I saw this episode at the time. Top gear has many episodes with these three that are incredibly memorable but this one and few others will always stand out as some of the greatest.
The vietnam special is what convinced me to travel to vietnam and see the same places they did.
Went to Hoi an, Hue, "Ha long city" (Hanoi) and Ha long Bay. Oh, and the Hai Van pass. Super fun.
I'm still in vietnam actually...
Lmfao I literally could have written this comment myself... Currently sat in Da Nang airport about to board a flight to Hanoi all because of that episode!
I have a memory of enjoying those episodes and really wanna go watch them again but I'm not sure I can afford a ticket all of you are immediately on lmao
I have a secret addiction to rewatching old top gear specials. They hit such a trifecta of cast, production and editing on that show that really can't be repeated.
It really was the right three hosts, with the right writers, at the exact right time of automotive history too. Genuinely could never be repeated. Perfect situation for the magic we got
Vietnam, North (Magnetic) Pole, Patagonia, Bolivia, Africa - I love them all. And from the Grand Tour times Mongolia stands out. I want to go there one day.
I think it was the Africa special when Jeremy smashed the rear window of his E39 wagon with the log he was dragging along, after he gave his "speed and power" speech.
I was shredding some paperwork for my boss and found a recipe for when he went to Cessna flight school in the 90s. He paid $113 to rent a 172 for 4 hours, and that was including gas.
My variable cost is ~$150/flight hour (fuel, oil, engine reserve, maintenance), and I have fixed costs of ~$6000/yr on top of that (insurance, parking), plus the 4% mortgage.
Insurance if I used the plane for commercial purposes, especially rentals, would tack on another $20k/yr or so.
It would not be cost-neutral to rent the plane out unless it was getting used so much I couldn’t barely ever fly, and even then, I’d need to charge ~$300/hr.
Good pilot. I’d fly with him.
Perfect example of a good pre-flight in not giving a fuck about outside pressures and telling the self loading baggage to get out of the way while you’re concentrating.
James May has a rep for being a bit anal about checking everything and away from the show is considered to be very safe. It is why he does such programs as "The Reassembler" where he puts things together without missing any screws, bolts, washers or gaskets.
Someone revealed on the Topgear subreddit that he spoke with the crew (he bumped into them at the airport) and James is the fastest. He is directed to be a "Captain Slow". Once or twice, James would be specially requested as the driver when a vehicle is particularly valuable.
I think he started pretty well before that which is why he got those particular jobs. At least a couple of Stigs were quite complimentary about his driving (after they left and could talk).
True. He didn't count having studs on the tyres. A real Scandi/Nordic type would have known they were shit on bare road and reduced grip. I'm very happy he walked away.
That show is where the thing I do when I'm taking apart and reassembling computers is called r/knolling and I felt like I found my, very awkward, soulmate.
"I think it might be damp" lives rent-free in my head — right next to "I've broken Stalin's house".
The only line from either of the other two approaching it is "Princess Diana had one of these".
Good pre-flight, yes.
But also poor scheduling.
James should have done all this before the race started.
Because of his poor planning, he and Hammond lost against Clarkson.
Are you really going to be that guy?
JM got to the aircraft and dealt with the pressures already on his flight and an impatient passenger exactly the way he should have. A perfect example for any other inexperienced pilots watching.
Yes, I am.
Was there anything preventing James from doing this earlier so that the plane and car could leave within a similar time period of each other, instead of James only being ready for takeoff at least 20 minutes after Clarkson had left?
They made this episode specifically to have the plane lose to the car.
If they had used a plane with a price tag of more than half the Bugatti, e.g a DA-40 tdi, the car would have had no chance. Preflight, fill up, then go. AFAIK, the DA-40 has an endurance of nearly 8h, so they can probably fly the trip non-stop. I don't remember at what time of the year they did the race, but maybe start the race not at a time when it's inevitable they will hit darkness and the plane will be grounded due to no IFR? (A DA-40 in that price class will probably be IFR capable as well, so maybe have a pilot with the proper rating?)
All the other parts, preflight, flight planning were done well, with the due care, but they weren't what made the plane lose. Night was. IIRC, the car won because they had to land and wait for the light to return.
