Don't forget to pre-flight your frabulator!

C J Campbell opined

Yesterday someone had left the TV on and I as I was taking a short break I
saw that the TV soap "Days of Our Lives" had an aviation sequence on it. It
had two guys flying a civilian twin somewhere; I have no idea what the plot
was, but it was no doubt incredibly silly.

Anyway, they are apparently flying at night. You can tell because it is dark
and you can see a reflection from the rotating beacon inside the cockpit.
The beacon must have been mounted on the nose or something. It was like
watching an old gangster movie where the hoodlum invariably holes up in a
hotel room with an irritating flashing neon sign outside the window.

The pilots were yelling at someone to "Get out of the way! Get out of the
way!" through the windshield. Finally, using all their strength and
straining at the controls, it takes both of them to begin evasive action by
turning the yoke slightly. Despite this tremendous effort, they still hit
whatever it was they saw. I did not see what they hit, but they managed to
regain control of the airplane and continue flying with no more concern
about it.

I had started laughing so hard I had to wee. Walking back into the room
somewhat later, I saw the show was still on. The pilots were now flying
through a severe thunderstorm, represented by buckets of water being thrown
on the windscreen. They were obviously very macho and very dramatic. The
beacon is still flashing, but it is not as bright because dawn is breaking.
One of pilots says they have a signal ordering them to turn around. The
other pilot irritatedly says "I'll give them a signal!" and grabs his
headset and puts it on to make a radio call. This is the only time either
pilot is wearing his headset. He says, "Basic Black! Basic Black! This is
Basic Black! Come in!" Without waiting for a reply he rips off his headset
and throws it across the cockpit. "Radios must have failed when we took
off!" Just then a high pitched beeper goes off:
"beep-beep-beep-beep-beep..." The pilot fails to notice it until the
co-pilot calls it to his attention. The pilot then jumps with a start and
says, "Someone has locked onto us and is ready to fire! I think I can
re-program the frabulator through other unintelligible gobbledy gook...."

I wanted to wait around to see if the show could top this, but I had a
student. Besides, having to wade through the rest of the "Days of Our Lives"
sequences would probably have made me physically ill. Still, you wonder how
many people believe that this is how small planes operate. I mentioned it to
my student, a nurse, and she said, "sounds like their aviation is about as
accurate as their medicine." Nevertheless, it turned out she was a devoted
"Days of Our Lives" fan. I guess there is no accounting for taste.

Anyway, the moral of the story is, don't forget to preflight your
frabulator, or else you might get shot down.

What happened today? Inquiring minds want to know.




-ash
Cthulhu for President!
Why vote for a lesser evil?

"Ash Wyllie" wrote in message
...

What happened today? Inquiring minds want to know.

I don't have the faintest idea. Reading Wednesday's synopsis they got shot
down, so today they were supposed to be found unconscious in the wreckage by
two other characters.

[SNIP]

The purpose of the show is to get people to watch. In this case they
got you to watch (a lot it appears), so they had a good show If you
find yourself getting 'dragged' in to a soap, it's because they are so
over the top and stupid that you somehow can't stop watching.
So actually, sounds like they have pretty good writors

"'Vejita' S. Cousin" wrote in message
...
[SNIP]

The purpose of the show is to get people to watch. In this case they
got you to watch (a lot it appears), so they had a good show If you
find yourself getting 'dragged' in to a soap, it's because they are so
over the top and stupid that you somehow can't stop watching.
So actually, sounds like they have pretty good writors

Despite the "schlock" story lines that the soaps develop, the daytime shows
all run a pretty tight ship when it comes to getting the episode shot, cut
and broadcast.

The major lead actors get only about 1.5 to 2 days to learn their lines,
they block the scenes, they block the cameras, they shoot it, edit it and
air it all on a very tight schedule...and that's without any major re-writes
because of illnesses or cast changes.

It's some serious pressure at times. Lots more than we deal with in sports.
I've always admired the folks who work those gigs.

Jay Beckman
Student Pilot
Professional VideoTape Operator / Editor
NASCAR on FOX / NBC

C J Campbell wrote:

Still, you wonder how
many people believe that this is how small planes operate.

My first wife watched that show religiously and believed that everything she saw on
it was absolute truth.

George Patterson
If you want to know God's opinion of money, just look at the people
he gives it to.

"G.R. Patterson III" wrote in message
...


C J Campbell wrote:

Still, you wonder how
many people believe that this is how small planes operate.

