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A life without risk is not worth living
- Thread starter Chas
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Leopard
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I don't think you'd get a health and safety boffin up there to check it!
Hahaha! Probably not, but I still find it staggering that the corporates would allow their staff to free climb at that height with no climbing line.
Craig Yeoman
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It's all about the disclaimer and big fat cheque waiting at the bottom when you are done.
I've been into hot air ballooning for many many years now & remember a flight must be 25 + years ago i went up with a trainee pilot & a qualified pilot, had to climb to 10,000 feet then do a cold decent with no altimeter, the idea is the pilot has to be able to judge his height & know when to start burning to round out, he has to judge 2000 feet before burning, by that time the ground's approaching pretty damn quick, and 10,000 feet is a bloody long way up in a wicker basket, bit nippy as well.
I did a hot air balloon ride as a gift, what an amazing experience! After the burners finish on the ascent, the silence is overwhelming! No wind, no sounds. We had clear conditions and even birds flying by paid us no attention. I remember we had a very hard landing, but it didn't spoil the event.
That was 30 odd years ago but I will never forget it!
That was 30 odd years ago but I will never forget it!
Was that in Britain Clive ?
We fly a lot in the chiltern hills were we have loads of those magnificent red kites, some times we take meat & throw to them, they circle the balloon very close & call for the meat, it's awesome watching them catch it as we throw it.
We fly a lot in the chiltern hills were we have loads of those magnificent red kites, some times we take meat & throw to them, they circle the balloon very close & call for the meat, it's awesome watching them catch it as we throw it.
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Yes, it was in Britain and IIRC it was my Sister's gift to my father for his 65th birthday. If he were alive today he would have been 100 this year, which means it was 35 years ago. I was 25 then and the balloon took off from somewhere near Packington in the Midlands just outside Birmingham towards Coventry.
I don't remember what birds we saw, but whatever they were they treated us like we belonged in the sky. I've always thought its because of the silence of the balloon, moving with the wind it offers no resistance, hence no wind noise!
I can believe you being able to feed the Kites, it was a really weird sensation, but in an amazing way.
The Chilterns, are they down East of Oxford way? You've just reminded me that we were traveling on the M40 a year or so ago and we saw a lot of red Kites in that area, are there more there than in other places?
Yes Clive if your on the M40 from oxford towards London then the chilterns start at the cutting up to Stokenchurch, that's where John Paul Getty lives who bought the kites back to Britain, if you've ever seen the Vicar of dibley then the pictures at the beginning ar the cutting at stokenchurch & I've been lucky enough to fly exactly over it & on to land in Turville where the series was filmed.
Well, I've surprised myself, not gone as senile in my old age as I thought!
My bro lives in Ratley on the top of Edge Hill. There's a good few kites up there too. They like to hover on the wind-rise up the steep slope on the North side, great to watch them through bins.
My bro lives in Ratley on the top of Edge Hill. There's a good few kites up there too. They like to hover on the wind-rise up the steep slope on the North side, great to watch them through bins.
Yes Clive if your on the M40 from oxford towards London then the chilterns start at the cutting up to Stokenchurch, that's where John Paul Getty lives who bought the kites back to Britain, if you've ever seen the Vicar of dibley then the pictures at the beginning ar the cutting at stokenchurch & I've been lucky enough to fly exactly over it & on to land in Turville where the series was filmed.
Gremlins...
In a previous post I mentioned flying into Kia Tak airport in Hong Kong, well it was in 1994 after I had started flying but before I went solo, so I had a good idea of what a pilot was doing whenever I flew anywhere. 
What I didn’t know though was at Hong Kong if the wind is coming from seaward the aircraft has to approach from over land, the only trouble being a small mountain in the way, so they devised an approach where the pilot aimed for a red & white chequerboard then did a steep turn at 400ft to line up with the runway. (You can see how steep in the video clip, I’m telling you though on the plane it felt steeper) I found out later that all pilots have to have special simulator training before they can attempt a landing at Hong Kong. The pilots called it the Kia Tak heart attack, it nearly gave me one.
The seat I had in the plane was in the middle aisle well away from a window, well, when this bl**dy great 747 did this turn all I could see from the window across to my right was literally rooftops of houses
and I thought the pilot has lost it and my end had come, 
by the time we had leveled out we were actually below the tops of the many tower blocks there
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKqO6gdJIz8
What I didn’t know though was at Hong Kong if the wind is coming from seaward the aircraft has to approach from over land, the only trouble being a small mountain in the way, so they devised an approach where the pilot aimed for a red & white chequerboard then did a steep turn at 400ft to line up with the runway. (You can see how steep in the video clip, I’m telling you though on the plane it felt steeper) I found out later that all pilots have to have special simulator training before they can attempt a landing at Hong Kong. The pilots called it the Kia Tak heart attack, it nearly gave me one.