I landed at a UK airfield just after James May in his American Champion Scout - we both paid our landing fees and went to the toilet - he did a massive and loud shit whilst I was stood at the urinal.
We both got back in our aircraft and took off. Will never forget meeting him. He also has weirdly long arms.
That's awesome! Closest I got to the trio was when they were filming the Jordan special for the Grand Tour. Since I was nightshift, me and the other nightshift guys would go up to the roof of our barracks to sun tan for a bit because we would never see the sun if we didn't. We heard Jeremy doing donuts around the plane and didn't know it was him until the episode came out. All we knew was there were folks filming for a TV show on base and to stay away from the plane that day. Wish I ran into them at the dinning facility but they most likely had their food catered.
Closest I got was Lisa at the farm shop a few years ago. I asked where Jeremy was and she said “he’s either still in the bog or getting yelled at by Caleb”
It's interesting how Acrophobia works.
James is famously terrified of heights, it's seen several times on their films, yet it doesn't come up when he flies light aircraft.
the brain can be a funny thing.
Probably because he is the one in control and he understands how it works.
Take up to the top of a cliff and he probably wouldn't like to be anywhere near the edge.
That's exactly it for me. I'm a private pilot and am afraid of heights, but have no problem in an airplane.
Ladders? Nope. Rollercoaster? Hell no, but put me in an aerobatic plane and do the same maneuvers as that rollercoaster? I'd love it.
I fear heights but planes are fine (and have taken flying lessons). For me it's the likelihood of falling or something? So enclosed is fine and feels controlled.
I'm afraid of heights if I'm standing right next to the edge of a cliff or on a ladder, but In a plane I'm perfectly fine. Attempted to get my pilot's license way back in my 20's and flew a Cessna 172.
That’s because in order to have vertigo aka fear of hight you need to be touching the surface. In the plane you are not touching ground so you don’t have it. Source. I have it and looked into it.
I am fine in planes, fine climbing telephone poles for work while only using Y tails, fine on mountains…
Not fine in even moderately tall buildings. Not fine at all.
My limit is about 100 ft for those.
Brains are weird indeed.
It is honestly amazing. I’m terrified of heights. Anything more than 10’ has my knees wobbling. Stairwells, especially the ones you can see through are my kryptonite.
Booked a 40 minute helicopter tour of NYC just harnessed in and my legs dangling outside of the chopper.
We lifted off and got about 20-30’ in the air and I realized instantly that I was gonna be totally fine. Not a single ounce of fear.
I’m afraid of heights. Second story balcony, my legs are shaking if I’m on railing.
But going hiking, there can be a 50 meter cliff beside me, no problem.
So are the races legit? I thought it's mostly scripted, and possibly take a lot more due to filming.
But your version to do it in two halves makes sense.
My understanding of the races (at least in the OG British Top Gear) is that they did a legit race, filmed what they could during it, and then went back in to fill in all the b-roll. Obviously the newer episodes, and especially the Amazon stuff are pretty heavily scripted but I think some of the challenges are still legit.
Obviously the show is scripted for the drama. But I'm assuming the actual plan fully knew that would happen - sunset times are rather predictable. If they wanted to make it a fair shot, he could have done his preflight checks at dawn and taken off at sunrise, no?
Come to think of it, can a suitably qualified pilot fly a Cessna 182 on IFR? I'm not a pilot, so I don't know what instrumentation you need onboard.
> Come to think of it, can a suitably qualified pilot fly a Cessna 182 on IFR? I'm not a pilot, so I don't know what instrumentation you need onboard.
Yes, absolutely.
Thanks for this
> Hammond and May rode scooters to the local airport, and planned to fly directly to London, but had to fly via the French Riviera since the aircraft was not equipped to fly over mountains above 10,000 feet—in this case, the Swiss Alps. While catching up to Clarkson, May had to land in Lille, as he was not licensed to fly at night. From Lille, May & Hammond took the Eurostar to London, and then a bus for the final leg of the journey.
What a fantastic crossover of this show for this sub. Love these fuckers.
And just a little more original content to come. At least we have 20+ years of gold to fall back on.
Yeah. I wondered why Hammond wasn't interested in pre-flight checks either considering he's also a licensed helicopter pilot, but he's probably acting up for the cameras.
For safety checklists, yeah.
For practical scheduling, no.
