A very enjoyable show, but the narrator needs to seriously stop making normal flying situations seems like life-or-death moments. Just to name a few:
"Jim Tweto is getting 'dangerously' low on gas" in the 2nd episode. Umm... I'm a pilot. Please let me explain something: This company flies under part 135 of the F.A.R. (Federal Aviation Regulations) That means that they are *required* to land with no less than a 30-minute reserve of fuel. (Only amateurs call it "gas.") No COO of a regional airline is going to fly - especially on camera - below that 30-minute reserve, and take a huge fine and possibly lose his license, so what was the narrator harping about? It was exciting enough that the pilot had 40 knot headwinds...
Or take the episode where the pilots were flying explosives to St. Lawrence Island... The narrator kept commenting on how they were within 5 miles of Russian airspace, and could possibly "stray" into Russian airspace, sparking off an international incident... The pilot of this plane had those two little color displays in the center of his console. In closeup, I was able to see that they were Garmin 420 GPS units. These GPS' are accurate to within 9 *feet* of where you are and update themselves 30 times a second. All they had to do was follow the little magenta line and they would get anywhere near Russia. In fact, if they were the least bit smart, they would have activated the autopilot, which is linked to these GPS units, and then they wouldn't have strayed 3 feet off course, and could have the required flight plan entered into them. But the narrator again had to emphasize all the imagined danger they were in... It was far more chilling to any pilot when the P.I.C. (Pilot in Command) mentioned the possibility of static electricity blowing up the the explosive... at least that had a chance of actually happening.
There are many more examples of this, but why bother? The silly narration is the show's only shortcoming. The daughter Ariel is the highlight. That little girl is a bundle of energy, and if she every buckles down and realizes that flying requires total concentration, and doesn't just happen, she'll get her license. Additionally, the flying (and the photography thereof)is outstanding; the crosswind landings make my feet tingle (and I've done my share of them as well) and the level of talent in the pilots is amazing.
If they stop sensationalizing the show and show it as it really is, they could have a classic on their hands...
But it's Hollywood: they probably won't.
"Jim Tweto is getting 'dangerously' low on gas" in the 2nd episode. Umm... I'm a pilot. Please let me explain something: This company flies under part 135 of the F.A.R. (Federal Aviation Regulations) That means that they are *required* to land with no less than a 30-minute reserve of fuel. (Only amateurs call it "gas.") No COO of a regional airline is going to fly - especially on camera - below that 30-minute reserve, and take a huge fine and possibly lose his license, so what was the narrator harping about? It was exciting enough that the pilot had 40 knot headwinds...
Or take the episode where the pilots were flying explosives to St. Lawrence Island... The narrator kept commenting on how they were within 5 miles of Russian airspace, and could possibly "stray" into Russian airspace, sparking off an international incident... The pilot of this plane had those two little color displays in the center of his console. In closeup, I was able to see that they were Garmin 420 GPS units. These GPS' are accurate to within 9 *feet* of where you are and update themselves 30 times a second. All they had to do was follow the little magenta line and they would get anywhere near Russia. In fact, if they were the least bit smart, they would have activated the autopilot, which is linked to these GPS units, and then they wouldn't have strayed 3 feet off course, and could have the required flight plan entered into them. But the narrator again had to emphasize all the imagined danger they were in... It was far more chilling to any pilot when the P.I.C. (Pilot in Command) mentioned the possibility of static electricity blowing up the the explosive... at least that had a chance of actually happening.
There are many more examples of this, but why bother? The silly narration is the show's only shortcoming. The daughter Ariel is the highlight. That little girl is a bundle of energy, and if she every buckles down and realizes that flying requires total concentration, and doesn't just happen, she'll get her license. Additionally, the flying (and the photography thereof)is outstanding; the crosswind landings make my feet tingle (and I've done my share of them as well) and the level of talent in the pilots is amazing.
If they stop sensationalizing the show and show it as it really is, they could have a classic on their hands...
But it's Hollywood: they probably won't.