What is that device? (Flying Wild Alaska)

flhrci

flhrci

Final Approach
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David
In Snuggs's Caravan just right of the avionics stack of GPS and moving map, there is a white box that is usually not completely visible and has been bugging me. What the heck is that?

David
 
Did you notice the dual tach for the Caravan? Also the tach on the Caravan was acting up and it was an obvious tach problem since the torque was rock solid. Flying into a cloud while operating VFR? No wonder the FAA is getting interested. The Tweetos need to require some factual editing.
 
flhrci said:
In Snuggs's Caravan just right of the avionics stack of GPS and moving map, there is a white box that is usually not completely visible and has been bugging me. What the heck is that?

David
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VHF radio maybe? That's what it looked like to me (if we're typing about the same white box).
 
ronnieh said:
Did you notice the dual tach for the Caravan? Also the tach on the Caravan was acting up and it was an obvious tach problem since the torque was rock solid. Flying into a cloud while operating VFR? No wonder the FAA is getting interested. The Tweetos need to require some factual editing.
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Hey yea I was wondering about that VFR into IMC. I was thinking eh I don't know that I'd want that on TV.
 
Reality TV is entertainment. . Anyone who would believe people have the kind of repetitive interaction with their coworkers/peers week after week without significant consequences have their heads in the sand. If the FAA uses any of the video for any kind of enforcement action, we're all doomed.
Similarly, eyewitness testimony should be banned from the courtroom. Most aren't worth the oxygen.
 
John, you seem to assume the FAA is too smart to not realize it is a TV show. I wouldn't bet on that.
 
I heard marine band VHF is used for many non-marine purposes in the alaskan inland.

May not be FCC legal to operate on a plane. I bet the official explanation is that they use 'only on the ground' to coordinate with locals or boaters.
 
weilke said:
I heard marine band VHF is used for many non-marine purposes in the alaskan inland.

May not be FCC legal to operate on a plane. I bet the official explanation is that they use 'only on the ground' to coordinate with locals or boaters.
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Put the plane on floats and now it's a boat.
 
ronnieh said:
Did you notice the dual tach for the Caravan? Also the tach on the Caravan was acting up and it was an obvious tach problem since the torque was rock solid. Flying into a cloud while operating VFR? No wonder the FAA is getting interested. The Tweetos need to require some factual editing.
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I read an article about season 1 where it stated that Jim Tweto demanded (and got) the right to review & edit the episodes prior to broadcast to ensure there was no blatant attempt to show FAA violations.
 
weilke said:
I heard marine band VHF is used for many non-marine purposes in the alaskan inland.

May not be FCC legal to operate on a plane. I bet the official explanation is that they use 'only on the ground' to coordinate with locals or boaters.
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Just about every airplane up there has a marine radio. The locals use it like a telephone. As far as legalities go, the FCC would have a field day if it weren't and they decided to crack down.

During fishing season in the King Salmon area I've relayed many messages from fishing vessels while buzzing from point A to point B. When I was doing whale survey in Florida, we had a marine radio on board as well so we could call in whale sightings to the Coast Guard. They never seemed to mind.
 
Clark1961 said:
VHF radio maybe? That's what it looked like to me (if we're typing about the same white box).
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There are a lot of continuity issues in the show. Take off in a Caravan, land in a C-180. And there is quite a bit of made for TV drama. It wouldn't surprise me at all if they were "VFR into IMC" when on an (unmentioned) IFR flight plan.
 
kyleb said:
There are a lot of continuity issues in the show. Take off in a Caravan, land in a C-180. And there is quite a bit of made for TV drama. It wouldn't surprise me at all if they were "VFR into IMC" when on an (unmentioned) IFR flight plan.
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Undoubtedly.
 
Heh, my favorite this week was the panel shot of a dual-tach during the 208 engine start.

My wife and I have started giggling at the audio editing too... A lot of 208 turbines see sound a lot like 207s on departure. :)
 
kyleb said:
It wouldn't surprise me at all if they were "VFR into IMC" when on an (unmentioned) IFR flight plan.
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:rofl: What would shock the hell out of me is if they were.

