Hi lads,
James from Top gear on the 11th Dec flying a G-reg C-182 from North Italy toward the UK.

anybody watched the show?

some shots have clearly shown the plane had flaps down at 10 Deg.

and some shots show it seems it might have been under IFR. and when james said Cleared to Land RWY 18 and it actually landed on 17... haha.

any comments lads?

nice to see another celib fly. any one know where he flies?

happy landing

Aircraft was from West London Aero Club at White Waltham ( inc. Instructor)
Flaps were probably selected to accommodate air-to-air shots from chopper (?)
Rgds, Sleeve

Yeah I saw it - was a good show. I too noticed things like the flaps, and especially the low height he seemed to remain at. I would guess that this is for the purpose of television.

It was unlucky that he couldn't fly at night, as I reckon they would have creamed Clarkson otherwise!

What an annoying Hammond was!

As there was an instructor with him (to be legal) why not fly at night? Probably because it was quicker / cheaper/easier / better TV to get to central London from Lille than other airfields

It was hardly representative of what you could achieve on a reasonable day. There are routes through the Alps, and they could (should) have thrown some people off the plane to carry more fuel. But the reality is, to fly in this part of the world you need an IR and an aircraft capable of flying in icing conditions at a reasonable level. But that sort of plane would cost more than a Bugatti!

If theTG team did not realise beforehand that they would run out of daylight the way it was flown then they were a pretty poor bunch - and 30 mins to do a preflight!

I'm pretty sure they deliberately made James and the hamster run out of "air" time... Clarkson+the car has won everytime - I don't think they'd let a flying "toaster" (their comment!) beat a £850k car?

P.S. does "Captain Slow" hang around on pprune?

Well, it was entertaining TV and James May talked quite knowledgeably about aviation. Of course the white-toothed hamster was being annoying - that was obviously the idea.

Good product placement by West London Aero Club!

How was Hammond able to talk to Jeremy Clarkson by phone? Is it legal in France?

Yeah don't forget, this kind of thing will always have some fiddling to get that final, tense result. Every race they have had, is always a won by about 30 seconds - purely for entertainment purposes (and I love TG!).

It would be interesting to know if James is a Pruner or not - does he hold a full license?

What was all that busines about having to land 10 mins before sunset. Also does a C182 really have 13 drain points?

I watched the whole thing and then sulked for a bit because I thought they slagged off May and the flying too much. I knew Clarkson was to win - it is all part of the pantomime of TG.

I just thought they should have pointed out that at a fair altitude, the g/s of the 182 with (?) 160hp would have been more than the real road restricted speed of the 1000hp bugatti.

So there was I grumbling on about "if they'd been in a TBM700 with an IR Pln blah blah" until my wife subtly pointed out that I'd just returned from an abortive ferry trip trying to go VFR from Bavaria to England - which had taken 4 days to get as far as Nancy and then we'd given up and gone home on the train.

Even a Trabant would have done Salzburg to Wellesbourne eventually - in snowstorms! Still, we did get 180kts g/s from 160hp & fixed pitch prop. Beat that on a Autobahn Clarkson!

ps liked the music - 633 Sqn and Where Eagles Dare. Was continually humming WED whilst nav was talking to Munich.

Missed this due to family committments. Does anyone know chich channel, and when, it is repeated?

Must get round to buying a video one day...

DW

I believe it's repeated Tuesdays on Beeb2 ... but not the usual time. I think it's 19:00

Thanks Spitfire - juest checked - Tuesday 8pm on BBC Prime. Looking forward to it!

yep good show. but i must say. too much yaking and complaining about flying from the teeth whitening man. haha

but a pre flight check doesn't take 20 mins. maybe a B744 would take that amount of time. not a C182.

but would like to know if James is still a student or a qualified pilot. would be a nice trip for a student.

but then... who is paying his bills? em... was that a legal trip?!? was that trip for a commerical purpose?!?... kee. no further questions.

IMO James still looked like a student, I think there was one moment when he had both hands on the control column (could be wrong, my memory isn't that pedantic)....I was holding my breath waiting for an instructor to slap him

Now being 16 and at 6th form all my friends there who are non aviators all started slagging of aviation imediately, it was then that I reminded them how did they go on holiday to florida or where ever last year! I think to be honest a faster plane maybe a more experinced pilot with IR/Night would have won.

I say rematch, well Ive told topgear Id have a go when I pass :-P

chow for now

CaptainKarl

I suspect that bit is on the cutting room floor! - may see it in on of those out take programmes

Take no notice, all my mates did that too. Its a different matter when you take them to the other side of the country for a "day out" because the whether looked good when you woke up.

(great way of getting girls into bed too! )

IF James had an instructor however, why didnt his instructor take over and James become Pu/t for a night rating? totaly legal? then no probs flying at night. just a thought?

have fun!

PiltsdownWith all due respect - balls! You can get hold of a de-iced light twin second hand for about £120,000 no problem. A friend of mine is about to buy a twin diesel (TT62) for 500,000 Euros (although he put deposit down a while back - they cost more now) brand new. A lot less that the showroom price of the Bugatti, let alone the cost price! And I'd fly the thing for free