Plane Xtreme

Nice, looking forward to it. I am enjoying Ice Pilots. It seems that Weather Channel folks love aviation.
 
Pretty good show! Those are some crazy ferry flights over open ocean they're doing.
 
Hopefully, it won't be super over-produced. I like the idea, though. I'm glad TWC is bringing in all sorts of cool aviation shows.

On a side note, I remember when TWC was just weather all day long.
 
I'll watch it as long as Robert Weaver isn't involved. Pretty incredible saga of a scamming ferry pilot that takes the plane halfway then demands more $$...sort of like scamming movers that hold one's belongings random until the recipient coughs up more money.
 
Show is terrible for GA. Bad airplanes and bad weather. Always about to die, going to scare the bejeeebers out of the women folk. If you have a wife that isn't particularly fond of flying try not to let her see the show. Saw two episodes looks like they are all going to be the same. Man gets in dodgy airplane, flies through dodgy weather, deals with corrupt customs in dodgy country, rather rinse repeat.
 
ClimbnSink said:
Show is terrible for GA. Bad airplanes and bad weather. Always about to die, going to scare the bejeeebers out of the women folk. If you have a wife that isn't particularly fond of flying try not to let her see the show. Saw two episodes looks like they are all going to be the same. Man gets in dodgy airplane, flies through dodgy weather, deals with corrupt customs in dodgy country, rather rinse repeat.
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That's a bummer, though ferrying airplanes IS dangerous and often done on planes that have parked for a while. In that sense there might be some reality to it, but I see your point. It is kinda the dark underbelly to how GA normally operates.
 
My lovely wife DVR'd it for me, so I watched it last night. I think it's a cool concept for a GA show, but of course they highlight all the dangers along the way. However, it IS risky to fly around thunderstorms with nothing but 10 foot seas 10K feet below you.

In the first episode, (SPOILER) the first pilot for a ferry mission to South Africa can't get his head in the game and turns around. They talk about not flying when you aren't physically or mentally ready. I thought that was a darn good message about GA to promote.

My wife, who is GA tolerant, but not GA savvy, liked the show because she had never heard of ferrying pistons singles across the Atlantic.
 
I had my hopes up for this show! I will save judgement until I watch it in a few minutes.

There needs to be an aviation version of 'Top Gear' (UK) not the crappy US one!!


-VanDy
 
ClimbnSink said:
Show is terrible for GA. Bad airplanes and bad weather. Always about to die, going to scare the bejeeebers out of the women folk. If you have a wife that isn't particularly fond of flying try not to let her see the show. Saw two episodes looks like they are all going to be the same. Man gets in dodgy airplane, flies through dodgy weather, deals with corrupt customs in dodgy country, rather rinse repeat.
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Yeah I hate to agree here but I literally watched about 3 minutes with my Dad last night and he said, " Are you sure you want me to watch this?". I said yeah you are right let's change the channel because he was clearly just getting the message that small planes are dangerous beeten over and over into his head failing to see how each flight landed successfully despite one plane having something like 300 squawks.

I'll watch the rerun when it comes on again. Looked like an awesome show for us pilots to watch.
 
Hey folks, thanks for the feedback. I'm the pilot that turned around in episode 1...I was definately at my all time mental low on that leg coupled with fatigue. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!
 
fastair5 said:
Hey folks, thanks for the feedback. I'm the pilot that turned around in episode 1...I was definately at my all time mental low on that leg coupled with fatigue. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!
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Would be interesting to get your perspective on the show, the shoots, where you think they want to take the theme, etc...
 
Hobobiker said:
Would be interesting to get your perspective on the show, the shoots, where you think they want to take the theme, etc...
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The best way to describe the show is dramatized reality. Everything portrayed in the show is real from the pilot group camaraderie to the dangers of the trips the only difference is that the producers push us to precisely describe what's going on so the non-pilots will also understand the reality. Episode 3 & 4 will more accurately portray the broader picture which is...although the job has it's dangers it also has it's incredible upsides such as travel, freedom, satisfaction, and incredible scenery that many people will never experience...north Atlantic sunrise, northern lights, flying over the Greenland ice cap, glaciers, sahara, Masai Mara, etc...it was a blast to film, I hope you all enjoy the shows! Cheers!
 