IMO this is the last greatest challenge for the Alaska FSDOs. Sure the other "Alaskanisms" still exist e.g. non certificated pilots, overloaded airplanes, etc. but not to the extent they did in the seventies and eighties and of course earlier. But pirate IFR by 135 operators is rampant. Read the Alaska NTSB reports and filter for 135.
 
ronnieh said:
Did you notice the dual tach for the Caravan? Also the tach on the Caravan was acting up and it was an obvious tach problem since the torque was rock solid. Flying into a cloud while operating VFR? No wonder the FAA is getting interested. The Tweetos need to require some factual editing.
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Where do you go to buy the tach that blips the stall horn while the needle is within the green arc?

"Most homes in the lower 48 have indoor plumbing." Thanks for the informative insight, Sparky.
 
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VHF marine radio
GX1150_thumb.jpg
 
denverpilot said:
Heh, my favorite this week was the panel shot of a dual-tach during the 208 engine start.
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Probably B-roll footage from an F406 or BE1900. Cheaper than going out and re-shooting the scene.

My wife and I have started giggling at the audio editing too... A lot of 208 turbines see sound a lot like 207s on departure. :)
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One of them sounded suspiciously like an O-200 ... :D
 
ronnieh said:
Did you notice the dual tach for the Caravan? Also the tach on the Caravan was acting up and it was an obvious tach problem since the torque was rock solid. Flying into a cloud while operating VFR? No wonder the FAA is getting interested. The Tweetos need to require some factual editing.
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Could well have been Class G, in which case it was completely legal. (Note, I don't know squat about 135 stuff, but Part 91, that would be legal).
 
I get more and more disappointed with the show's editing and production. The cutaway from a Caravan with a jumpy tach to a 6-cylinder lycoming made me want to shoot the TV.

Next year I think that the Twetos should bring the production/editing team to OSH so we can pelt them with rotton fruit (or Stink Flipper).

The abort in the caravan when the load shifted was the first REAL moment with any urgency in the whole show. But I dunno, I don't see how they didn't have a load of propane better secured than that, unless a strap actually broke.
 
JeffDG said:
Could well have been Class G, in which case it was completely legal. (Note, I don't know squat about 135 stuff, but Part 91, that would be legal).
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Part 135 it's not. 1000ft above 5 mile obstacle plane or something to that effect for IFR (came up in the PA32 in St Ignace charter crash last month).
 
TMetzinger said:
I get more and more disappointed with the show's editing and production. The cutaway from a Caravan with a jumpy tach to a 6-cylinder lycoming made me want to shoot the TV.

Next year I think that the Twetos should bring the production/editing team to OSH so we can pelt them with rotton fruit (or Stink Flipper).

The abort in the caravan when the load shifted was the first REAL moment with any urgency in the whole show. But I dunno, I don't see how they didn't have a load of propane better secured than that, unless a strap actually broke.
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I got a kick out of the b-roll they put with that too... The wrong tail number 208 flipping itself all over the sky a few feet above the runway like they were dealing with a gusty crosswind. ROFL!

I think if you took the entire season and edited out all the rehashed b-roll used over and over, there'd be maybe an hour of total footage.

It's like a video podcast without enough footage that was asked to turn it into a full blown TV show.

But, that said... I'd rather be watching it than the rest of the crap on TV! ;)
 
TMetzinger said:
Next year I think that the Twetos should bring the production/editing team to OSH so we can pelt them with rotton fruit (or Stink Flipper).

The abort in the caravan when the load shifted was the first REAL moment with any urgency in the whole show. But I dunno, I don't see how they didn't have a load of propane better secured than that, unless a strap actually broke.
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IMO, that was a made for TV non-event. They oversold the importance of the CG and making sure the load didn't shift early in the segment. Then, despite all of their precautions, it <supposedly> shifted, right on cue.

I'm not a big enough believer in coincidence to buy that.

There was a similar example of over- foreshadowing on one of the car restoration reality shows a while back. They went on and on about how careful they had to be with the back glass from a Barracuda (?) and carefully extracted it, all the while talking about how rare and expensive of an item it was.

