-
Get off the ground and be free as a bird
-
Apparently in Wales there is a place called the Mach Loop that photographers can go to see military training planes doing low flybys through a valley. Sounds like a wonderful place to go with your camera. Looks a lot more interesting than hanging out at your local airport landing strip.
“The Mach Loop (also known as the Machynlleth Loop) is a series of valleys in the United Kingdom in west-central Wales, notable for their use as low-level training areas for fast aircraft. The system of valleys lies 13 km (8 mi) east of Barmouth between the towns of Dolgellau to the north and Machynlleth to the south, from the latter of which it takes its name. The Mach Loop is among the few places in the world where photographers can see combat aircraft flying below them.[5] One popular viewing point is the carpark located on the site of Llyn y Tri Greyenyn.”
-
That looks kool, Jung. I love the shot toward the end with the four cargo planes flying by.
-
In the 30’s, a song for a movie was composed , which over the decades became the aviation anthem: “Flieger grüss mir die Sonne“. There is hardly a pilot among us who has not heard or sung the chorus at least once (there was also a New Wave version that was played in discos in the 80s).
„Flieger grüß mir die Sonne“ (Aviator/Flyer many greetings from me to the sun)
From the North Pole to the South Pole
It's just a stone's throw
We fly the route
In any weather
We don't wait, we start
Whatever happens
Through wind and weather
Sounds the flyer song:
Flyer, say hello to the sun
Say hello to the stars
And hello to the moon!
Your life,
This is the levitation
through the distance
Which nobody inhabits!
Faster and faster and faster
Spins the propeller
How I like it
pilots
Nothing is forbidden!
And at full throttle
Jet around the world -
The Beatles got around quite a bit during their tours. They saw places and locations that were inaccessible to many of their contemporaries. And they probably enjoyed it. Except for George Harrison: he is said to have had quite a fear of flying. No wonder. The flights of that time were really much rougher than today. I read somewhere, in some Beatle biography, the following anecdote (I can’t remember where and I’ll try to reproduce it): During a domestic flight with a multi-engine propeller plane, the co-pilot joined his guests after he had noticed what prominent musicians he had on board. The pilot also joined them after a while. He had activated the autopilot. And while they were sitting there chatting comfortably several thousand meters above the ground, George looked out of the window and said: “Hey, is that one of the engines of our plane on fire?” The pilots also looked out the window and sure enough, one of the engines emitted smoke. The pilots managed to bring the fire under control and land the plane with the remaining engines. Did it really happen that way? Maybe. In any case, it is a nice story. From that point on, I would also have boarded any plane with mixed feelings.
-
What must it have been like to fly around the world in a passenger plane at the time the Beatles were touring? In the so-called golden age of air travel.
-
Jurgen, I never knew George Harrison feared flying. That was a nice video and catchy song too, and was that George using John’s head as an ash tray? 😜 Ringo looked shocked too!
I don’t ever recall flying to be that luxurious in my time, although I recall in the 90s and 2000’s I flew quite a few times back and forth between Vancouver and Toronto on business, and flying was quite nice with nice hot meal served, and a movie too. It was an enjoyable time, unlike nowadays where flights are so spartan, all those as low as you can go price wars from the economy airlines killed the little luxury there was in flying. You’re lucky to get a couple of biscuits and a coffee. The longer International flights were still good with some amenities the last time I flew across the Pacific in 2017.
Flying reminded me of this little Bee Gees gem.
-
„Ladies and Gentlemen, we would like to inform you that this is a smoking flight. Smoking is also expressly permitted in the toilet cabins. The cabin crew will be glad to help you with the lighter“
Jung that’s how the announcement might have sounded in the golden age of scheduled flights. Well, I really don’t miss smoking now. The aviation industry experienced its first big crash after 09/11. And the last three years have also been pure poison for the airline and travel industry. Luxurious flying still exists, but it is almost no longer affordable. Airlines are really struggling. I can live with the dwindling board service, but not so much with the dwindling space inside the planes.
Yeah, you saw right: George used John’s head as an ashtray. Really not nice. But John wasn’t always nice to George either…
Thank you for the beautiful song “Spicks and Specks”. I had heard the song before but never associated it with the BeeGees. The video is imaginatively designed.
