Keeping up with the Joneses

[mickjoebill]

"Keeping up with the Joneses" a new reality Oz series, following a year in the life a a very large cattle station near Darwin, premiered tonight.

A hooting tooting heli mustering, croc chasing bag of fun...probably the best advertisment demonstrating the effectiveness and utility of light helicopters in remote areas.
Tonight's highlights included dropping a station hand by static line onto a crocidile nest to harvest croc egs.... and a 20 year old newbie pilot wearing board shorts who arrived without a hat.


New outback drama: Keeping Up With The Joneses - TV Week - TV News (http://tvweek.ninemsn.com.au/blog.aspx?blogentryid=715100&showcomments=true)

Outback drama

It's a hard and lonely life on an outback cattle station - but the stars of this new reality series absolutely love it.
A cheeky crocodile snaps its jaws after being woken by stock farmer Milton Jones and his four-year-old son Milton Junior.
On the horizon a fleet of choppers buzzes overhead as they zoom over a waterfall-laden ridge and the thundering sound of a herd of cattle echoes across the cliff faces. Welcome to Coolibah Station, home of the Joneses.
Since purchasing the property with a wad of cold-hard cash back in 1988, straight-shooting Milton Senior has worked his butt off, living and working on the land of his 1.3 million-acre property in the Northern Territory.
Wrangling crocs, battling bushfires, drought and mustering cattle with the help of his 42-strong helicopter fleet, there's never a dull moment at the station.
"Making ends meet and making money is always hard work," Milton tells TV WEEK from the station, located more than 200km from the nearest town, Katherine.
"During the wet season we are trapped here, it's like an island. The river comes up three months of the year and you're isolated. We started out here with nothing, but [now] we're doin' alright."
Now, Milton and his family, along with everyone putting in the hard yakka at the station, have opened up their door to share their piece of paradise with the rest of Australia in Keeping Up With The Joneses.

Meet the clan

Milton Jones, 42
Raised in the Northern Territory and with mustering in his blood, this boss, husband and father left school at 16. Married to his second wife Cristina, Milton has three kids: teenagers Beau and Alex, plus Milton Jr. While he admits he can be a tough nut, he's always fair. "I think I am probably a hard bastard," he says with the trademark chuckle viewers will learn to love.
Cristina Jones, 35
Managing accounts and the homestead is all in a day's work for this horse lover. After meeting Milton at a Campdraft, a country horse racing event, more than eight years ago, she was initially recruited to help her now husband with his books, but love soon blossomed. "He fell deeply in love with me," she laughs.
Little Milton, 4
A little man growing up in a very adult world, this happy-go-lucky youngster is the life of the property. Rarely mixing with kids his own age and set to begin School Of The Air this year, his upbringing is unique.
"He doesn't like school much, he would rather go and do what his dad's doing," Cristina says.
Little Milton will no doubt be the series fave.
Hamish Mundel, 30
Boys and their toys! There's nothing that gets Hamish more excited than packing up his road train and hitting the highway.
Hamish comes to muster at the station every year with his wife, Kristie. "He is a likeable critter," Milton says of his brother-in-law. "He is talented, a good truck driver and great with the horses."
Jeff O'Connor, 20
With a twinkle in his eye, this Sunshine Coast lifesaver causes quite a stir when he first arrives at Coolibah. He has his chopper licence and wants to roll with the big boys.
"You've got to earn your stripes and he probably won't last here," Milton says. "He's a hardworking, bubbly guy, but he really lacks common sense."
Trevor Easton, 60
"He has his good and bad points," Milton says. Known as the "cranky chef" of Coolibah, this "ten pound Pom", who arrived in Australia in 1971, is the man behind slaughtering livestock and feeding the drovers who work at the station. "I left last year because I'd had enough, but here I am," Trevor confesses.
Raine Pugh, 22
This jillaroo has a heart of gold, but she knows how to mix it with the big boys.
"Just because I'm a girl it doesn't mean I can't be as good as any man out there," says Raine, the daughter of a croc farmer.
"She's a good kid," Milton says, adding, "She has come from nowhere and has never had much. She appreciates the job and a wage."
Kristie Mundel, 28
While her man works the land, Kristie helps Cristina around the sprawling rural property with household chores, including collecting the weekly food delivery and helping with Little Milton's schooling.
Kristie gets a surprise when her husband treats her to a riverside dinner for their one-year anniversary.

