

Are you inspired and want to start vlogging yourself? Read Rosita’s tips for beginning vloggers!

• You just have to start. "That is the biggest step. When my boyfriend suggested making a YouTube video, I also thought 'oh no, that's so awkward', but the fear of embarrassing myself is now completely gone. We sometimes have videos that get fewer views, but do not let that stop you. Even with just 10 views, you have something to look back on."
• Do not be held back by not having professional gear. "We started with a cheaper camera too, and now we are building up to professional gear. That process is really fun because you keep learning. In the beginning you really do not need to know or have everything."
• Keep developing yourself. "Every photographer or videographer keeps learning by looking things up. There is so much available online in terms of tips, tricks and inspiration. It is also a process of trial and error — you learn the most from the shots that do not work out."

Rosita Smeenk's work

Website: www.pilotbambi.com

Instagram: @pilotbambi

YouTube: PilotBambi Videos

Gear

For her photos and videos, Rosita uses the following equipment: the Canon R6 with a 24-105mm lens. She also uses several GoPro cameras.