Dangerous flights T.V. show.

FloridaPilot

FloridaPilot

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Over the weekend I watched a show called Dangerous flights on You Tube and I watched all of the posted shows, (I believe the show is/was on Discovery Channel)


I know it has a certain "Made for T.V." element to it but as a beginner I learned quite a bit from the show. Here are some of the things I learned.

#1. Your airplane mechanic doesn't fly with you and he doesn't care as much about your hide.

#2. Never rush a flight because you "Have to get somewhere NOW"


#3. Things go wrong in an old plane as well as a new one. The best
place to find the problem is on the ground.

#4. When someone is filling up your tanks, watch what they are doing
people make mistakes.

#5. "Hangar Queens" could cause problems because the lack of use. I
I thought it was the opposite, less hours = No problems, I was wrong.

I know for some of you this is "Beginner stuff" but I'm just laying the foundation to be a safe pilot.

What do you think about the show?

 
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It's entertainment for me. I try not to get too worked up in the story lines. I like it better than the repo show, though.
 
JB1842 said:
It's entertainment for me. I try not to get too worked up in the story lines. I like it better than the repo show, though.
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Why do you think people get worked up over the show?
 
FloridaPilot said:
Why do you think people get worked up over the show?
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Same way people get worked up over threads on this board. Because they can! Honestly, as a pilot, it's hard to see these shows on how they portray GA. Most people don't know squat except when they watch on TV. So they see this crap, and might get a bad view on GA as a whole, which doesn't do well for us when the NIMBY folks start trying to close airports and restrict flying because they see it as "dangerous" on TV.
 
It's hard for me personally to watch reality TV, even when the subject is aviation it seems. Also making aviation seem incredibly dangerous may not help with the stereotype that aviation is incredibly dangerous.
 
Flying is scary to most people on some level. It is foreign, somewhat magic, there is the lack of control, etc.

The media is doing its best to keep it scary because it draws ratings.

Here is a great example. An inflatable slide deploys mid flight on United over the weekend. Not a big deal but note the caption

"Terror in the skies"?? Give me a break.

999948964068.jpg
 
I bet the editors were debating between captions like:

"In flight Slide of doom"
"Slide deploys during flight. Terrorism not ruled out"
"Could slide deployment have caused flight 370 to go missing?"
"Saved by a flight plan"
"Why would anyone fly?"
"United Plane nearly crashes"
"United plane crashes"
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
Here is a great example. An inflatable slide deploys mid flight on United over the weekend. Not a big deal but note the caption

"Terror in the skies"?? Give me a break.
Click to expand...

Probably "Terror" because the FA's were now prevented from grabbing a bunch of beers once they reached the gate and then using the slide for their getaway.
 
I think it's great that you learned five good lessons from the show. If everyone learned those (especially #2, which is a real killer and happens way too often), we'd have a lot fewer accidents.
 
I think it's a collection of over hyped drama queens. I think most if not all of their crises are staged. If they aren't, then they're **** poor flight planners.
 
JB1842 said:
It's entertainment for me. I try not to get too worked up in the story lines. I like it better than the repo show, though.
Click to expand...

I watched all of the Repo shows too. Kevin Lacey is my favorite. IMO He has a love for flying that is infectious.
 
JB1842 said:
Same way people get worked up over threads on this board. Because they can! Honestly, as a pilot, it's hard to see these shows on how they portray GA. Most people don't know squat except when they watch on TV. So they see this crap, and might get a bad view on GA as a whole, which doesn't do well for us when the NIMBY folks start trying to close airports and restrict flying because they see it as "dangerous" on TV.
Click to expand...

I agree,

People already see flying as dangerous and it is. From what I got out of the Show, (Dangerous Flights) they travel a lot and most people love to travel so that might spark interest especially if you are young. I also got that GA is doing better in Brazil and overseas so I'm glad that it's not "Dead" as some people believe.
 
Challenged said:
It's hard for me personally to watch reality TV, even when the subject is aviation it seems. Also making aviation seem incredibly dangerous may not help with the stereotype that aviation is incredibly dangerous.
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I totally understand,

My wife watches it and it seems like someone is crying on every episode. When it comes to airplanes though......they got me.:yesnod:
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
Flying is scary to most people on some level. It is foreign, somewhat magic, there is the lack of control, etc.

The media is doing its best to keep it scary because it draws ratings.