Fast facts

1. Coolibah is more than 1000 km and a six-hour drive from the nearest city, Darwin.
2. There are more than 5000 crocodiles lurking in the wetlands of Coolibah.
3. While 1955 Aussie movie Jedda was filmed at Coolibah, the Joneses turned down Baz Luhrmann's offer to shoot his 2008 epic Australia on the station. "We weren't keen on their attitude, so we said no," Milton admits.
4. In 1991, Milton and the station hands camped on the roof of the homestead due to rising floodwaters.
5. The Joneses can make up to $100,000 per road train load of cattle and they usually send nine at a time.
6. The helicopter musterers did 20,000 flying hours last year. There have been six helicopter-related deaths over the past four years.
7. A cowboy hat from country music legend Willie Nelson hangs in the homestead - a gift for Milton who met him 15 years ago.
8. There are more than 15,000 cattle to muster on the station.
9. The Joneses only make it to Darwin four times a year.
10. Teenagers Beau and Alex attend a boarding school in Brisbane and return to the station in the holidays.
Mickjoebill

[movin' up]

and next weeks episode shows Milton rustling cattle, over-stressing machines and generally abusing anyone that crosses his path! :yuk:

[Ag-Rotor]

Bring it on Milton, enjoyed tonights show look forward to seeing the rest.

[lelebebbel]

Tonight's highlights included dropping a station hand by static line onto a crocidile nest to harvest croc egs.... and a 20 year old newbie pilot wearing board shorts who arrived without a hat.

--> New outback drama: Keeping Up With The Joneses - TV Week - TV News (http://tvweek.ninemsn.com.au/blog.aspx?blogentryid=715100&showcomments=true)

Nearly fell off my chair when I read the name of the jr pilot! Oh Jeff...

I missed the show, is any of it online yet?

[RVDT]

What........................no "black hat"?

[finalchecksplease]

Loved the fast facts: "Coolibah is more than 1000 km and a six-hour drive from the nearest city, Darwin." so that means an average driving speed of 166 km/hr or 103 miles / hr, the roads must be smooth like race tracks!

Makes one wonder about the accuracy of the rest of the article. :ugh:

[Takan Inchovit]

Maybe the series was made before the speed limit was lowered to 130km/hr. :confused:
Has to be a set up though, the scene of the croc snapping at the chopper and biting the ground would normally make the engine start running rough. :ooh:

[Squeaks]

I was gobsmacked to watch what I assume was a licenced pilot allow himself to be filmed for national TV flying in such a manner. We all know it goes on, but to let CASA and the world see :sad:

Seat belt in an R22/R44? What for....

Carry the ringer on the strop, off the hook, to pick up croc eggs. Great idea, I bet CASA loved that :=

Tow the lads on their wakeboards: of course that's allowed, there's an approval sitting in my desk drawer.

And so on. Great TV, but what a goose :eek:

Network Ten (http://ten.com.au/watch-tv-episodes-online.htm) have the episode online: not sure if it works outside Oz.

[mickjoebill]

And so on. Great TV, but what a goose

If the series gets syndicated in the united states, sales from his book launch on Ophra will fund him a new chopper


Mickjoebill

[topendtorque]

What........................no "black hat"?


Nailed.


what I assume was a licenced pilot


nailed again, you guys are good.

please don't put us all in the same pigeon hole though.