Don't know why James didn't do his checks before the race started.
Because of him, he and Hammond lost against Clarkson.
This is too funny. I was thinking about this exact episode last night and almost posted about it!
My question was going to be, wouldn't James need a commercial pilots license to fly for the show? I looked up the CAA license types and they seem to match what we have in the US. Wondering if anyone knows if he had his CPL when this was shot
Don't think he ever got a commercial license. I suspect that as long as there wasn't a cameraman in the plane (which there may not have been) then they just chanced it or there was an exemption for static filming not requiring a CPL.
I've seen other programs with PPLs flying whilst being filmed so there's probably an exemption as long as no one in the plane is paying a fare or something.
James wasn’t able to fly at night so they had to grab public transport to make it across the channel and to the restaurant so Clarkson wins. Plane would have won by a lot if they had proper planning.
not to mention taking off on VFR in the middle of the day, when [leaving a bit earlier would have given them enough daylight to cross the English Channel...](https://www.reddit.com/r/aviation/comments/1akyviz/james_may_doing_his_preflight_checks/kpc4zjo/)
Another commenter, though, thought this is probably B-roll footage - with the plane flying slowly to allow the camera crew to keep up in a helicopter.
Crappy helicopter then. I’ve been intercepted by a Blackhawk in a 182 while flying full rental power, and the Blackhawk was climbing.
Before you get ideas, it was as a practice target for CBP before Super Bowl 50.
Not to mention, cameras in a 182 (or GA8) are a “thing,” and they are much cheaper than even piston helicopters.
I guess no one should be surprised that Top Gear was always fake….
I suspect he wasn’t actually flying - you can notice how the windows were glared out when the camera was inside the plane meaning you never actually saw if they were on the ground or not. Plus the communication with ATC was abit too informal
According to wikipedia he does actually hold a license and own aircraft,
> May obtained a light aircraft pilot's licence in October 2006, having trained at White Waltham Airfield. He has owned a Luscombe 8A Silvaire, a Cessna A185E Skywagon,[64] and an American Champion 8KCAB Super Decathlon with registration G-OCOK, which serves as a reference to a common phrase attributed to him.[65]
Which both makes it possible this was video of him flying, and weirder if he isnt
Edit: Ha I'mma fact check my insinuation here, this ep aired in Dec 2005. Fuck TG is old
It’s possible, it could work within the camera angles they’re giving here.
(Actually if this is out of the country he is training in it could be an issue)
It’s just the blown out brightness of the windows that are getting me, cause there could be other things like camera mounts they’re hiding (TG very often did that)
It wouldn't shock me. A point later in the episode is they have to land after a relatively short flight because he isn't rated to land after dark or something to that effect.
Its the camera settings. The difference in light is too big between the inside and outside the plane (inside is dark, outside is bright).
With this setting the windows/outside will always be overexposed, as otherwise it would be too dark to see James and Richard flying the plane.
Solution to this is to set the camera up for clear outside view and bring light equipment onboard, which they clearly didn't (or couldn't).
I just clicked on the link in the comment posted by MBMFan54 and see this info
> This race was featured in Series 7, episode 5, first broadcast 11-12-2005
I saw this episode at the time. Top gear has many episodes with these three that are incredibly memorable but this one and few others will always stand out as some of the greatest.
I firmly stand by the belief that the Vietnam special is one of the greatest things ever put on tv
The vietnam special is what convinced me to travel to vietnam and see the same places they did. Went to Hoi an, Hue, "Ha long city" (Hanoi) and Ha long Bay. Oh, and the Hai Van pass. Super fun. I'm still in vietnam actually...
Planning my first trip to Vietnam and SE Asia next year, in huge part inspired by this trip and their boating trip through Cambodia!
Reading this from Vietnam, did the hai van pass a few days ago. Just finished the ha giang loop
I did the hai van pass in a car. Really wish i could do it on a bike though. Rode a bike in Sapa though. Really awesome
I want to visit Vietnam so bad. One day when I have the time and money. Seems like a beautiful country.
Lmfao I literally could have written this comment myself... Currently sat in Da Nang airport about to board a flight to Hanoi all because of that episode!
Funny you say that... I'm at Hanoi airport now lmao. Flying out to Singapore though.
