Internet breads idiots- buys plane
Discussion
R6tty said:
I have no problem with this guy making money out of Youtube, but I wonder if one day someone will die for views? The one that video'd himself jumping out of a 'crashing plane' went to prison for his cause I think?
Apologies for jumping on the bandwagon. In response to your OP I do wonder where the desire for internet fame will lead. Remember that idiot who deliberately crashed his plane for likes? Problem is, we all watch it which only adds to the incentive. 24lemons said:
R6tty said:
I have no problem with this guy making money out of Youtube, but I wonder if one day someone will die for views? The one that video'd himself jumping out of a 'crashing plane' went to prison for his cause I think?
Apologies for jumping on the bandwagon. In response to your OP I do wonder where the desire for internet fame will lead. Remember that idiot who deliberately crashed his plane for likes? Problem is, we all watch it which only adds to the incentive. eharding said:
A recent example was Jenny Blalock in the US. Multiple instances in her videos of her capacity to fly the aircraft being exhausted, turning off avionics that she then didn't know how to turn back on, over reliance on an autopilot that she didn't really understand, and also instances where she was flying with an instructor who - unforgivably - didn't try to correct her mistakes. She very sadly came to grief along with her father late last year. There are, obviously, many cases where folk have pushed themselves too far, too quickly and come horribly unstuck, but the YouTube phenomenon means that some of them are now recording in exquisite details their road to disaster, and doubtless there will be times the pressure to generate some footage outweighs the more sensible choice of leaving the aircraft locked in the hanger and wait for a better day to go flying. It's possible that the microlight instructor's expressed intention in the opening video to take Kevin to a darkened room and beat some sense into him might just save his life.
Sadly, given this guys lack of production abilities, I doubt we will even be able to enjoy the crash video! Joking aside, I wonder how much of this is put on for show, I struggle to believe anyone could be as deluded as to think you can just jump in an Extra with minimal experience. 
My flying experience extends to Bulldogs as an Air Cadet many years ago. So I have VERY little experience. Even I can see how dumb this is. I am going to learn to fly, I have always wanted to, no way would I do it with the sole ambition of killing myself in something exceptionally difficult to fly for YouTube...
geeks said:
My flying experience extends to Bulldogs as an Air Cadet many years ago. So I have VERY little experience. Even I can see how dumb this is. I am going to learn to fly, I have always wanted to, no way would I do it with the sole ambition of killing myself in something exceptionally difficult to fly for YouTube...
Take one thing from the video - C42's are brilliant and forgiving. The mix of Rotax reliability and new composites makes it hard to argue against them unless you want to go further afield or carry 4+ people. Do it.I’m really curious to know.
What makes an Extra so difficult to fly?
Is it the tail dragging formation on take off, and landing?
With lots of power? Low drag.
Is it because it’s low wing and very aerodynamic - as apposed to high wing - low stall characteristics?
So, finals have to be fast. To keep the slim wing section working?
What makes an Extra so difficult to fly?
Is it the tail dragging formation on take off, and landing?
With lots of power? Low drag.
Is it because it’s low wing and very aerodynamic - as apposed to high wing - low stall characteristics?
So, finals have to be fast. To keep the slim wing section working?
Jim H said:
I’m really curious to know.
What makes an Extra so difficult to fly?
Is it the tail dragging formation on take off, and landing?
With lots of power? Low drag.
Is it because it’s low wing and very aerodynamic - as apposed to high wing - low stall characteristics?
So, finals have to be fast. To keep the slim wing section working?
Please keep it on topic, you are barley related to the topic now.What makes an Extra so difficult to fly?
Is it the tail dragging formation on take off, and landing?
With lots of power? Low drag.
Is it because it’s low wing and very aerodynamic - as apposed to high wing - low stall characteristics?
So, finals have to be fast. To keep the slim wing section working?
Jim H said:
I’m really curious to know.
What makes an Extra so difficult to fly?
Is it the tail dragging formation on take off, and landing?
With lots of power? Low drag.
Is it because it’s low wing and very aerodynamic - as apposed to high wing - low stall characteristics?
So, finals have to be fast. To keep the slim wing section working?
In my experience, most people coming into an Extra likely will have progressed through something like a Pitts, which actually can be more challenging to land than an Extra, but with less power and inertia to cope with - for someone coming straight out a typical GA training type with tricycle undercarriage trying to do a tailwheel conversion on the Extra without going through some intermediate type is going to be a very steep learning curve (not the least because the gear on an Extra is relatively weak (been there, have run away from the wreckage...).What makes an Extra so difficult to fly?