Hobobiker said:
Would be interesting to get your perspective on the show, the shoots, where you think they want to take the theme, etc...
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Check out this Web Extra: Time on Their Hands.
Pretty good insight to how the tv show tries to portray a 60 hour 5 day trip into 22 minutes...they only show the interesting highlights, this web clip shows the rest of the how the rest of the trip is spent.
http://www.weather.com/tv/tvshows/plane-xtreme/main
 
I am kind of disappointed in it. Like the buffalo airways show it seems to be an aviation reality. Jerk pilots in my opinion. Kind of like the owner though.

That little town in wimama is pretty cool.
 
DaytonaLynn said:
I am kind of disappointed in it. Like the buffalo airways show it seems to be an aviation reality. Jerk pilots in my opinion. Kind of like the owner though.

That little town in wimama is pretty cool.
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Wow! What happened? You've obviously have had a negative experience with Wings of Eagles / Steve Hall.
 
Anyone seen the show "plane Xtreme" on the Weather Chanel. It's about Wings if Eagles aircraft delivery service. They are ferrying aircraft to Africa and South America . It's actually pretty accurate aviation wise. Lots of over water stuff.
 
Watching now. But wonder why the Pensecola run through the storms versus just setting up next day with FedEx or UPS.

And I think Dave Doble is active on this board.
 
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The flight broadcast now is Florida to Bangor ME then Azores to Namibia in a Bo. Seems they have delivery deadlines which I don't particularly understand.
 
AdamZ said:
Seems they have delivery deadlines which I don't particularly understand.
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Drama addition? Sorta like my "..and this is the last one I have in stock and your the 5th caller in last hour" method of creating a sense of urgency one of the 10 alternators i have in inventory for their Dodge truck...
 
It's on again tonight and the same rerun is showing. Did they only make 2 shows? It's about as bad as Ice Pilots and the continuous rerun of their shows.
 
N36GG they show in the "Bonanza to Namibia" episode has an extra wire from the wings to the tail... What is this function?
 
I gotta wonder what it costs to ferry a plane from central Florida to Namibia.
 
AggieMike88 said:
Drama addition? Sorta like my "..and this is the last one I have in stock and your the 5th caller in last hour" method of creating a sense of urgency one of the 10 alternators i have in inventory for their Dodge truck...
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You used that same trick on me when I called you last week looking for a flamduzzie rod...:lol:
 
And when they add those home built ferry tanks, does this trigger any FAA issues? (paperwork, inspections, etc)
 
DaytonaLynn said:
I am kind of disappointed in it. Like the buffalo airways show it seems to be an aviation reality. Jerk pilots in my opinion. Kind of like the owner though.

That little town in wimama is pretty cool.
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Are you meaning the Buffalo Airways pilots are jerks or were you meaning the Wings of Eagles Pilots?
 
AdamZ said:
The flight broadcast now is Florida to Bangor ME then Azores to Namibia in a Bo. Seems they have delivery deadlines which I don't particularly understand.
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The delivery deadlines refer to the quoted time enroute to the customer. When you have a customer purchasing an expensive plane for commercial usage (roughly 2.3 million dollar Cessna Caravan), the plane becomes a working liability...everyday it's not being productive is money lost. I have delivered planes before that were delayed with the customer going through the roof due to the fact that each aircraft in their fleet was being billed at a rate of $7000 per day. The deadlines are not enforceable but when you meet the deadline, it helps repeat business.
 
AggieMike88 said:
And when they add those home built ferry tanks, does this trigger any FAA issues? (paperwork, inspections, etc)
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The tanked aircraft must be FAA approved through the 337 form. All of our tanking first goes through engineering approval and then final inspections. The FAA also approves us to fly the aircraft on Special Airworthiness Certificates for overweight operations which also requires us to fly with supplemental addtions to the POH.
 
AggieMike88 said:
Watching now. But wonder why the Pensecola run through the storms versus just setting up next day with FedEx or UPS.

And I think Dave Doble is active on this board.
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LOL!! We often wonder the same thing! and yes, I am David Doble...also Stuart Mills is on here who appears on episode 3 and will appear next week on episode 4
 
fastair5 said:
The tanked aircraft must be FAA approved through the 337 form. All of our tanking first goes through engineering approval and then final inspections. The FAA also approves us to fly the aircraft on Special Airworthiness Certificates for overweight operations which also requires us to fly with supplemental addtions to the POH.
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So... do you leave the ferry tanks with the plane for the customer to keep... or do you have them shipped back for reuse in other transports :dunno:
 
lmars said:
It's on again tonight and the same rerun is showing. Did they only make 2 shows? It's about as bad as Ice Pilots and the continuous rerun of their shows.
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The Weather Channel funded 4 - 30 minute episodes. If the 4 episodes do well as far as ratings, they will fund an entire season...so please watch the show!!
 