Carry the ringer on the strop, off the hook, to pick up croc eggs. Great idea, I bet CASA loved that


it should have a second hook to be approved, if you look closely you might see it, and radio contact of course. the hook is better than setting down and walking up to the nest and - then - fully articulating the legs on the way back.

the oar is the only decent defence.

[VH-XXX]

and apparently they think an R44 costs $300 an hour to run.

[Heliringer]

Gee I hope they never gave out that price on TV.........another operator will come in and do it for 20%less and a free ferry!

[VH-XXX]

They said 42 choppers on the advert, but then 15 I think during the actual show.

[John R81]

"...... collision with mud involving a crocodile...."

Two up with a crocodile in an R22? :eek::eek::eek:

[Flying Lawyer]

The programme isn't available online outside Australia, unfortunately.

The promo video gives an idea.

MrynSumKd-s


Another clip

dmNowb8pHKg

[bellfest]

You lot make me laugh... And slightly ill at the same time!

For a start, this was a thread about the facets and adventures of Mr Jones that are able to be aired on TV without seeing him make a reappearance on Australia's Hardest Prisons! Let them at it!! You either like the show or you don't! For all of you that haven't messed around and done sh1t you're not supposed to do in a helicopter you are either very green, completely anal or full of sh1t!

Secondly, it always amazes me how Australians can take a thread and tear it up and completely restructure it into a bitch fest based on nothing but rumours and the bush telegraph of bull sh1t artist's compounding their own bull sh1t on bull sh1t they have heard from another bull sh1t artist!

I apologise for my excessive use of the word sh1t in this post but I find the application of each one extremely suitable.... :ugh:

( Edited )... Some recent moderating/editing/deleting has kind of taken the wind out my sails with this one but I totally get why it has been done... You guys do a good job keeping things civil on here as they should be...:ok:

[topendtorque]

For a start, this was a thread about the facets and adventures of Mr Jones that are able to be aired on TV without seeing him make a reappearance on Australia's Hardest Prisons!
well bellfest, your choice of words is rather amusing, do you have a premonition about the subject of this show? i don't watch it as we don't receive the channel that it's aired on. so I wouldn't know.


For all of you that haven't messed around and done sh1t you're not supposed to do in a helicopter you are either very green,
yep that's me, so far too green to burn.

but for this

You lot make me laugh...change frequencies to the mustering thread and give us an answer I think you will find it a long search to find anyone laughing about dead bodies and broken machines, I suggest you restructure your message.

tet:

The posts that I moved to the mustering thread were from this thread. I have already edited bellfests post accordingly, so I will accept any criticism of his comments which may relate to moved posts.

It wasn't an easy edit, but it had to be done!

SP

[Squeaks]

It seems that CASA is still Not Happy, Jan, over this one :rolleyes:

Channel Nine News (http://www.ntnews.com.au/article/2011/03/29/220831_ntnews.html) back in March:

A TERRITORY cattleman has shrugged off threats to prosecute him for towing his son on a waterski with a helicopter.

Milton Jones, 46, said the Canberra-based Civil Aviation Authority was wasting its money.

"It's a witch-hunt," he said.

The authority has asked for unedited footage of the waterski-ing stunt shown in Network Ten's Keeping Up With the Joneses.

Mr Jones, who owns the 700sq km Coolibah station on the Victoria River, said he was towing his 15-year-old son Beau.

"He was home from boarding school. I only see him for a few weeks each year and we were just having a bit of fun.

"It was perfectly safe. I've been flying for 20 years and am very experienced. All the yahoo has gone out of me by now."

Mr Jones, who also owns the Albatross helicopter company and the Top Springs Hotel, said he was endorsed for low-level flying. The safety authority took out a search warrant to obtain the raw footage.

But Mr Milton's lawyer obtained an order for the video to be sealed and handed to the Federal Court.

A judge will decide next month if the authority can see the footage.

It is believed that several viewers complained about the waterski-ing scene in the reality television show, which was shown in 15 episodes last year.