Is it the tail dragging formation on take off, and landing?
With lots of power? Low drag.
Is it because it’s low wing and very aerodynamic - as apposed to high wing - low stall characteristics?
So, finals have to be fast. To keep the slim wing section working?
Like most dedicated aerobatic aircraft, *flying* the Extra is a delight, it's just the heavy compromises that have to be made in order to achieve that goal make *operating* it in general a lot more challenging - the view from the rear (P1) seat in the low-wing variant of the 300 isn't great, but no worse than most aerobatic tail draggers - compared to the view from the earlier (and aerodynamically pure) mid-wing variant which is absolutely atrocious, leading to a lot of ground-handling accidents which resulted in the design change.
Fuel management can also be an issue, since for unlimited aerobatics you need to be running from the small centre acro tank with nothing in the wings, so once you're down to that the remaining time airborne is absolutely an issue. Even just getting the thing started can be fraught, closely cowled big injected Lycomings can be a sod, especially when hot when you can end up needing to cranking it with the throttle wide open and catching it as it starts.
Despite being tremendously strong to deal with aerobatic loads, the Extra is remarkably fragile in other areas and requires careful treatment - in the video Jeffries quotes £20K for a new canopy, which sounds rather a bargain - I remember the canopy shattering in G-SIIII back in 2005 and the replacement costing over £20K back then, although that did involve getting the job done in the space of four days, and maybe Extra have found a cheaper way of making canopies - regardless, if you break something on an Extra, it's going to cost a lot to fix compared to your average touring type.
If Kevin *really* wants to get to the stage where he could regularly and dependably commute from the IoM by flying himself then there is an awful lot of training over and above a PPL that he's going to need, and he'd be far better advised to get into something like a Cirrus to do it - getting to the stage where he's going to be able to operate the Extra safely is really just a huge diversion from that stated goal. However, that wouldn't generate the amount of YouTube views he's looking for - if he really does persist with the Extra, that sadly I think he's in for a lot of pain (see...pain....French....bread....oh, never mind)
I watch Kevin's RC car channel but not his main channel so this came as a surprise to me but, in agreement with 100% of the people with ANY level of aviation experience, I can't help but feel that from what is being shown in the videos at least (and it could all be for show - disagreeing with Instructor etc), he really needs to carefully evaluate what he wants to do vs his ability, because unlike crashing an RC place or RC car, if he screws up in this even just a tiny bit it's likely to end extremely badly for both himself but also anyone else on the ground who gets tangled up in this.
LimaDelta said:
I did read about at least one PPL ab initio who completed the full course on his Extra-300 some years ago (pre-YT/IG).
It is possible to rise to the occasion, but which ever way you slice it, it's likely to be proven a bit of a risky choice.
It's certainly possible to go from ab-initio to high performance in minimal time with the right candidate, who has the required aptitude and is willing and able to accept discipline & instruction - the military do it all the time. They don't tend to select excitable manic self-publicists for the purpose though. It is possible to rise to the occasion, but which ever way you slice it, it's likely to be proven a bit of a risky choice.
That being said, it's hard to see how an ab-initio PPL could complete the course *solely* in an Extra - instrumentation in the front is minimal, so an instructor in the front has no idea quite what the student in the back is doing to the engine, and if the student is mashing buttons on the comms box there's a good chance they wouldn't be able to talk to each other after the first five minutes either.
LotusOmega375D said:
Plenty of direct airline routes from Isle of Man to London (LHR, LGW, LCY). Much more comfortable, quicker and cheaper than learning to fly and buy an Extra for that purpose.
Indeed, and yet Kevin was making a point of comparing how long the ferry/road route took, which makes me suspect the might actually be banned from commercial services by an industry-wide no-fly list on account of him being unacceptably shouty and annoying.I've been watching Kevin's channel for a while and he appears to have the ability to come across as a bit of an idiot. (Ok a total prat)
But as usual with YouTubers a lot of it is part of the act.
I've seen him fly some half decent 3d model helicopter aerobatics which isn't easy, and he's also built one of the best monster trucks in the world that he also isn't afraid of throwing about.
He also has a get rich quick scheme that I've not watched.
So I think he may be a lot more switched on than it appears.
What ever, if he needs to live in the IOM for tax reasons he's doing better than me
But as usual with YouTubers a lot of it is part of the act.
I've seen him fly some half decent 3d model helicopter aerobatics which isn't easy, and he's also built one of the best monster trucks in the world that he also isn't afraid of throwing about.