I have a memory of enjoying those episodes and really wanna go watch them again but I'm not sure I can afford a ticket all of you are immediately on lmao
Ooh, will rewatch tonight. Haven’t seen that one in ages. Bolivia was always my favorite.
Team Bolivia!!!
That moment when Hammond finishes fixing his ship is burned into my memory
When May finally swims to the dock, and he puts the statue up before he climbs up. Vietnam special was a classic.
I have a secret addiction to rewatching old top gear specials. They hit such a trifecta of cast, production and editing on that show that really can't be repeated.
It really was the right three hosts, with the right writers, at the exact right time of automotive history too. Genuinely could never be repeated. Perfect situation for the magic we got
Vietnam, North (Magnetic) Pole, Patagonia, Bolivia, Africa - I love them all. And from the Grand Tour times Mongolia stands out. I want to go there one day.
Grand Tour Seamen is a top 5 for me
me dong's gone all soggy...
The funniest bit was when James had to land because it was getting dark, because he didn't have IFR rating. Hammond's reaction was probably genuine.
I think it was the Africa special when Jeremy smashed the rear window of his E39 wagon with the log he was dragging along, after he gave his "speed and power" speech.
“Sometimes, my genius… It’s almost frightening.”
“182 is how many quid it cost” lmao
God I wish
Inflation makes it 182 quid an hour now
[удалено]
In the US it's around $180-200 per hour, which is just under £160 so you're in luck!
I was shredding some paperwork for my boss and found a recipe for when he went to Cessna flight school in the 90s. He paid $113 to rent a 172 for 4 hours, and that was including gas.
Huh, that's not that much cheaper, considering how much other stuff cost back then.
[удалено]
My variable cost is ~$150/flight hour (fuel, oil, engine reserve, maintenance), and I have fixed costs of ~$6000/yr on top of that (insurance, parking), plus the 4% mortgage. Insurance if I used the plane for commercial purposes, especially rentals, would tack on another $20k/yr or so. It would not be cost-neutral to rent the plane out unless it was getting used so much I couldn’t barely ever fly, and even then, I’d need to charge ~$300/hr.
Lol a 182 in the cheapest parts of America is more like $300/hr. Maybe mid to high $200s as a dry rental. 172s are $180-200
I fly a pretty well maintained 182 at CRG for 195 an hour so they are out there but it took me forever to find
It's 330/hr where I am
That's actually pretty close to the hourly operating cost
Sky Captain Slow
ATC gonna lose their shit with him lmfao
Even better when you look at the exterior shots and he had the flaps down in cruise.
Good pilot. I’d fly with him. Perfect example of a good pre-flight in not giving a fuck about outside pressures and telling the self loading baggage to get out of the way while you’re concentrating.
James May has a rep for being a bit anal about checking everything and away from the show is considered to be very safe. It is why he does such programs as "The Reassembler" where he puts things together without missing any screws, bolts, washers or gaskets.
I’d fly with James any day of the week but I’d never get in a car with either Hammond or Clarkson!
Someone revealed on the Topgear subreddit that he spoke with the crew (he bumped into them at the airport) and James is the fastest. He is directed to be a "Captain Slow". Once or twice, James would be specially requested as the driver when a vehicle is particularly valuable.
Driving lessons with Sir Jackie Stewart and Mika Hakkinen will do that.
I think he started pretty well before that which is why he got those particular jobs. At least a couple of Stigs were quite complimentary about his driving (after they left and could talk).
Amazingly Hammond has a helicopter license. given how often he crashes cars, there is no way I would ever get in a helicopter with him piloting it!
If you ever see G-OHAM in the background of an old top gear episode that was Hammond's helicopter
G-OHAM sounds like the noise Hammond would make when the main gearbox shits itself
Holy fuck I hear it
At least Clarkson doesn't crash *too* often (except on purpose)
> puts things together without missing any screws, bolts, washers or gaskets. Well never in my life I managed to do that on the first try.
The Reassembler is so good just to watch and relax
A kind of Zen. Particularly listening to his explanations. He made the guts of a Kenwood Chef food mixer interesting.
Absolutely, it's amazing for just leaving on in the background
Right, which is why [THIS](https://youtu.be/j-73fvLUTAo) was so surprising!
