How would you know if you don’t watch TV? In any case, there are more than a couple of channels nowdays!
What are you watching on TV right now?
- Thread starter Mottie
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I love a good aircrash - so long as i'm not on it, obviously - and some of the causes are so small, so trivial, it's eye-popping to think lives are lost because of the time an insect set up home in a pitot tube, causing false readings in the cockpit, confusion for the pilot, death for 200 people.
Remember the Air France crash into the Atlantic? One man is trying to lift the nose to compensate and the other is trying to point the nose down - the captain comes back from his scheduled sleep to find them struggling to maintain height and it's only 30 seconds from plunging into the sea before he realises what's going on.
The transcript on the voice recorder was chilling.
I'll keep an eye open for that one.
Yes, not a good idea to watch this just before jetting off for a bit of R&R. Some of the best and most worrying ones involve fires often in areas unreachable to extenguish. The fire is literally consuming the aircraft and knocking out vital systems one by one as pilots vainly attempt to get the thing on the ground. As a regular flyer, I often wonder 'what if' when watching these programmes, but remind myself it's statistically safer than driving.
The investigations are meticulous, some very clever people involved solving the mystery with the minutest clues.
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Fire is the biggest fear. In such an enclosed space at 30,000 feet you've nowhere to go and a long way to fall.
But as we began take-off on a flight to New York with my ex-and daughter in the 80s, i looked out the window and saw flames bursting out of the third engine on the right wing. I made the mistake of casually mentioning this to her and i'll never forget the look of pure terror cross her face.
"You're joking" she said. And before i could reply the captain's voice confirmed my observation across the intercom, only he called it "technical difficulty" as the engines powered down.
We were stuck on the tarmac for about two hours while the problem was fixed and we took advantage of the drinks trolley during the wait: everyone did. Not sure what i'd have done if we were over the Atlantic: "put your head between your legs and kiss your ass goodbye" they said in NY, referring to the crash position.
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Not sure i'd like to try putting one on in the middle of 300 screaming, terrified people as the fire burns out of control and the plane's at a 45 degree angle to the rapidly approaching ocean below - but i'd damn well give it a go; anything's better than burning.Don't they have parachutes?
Incidentally, if you have time, take a look at the most amazing flight fight you'll ever see: FedEx flight 705 - videos can be found around Youtube. It was like a mad movie plot but it really happened and the ending was incredible.
The queens 4 kids standing by her coffin while the public file by.
The queens 4 kids standing by her coffin while the public file by.
I just don't know how they manage it, through all that grief.
That was one they showed on 5 Select the other night. The pilot left at the controls dived and rolled the plane to keep the attacker out of the cockpit using g forces. He took what was a standard heavy cargo jet way beyond it's limits. Being ex USAF, he knew all the tricks and saved them all. Sadly, after all they went through, the crew of 3 weren't ever able to resume flying afterwards.
Just watching 'From Ice to Fire' on Beeb 4, interesting bit of history on temperature measurement etc..
Mrs Harris goes to Paris. Mrs Motties choice. 1950’s. Paris. Dressmaking. Christian Dior. I think I’ll have an early bath….
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That is early its not October till SaturdayMrs Harris goes to Paris. Mrs Motties choice. 1950’s. Paris. Dressmaking. Christian Dior.
I missed 'make me a Prime Minister' last night. It’s a competition to see if people could become prime minister. Were any of the experts from this forum on it?
I read a review of that in the Grauniad by the lovely Lucy Mangan who described the show as 'absolute exquisite agony'. I won't bother if Jackie Weaver's involved.
The alternative at that time of night is on Ch5 where Michael Palin's taking an amiable trip through Iraq.
Usually he's wandering around in a state of English bemusement at the way these cultures work, such as the somersaulting pigeons on the street in Erbil, but it was hard to watch him walk around the site of a massacre by ISIS on Shi'a muslims, where 1,700 military cadets were executed on the banks of the Tigris, their bodies thrown into the river.
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