Mr Jones became a hero in the hospitality industry last year when his Top Springs Hotel became the first liquor outlet to be prosecuted under federal emergency intervention laws for failing to record personal details of customers buying more than $100 worth of takeaway grog.

The law, which was lifted late last year, was despised by hoteliers - they said it was time-consuming and did nothing to reduce alcohol abuse.

Darwin magistrate Dick Wallace dismissed the charge, saying the law was "unworkable".

And from today's Daily Telegraph (http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/tv-pilot-lands-in-hot-water-at-casa/story-e6freuy9-1226077772417) (Sydney):

REALITY TV pilot and farmer Milton Jones could be banned from flying for a year over alleged safety breaches committed while filming his hit TV series.

pAviation authorities will begin their investigations into the star of Keeping Up With The Joneses on Wednesday, with the Northern Territory-based flight company boss facing fines of thousands of dollars.

Jones is alleged to have committed a host of safety breaches during the 10-episode series, which screened on Network Ten last year, including using a helicopter to tow his 15-year-old son Beau for water-skiing.

The investigation was launched when Civil Aviation Safety Authority investigator Mark Haslam allegedly saw on the program in November a series of safety breaches.

He then watched seven other episodes - available on Channel 10's website - and allegedly identified more breaches.

In March, the authority was granted a warrant to raid the offices of Jones's production company, WTFN, where they seized DVDs containing raw footage and out-takes.

Jones failed in an attempt to have the warrant overturned in the Federal Court this month.

CASA will begin its investigation on Wednesday when an injunction preventing the authority from examining the DVDs expires.

The court also heard that Jones allegedly breached regulations by using a helicopter to collect crocodile eggs without an appropriate licence. He is also accused of drinking alcohol within eight hours of flying and leaving a helicopter unattended with the engine running and rotors turning with children in the back.

The investigator told the court CASA needed to view the unedited footage to prove the offences had been committed - or whether they simply appeared to have occurred because of "an editing issue" or "poetic licence" for TV broadcasting purposes.

A court spokesman said that Jones had not lodged an appeal.

A Channel 10 spokeswoman said the remaining episodes of the series would be screened this year. Jones did not return telephone calls from The Sunday Telegraph.

I did comment that CASA wouldn't be happy :sad:

[compressor stall]

What happened to Bluey and family running Coolibah about 10 years ago?

[topendtorque]

Bluey and family


Still there I believe, secceded the (his) crocodile farm from Coolibah, and I would think doing it extremely tough as Croc skin goods were about the first luxury casuality of the GFC. Janelle did talk him into a hired motor tour of - I think - vietnam last year. This after years of him saying we'll buy a motor home and go on a tour some day. She booked the tickets and gave him the ultimatum, and of course he (they) enjoyed it immensely.

Pet meating for an existance i think.
Still wears bare feet in town and of course still the bestest people you could ever meet.

[compressor stall]

Still the bestest people you could ever meet.

Too right. Thanks for the heads up.

Great memories of the old Wayside Inn from the days when it never shut. Dress code if you aren't wearing a shirt, you drink on the verandah.

[Squeaks]

Keeping Up With the Joneses star wins back helicopter licence despite stunts (http://www.couriermail.com.au/entertainment/confidential/keeping-up-with-the-joneses-star-wins-back-helicopter-licence-despite-stunts/story-fnn7l51k-1227112633875)

A REALITY TV star who used a helicopter to tow his wakeboarding teenage son, raced against a jet ski, and even tried towing a crocodile, has won back his right to fly.

Milton Jones, star of Channel 10’s Keeping up with the Joneses, had his flight crew licences cancelled by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority after the show aired in 2011.

CASA took action against Mr Jones, a Northern Territory cattleman who also controls a company operating one of Australia’s largest helicopter fleets, for alleged regulation breaches.