Here is a great example. An inflatable slide deploys mid flight on United over the weekend. Not a big deal but note the caption

"Terror in the skies"?? Give me a break.

999948964068.jpg
Click to expand...

Exactly right,

Without going too much into detail because this is for a different board. IMO The media likes to play on emotions. When you take over emotions you can control how people feel and act toward certain things or products.
 
Ron Levy said:
I think it's great that you learned five good lessons from the show. If everyone learned those (especially #2, which is a real killer and happens way too often), we'd have a lot fewer accidents.
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Thank you,


It's tough to start from the beginning especially without any friends and family who are into GA. It's a long process but I'm glad I found this site and you folks are the only pilot friends I have. My apologies if I post a lot, I get to learn something every time I post.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
Flying is scary to most people on some level. It is foreign, somewhat magic, there is the lack of control, etc.

The media is doing its best to keep it scary because it draws ratings.

Here is a great example. An inflatable slide deploys mid flight on United over the weekend. Not a big deal but note the caption

"Terror in the skies"?? Give me a break.
Click to expand...

SixPapaCharlie said:
I bet the editors were debating between captions like:

"In flight Slide of doom"
"Slide deploys during flight. Terrorism not ruled out"
"Could slide deployment have caused flight 370 to go missing?"
"Saved by a flight plan"
"Why would anyone fly?"
"United Plane nearly crashes"
"United plane crashes"
Click to expand...

I think the real terror set in when the pax found out they had to spend the night in Wichita.
 
Now that I have learned that it takes almost a thousand hours of filming to edit out a 1 hour "reality" show to make the producer happy, I wonder does that make "Gilligans Island" the first reality show?
 
FloridaPilot said:
It's tough to start from the beginning especially without any friends and family who are into GA. It's a long process but I'm glad I found this site and you folks are the only pilot friends I have.
Click to expand...
You need to hang around the airport more, especially down around the T-hangars where the old guys sit around on lawn chairs all the time.

My apologies if I post a lot, I get to learn something every time I post.
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No apologies necessary. You don't learn nearly as fast if you don't ask questions.
 
FloridaPilot said:
It's tough to start from the beginning especially without any friends and family who are into GA. It's a long process but I'm glad I found this site and you folks are the only pilot friends I have. My apologies if I post a lot, I get to learn something every time I post.
Click to expand...

One of my favorite parts of GA (other than flying, of course!) is bumming around the airport and shooting the bull with other like minded airport bums. If you can get yourself involved in your local airport's community, I highly recommend that you give that a shot. Like you, I was the only pilot among my friends and family, but I soon found another 'family' of sorts at the airport, and it added a whole other layer of enjoyment to my training process.

This is certainly not said to discourage you from posting here! But there's nothing quite like going flying, and then grilling burgers with your GA buddies not 100 feet from the airplane you just flew. :)


EDIT: Looks like Ron beat me to it!
 
It is fun to identify the people on flying forums in your area and meet them for $100 burgers. Get to know them and their planes.

Nothing like being all alone in the plane, landing and immediately getting a text from AggieMike that reads "That would have been a great landing if the runway were about 3 feet higher"


Check and see if you have a local forum, find out who here is nearby or go visit with folks at the FBO or join your local EAA chapter.
 
Hehehehe, now that was funny right there.
 
“Enough is enough! I’ve had it with these motherf**kin’ slides on this motherf**kin plane!”

- Samuel L. Jackson
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
Flying is scary to most people on some level. It is foreign, somewhat magic, there is the lack of control, etc.

The media is doing its best to keep it scary because it draws ratings.

Here is a great example. An inflatable slide deploys mid flight on United over the weekend. Not a big deal but note the caption

"Terror in the skies"?? Give me a break.

999948964068.jpg
Click to expand...

What a bunch of hooey. The CNN headline, that is. I would imagine that the sound of that thing going off did wake up a few folks.

FloridaPilot said:
Thank you,


It's tough to start from the beginning especially without any friends and family who are into GA. It's a long process but I'm glad I found this site and you folks are the only pilot friends I have. My apologies if I post a lot, I get to learn something every time I post.
Click to expand...

Remember, there is no such thing as a stupid question. Many of us, on the other hand, are perfectly capable of providing stupid answers. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to determine which answers are stupid and which are not. :D


Matthew said:
I think the real terror set in when the pax found out they had to spend the night in Wichita.
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True.
 