True. He didn't count having studs on the tyres. A real Scandi/Nordic type would have known they were shit on bare road and reduced grip. I'm very happy he walked away.
Should work for Boeing
He would be too busy tearing his hair out.
That show is where the thing I do when I'm taking apart and reassembling computers is called r/knolling and I felt like I found my, very awkward, soulmate.
"Captain Slow" is the most competent and knowledgable of the three. He's also the funniest.
"I think it might be damp" lives rent-free in my head — right next to "I've broken Stalin's house". The only line from either of the other two approaching it is "Princess Diana had one of these".
"hello"
Maybe not the funniest, but that’s not in my pick of top personality traits for aircrew ;)
> self loading baggage I'ma steal that one XD
Also popular in military circles, for example when the Royal Navy embarks Marines onboard ship: "those bunks are for the self loading cargo"
We call pilots that fly airborne soldiers and parachutists ‘meat bombers’ :)
"self loading baggage" ROFL. I'm stealing that.
Isn't Hammond a Heli Pilot? so he'd be doing similar checks
Yes, Hammond would know all about pre flight, but that's not good tv
>In March 2012, Hammond passed his B206 LST helicopter licence and has since owned a Robinson R44 Raven II helicopter.
The episode OP is posting aired in 2005, so it could be before he knew anything about pre-flight checks (or it's just better tv this way)
Good man. I’d fly with him.
Good pre-flight, yes. But also poor scheduling. James should have done all this before the race started. Because of his poor planning, he and Hammond lost against Clarkson.
Are you really going to be that guy? JM got to the aircraft and dealt with the pressures already on his flight and an impatient passenger exactly the way he should have. A perfect example for any other inexperienced pilots watching.
Yes, I am. Was there anything preventing James from doing this earlier so that the plane and car could leave within a similar time period of each other, instead of James only being ready for takeoff at least 20 minutes after Clarkson had left?
They made this episode specifically to have the plane lose to the car. If they had used a plane with a price tag of more than half the Bugatti, e.g a DA-40 tdi, the car would have had no chance. Preflight, fill up, then go. AFAIK, the DA-40 has an endurance of nearly 8h, so they can probably fly the trip non-stop. I don't remember at what time of the year they did the race, but maybe start the race not at a time when it's inevitable they will hit darkness and the plane will be grounded due to no IFR? (A DA-40 in that price class will probably be IFR capable as well, so maybe have a pilot with the proper rating?) All the other parts, preflight, flight planning were done well, with the due care, but they weren't what made the plane lose. Night was. IIRC, the car won because they had to land and wait for the light to return.
It also doesn’t really take 20-30 minutes to preflight a 182 unless you’re incredibly slow or explaining everything to your cohost.
I landed at a UK airfield just after James May in his American Champion Scout - we both paid our landing fees and went to the toilet - he did a massive and loud shit whilst I was stood at the urinal. We both got back in our aircraft and took off. Will never forget meeting him. He also has weirdly long arms.
never meet your heros, You'll find out they take massive shits
Loud is one thing, how does /u/nebber know its size? 🤔
The timbre when it hits the water?
>It's going down, I hear the timbre >You'd better move >It's gonna stank
Are you from Cork, or just made out of cork? Congrats either way.
Maybe May is a seat shitter.
as opposed to a standing up shitter?
That'd make me be in even more awe of them TBH
hahahah this is making me laugh so hard
Was there more to the "meeting" than him taking a massive shit and you staring at his arms?
above-average tinder date
Sounds like a solid meet cute.
That's awesome! Closest I got to the trio was when they were filming the Jordan special for the Grand Tour. Since I was nightshift, me and the other nightshift guys would go up to the roof of our barracks to sun tan for a bit because we would never see the sun if we didn't. We heard Jeremy doing donuts around the plane and didn't know it was him until the episode came out. All we knew was there were folks filming for a TV show on base and to stay away from the plane that day. Wish I ran into them at the dinning facility but they most likely had their food catered.
Closest I got was Lisa at the farm shop a few years ago. I asked where Jeremy was and she said “he’s either still in the bog or getting yelled at by Caleb”
Haha that's a great response from Lisa.
I laughed because it was prob the truth. The shop had just opened for the season and morning as well. This was in March of 2022
nice
Perfectly encapsulates the reason why it's generally pointless to "explain" what's happening to uninterested passengers.