Then they dropped it (or some other big piece of glass - it wasn't shown that clearly), and boo-hooed for a while. Just by coincidence, they found another one, in perfect condition, a mile or two away.

Naah...
 
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denverpilot said:
It's like a video podcast without enough footage that was asked to turn it into a full blown TV show.
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That is the problem all of these shows suffer from. I must say, I found crab fishing interesting for maybe 3 episodes, after that it turned into a scripted personality contest. Same for hauling on ice-roads or loggin. Interesting to see those industries in action, for maybe 2 episodes each.
 
The "over-foreshadowing" is done in post-production. They catch footage of an aborted take-off, the film crew "grills" the pilots about it on the ramp later because it's the only interesting thing that's happened that week.

The Producer e-mails the graphics department to make up some CG graphics to go along with it. And then they wrote the script to build the "drama" up.

In the case of the propane bottles the pilots are hamming it up a bit to get more airtime and the editing is worked to get maximum drama out of a guy saying its the largest load of propane he's ever flown.

At least the left-seat guy's comments seemed sincere about being almost at aft CG. You could just tell the film crew had already latched onto that during loading and the takeoff abort just added the icing to the cake.

Speaking of cake... The cake sitting on the floor of the 208 until they hit turbulence looked a lot more contrived than the takeoff abort. ;)
 
denverpilot said:
I got a kick out of the b-roll they put with that too... The wrong tail number 208 flipping itself all over the sky a few feet above the runway like they were dealing with a gusty crosswind. ROFL!

I think if you took the entire season and edited out all the rehashed b-roll used over and over, there'd be maybe an hour of total footage.

It's like a video podcast without enough footage that was asked to turn it into a full blown TV show.

But, that said... I'd rather be watching it than the rest of the crap on TV! ;)
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Yep! At least it's something on aviation.
 
ronnieh said:
John, you seem to assume the FAA is too smart to not realize it is a TV show. I wouldn't bet on that.
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Same way the ATF and Virginia authorities are none too happy about the show Moonshiners...
 
denverpilot said:
The "over-foreshadowing" is done in post-production.
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Yeah. But cut them some slack. It's not like they can send a 24 person film crew up there - and they did the planes would always have two seats being taken up by show crew.

So they get by with mounted cameras, the audio from the intercom and an onboard DVR, and them have to create the external shots.

Consider that they can't show the perilous landings from the ground unless they could have gotten on the ground ahead of it!

denverpilot said:
Speaking of cake... The cake sitting on the floor of the 208 until they hit turbulence looked a lot more contrived than the takeoff abort. ;)
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Yeah. Mentioned. They had to add a camera mounted to show the cake going weightless. Let's guess they had a second cake for the birthday party.

In any case those ground guys should spend more effort on securing the load and less on planning basketball games.

Didn't we see the take-off abort recreated? Didn't he pull the prop and and mixture with the throttle? Does it have a reversible prop?
 
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Ariel should add a second section to her intro:

"... and for all you real pilots out there, this show is crafted by a bunch of TV folks who know less about flying than I know about brain surgery. So when you see our Caravan sprout a second engine, or something else ridiculous, take a deep breath and say... entertainment".
 
:yeahthat:

Hahaha, that's awesome Tim.

As far as "not sending a 24 person film crew"... don't be so sure. Have you seen the behind the scenes videos from the crab show? Filled a Beech 1900 with the crew and more.

Same Producer and Production company. I bet the townspeople in Unalakleet are tired of the "TV people" wandering around, annoying them.

And... they did fly in the skateboard guys... which was hilarious because they all took one look at that ramp and figured they were done with that silliness, and left the real jump to Ponts. LOL!
 
I did see the production special on the deadliest catch, and they have what I think is a skeleton crew. They rig the fishing boats up with several fixed cameras, and have only one or two camera guys on each boat. That's pretty slim on a 80-120 foot boat.

They do (however) have a helicopter and a chase boat to record
 
Yep. One producer, one camera guy per vessel. And the helo crew doubles as the "let's take up useful load in the USCG helo" camera guys once the ships are too far offshore for their JetRanger with gyro stabilized ball. ;)

I'm guessing the crews for the Flying show are similar which is small, but in a village of only 150 people, three or four guys/gals showing up and hanging out with their gear for a month isn't exactly "small".

