BBC2 The Real Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines
Join Date: May 2001
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And I am not sure his aircraft is certified for VFR on top (although I think the UK rule on that is silly).
The only thing I found unbelievable is that the weather is ever as nice as that in Scotland....
Join Date: Jun 2001
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No such thing as VFR On Top !
VFR rules above 3k feet and below FL100...
... in Class B, C, D, E, F & G airspace...
Cloud clearance 1000 feet vertically, 1500 m horizontally, min viz 5K.
Nothing different for micros.
He was certainly that in all the shots I saw (and I've now watched it twice). In all the shots, you can see ground, so he was not above solid overcast.
No-one in that programme entered and flew in cloud.
I'm really missing our old Thruster TST, which we sold in October. Wish we'd held on to it and rebuilt it now.
VFR rules above 3k feet and below FL100...
... in Class B, C, D, E, F & G airspace...
Cloud clearance 1000 feet vertically, 1500 m horizontally, min viz 5K.
Nothing different for micros.
He was certainly that in all the shots I saw (and I've now watched it twice). In all the shots, you can see ground, so he was not above solid overcast.
No-one in that programme entered and flew in cloud.
I'm really missing our old Thruster TST, which we sold in October. Wish we'd held on to it and rebuilt it now.
I'm really missing our old Thruster TST, which we sold in October. Wish we'd held on to it and rebuilt it now.
I know somebody with an enclosed 1-off TST for sale, which even has carpets and a cabin heater. I tried to persuade our syndicate to buy it when ours died, but they weren't having it.
G
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What was the model that the Irish guy was flying? it looked a very capable machine.
It looked a great father and son bonding time and I think the Irish guy had a heart of gold but I at times felt at the beginning there was a fair pressure on the son to go along, let alone having TV cameras adding to that pressure.
The Irish guy seemed to be out of his depth at times but that's how we all have to gain experience.
It looked a great father and son bonding time and I think the Irish guy had a heart of gold but I at times felt at the beginning there was a fair pressure on the son to go along, let alone having TV cameras adding to that pressure.
The Irish guy seemed to be out of his depth at times but that's how we all have to gain experience.
A nice and very solid aeroplane to fly I recall, although not available new in the UK now. The Tanarg is I believe the most modern version.
G
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A nice and very solid aeroplane to fly I recall, although not available new in the UK now. The Tanarg is I believe the most modern version.
I imagine in a microlight it would only be used in these type of events as it can be landed in a large variety of areas relatively safely with such a low landing speed.
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Was amusing but dodgy flying skills on display. Anyone heard of a go around? Competition or not it looked very dangerous to me.
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R M-H must have 20l bladder or a "gadget" for that as well
Might be a bit cold though!
Good Game!
I would like to add a bit of info about the event and the many competitors who were not part of the film staging. We went (by road) to the briefing on the evening before the flying started (nice curry!) as, having read the Propellerhead book, I was curious about what the competitors were going to be asked to do. I had considered taking part but didn't fancy tearing all over the sky for up to 11 hours a day, my co-pilot was with me on that point. My idea of flying is a couple of hours in the air followed by a pee break and a coffee at a flying club. Perhaps the Irish chaps had the right idea.
Loosely, competitors were given a list of waypoint spread all over the country for which they accrue points for visiting. Someway points require a landing and collecting a stamp on a card, others require flying over within a small radius, some have a specific time window to pass over for bonus points. The aircraft were allowed to be airborne from 8am until 7pm on the Friday, from the start window position until 7pm on the Thursday and from 8am until the finish window position on the Saturday. The start window time slot (2 minute intervals) until the finish window time slot gave every competitor some some 28 hours to play with. Every aircraft was equipped with a GPS based tracking device (no display) so that way point scoring and flying hours could be checked by the Rally Control.
Somebody worked out that the shortest route around all of the points was about 2600 nautical miles. The points were "adjusted" by a factor related to the aircraft Vne for each aircraft, hopefully to level the playing field.
So, the winner of the 3 axis, non GPS class (a SkyRanger) bagged all but 2 of the waypoints. I think that he missed the one in the Scilly Isles and one on a Scottish island. Put the other way round, he must have averaged nearly 100mph, in a rag and tube microlight, for about 9 or 10 hours a day and at the same time figure out where to get fuel without delay, whilst darting all over the countryside (map, compass, stopwatch) finding waypoints. To cap it all, they had to turn up at the finish line within a minute of their allocated time.
We flew up to watch the finish (they filmed me landing! I was on the telly) and witnessed them arriving back. Nearly every one crossed the line within their time window. The landings were "interesting" because there was somewhat more crosswind than the film would suggest, the approach was over/around trees, grain silos and some telegraph wires onto less than 300 metres of grass. At the other end was a good sized hedge and a mobile phone mast and cabin. All good stuff to focus the mind.
I have to raise my hat to all of those that took part. One young lad, recently qualified, with his first aircraft flew the event solo. That's gotta take some balls.
There were no accidents or infringements as far as I know.
What was on the telly was entertaining but not really representative of most competitors experience of the event.
Free publicity though...........
Rans6......
I would like to add a bit of info about the event and the many competitors who were not part of the film staging. We went (by road) to the briefing on the evening before the flying started (nice curry!) as, having read the Propellerhead book, I was curious about what the competitors were going to be asked to do. I had considered taking part but didn't fancy tearing all over the sky for up to 11 hours a day, my co-pilot was with me on that point. My idea of flying is a couple of hours in the air followed by a pee break and a coffee at a flying club. Perhaps the Irish chaps had the right idea.
