I would agree with Saggs having worked with TV before. You have to take much of what goes on with a heavy dose of salt. Only the other day a production crew was videoing a sequence at the dropzone I work. I made quite sure they got the 'right' footage rather than the real footage.
One of the best I saw in manipulation was a pilot friend of mine was doing a piece for a kid's show where a boy wanted a flying lesson. As I watched they filmed a sequence where he and his Mother went out to the plane and were met by the pilot. Next they all disappeared and the plane was moved slightly. Then the Mother and child reappeared wearing different clothes. Supposedly this was the following day. The magic of TV.
Even so I like those shows. The flying itself looks very interesting. There is another programme called 'Bush Pilots' which aired in Britain on the 'Dave' channel. It followed the fortunes of young wannabee pilots with barely three hundred hours or so looking for a Bush pilot job in Maun, Botswana. Brits, Irish, Canadians, Aussies etc. It was really interesting if you ignored the wildly over the top commentry. Every minor event was hyped out of all proportion. But apparently, the word is that bigger events were left out because some of the companies didn't want any negative publicity or regularatory interest.
One unintentionally hilarious bit, for me, was when one of our heroes was despatched to land a GA8 Airvan at one of the 'shortest strips' in the Okavango Delta. Then they announced it was only 600 metres long (1968 feet). Luckily he made in but it was a close call if we to believe the commentary. I nearly fell off the couch laughing. I must be a super pilot indeed as I regularly get a fully loaded Airvan into a shorter, bumpier strip with wet grass (zero braking) and a stiff crosswind without a problem. No lions or wart hogs on the runway though.
Still they are worth a watch, if only to get an insight into the other jobs out there. If my wife ever kicks me out. I'm off to Africa to fly in the Bush.
PS Ariel is very cute!
