Ice Pilots...new series started.

[magpienja]

Started last Sunday on Discovery...unfortunately the gear on a C46 collapsed after a test flight....

[TOWTEAMBASE]

Quality programme, I love it when they de-ice with a mop and bucket......love to see what the AEA would make of that :-D

[costalpilot]

did de ice with a mop and bucket on a DC 9 in Gpt one cold wintry morn.

[P.Pilcher]

What I loved was on the last programme (15-06-14) when Mikey calmly announced to the ice hockey team that they were transporting in a DC3 that this was one of the aircraft which took part in the D-Day landings!

P.P.

[renfrew]

I enjoy the series and have the utmost admiration for the pilots flying these ancient aircraft.
However surely 70 year old planes belong in a museum.
The way the company operates is odd to put it mildly.
As mentioned in the programme why no de-icing truck in that climate.
We don't hear much about the Electras.Do they do any flying?

[Tashengurt]

Don't they have health and safety in Canada? Surely wandering around on the wings of icy aircraft without a harness is a no go?


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[magpienja]

We don't hear much about the Electras.Do they do any flying?

Quite a bit in the last series or the one before that.

[Al E. Vator]

"However surely 70 year old planes belong in a museum".????

Why???

If the airframes are sound and the engines and systems appropriately maintained why on earth would they need to be in a museum for goodness sake? These are solidly built and over-engineered beasts and far more confidence-inspiring than many modern aircraft. I would prefer to be in a DC3 in ice than say an ATR42/72 with it's tiny little wing.

Have a look at say a Tecnam (where rivets join lightweight metal and plastic!) and then wander over and look at the construction of a DC3. Even Boeings and Airbuses have such short lifetimes nowadays. 777's are being scrapped and 7 and 8 year-old 737's and A319's are ending up as saucepans whereas the venerable DC3 just keeps on keeping on.

I think they'll outlast most of us and will certainly still be flying on the 100th anniversary of their first flight - simply outstanding.

[magpienja]

Here here...I do hope they are...keep up the good work Mr Mc Brian...the world needs more guys like him...unfortunately they are being stifled by HS nonsense.

Nick.

[Evanelpus]

Don't they have health and safety in Canada? Surely wandering around on the wings of icy aircraft without a harness is a no go?

That's a good point, something which I missed.

I've watched all of the IP Series from day 1 and can recall at least two, maybe three who have fallen off an aircraft performing various tasks.

So, c'mon Canadians, what are the 'rules'?

[evansb]

Here is the web site address for the Federal Government of Canada's Centre For Occupational Health and Safety:

CCOHS: Canada's National Centre for Occupational Health and Safety information (http://www.ccohs.ca)


The rules of producing a Reality TV series is to provide an unrealistic number of dangerous and anxiety provoking scenarios so as to maintain the interest of the viewers.


Recently, the Province of Ontario's air ambulance service was charged with 17 offences under the Canada Labour Code.

[Captain Dart]

Yes, from 'Baldrick's' archeology series to 'Monster Moves' to 'Ice Pilots'... there always seems to be a deadline!

Nail-biting stuff.

[skridlov]

I watched an episode of the new series last night. It featured a familiar scenario. A keen young pilot, already checked out on the DC3, aspires to fly the Electra. We see him staggering about at 3.30 am loading up the DC3 and then (we're told) flying it on a scheduled run. Some (unspecified) number of hours subsequently he gets a chance to accompany the Electra on a flight delivering fuel: we see him nodding off on the outbound leg (which I imagine he's not qualified to fly as trainee FO as it's a revenue flight) and hear that he's completely exhausted from the early start and his previous exertions.

Now, on the return leg he's in the RH seat for his first crack at the Electra. Trouble is he's practically delirious with exhaustion and performs abominably at every stage - despite, in previous sections of the program, being shown as a rather level-headed and competent young chap. He's b0llocked and generally humiliated in the characteristic Buffalo house style.

I'm beginning to wonder, as with "Dangerous Flights" whether the requirement for dramatic footage is seriously distorting the operational judgement of the participants. In the example above I'm inclined to think that even if the strategy was to prevent the eager youngster from getting over-confident (although he didn't seem the type, unlike some of the eager beavers they exploit) it was a stupid, hazardous and ultimately counter-productive decision to introduce him to the aircraft whilst he was in that state.

Buffalo are obviously earning nicely from the series, both directly and in terms of spin-off benefits (how much would it cost to buy that level of TV advertising?) and by now it must be obvious to them what's required, even if the regular operation of ancient aircraft doesn't present sufficient dramatic tension. Falling off an icy wing is trivial compared to some of the stuff we see in these programs.

On a recent "DF" I watched a mechanic fitting a brake manifold on an A320 using a pair of stilsons to tighten up the hydraulic lines! En route subsequently the aircraft reported a hydraulic leak and landed at Bangor under an emergency with questionable brake performance. When I used to have earth moving equipment I wouldn't have used a stilsons to tighten anything on the hydraulics.

[magpienja]

I still find it very entertaining warts and all....

Prob be quite dull for joe public to watch a prog full SOP stuff.

Nick.

[Barling Magna]

Series 6 is due to air in North America from October 29th. Promos for the series say it is the last one, which is a shame if true. I know the content has become rather samey and some of the characters are now rather jaded, but I'll miss my annual dose of C-46s and DC-4s in those arctic conditions. I wonder if the swing-tail DC-6 will feature in this final series?

[clunckdriver]

Yes, we do have health and safety in Canada, run by for the most part total twits who didnt make it in the real world: for instance, "A worker must tie on before climbing onto a roof," question, how in hell can he tie on unless some one else goes up first to secure the anchor to hook on to? A local aircraft restorer needed to look inside a vintage aircraft at a museum in Ottawa to examine a fitting which is common to an aircraft he is restoring, problem, its elevated so he needs a climbing course, also it has radio active instruments so its way too dangerous to even look inside the cockpit!{US border security take readings from these very same instruments any time we cross the border, their radiation level is in fact less than my wrist watch!} As for de- iceing at remote airports, it is done with hand sprayers and mops, brooms and the "rope trick", even if one did fly a truck into some of the places we go to and assemble it I doubt it would start after being cold soaked for a month, oh, did I forget to mention no electricity to keep a block heater warm? In fact we are as a nation slowley grinding to a halt under the dead hand of out of controll idiots who now dominate the civil service! And by the way, its entertainment, Joe in fact runs a tight ship, and yes, they are the right aircraft for the job.

[FantomZorbin]

CD,

Over here 'elf 'n safety is regularly referred to as "The condom on the organ of progress". Need I say more?!!:ugh:

[clunckdriver]

Fantom, do you mind if I borrow that gem? Check your PMs.

[reynoldsno1]

"However surely 70 year old planes belong in a museum"
ILS testing started in 1929 - surely an 85 yr old precision landing system should also be dustbinized ...;)

[barit1]

Fabric-covered surfaces were sprayed with cellulose acetate nitrate dope, originally. Since aircraft factories commonly had their covering shop right next to the welding shop, fires were not uncommon, and the plant managers never seemed to learn.

I question whether big museums like NMUSAF or NASM are so authentic as to use the original materials, or whether safer Butyrate dope (in general use since the 50s) has supplanted nitrate.