It had identified a number of incidents shown in the series, which portrayed life on the Joneses’ 400,000ha Coolibah Station.

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal decided while Mr Jones had breached some regulations, he should be allowed licences to fly helicopters after remedial training on rules and regulations.

Senior tribunal member Bernard McCabe found Mr Jones had seriously contravened the law on several occasions during production of two *series of the show.

“The incident involving the jet ski and towing his son on the (wakeboard) were probably the most serious matters because they were obviously foolish actions that put other people in jeopardy,” Mr McCabe said.

While the scene involving Mr Jones’s teenage son Beau being towed by the helicopter made for excellent television, it demonstrated “alarmingly poor judgment”, he said.

Mr Jones also was wrong to allow his young son Little Milton to sit at the controls and start a helicopter engine, he said.

Mr McCabe found Mr Jones also breached regulations by doing aerial photography without a commercial pilot’s licence, low flying, failing to wear a lifejacket or a seatbelt correctly.

Mr McCabe said Mr Jones failed in his duty regarding safe navigation or operation of an aircraft but decided it was not necessary to cancel his licences.

Keeping Up With The Joneses star keeps his helicopter licence despite towing his son on a WAKEBOARD as it's revealed the time he used a helicopter to harvest crocodile eggs was FAKED (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2820931/Keeping-Joneses-star-keeps-helicopter-licence-despite-towing-son-WAKEBOARD-s-revealed-time-used-helicopter-harvest-crocodile-eggs-FAKED.html)

The concept of the entire TV show is built around their boundary pushing and daredevil lives in the outback.
But when millionaire Milton Jones towed his teenage son Beau on a wakeboard across a murky river with his helicopter, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority decided the Keeping Up With The Joneses star had gone one step too far.
Now he has won his chopper licence back, with CASA declaring he should be allowed to fly again after more training on rules and regulations, the Courier Mail reports.
However, the wakeboarding incident was slammed during an Administrative Appeals Tribunal, held in Brisbane on 31 October, and other dramatic stunts in the show were embarrassingly unearthed as fake.
Senior tribunal member Bernard J McCabe said: ‘It all looked very exciting, and it made for excellent television. It also demonstrated alarmingly poor judgement.’
The Northern Territory farmer was initially pulled up by the authority after they spotted a number of worrying incidents on his reality TV series.
The Channel 10 show follows his family’s life on a cattle station, in Coolibah, 600 km south-west of Darwin, where they muster cattle and wrestle crocodiles.
Mr Jones also owns a scenic flight company called Coolibah Air, the tourism arm of his North Australian Helicopters fleet which has been operating since 1993 with bases from Katherine, Victoria River, Cape Crawford and Darwin.
Mr Jones appealed against the decision to ban him from flying and during his tribunal McCabe listed the offences that CASA alleged Mr Jones committed in Keeping Up With The Joneses.
When Mr Jones was alleged to have used a helicopter to harvest crocodile eggs, Mr McCabe said: ‘The incident was staged. There was no crocodile nearby. The eggs were placed there before the cameras rolled.
‘Mr Jones explained in his evidence that it was the wrong time of year for crocodile egg harvesting, so it was necessary to pretend. He justified the role-play for the cameras by saying it accurately represented the way he harvested crocodile eggs.’
CASA also pulled Mr Jones up on his low-flying in the show, which they said he needed a special permit for.
He claimed he did have a permit but he lost it and the tribunal stated ‘I have no reason to doubt his claim’.
However, Mr McCabe pointed out that even if Mr Jones had a special permit that doesn’t mean it was OK for him to tow his son on a wakeboard while flying low.
‘There were a number of instances shown in Keeping up with the Joneses where Mr Jones was shown flying low in circumstances that were plainly unrelated to his agricultural and sling load operations,’ he said.
‘The scene in which he hovered above a watercourse while baiting a bull-shark is one example; so, too, the scene in which he hovered above a waterhole attempting to snare and tow an enraged crocodile.
‘Even more dramatically, there was a scene in which Mr Jones flew low over a stretch of water as he raced his brother-in-law on a jet ski, and another scene in which he towed his son Beau on a wave board,’ Mr McCabe said as he ruled Mr Jones ‘failed in his duty’.
Mr Jones was also rapped for leaving his helicopter unattended with the engine running and in some cases with his children still in it.
He argued that to stop the engine was dangerous in remote areas as if it didn’t start again he would become stranded but Mr McCabe pointed out that the cattleman was never alone in the filmed incidences – he had a whole Channel 10 film crew with him.
When it came to a scene in Keeping Up With The Joneses where Mr Jones raced his brother-in-law Hamish who was on a jet ski, Mr McCabe said: ‘While I accept the magic of television can affect perception of distance and proximity, it is clear enough from the edited and raw footage I saw that the helicopter was flying substantially under 500 feet during the scene, and at some points as close as tens of feet from the surface.’
He warned that ‘if something untoward had happened, the aircraft might have impacted the surface. That would have had disastrous consequences for Hamish and perhaps the spectators on the riverbank – and for Mr Jones himself.’
Mr McCabe blasted the stunt and said ‘there was no margin for error. Moreover, it was completely unnecessary to run the risk’.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Mr Jones for comment.
When the NT News asked him about the CASA investigation in 2011 he said it was a 'witch-hunt'. And he described the waterskiing incident as 'a bit of fun' and 'perfectly safe'.
Mr McCabe concluded that Mr Jones contravened the law on several occasions during the production of two series of Keeping Up With The Joneses.
But he recommended that if Mr Jones got the necessary certification before the date on which the suspension is scheduled to come into effect, his licences will not be suspended.