I watched several Season #1 episodes back-to-back and liked it. Sure, it's over-dramatized, but I liked it. What do they say about flying..."Hours of Boredom Punctuated by Moments of Sheer Terror". So, much of the show is the moments of terror. Certainly not a true representation of aviation, especially for the public, but some good learning opportunities for pilots. The things that went wrong are realistic. And they show how not being at your top mental form can cause bad decisions. I'll be watching Season 2 soon.
 
CT4ME said:
I watched several Season #1 episodes back-to-back and liked it. Sure, it's over-dramatized, but I liked it. What do they say about flying..."Hours of Boredom Punctuated by Moments of Sheer Terror". So, much of the show is the moments of terror. Certainly not a true representation of aviation, especially for the public, but some good learning opportunities for pilots. The things that went wrong are realistic. And they show how not being at your top mental form can cause bad decisions. I'll be watching Season 2 soon.
Click to expand...

As reality TV goes, Dangerous Flights isn't all that bad. Yes, some things are slightly over-dramatized, and some of the dramatization is clearly scripted, which is especially obvious because the cast are rather poor actors. However, I think the show does a mostly good job at presenting a positive image of GA, while mixing in some of the realities of international ferry flying.


JKG
 
CT4ME said:
I watched several Season #1 episodes back-to-back and liked it. Sure, it's over-dramatized, but I liked it. What do they say about flying..."Hours of Boredom Punctuated by Moments of Sheer Terror". So, much of the show is the moments of terror. Certainly not a true representation of aviation, especially for the public, but some good learning opportunities for pilots. The things that went wrong are realistic. And they show how not being at your top mental form can cause bad decisions. I'll be watching Season 2 soon.
Click to expand...


That is exactly right,

Going into these shows I knew it was going to be overdramatized but this time I WANTED it to be. I wanted to see what happened to the plane and what to do to fix it or how they handled unique situations.

Here is season two on you tube, (This is how I watch it less commercials)

 
Timmer said:
Amazingly, if you have a TV, that TV does not force you to watch shows against your will.

At least, that's what it tells me.
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I watched the show on you tube. If someone was to climb through my window and take my T.V. I wouldn't know it was gone.


I don't like reality T.V. like many of you. It seems like SOMEBODY is on there crying away about something.
 
Oh Man. So I don't have TV either so to speak. Just Netflix.

I am on call and pulled an all nighter last night. This thread got me curious. I am half way through Season 1 on youtube.

Total added drama but the flying is beautiful.
If you can suspend the fact that the scenes are cut, invented, and likely they didn't have spot planes filming them and treat it like a movie, it can draw you in.

I am going to keep watching
 
FloridaPilot said:
I watched the show on you tube. If someone was to climb through my window and take my T.V. I wouldn't know it was gone..
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I watch youtube ON the TV. I, too, got rid of cable, although I'd take it if I could for around $10/month but not the $50-$80 they want. Heck, I just dropped Hulu+, too.

I was just offering a snarky comment to the "there're bad shows on TV which makes me glad I don't have a TV" like saying: "Wow, those teenage romance novels are terrible; I'm glad I don't read books." :)
 
Timmer said:
I was just offering a snarky comment to the "there're bad shows on TV which makes me glad I don't have a TV" like saying: "Wow, those teenage romance novels are terrible; I'm glad I don't read books." :)
Click to expand...


Or, those teenage romance novels are terrible, I'm glad I never had a teenage romance....:rolleyes2::lol:
 
Sky King - Now there is a Reality Show
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
Oh Man. So I don't have TV either so to speak. Just Netflix.

I am on call and pulled an all nighter last night. This thread got me curious. I am half way through Season 1 on youtube.

Total added drama but the flying is beautiful.
If you can suspend the fact that the scenes are cut, invented, and likely they didn't have spot planes filming them and treat it like a movie, it can draw you in.

I am going to keep watching
Click to expand...

Cool!

Let me know when you finish so we can compare notes!

I didn't know what Scud Running was until I watched the show. :eek:
 
Season 2 is finally on youtube? Have to go check it out.
 
Ha, ha I like it despite the uber drama

Just remember the sage advise from episode one: If we can't control the airplane we got no chance :yikes:
 
Season 2 episode 2 is also on YouTube. Their website has links to the videos but it doesn't work. :(
 
My favorite line: "Every plane I fly in I expect it to try and kill me"
 
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