I could watch programmes about planes all day. Its just fascinating the way they take off and land.
I often watch the planes flying over my house and use the Flightradar24 app on my phone to see what plane they are and where they've come from and going to I also check my sons flights when he goes between Sydney and Brisbane.
I used to watch Concorde fly over near my Mum & Dads house in South East London at 5:30pm every night.
I haven't got time for the 'nimby's' who keep moaning about Heathrow being expanded. Must be at least 98% of the people living in the various areas around the airport have moved there knowing that there's an airport right near them.They've got no right to complain about it. They shouldn't have moved there. I wouldn't think that other countries would listen to these people so much if they wanted to expand their airports.
I just gasped in disbelief at that stupid question!
The other one earlier was "do planes need an ignition key to start"!
This is like watching aviation for children. in fact that's an insult to children's intelligence.
so given that I dont have a clue how they fire up the engines...what do they use other than a key? or just show us your geekness and talk me through a 747 engine start from the inception of transfer to onboard power.
to be fair, this should have been explained at the time...but as they didnt bother I'll leave it to mirrormirror to clarify
It's true that the crash was a contributing factor but fuel costs and overall operating costs of Concorde would make it near impossible for British Airways and Air France to make money with it today. It may have gone on for a few more years but I doubt it would be flying today even if the crash didn't happen.
I still believe it should be flying, just not in commercial service. Stuck as a grounded museum piece isn't right.
And you are right on both points there of course. But the existing airlines wouldn't allow it as the speed and prestige would be a threat to their business.
And a brilliant 3-part programme called "Supersized Earth" last year.
Oh yes forgot that one, interesting show, bit lightweight/too short, but he showed a fair bit of enthusiasm IIRC.
I might have been wrong about him being an engineer, I was probably thinking of Jem Stansfield??
But then there's Kate Humble, who looks and talks like a bimbo and as a consequence some other young women presenters seem to want to emulate her.
I can't see how Kate Humble counts as a bimbo; she's a highly competent general-purpose presenter who has shown a capacity to present live without getting flustered. She didn't know much about aviation, but then she'd been dropped into this week without much notice.
I think she's pretty much on a par with Dan Snow as far as safe-hands-many-subjects goes.
I can't see how Kate Humble counts as a bimbo; she's a highly competent general-purpose presenter who has shown a capacity to present live without getting flustered. She didn't know much about aviation, but then she'd been dropped into this week without much notice.
I think she's pretty much on a par with Dan Snow as far as safe-hands-many-subjects goes.
You'd have no argument for me on that one. He's the male equivalent, but if you like his style too, then that's fine by me.
As for Kate, she blagged her way through the first few series of Springwatch, obviously knowing little about nature. But hey! she was attractive, could read the autocue, follow the director's instructions and didn't bump into the furniture, what more could you want?
I guess I'll have to accept, "dumbed down BBC1 style TV" is now well ensconced on BBC2 and few seem to question it.
so given that I dont have a clue how they fire up the engines...what do they use other than a key? or just show us your geekness and talk me through a 747 engine start from the inception of transfer to onboard power.
to be fair, this should have been explained at the time...but as they didnt bother I'll leave it to mirrormirror to clarify
To start the aircraft from cold they need to switch the instrument panel on, which enables them to turn each engien on. They will usually start with number 1 the 4 back to 2 then 3 but any order is fine, it depends on the captain. After that it's pretty much done, they have to programme the FMS which will route the aircraft during the flight etc... This may help but starts just after engien start up
I found some of the information on the three shows quite interesting, but the vast majority I thought a bit banal. Case in point, as an introduction to the piece about the smart fire engines "we've had an email from 10 year old ______ does the airport have its own fire station?". No, they phone 999 and wait for them to show up.:rolleyes: Kate Humble was as annoying as she was on Springwatch. Often found myself fast forwarding through her spiel.
ICase in point, as an introduction to the piece about the smart fire engines "we've had an email from 10 year old ______ does the airport have its own fire station?". No, they phone 999 and wait for them to show up.:rolleyes: .
