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Last edited by Seerjfly; 12-31-2011 at 08:05 AM. Reason: w
I am really surprised at how people have to be critical of everything. Yes, I have noticed the over dramatization and inaccuracies, and even some real mistakes in the editing of the show which reverses the order the pilots perform some tasks. So what! The show is fun and entertaining and will probably get more people interested in aviation. That is a good thing. Beyond that, there are some good lessons of self reliance and plain old "get it done" attitude that people are moving away from these days. When the CEO of a company loads his own aircraft, it's a company I have respect for. The Family seems to have good values and I think they are a good role model. I could care less about the so called negatives that some here are mentioning....
I've only seen a couple of episodes of the show since I don't have cable but I must admit it was fun seeing such familiar people and places on national tv.
There was some dramatic silliness that left me shaking my head. I will say, however that between what I've seen flying in Alaska and the stories I've heard, there are many stories far more dramatic than what that program shows that you will NEVER see on tv.
I've been flying out to the villages since the late 80's and have seen many changes. Most homes out there now have satellite tv. Shows on tv tend to depict urban America, which unfortunately has the effect on many villagers, especially among the young, to give them the impression that they're "nobody's living in the middle of nowhere". I think that show has the potential to show folks out there that their lifestyles are actually quite interesting, and the many folks watching the show can see that. From the tragic suicide rate in the villages anything that can improve those folks self image is a good thing.
http://www.alaskadispatch.com/articl...a-takes-flight Airplane projects in Rural AK are a good thing too!
I guess that's the rub with reality television: without the sensationalized content it likely wouldn't make the networks desk. I guess we just have to keep in mind that they likely aren't targeting pilots as their primary audience and enjoy the show for what it is. I'm always surprised by the number of non-pilots I meet that believe we still run the same chance of a successful flight as the air mail service did in the 1920's. If the majority of folks knew how consistently and safely most small aircraft flights were executed with, especially those of organizations like Era, there wouldn't be much hype to the show. I enjoy the show for the personalities and the gorgeous vistas that Alaska provides.
That said (just my opinions) I love the pic and definitely eating my heart out :-) I would love the meet the Tweeto family in person! I also hope that the show has the effect on native Alaskans that Louis mentioned in the earlier post, that would be a great benefit.
Regards,
Scott
Great points. I agree with both you and Mr. Lunde: It is a good thing when the media portrays aviation as interesting and exciting but when it crosses the line to "reckless and dangerous" it isn't very helpful. My job is flying air taxi in AK. I am a rather boring family man and if my job was "dangerous" I would never be allowed to do it.
Things have gotten a lot less stressfull flying schedules to remote villages. Most runways are long enough for larger aircraft. Much more weather information is available. Webcams are especially helpful: http://akweathercams.faa.gov/ (now the daylight hours to see the picture are a bit limited) More and more village airports are getting GPS approaches also. GPS has been the biggest game changer. Before GPS with few navaids available you really had to know the country to navigate to a village in low visibility. Many of the villages out on the tundra are really hard to find even in CAVU. Now you just follow the line right to the runway and the things will even tell you where the terrain is.
When I started my first flying job (before GPS) I was warned by my boss that all my passengers had more hours flying in that area and would know the country better than I did. He told me about the "Eskimo ADF" which means you watch your passengers and when all their heads turn at once you probably just flew past their village. If I said that never happened to me I'd be a liar.....Louis
Very cool about the Eskimo ADF, Louis. Good to see you on this board as well as the Aeronca list.
Cheers,
-Ryan
Yeah, I've got a story or two about that myself.Originally Posted by Louis
Someday I'll come up with something profound to put here.
Good to see you here as well. It looks like this board is starting to take off. Look me up if you wander back up this way....Louis
I love this show, and although I don't have cable, someone records it for me. WooHoo!! It is educational as well. I was surprised to learn about how hard life can be there, and how depressing at times. Kudos to the Tweetos and others for putting up with the cameras so we can all learn about it.
plans building a Sonex!!
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