The seat I had in the plane was in the middle aisle well away from a window, well, when this bl**dy great 747 did this turn all I could see from the window across to my right was literally rooftops of houses
and I thought the pilot has lost it and my end had come, by the time we had leveled out we were actually below the tops of the many tower blocks therehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKqO6gdJIz8
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I can still remember that like it was yesterday, it's burned into my grey cells forever. They've built a new airport on a man-made island now and closed down Kia Tak, I'm glad to have experienced it though.
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There's a few vids of that turn I've found, they all give me that "whoa... What's going on here" feeling in my guts!
I have to fly quite a lot, maybe 3 times a month, and I have never had a problem flying. But there are occasions when you think 'this doesn't feel quite right' even though I don't have any ability to know what's right or wrong!
When I lived in the UK I flew to Jersey every 3 weeks, which was normally in a small jet, 20 seats IIRC (don't know the make, model nos. of aircraft, they don't interest me much). On a few occasions, always on the return leg as it happened, there was a small prop jobbie waiting for us instead of the jet. I used to like that because we'd fly at low altitude and on a clear day, there was lots to see, shipping, sailing yachts and such stuff.
One time it was quite cloudy and stormy over the channel and the little thing we were flying in was just like a transit van inside, square body with 12 seats in 4 rows of three, with the wings coming from the top of the fuselage. This thing was bouncing around all over the place and as if to get down below the storm, we were flying at what felt like a few hundred feet. Anyway we came to land at Weymouth and there was a hell of a crosswind. I know all planes fly diagonally, but this thing was coming in at something like 45 degrees, or so it seemed.
It was lashing down with rain and we landed on one wheel and instead of straightening up quickly on the landing as usual, it sort of danced on this one wheel and tipped at such an angle that the wingtip hit the grass at the edge of the runway.
My goodness! Of course, in a split second, the plane straightened, but everyone on board was silent with blank pale faces as we stepped one by one down the steps, each of us in turn looking at the dripping sod of turf that was stuck to the wingtip!
I'll never forget that flight, lucky to be able to look back on it, I think that's the closest call I've had (if I ignore car incidences!).
I have to fly quite a lot, maybe 3 times a month, and I have never had a problem flying. But there are occasions when you think 'this doesn't feel quite right' even though I don't have any ability to know what's right or wrong!
When I lived in the UK I flew to Jersey every 3 weeks, which was normally in a small jet, 20 seats IIRC (don't know the make, model nos. of aircraft, they don't interest me much). On a few occasions, always on the return leg as it happened, there was a small prop jobbie waiting for us instead of the jet. I used to like that because we'd fly at low altitude and on a clear day, there was lots to see, shipping, sailing yachts and such stuff.
One time it was quite cloudy and stormy over the channel and the little thing we were flying in was just like a transit van inside, square body with 12 seats in 4 rows of three, with the wings coming from the top of the fuselage. This thing was bouncing around all over the place and as if to get down below the storm, we were flying at what felt like a few hundred feet. Anyway we came to land at Weymouth and there was a hell of a crosswind. I know all planes fly diagonally, but this thing was coming in at something like 45 degrees, or so it seemed.
It was lashing down with rain and we landed on one wheel and instead of straightening up quickly on the landing as usual, it sort of danced on this one wheel and tipped at such an angle that the wingtip hit the grass at the edge of the runway.
My goodness! Of course, in a split second, the plane straightened, but everyone on board was silent with blank pale faces as we stepped one by one down the steps, each of us in turn looking at the dripping sod of turf that was stuck to the wingtip!
I'll never forget that flight, lucky to be able to look back on it, I think that's the closest call I've had (if I ignore car incidences!).
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I worked at Kai Tak for a bit after it was closed to commercial air traffic. I used to look and wonder how anyone survived. By comparison, the new airport was light years ahead, but they still had a crash there.
Chris
Chris
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Sounds like a Twin Otter. One of the safest aircrafts ever in commercial passenger traffic. They really can take a lot of beating..... there was a small prop jobbie waiting for us instead of the jet. I used to like that because we'd fly at low altitude and on a clear day, there was lots to see, shipping, sailing yachts and such stuff.
One time it was quite cloudy and stormy over the channel and the little thing we were flying in was just like a transit van inside, square body with 12 seats in 4 rows of three, with the wings coming from the top of the fuselage. This thing was bouncing around all over the place and as if to get down below the storm, we were flying at what felt like a few hundred feet. Anyway we came to land at Weymouth and there was a hell of a crosswind. I know all planes fly diagonally, but this thing was coming in at something like 45 degrees, or so it seemed.
It was lashing down with rain and we landed on one wheel and instead of straightening up quickly on the landing as usual, it sort of danced on this one wheel and tipped at such an angle that the wingtip hit the grass at the edge of the runway.
My goodness! Of course, in a split second, the plane straightened, but everyone on board was silent with blank pale faces as we stepped one by one down the steps, each of us in turn looking at the dripping sod of turf that was stuck to the wingtip!....
Was it this one:
There was a programme on Channel 5 last night about the new Hong Kong airport 'The Worlds Busiest Airport' only been open a relatively short time and already at full capacity and they need more runways, they showed a bit about that crash Chris.
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