So you didn't like that 10 year old getting excited that they read out his/her question .
For those that are interested here is a link to British Airways Flight Simulators which members of the public can go on. I did this for my 16th birthday quite a few years ago now and it is great fun. It doesn't seem that the A380 one is available to the public yet.
You'd have no argument for me on that one. He's the male equivalent, but if you like his style too, then that's fine by me.
As for Kate, she blagged her way through the first few series of Springwatch, obviously knowing little about nature. But hey! she was attractive, could read the autocue, follow the director's instructions and didn't bump into the furniture, what more could you want?
I guess I'll have to accept, "dumbed down BBC1 style TV" is now well ensconced on BBC2 and few seem to question it.
"Where's Alan Whicker when we really need him?"
There was no autocue on Airport live, Kate had cue cards which she never even looked at - that is why she is a good presenter.
The presenters and production team did a brilliant job. It can't have been easy to organise and film a live broadcast from LHR. The show obviously isn't solely aimed at aviation enthusiasts (...like myself) but balanced for the general viewing public.
But then there's Kate Humble, who looks and talks like a bimbo and as a consequence some other young women presenters seem to want to emulate her.
Classic bimboism last night was the girl talking to the fireman about the huge extending platform that they had and the conversation went something along the lines of:
Presenter "So, how tall is it?"
Fireman "It's 48 meters tall"
Presenter "WOW! So just how tall is that?"
We'd never seen her before, let's hope we never see her again. If you are going to be a live presenter, make sure you are not as thick as pig s**t.
There was no autocue on Airport live, Kate had cue cards which she never even looked at - that is why she is a good presenter.
In your opinion, not mine.
She occasionally has that "vague look" and halting delivery when she trying to "multitask." In her case that's, "trying to listen to instructions on her earpiece and talk at the same time."
She's also able, much like Clare Balding, to occasionally talk nonsense, with "an air of authority."
Without her looks, like Julia Bradbury and a few others, there'd be no place in television for her for what jobs she's given.
But as I said, if she's your kind of presenter, that's fine by me.
So you didn't like that 10 year old getting excited that they read out his/her question .
That would have been "Blue Peter at it's best" not on prime time TV.
But then it was a relatively cheap to present programme and the BBC need to make savings where they can.
For those that are interested here is a link to British Airways Flight Simulators which members of the public can go on. I did this for my 16th birthday quite a few years ago now and it is great fun. It doesn't seem that the A380 one is available to the public yet.
I did this a few years ago also. I came away with the following impressions:
1. The simulators are VERY realistic; the simulator movement is a big part of this and after a few minutes you do actually forget that you aren't on a real plane.
2. You really do need two people to fly an airliner; there's just too much work for one person.
3. It isn't too difficult to take off, hack your way around a circuit and land safely, given ideal conditions and a lot of advice and help from your instructor.
I felt that the first episode was a little bit weak, but I think the show did get better as time went on - although I must admit that the bits I enjoyed the most and found the most interesting were the non-live parts.
I found the whispering in the control tower got annoying after a while - Just stand outside FFS! I agree that sometimes the presentation was a little bit too chummy and Blue Peter like for my liking, but at the same time if it's the sort of program that gets 10 year olds interested in watching and learning something, then is that necessarily bad?
Comments
I often watch the planes flying over my house and use the Flightradar24 app on my phone to see what plane they are and where they've come from and going to
I used to watch Concorde fly over near my Mum & Dads house in South East London at 5:30pm every night.
I haven't got time for the 'nimby's' who keep moaning about Heathrow being expanded. Must be at least 98% of the people living in the various areas around the airport have moved there knowing that there's an airport right near them.They've got no right to complain about it. They shouldn't have moved there. I wouldn't think that other countries would listen to these people so much if they wanted to expand their airports.
Very much enjoyed the series though and hope it becomes an annual thing with better presenters.
so given that I dont have a clue how they fire up the engines...what do they use other than a key? or just show us your geekness and talk me through a 747 engine start from the inception of transfer to onboard power.
to be fair, this should have been explained at the time...but as they didnt bother I'll leave it to mirrormirror to clarify
Hmm..