He also has a get rich quick scheme that I've not watched.
So I think he may be a lot more switched on than it appears.
What ever, if he needs to live in the IOM for tax reasons he's doing better than me
Easternlight said:
I've been watching Kevin's channel for a while and he appears to have the ability to come across as a bit of an idiot. (Ok a total prat)
But as usual with YouTubers a lot of it is part of the act.
I've seen him fly some half decent 3d model helicopter aerobatics which isn't easy, and he's also built one of the best monster trucks in the world that he also isn't afraid of throwing about.
He also has a get rich quick scheme that I've not watched.
So I think he may be a lot more switched on than it appears.
What ever, if he needs to live in the IOM for tax reasons he's doing better than me
I knew a few very successful competition aerobatic pilots who started out flying RC models earlier in life, one of whom took what he learned flying those models into designing and building types more capable aircraft than the Extra - the SBach and the Gamebird GB1. The difference being RC models just cost you money when they crash, not your life.But as usual with YouTubers a lot of it is part of the act.
I've seen him fly some half decent 3d model helicopter aerobatics which isn't easy, and he's also built one of the best monster trucks in the world that he also isn't afraid of throwing about.
He also has a get rich quick scheme that I've not watched.
So I think he may be a lot more switched on than it appears.
What ever, if he needs to live in the IOM for tax reasons he's doing better than me
One of the thoughts about the benefit that the RC model experience gave was that competition aerobatic flying is all about putting the aircraft in exactly the right place at the right time and how that looks to the judges, and that time spent controlling how a model presents from the ground helps visualise how you appear from the ground when you're actually flying.
eharding said:
Jim H said:
I’m really curious to know.
What makes an Extra so difficult to fly?
Is it the tail dragging formation on take off, and landing?
With lots of power? Low drag.
Is it because it’s low wing and very aerodynamic - as apposed to high wing - low stall characteristics?
So, finals have to be fast. To keep the slim wing section working?
In my experience, most people coming into an Extra likely will have progressed through something like a Pitts, which actually can be more challenging to land than an Extra, but with less power and inertia to cope with - for someone coming straight out a typical GA training type with tricycle undercarriage trying to do a tailwheel conversion on the Extra without going through some intermediate type is going to be a very steep learning curve (not the least because the gear on an Extra is relatively weak (been there, have run away from the wreckage...).What makes an Extra so difficult to fly?
Is it the tail dragging formation on take off, and landing?
With lots of power? Low drag.
Is it because it’s low wing and very aerodynamic - as apposed to high wing - low stall characteristics?
So, finals have to be fast. To keep the slim wing section working?
Like most dedicated aerobatic aircraft, *flying* the Extra is a delight, it's just the heavy compromises that have to be made in order to achieve that goal make *operating* it in general a lot more challenging - the view from the rear (P1) seat in the low-wing variant of the 300 isn't great, but no worse than most aerobatic tail draggers - compared to the view from the earlier (and aerodynamically pure) mid-wing variant which is absolutely atrocious, leading to a lot of ground-handling accidents which resulted in the design change.
Fuel management can also be an issue, since for unlimited aerobatics you need to be running from the small centre acro tank with nothing in the wings, so once you're down to that the remaining time airborne is absolutely an issue. Even just getting the thing started can be fraught, closely cowled big injected Lycomings can be a sod, especially when hot when you can end up needing to cranking it with the throttle wide open and catching it as it starts.
Despite being tremendously strong to deal with aerobatic loads, the Extra is remarkably fragile in other areas and requires careful treatment - in the video Jeffries quotes £20K for a new canopy, which sounds rather a bargain - I remember the canopy shattering in G-SIIII back in 2005 and the replacement costing over £20K back then, although that did involve getting the job done in the space of four days, and maybe Extra have found a cheaper way of making canopies - regardless, if you break something on an Extra, it's going to cost a lot to fix compared to your average touring type.
If Kevin *really* wants to get to the stage where he could regularly and dependably commute from the IoM by flying himself then there is an awful lot of training over and above a PPL that he's going to need, and he'd be far better advised to get into something like a Cirrus to do it - getting to the stage where he's going to be able to operate the Extra safely is really just a huge diversion from that stated goal. However, that wouldn't generate the amount of YouTube views he's looking for - if he really does persist with the Extra, that sadly I think he's in for a lot of pain (see...pain....French....bread....oh, never mind)
Many thanks Mr H.
Sincerely appreciated.
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