Loosely, competitors were given a list of waypoint spread all over the country for which they accrue points for visiting. Someway points require a landing and collecting a stamp on a card, others require flying over within a small radius, some have a specific time window to pass over for bonus points. The aircraft were allowed to be airborne from 8am until 7pm on the Friday, from the start window position until 7pm on the Thursday and from 8am until the finish window position on the Saturday. The start window time slot (2 minute intervals) until the finish window time slot gave every competitor some some 28 hours to play with. Every aircraft was equipped with a GPS based tracking device (no display) so that way point scoring and flying hours could be checked by the Rally Control.
Somebody worked out that the shortest route around all of the points was about 2600 nautical miles. The points were "adjusted" by a factor related to the aircraft Vne for each aircraft, hopefully to level the playing field.
So, the winner of the 3 axis, non GPS class (a SkyRanger) bagged all but 2 of the waypoints. I think that he missed the one in the Scilly Isles and one on a Scottish island. Put the other way round, he must have averaged nearly 100mph, in a rag and tube microlight, for about 9 or 10 hours a day and at the same time figure out where to get fuel without delay, whilst darting all over the countryside (map, compass, stopwatch) finding waypoints. To cap it all, they had to turn up at the finish line within a minute of their allocated time.
We flew up to watch the finish (they filmed me landing! I was on the telly) and witnessed them arriving back. Nearly every one crossed the line within their time window. The landings were "interesting" because there was somewhat more crosswind than the film would suggest, the approach was over/around trees, grain silos and some telegraph wires onto less than 300 metres of grass. At the other end was a good sized hedge and a mobile phone mast and cabin. All good stuff to focus the mind.
I have to raise my hat to all of those that took part. One young lad, recently qualified, with his first aircraft flew the event solo. That's gotta take some balls.
There were no accidents or infringements as far as I know.
What was on the telly was entertaining but not really representative of most competitors experience of the event.
Free publicity though...........
Rans6......
Looked hugely fun. I was surprised the regulations / organisers allowed the re-fuel setup as that is just asking for an eventual shunt when echo'd by other in years to come. I know airmanship is something to be serious of but actually when you can maintain a PPL with 10 hours in year 2 I'm sure if we filmed most GA pilots the film would look tame.
Anyway surprisingly my other half - who hates flying normally in regular stuff - is pestering me to get involved with this event in 2012, so it couldn't have been so bad (or maybe my flying is terrible?!!). Incredible and of course I'm not questioning it!
Anyway surprisingly my other half - who hates flying normally in regular stuff - is pestering me to get involved with this event in 2012, so it couldn't have been so bad (or maybe my flying is terrible?!!). Incredible and of course I'm not questioning it!
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He was certainly that in all the shots I saw (and I've now watched it twice). In all the shots, you can see ground, so he was not above solid overcast.
No-one in that programme entered and flew in cloud.
Agreed PP, I commented that I thought he was IMC. I watched it again tonight with my son and in the shot I Thought was above cloud, I could see ground.
Apologies RMH.
I also have a great deal of reSPECT for the pilot and son act. Good viewing all round and actually portrayed flying as fun again.
RMH camping underneath the wing at Dornoch - very brave man.
No-one in that programme entered and flew in cloud.
Agreed PP, I commented that I thought he was IMC. I watched it again tonight with my son and in the shot I Thought was above cloud, I could see ground.
Apologies RMH.
I also have a great deal of reSPECT for the pilot and son act. Good viewing all round and actually portrayed flying as fun again.
RMH camping underneath the wing at Dornoch - very brave man.
Love the quote from Will in the pub " Out of everything I've ever flown... in the world...you cannot beat the basic microlight in flight...it might be a flying deck chair but it's total freedom...You've heard the expression free as a bird...well it's as free as a bird...and for me if I can't fly I'm not free"
How refreshing to see people actually enjoying themselves in aeroplanes. It bought back memories of summer evenings with nine non radio microlights in a 500 foot circuit and student pilots who could successfully deal with an engine failure in a flex wing on a first solo because they had been taught airmanship properly by instructors who understood the air and what was going on around them rather than worrying about GPS/COM boxes with instruction manuals like a small phone book, or the finer points of air law in the emptiest airspace in the UK, or flying a thirty year old spam can for £150 per hour.
They all had a good time, no one got hurt and I couldn't see any rules of the air being drastically broken. If you watched this program and really believe otherwise get down to the local microlight club, talk to an instructor, and have a go at it and put some fun back into your own flying.
Awesome. Best flying program I've seen for ages. Watch it if you haven't already.
How refreshing to see people actually enjoying themselves in aeroplanes. It bought back memories of summer evenings with nine non radio microlights in a 500 foot circuit and student pilots who could successfully deal with an engine failure in a flex wing on a first solo because they had been taught airmanship properly by instructors who understood the air and what was going on around them rather than worrying about GPS/COM boxes with instruction manuals like a small phone book, or the finer points of air law in the emptiest airspace in the UK, or flying a thirty year old spam can for £150 per hour.
They all had a good time, no one got hurt and I couldn't see any rules of the air being drastically broken. If you watched this program and really believe otherwise get down to the local microlight club, talk to an instructor, and have a go at it and put some fun back into your own flying.
Awesome. Best flying program I've seen for ages. Watch it if you haven't already.
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Shaggy - that is one mighty fine looking machine... but then I'm biased...never met a Spitmunk (or Chipfire) I didn't like...
BTW The prog I saw (allowing for journalistic licence) depicted a bunch of people having a great time - not sure I see anything wrong with that...
BTW The prog I saw (allowing for journalistic licence) depicted a bunch of people having a great time - not sure I see anything wrong with that...