Hahaha you got to see this BBC reporter enjoying an F15 flight

[NutLoose]

Even has in flight catering at about 2 mins :eek:

BBC News - BBC Look East reporter hitches a ride in a F15 jet (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-11405336)

[Vox Populi]

Lucky boy.

It's tough coping with the g if you're not used to it, and he can join the club of those of us who've used the bags in a back of a fast jet, which in itself is something of a feat.

9G though...that ain’t good for no body....

Oh, and that's not quite what I'd call a 'vertical take off', but impressive climb out none the less.

[barnstormer1968]

Very lucky chap indeed.
I wish I could do that right now!
Would I be sick....Probably...Would I care...NO

[thorpey]

Lucky sod!

[BOAC]

Well, I'm afraid that USAF driver scores very low on my scale of professional. I just cannot believe he put the guy through all that after he was sick, and 9g for someone unused to high g is just positively dangerous and can cause injury. What a pratt!

[dead_pan]

£20 million each? Bargain!

F15 pilots are apparently duty-bound to make journalists barf during such flights.

[forget]

Agree with BOAC. What should have been the trip of a lifetime completely ruined by a -what BOAC said.

[bingofuel]

Once the pax has used the bag, you should fly like on rails for a bit, see if they recover and if not just go home. To continue as he did shows no concern for the pax and a complete lack of professionalism. As for 9 g!!!! what is he trying to prove?

[JEM60]

I sympathise hugely with this guy. When I was watching it the first time it was broadcast, he picked up a Video camera. I said to 'o ohh' that will do it. I was right. Many years ago, as a PPL, I made a video with my old instructor of an aeros trip. I spent the rest of the day lying on a bed!. I wasn't sick, but boy, when you look through a viewfinder, believe me, the nausea builds up extremely quickly. It was no surprise to hear him remark that he was fine until he used the camera!!. No visual clues as to what position your body is in, pushed this way and that. Not the drivers fault. The camera did it.
Bingo, after he barfed he was straight and level. We have no idea how long for, and any pilot who flies new pax in these circumstances knows damn well that he has to have the O.K from the passenger, after briefing them, as to what he is going to perform. If the reporter didn't want to continue, he would have called to knock it off.
I have it on very good authority that he thoroughly enjoyed the trip, apart from the camera business.

[forget]

Good points JEM, and I withdraw my previous. I don't imagine that Uncle Sam gives you an F-15 if you are a - what BOAC said.

[BOAC]

We have no idea how long for, and any pilot who flies new pax in these circumstances knows damn well that he has to have the O.K from the passenger, after briefing them, as to what he is going to perform. If the reporter didn't want to continue, he would have called to knock it off. - we do not know what was said between them, but I'm afraid there are countless examples of 'pilots' putting passengers through excruciating experiences despite being asked to stop.

In any case, stressing a full sickbag to 9g is not on my list of good ideas:).

[Molemot]

Although the 9g bit occurs,in the film, after the reporter had been unwell... there is the possibility that the film had been edited and the sequence as shown may not be the sequence in which the events occurred. I do agree that 9g is rather too much for the untrained subject...

[bobward]

The reporter sems to have become Look East's spotter in residence. I remember seeing earlier films of him riding in other stuff, like Tiger Moth's and Tornado's. I did send them my CV earlier, only to be told to.....

Nice to know he's now in the exclusive club of 'honking-aboard-F15's', just like Mr Clarkson!:}:sad:

[Thelma Viaduct]

If I were lucky enough to get a flight in an F-15, I'd be disappointed if I didn't get the full 9g experience, sickness or no sickness. You're only here once, so enjoy it. If you're not happy with those conditions, don't get in the f***er, pretty simple really.

It's a once in a lifetime experience, to not take advantage would be like diving a Ferrari F1 car around a car park i.e. pointless

[thunderbird7]

Quite right. Lets all be terribly sensible about this.No more than 25deg aob when hand flying and none of that silly -ve g - it might spill the first class g&t.
:ugh:

[bingofuel]

JEM60
I have it on very good authority that he thoroughly enjoyed the trip, apart from the camera business.

I am glad he did. Few people get to fly in fast jets so it is a valued experience for most

[Buster Hyman]

Now, in fairness to Ramses...he didn't do this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sa_AJe_NbJE) to him... :}

[AR1]

Watching that, I put Ramses in that annoying class of men, such as the fairground types who spin the walzter carriages around and around and around and....
The women seem to love them.

[Al R]

I think the editing presents a slightly unfair perspective of what 'Ramses' did or didn't do - beware of trial by tv and the editing suite etc etc. Would a loose, bulky item such as that handcam have been allowed though - what if there had been an ejection.. wouldn't it have taken his head off?

[chinook240]

Al R

beware of trial by tv and the editing suite etc etc.