[owen meaney]

I would suggest that this saga may go to appeal.
On one hand McCabe says he is guilty of major breaches of the regulations, yet allows that he is fit to hold a licence.

[[email protected]]

If you want a caricature of a Frenchman you put him on a bicycle, wearing a beret and a striped jersey, bedecked with onions and smoking a Gauloise.

If you want a caricature of an Australian you give him a beer belly, a bush hat and shorts and a healthy disdain for rules and regulations - step forward Milton:ok:

[[email protected]]

Oh come one.....surely one of you Southern Hemisphere chaps is going to come back with a caricature of an Englishman with a bowler hat and umbrella, emotionally stilted, a stick up the ar8e, a stiff upper lip and an unhealthy fascination with the weather;):ok:

[Freewheel]

Nah,

We know TV isn't real. :p

[RVDT]

For those rainy days and bouts of insomnia - here (http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/AATA/2014/820.html)

Never underestimate what lives under one of these - http://www.australiangear.com/media/catalog/product/cache/5/image/800x800/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/t/e/territory_black_side_1.jpg

[[email protected]]

The judge describes Mr Jones as an intelligent man......so intelligent that he ignored all the rules and regulations he had to have known in order to have obtained a licence in the first place and then let himself be shown on TV breaking all those rules and regs - utter genius:ugh:

Interesting to see what CASA had to say about leaving a helicopter running without the pilot on board - something about needing to be essential for the safety of the aircraft and/or its occupants - that is at odds with many comments on a previous thread about the Grand Canyon fatality.

[Freewheel]

Mr Jones, being a PPL holder, isn't subject to an AOC which will have the relevant exemption from the general requirement to remain at the controls while the engine is running as provided by said regulator.:{

An exemption will generally have specific conditions, but will nonetheless allow actions broadly equivalent to those observed being performed by Mr Jones. I would suggest that not always would they coincide, nor would the motivation for doing so always be the same.:=


As for your other comments, quite correct, but it can be argued that his honour's remarks are not inconsistent. It can be argued that many university professors are highly, even outstandingly intelligent people, yet they are intelligent people that fail to understand tweed coats with leather arm patches make them look like dweebs, no matter the practicality. :E