N801BH said:
So... do you leave the ferry tanks with the plane for the customer to keep... or do you have them shipped back for reuse in other transports :dunno:
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The tanks stay with the aircraft but occasionally we will have a ferry coming back to the states in a large enough aircraft to grab a load of used tanks to reuse...but generally they are only used once. However, in Africa, they seem to love getting the tanks to be used for a variety of other uses.
 
I'm sure the producers inflate all the drama they can, as in all the other reality programs to date, but I haven't seen anything that would make me label the pilots "jerks" I appreciate fastair5's comments and insights concerning the program. I'm sure we all agree no deadline is worth a pilot's life.
 
fastair5 said:
Wow! What happened? You've obviously have had a negative experience with Wings of Eagles / Steve Hall.
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I did like the way you chose to turn around and then the owner gave you encouragment for proper decision making.

I am just not into the into the in your face reality type show. I will watch more to see if it gets better.

How did the show come to be filmed. Did someone submit for an idea or did Weather channel find you guys.
 
fastair5 said:
Hey folks, thanks for the feedback. I'm the pilot that turned around in episode 1...I was definately at my all time mental low on that leg coupled with fatigue. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!
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First Kudos on good decision making! During the lead up when you spoke about your colleague going down in the gulf of guinea and loosing communication with her I was thinking that crap has to get inside his head. Happy to see they included the " No Go" as part of aeronautical decision making and not just the macho "I'll plow through that TS stuff"
My question is was the boss really ok with your turning around or was he aggravated and just didn't want to appear calous on the show? It had to dig into his profits a bit. Still a good move!

fastair5 said:
The delivery deadlines refer to the quoted time enroute to the customer. When you have a customer purchasing an expensive plane for commercial usage (roughly 2.3 million dollar Cessna Caravan), the plane becomes a working liability...everyday it's not being productive is money lost. I have delivered planes before that were delayed with the customer going through the roof due to the fact that each aircraft in their fleet was being billed at a rate of $7000 per day. The deadlines are not enforceable but when you meet the deadline, it helps repeat business.
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Ah that makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the explanation. I do enjoy the show. I also love that the trips start from a grass strip don't know why but its neat. Thanks for contributing here.
 
stuart mills said:
Are you meaning the Buffalo Airways pilots are jerks or were you meaning the Wings of Eagles Pilots?
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I should clarify, not all in either show. Having said that, the show where the pilot went to El Salvador, I thought he was a bit over the top.

Buffalo had more, I saw more shows.

The guy on Xtreme who went in to get the plane where the pilot turned back was nice enough.

Will watch the next show.
 
fastair5 said:
The Weather Channel funded 4 - 30 minute episodes. If the 4 episodes do well as far as ratings, they will fund an entire season...so please watch the show!!
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I'll keep watching for sure, as I'm definitely enjoying the show. It's actually been my favorite of the aviation shows so far, with Ice Pilots in a close second, followed by Flying Wild Alaska in the rear, although I really enjoyed all 3 of them.

With regard to the flying in bad weather thing -- I think that part of the show has been one of the most interesting elements, and I don't see it as a negative for GA. First, it's been appropriately beat into everyone's head in GA and particularly pilots in training (like myself) that staying away from such weather is priority #1 in flying. Because of that, I watch it with a fascination at what you guys have to do, rather than an example of what I or anyone else should do. So basically in the same way I watched that Felix Baumgartner dude fall from space -- good for him, that was fun to watch, but no way that's going to be me. Second, you combine the bad weather thing with good decision-making, like your decision to turn around, or the guys in episode 3 heeding the advice of ATC to turn around and land. Third, my GF is no pilot but plans to be stuck in a plane with me on a regular basis once I have my PPL, and she is even liking the show. She actually even requested to watch it the other night (usually I have to twist her arm)! She understands that the flying through thunderstorms thing is not what we'll be doing (absent terrible judgment on my part) and she considers you guys crazy for doing it, but enjoys watching the drama of it. Also, my GF she gets a kick out of the owner and the other "characters" on the show. :D So, point being, the "dangerous flying" element is not impacting her opinion of GA, and hopefully the general audience understands its only the dramatic flare of the show and not necessarily what every small aircraft is experiencing every time it leaves land.

Anyways, my two cents.
 
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