My first wife watched that show religiously and believed that everything
she saw on
it was absolute truth.

Hmm, I don't even believe everything I hear on Discovery Wings.

Paul

"C J Campbell" wrote in message ...

Anyway, the moral of the story is, don't forget to preflight your
frabulator, or else you might get shot down.

I wouldn't fly without mine, even though it's not IFR-certified. Plus
that way I don't need to get regular database updates.

Got mine he
http://www.sportys.com/acb/showdetl....roduct_id=1702

-cwk.

(C Kingsbury) wrote in message . com...
"C J Campbell" wrote in message ...

Anyway, the moral of the story is, don't forget to preflight your
frabulator, or else you might get shot down.

I wouldn't fly without mine, even though it's not IFR-certified. Plus
that way I don't need to get regular database updates.

Got mine he
http://www.sportys.com/acb/showdetl....roduct_id=1702


Thanks.
My frabulator got discombobulated last time and you know what that means.....

(George) wrote in message . com...

Thanks.
My frabulator got discombobulated last time and you know what that means.....

You should write a "Never Again" story for AOPA Pilot about that one.

-cwk.

I saw a made for tv movie a few years ago (Matt LeBlanc was in it) about an
Air Ambulance that crashes in the mountains (kinda a mini-"Alive" type
thing). I was actually ok with most of the aviation problems. They did
have the obligatory spiraling dive to the ground when one engine quit on the
twin. But the best (read worst) thing was when a rescue plane was flying
near. One of the characters grabs the ELT (which they correctly identified
as an ELT). The actor grabs the bright orange REAL ELT and commences to
hold it up to his mouth and say "Come in, Come in, Mayday, Mayday" (or some
such). At that point I stopped watching....to my wife's chagrin.

jf


"C J Campbell" wrote in message
...
Yesterday someone had left the TV on and I as I was taking a short break I
saw that the TV soap "Days of Our Lives" had an aviation sequence on it.
It
had two guys flying a civilian twin somewhere; I have no idea what the
plot
was, but it was no doubt incredibly silly.

Anyway, they are apparently flying at night. You can tell because it is
dark
and you can see a reflection from the rotating beacon inside the cockpit.
The beacon must have been mounted on the nose or something. It was like
watching an old gangster movie where the hoodlum invariably holes up in a
hotel room with an irritating flashing neon sign outside the window.

The pilots were yelling at someone to "Get out of the way! Get out of the
way!" through the windshield. Finally, using all their strength and
straining at the controls, it takes both of them to begin evasive action
by
turning the yoke slightly. Despite this tremendous effort, they still hit
whatever it was they saw. I did not see what they hit, but they managed to
regain control of the airplane and continue flying with no more concern
about it.

I had started laughing so hard I had to wee. Walking back into the room
somewhat later, I saw the show was still on. The pilots were now flying
through a severe thunderstorm, represented by buckets of water being
thrown
on the windscreen. They were obviously very macho and very dramatic. The
beacon is still flashing, but it is not as bright because dawn is
breaking.
One of pilots says they have a signal ordering them to turn around. The
other pilot irritatedly says "I'll give them a signal!" and grabs his
headset and puts it on to make a radio call. This is the only time either
pilot is wearing his headset. He says, "Basic Black! Basic Black! This is
Basic Black! Come in!" Without waiting for a reply he rips off his headset
and throws it across the cockpit. "Radios must have failed when we took
off!" Just then a high pitched beeper goes off:
"beep-beep-beep-beep-beep..." The pilot fails to notice it until the
co-pilot calls it to his attention. The pilot then jumps with a start and
says, "Someone has locked onto us and is ready to fire! I think I can
re-program the frabulator through other unintelligible gobbledy
gook...."

I wanted to wait around to see if the show could top this, but I had a
student. Besides, having to wade through the rest of the "Days of Our
Lives"
sequences would probably have made me physically ill. Still, you wonder
how
many people believe that this is how small planes operate. I mentioned it
to
my student, a nurse, and she said, "sounds like their aviation is about as
accurate as their medicine." Nevertheless, it turned out she was a devoted
"Days of Our Lives" fan. I guess there is no accounting for taste.

Anyway, the moral of the story is, don't forget to preflight your
frabulator, or else you might get shot down.

--
Christopher J. Campbell
World Famous Flight Instructor
Port Orchard, WA


If you go around beating the Bush, don't complain if you rile the animals.