Jim's probably enjoying the extra charter work to chase the 207's around, though. You know they're loading up two of 'em anytime there's something "interesting" to go shoot. ;)

Which station do you suppose sucks most?

I'd guess pulling duty to shoot at Barrow probably means you drew the short straw. ;)
 
^^^^^ I have that exact radio in my boat, LOL! ^^^^^^ And a nifty handheld that gets way more use. The house radio has it's antenna on the mast though, 45' up, it has a range of about 40 miles. Up in an airplane though, I bet it's nearly as good as aviation radios, but for only $149 vs $2499
 
eMKay said:
^^^^^ I have that exact radio in my boat, LOL! ^^^^^^ And a nifty handheld that gets way more use. The house radio has it's antenna on the mast though, 45' up, it has a range of about 40 miles. Up in an airplane though, I bet it's nearly as good as aviation radios, but for only $149 vs $2499
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I recognized the radio instantly in the show, having 10,000 hours in boats :)

I've heard about tropospheric ducting in vhf frequencies in Ham radio books but only actually experienced it on the water, where I once clearly heard transmissions from 150nm away on a regular marine radio on an antenna mounted at 50' asl
 
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dell30rb said:
I recognized the radio instantly in the show, having 10,000 hours in boats :)

I've heard about tropospheric ducting in vhf frequencies in Ham radio books but only actually experienced it on the water, where I once clearly heard transmissions from 150nm away on a regular marine radio on an antenna mounted at 50' asl
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I have had contacts in excess of 300 miles on the ham bands from Skip. It is a pretty neat experience. When I was a dispatcher for the sheriffs dept, we would routinely have contact with a department in Western Oklahoma. I am in north central Kansas so that is quite a distance.
 
300 miles is nothin'...

http://www.arrl.org/distance-records

Brian Justin, WA1ZMS who's callsign you'll see up above 200 GHz in this list, is a super nice guy and a Microwave madman. We jokingly and lovingly call him "Dr. Millimeter Wave".

When he explained to me once during an unrelated phone call that he'd skipped a band because it was close to the resonant frequency of Oxygen thus, distance is limited to a few feet... my jaw dropped.

I have a couple of minor awards (compared to these!), 2006 and 2007 ARRL June VHF Rover high score in the Rocky Mountain Region (with tons of help from the folks that sucked me into VHF and above contesting, the guys at W0KVA who've allowed me to grace their station for a number of top-ten showings as a listed operator also.

Eric KR0VER (cute... K-"Rover") has been seeping up awards since I "retired" as a Rover, and doing a fine job of cajoling me to get back into it.

He asked if I'd consider a grid-hopping experiment with the airplane this year. It'd be a massive undertaking to hop up, land, set up, operate, tear down, and repeat a bejillion times. (Contest rules don't allow aeronautical mobile contacts but they do allow aeronautical transportation.)

Last year my dad and I took the ex-Air Force 1984 Ford Econoline Heavy Duty van with 40' pneumatic mast to the relatively rare grid square south of Lamar, CO where we handed out the grid in one of the largest and longest 50 MHz openings that I've ever heard. We worked coast-to-coast and four or five countries. It was outrageously good conditions.

I've been thinking about selling off my microwave transverters to feed my aviation habit. Can't quite bring myself to do it. It's too much fun, but there's a lot of money tied up in the gear that only gets used a couple times a year. I sold off the 10 GHz transverter and modified Dish Network dish with the beautiful handiwork of W0KU's handmade feed horn of W1GHZ's design.

It sat in a Christmas tree stand on top of my Jeep many times. 2W at 10 GHz gets heard pretty well when bounced off of Pikes Peak or Long's Peak. ;)

We gave an award to one Colorado ham who worked ALL grids in Colorado from a single location on 10 GHz. He utilized airliners and bounced his CW signal off of them at cruise altitude to reach the other side of the Rockies where his assistant sat waiting with a big dish aimed at the same airliner and an oscilloscope. Absolutely amazing. Took him years.
 
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