Don't you think you should have used that advice when you posted on the defence cuts thread, when critising the RAF in Kandahar. They were as much the victim of editing.

[Al R]

Fair one. But the overall circumstances were different. Rewind a few years and we had a short sighted recruitment drive obsessed RAF happy to portray Ops as a bit of a party. The Ramses thing was a bit of a one off, intended to show the reporter Clarksonesque. The Army is more firmly entrenched within the Nation's hearts and minds, certainly more than the RAF and the Navy, because the public is constantly exposed to the images of soul sapping land warfare that we haven't seen for decades.

I also said that the reality was different from the perspective, but whether we like it or not, the public perspective IS shaped by, and drawn to the easiest media fodder it is fed. Liam Fox made the point that the public might be more outraged at seeing cuts to those who were grafting the hardest, and the army isbearing the brunt of the fighting.

I meant no slight to any one Service (or element, and we all know how hard the SHF grafts in particular), but generally, the Army always seems to be so much better at fighting its corner in the PR battle and playing the long game to maximum effect. Coupled to that, it is the best and loudest champion of its own cause.. and that will probably pay dividends next month.

[chinook240]

Standby for thread drift!

Al, you are of course, right in what you say. No one chringed more than I when watching argueably the biggest PR own goal the RAF has ever scored. Following on from 'Above Enemy Lines', which accurately portrayed the lives of the SHF, 'Holiday Kamp Kandahar' was a disaster and was thankfully pulled from our screens.

[Vox Populi]

Would a loose, bulky item such as that handcam have been allowed though - what if there had been an ejection.. wouldn't it have taken his head off?

Good question...I've been in this position a few times. The brief is to throw it down by your feet ahead of ejection. Having it slam into your legs at 25g is not recommended for the legs or the arm that's holding it. Having said that you are told these things and then left to make your own arrangements, I did consider stuffing it into a bottom half flying suit pocket if time permitted.

[T-21]

The F-15 pilot should have treated the passenger better not tried to impress. It was totally unprofessional of BBC Look East to show the reporter being sick. It was when viewers were sitting down to their evening meal as well as humilating the reporter in public. It should have been edited out full stop. :mad: Spoilt the whole story,Look East must try again .

[frodo_monkey]

Being able to take lots of 'g' and not barf is surely a test of your 'cojones' size?

The F-15 pilot should have treated the passenger better not tried to impress. It was totally unprofessional of BBC Look East to show the reporter being sick. It was when viewers were sitting down to their evening meal as well as humilating the reporter in public. It should have been edited out full stop. Spoilt the whole story,Look East must try again .

Bzzzzzzt, turn the telly off and dry your eyes?

You big bunch of girls :yuk:

[Vox Populi]

It was totally unprofessional of BBC Look East to show the reporter being sick. It was when viewers were sitting down to their evening meal as well as humilating the reporter in public.

Whatever was in the report, it would have been the reporter's choice.

[Alexus]

Hi - That the broadcast film ended with me barfing was not meant to happen but a very annoying technical glitch in the studio, so you would have missed the second half which puts the report in context.


have a look at the full 3 min film here at

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-11405336\

Enjoy!


Have to say Ramses was a complete pro. Having been up in a Jag and Tornado in years past, I know he was actually very gentle with me and let me dictate the pace of the flight. The trip was great, having to film it was not.

Sorry it the barfing offended some - it was delicately done(!) But would have been dishonest of me to have left it out of the film.

[wingcmdr]

Well done that man :ok:

No shame in barfing.......Most have done it....very few are honest enough to admit it.

I am greener than you were, but mine is with envy :D

[Tashengurt]

Hear hear!
You haven't had a gash trip until you've filled a bag or two.

[Mike7777777]

Subsequent conversation was coherent and walk away from F15 was steady, flight back from the land of sheep must have been restrained ..

Why not use a couple of fixed cameras rather than expect the intrepid media type to do anything other than sit tight?

[Ewan Whosearmy]

I don't really understand the point of these sorts of stories. The report, as broadcast, was completely vacuous and does nothing for the US Air Force beyond showing them to have cool fast jets. In fact, if anything it damages their positive face needs.

As broadcast, there was seemingly no *reason* for the piece, no intelligent comment about the importance of the 48th FW being based here, and no mention of how the Wing benefits the local community - you know, the sort of stuff you'd want to hear on a local news programme. In fact, you could have taken any particular angle and it still would have been better than the asinine commentary we got (which, incidentally, has been done a million times before and so cannot even claim to be original).

You need only look at this thread to see that the focus of the comments are about whether the pilot was an idiot, because, well, there's not much else about the piece that you *can* talk about.

What a waste.

[Vox Populi]

I thought it was an exciting, intersting report to watch and certainly the stand out report of that night. My impresssion of the USAF was very positive.

It's an insight behind the wire we don't usually get.