But then there's Kate Humble, who looks and talks like a bimbo and as a consequence some other young women presenters seem to want to emulate her.
The men involved in this seem to want to style themselves on John Noakes, but Matt Baker seems to have assumed that role already.
I think Kate's a very decent presenter, and she's very clear and palatable,
And she stepped in, at very short notice, to replace Dan Snow as main presenter.
It's not as easy as it looks to present 4 live shows in a week, i think she did a very competent job.
And you are right on both points there of course. But the existing airlines wouldn't allow it as the speed and prestige would be a threat to their business.
And a brilliant 3-part programme called "Supersized Earth" last year.
Oh yes forgot that one, interesting show, bit lightweight/too short, but he showed a fair bit of enthusiasm IIRC.
I might have been wrong about him being an engineer, I was probably thinking of Jem Stansfield??
I can't see how Kate Humble counts as a bimbo; she's a highly competent general-purpose presenter who has shown a capacity to present live without getting flustered. She didn't know much about aviation, but then she'd been dropped into this week without much notice.
I think she's pretty much on a par with Dan Snow as far as safe-hands-many-subjects goes.
If she's what you want in a presenter, then that's fine by me.
You'd have no argument for me on that one. He's the male equivalent, but if you like his style too, then that's fine by me.
As for Kate, she blagged her way through the first few series of Springwatch, obviously knowing little about nature. But hey! she was attractive, could read the autocue, follow the director's instructions and didn't bump into the furniture, what more could you want?
I guess I'll have to accept, "dumbed down BBC1 style TV" is now well ensconced on BBC2 and few seem to question it.
"Where's Alan Whicker when we really need him?"
To start the aircraft from cold they need to switch the instrument panel on, which enables them to turn each engien on. They will usually start with number 1 the 4 back to 2 then 3 but any order is fine, it depends on the captain. After that it's pretty much done, they have to programme the FMS which will route the aircraft during the flight etc... This may help but starts just after engien start up
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SmWvPWtjElA
So you didn't like that 10 year old getting excited that they read out his/her question .
http://www.ebaft.com/fly/fse.htm
There was no autocue on Airport live, Kate had cue cards which she never even looked at - that is why she is a good presenter.
Classic bimboism last night was the girl talking to the fireman about the huge extending platform that they had and the conversation went something along the lines of:
Presenter "So, how tall is it?"
Fireman "It's 48 meters tall"
Presenter "WOW! So just how tall is that?"
We'd never seen her before, let's hope we never see her again. If you are going to be a live presenter, make sure you are not as thick as pig s**t.
In your opinion, not mine.
She occasionally has that "vague look" and halting delivery when she trying to "multitask." In her case that's, "trying to listen to instructions on her earpiece and talk at the same time."
She's also able, much like Clare Balding, to occasionally talk nonsense, with "an air of authority."
Without her looks, like Julia Bradbury and a few others, there'd be no place in television for her for what jobs she's given.
But as I said, if she's your kind of presenter, that's fine by me.
That would have been "Blue Peter at it's best" not on prime time TV.
But then it was a relatively cheap to present programme and the BBC need to make savings where they can.
As explained in an earlier post (http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showpost.php?p=66533518&postcount=291), Anita Rani has had plenty of TV and radio experience, much of it live.
I did this a few years ago also. I came away with the following impressions:
1. The simulators are VERY realistic; the simulator movement is a big part of this and after a few minutes you do actually forget that you aren't on a real plane.
2. You really do need two people to fly an airliner; there's just too much work for one person.
3. It isn't too difficult to take off, hack your way around a circuit and land safely, given ideal conditions and a lot of advice and help from your instructor.
Makes her bimbo statement even worse then, doesn't it.;)
I found the whispering in the control tower got annoying after a while - Just stand outside FFS! I agree that sometimes the presentation was a little bit too chummy and Blue Peter like for my liking, but at the same time if it's the sort of program that gets 10 year olds interested in watching and learning something, then is that necessarily bad?