Maybe not 100% a „flyer“ song, but a beautiful and melancholy song about flying and letting go:
-
I think Jurgen the argument that times are tough and we can’t offer the level of flight service we once did might work for a while, but the reality is when economy improves and the airlines are back at record profits, if they got away with saving costs by cutting back services to increase their profits more, and the public is not complaining with the spartan service that they got use to, they will just let it ride and continue the poor service. That is what has happened.
-
Yes, I’m afraid you’re right, Jung: when the pie gets bigger again, the customer will continue to get small pieces. He’s used to that. A popular business model in many other industries as well.
-
-
The Evolution Of Flight
-
Interesting video Jurgen. I didn’t know the current 737s have been produced since the 60s.
-
-
No matter how hard we humans try, we will probably never achieve the elegance and lightness with which Mother Nature takes off to the skies (but we don’t have to…). The earth from a very unusual perspective:
-
Hi Jurgen, that video cam with the eagle is amazing. Interesting how they are so efficient, rarely flapping their wings, but using the air current to their advantage and gliding. Those ravens are pretty smart working together in packs, didn’t know they could threaten an eagle like that.
-
Jung, it’s amazing what kind of renewed old-timers are in the air above us. But there is nothing wrong with mature aircraft types. The problem with the development of new aircraft is a very time-consuming and cost-intensive certification procedure. Every aircraft manufacturer carefully considers whether the market is ready for a new type. I still remember the expensive modifications that had to be made at many airports so that the Airbus A 380 could land there. This aircraft did not fly under a good star. Singapore Airlines advertised for a long time with the slogan “First to fly A 380”. And then was also the first airline to sue Airbus because Airbus could not deliver on time. And now production is being discontinued because there is no longer any demand for such giants of the air. Too bad. Supposedly, Airbus wants to develop a hydrogen-powered commercial aircraft by 2036. I am curious. Boeing has been very quiet lately.
Yeah ravens are very curious and also cheeky birds (and they are not the smallest either). I can imagine that several of them can scare off an eagle. Much like hyenas chase a single lion away. The BBC has recently released some very nice wildlife documentaries, including a multi-part documentary on the evolution of flight. BBC Earth: “The Fantastic Journey of Birds”, very entertaining.
Is this the future of passenger flight…?
-
Hi Jurgen,
Good point why mess with success in the instance of some planes like the 737, and the 747 Jumbo Jet too. In the early 70s my mom flew to Korea by herself to attend to urgent family issues, and she came back brought me an amazing Japan Airline (JAL) foot long 747 that was battery powered and would taxi all over our hardwood floor apartment building. Had lights and made a jet sound. Interesting the 747s are still in the air. That new Airbus though does look pretty intriguing, and new energy source like Hydrogen looks to be the way of the future.
-
-
…or does the future of passenger flight look more like this?
-
This is hysterical, Juergen! I think I remember seeing a couple of these commercials back when they originally aired.
Here is the first IMAX movie I ever saw. It may not look like much on a small flat screen, but you can imagine what the wraparound effect does for it:
-
Thanks David. I’m just trying to imagine this movie in an IMAX cinema: certainly terrific. I don’t know when I saw my first IMAX movie. I think it was about space and journeys into space. Two things impressed me very much: the superb presentation and the extremely short running time of the movie 🙂
I posted it before, but I could not resist…
-
-
Jack Lemmon and Peter Falk starred as lovable villains in the 1965 movie „The Great Race“. Many movies of the 1960s had a special charm that today’s movies sometimes lack. Action, CGI effects and high-resolution footage is great, but some films lack esprit or just the right actors.
-
Alan Parson’s „Cloud Break“
-
Maybe the last great flight will take us far out into the depths of space. There we may find new worlds and build new civilisations. And the children there, our great-great-grandchildren, will tell themselves a story, a fairy tale perhaps, of a beautiful world that floated like a blue diamond against the black firmament of space. A world so fragile, as fragile as we are. And they dream of returning there one day. To see the vastness of the blue oceans, feel the wind in their hair and perceive the warm rays of the sun on their faces. Birds singing in the sky, green impenetrable forests full of life and cities built of sweat, steel and hope. Long before we broke this world.
-
Flying to Mars and colonize the planet. A form of escapism or a serious achievement?
Log in to reply.