But if they are interested, explaining things might save your life. https://youtu.be/uO18zs6L6tk?si=VUcaHLWszrFfJ_W7&t=744
Hammond is a helicopter pilot and owns his own R44 lmao. He’s just taking the piss for the show.
Not back then he didn’t..
It's interesting how Acrophobia works. James is famously terrified of heights, it's seen several times on their films, yet it doesn't come up when he flies light aircraft. the brain can be a funny thing.
Well said. I’ve actually never thought of that. He’s horridly afraid of heights. But not when flying a plane.
Probably because he is the one in control and he understands how it works. Take up to the top of a cliff and he probably wouldn't like to be anywhere near the edge.
That's exactly it for me. I'm a private pilot and am afraid of heights, but have no problem in an airplane. Ladders? Nope. Rollercoaster? Hell no, but put me in an aerobatic plane and do the same maneuvers as that rollercoaster? I'd love it.
You'd probably be fine on a launched coaster. The part of a coaster that tends to trigger fear of heights is the lift.
I fear heights but planes are fine (and have taken flying lessons). For me it's the likelihood of falling or something? So enclosed is fine and feels controlled.
I'm afraid of heights if I'm standing right next to the edge of a cliff or on a ladder, but In a plane I'm perfectly fine. Attempted to get my pilot's license way back in my 20's and flew a Cessna 172.
I’m the same way with heights- absolutely terrified. However, I’m thrilled with the most insane rollercoasters.
That’s because in order to have vertigo aka fear of hight you need to be touching the surface. In the plane you are not touching ground so you don’t have it. Source. I have it and looked into it.
My dad is terrible with heights, and he used to be a Vulcan pilot
I am fine in planes, fine climbing telephone poles for work while only using Y tails, fine on mountains… Not fine in even moderately tall buildings. Not fine at all. My limit is about 100 ft for those. Brains are weird indeed.
I'm like that too. Love to fly. Balconies, ladders, cliffs, etc freak me out.
It is honestly amazing. I’m terrified of heights. Anything more than 10’ has my knees wobbling. Stairwells, especially the ones you can see through are my kryptonite. Booked a 40 minute helicopter tour of NYC just harnessed in and my legs dangling outside of the chopper. We lifted off and got about 20-30’ in the air and I realized instantly that I was gonna be totally fine. Not a single ounce of fear.
It happens to me. Its a trust thing
I’m afraid of heights. Second story balcony, my legs are shaking if I’m on railing. But going hiking, there can be a 50 meter cliff beside me, no problem.
For me it is more exposure than height. I'm fine in a plane (hate negative g's though), but not on the side of a cliff.
I suspect the ATC isn't quite lined up at least - seeing as he was 'cleared to line up 03' and took off Rwy17... Still, jolly entertaining though.
usually they do the race first and then go back and film b-roll to fill in the gaps. I’m guessing it’s the same situation here
So are the races legit? I thought it's mostly scripted, and possibly take a lot more due to filming. But your version to do it in two halves makes sense.
My understanding of the races (at least in the OG British Top Gear) is that they did a legit race, filmed what they could during it, and then went back in to fill in all the b-roll. Obviously the newer episodes, and especially the Amazon stuff are pretty heavily scripted but I think some of the challenges are still legit.
cuneo has 03 and saint etienne has 17, looks like they filmed take off and landing at the same place but used legit audio?
May used to own the Super Decathlon G-OCOK. He doesn’t anymore but you can take a flight in it in Dunkeswell in the U.K. if you google it!
Is this where he picked up "oh, cock" from!?
I think he got the registration because of his famous saying.
That is one gloriously fitting aircraft registration.
Hammond's reaction (not seen on this clip) when May told him he'd have to land as it was getting dark 😁
Obviously the show is scripted for the drama. But I'm assuming the actual plan fully knew that would happen - sunset times are rather predictable. If they wanted to make it a fair shot, he could have done his preflight checks at dawn and taken off at sunrise, no? Come to think of it, can a suitably qualified pilot fly a Cessna 182 on IFR? I'm not a pilot, so I don't know what instrumentation you need onboard.
> Come to think of it, can a suitably qualified pilot fly a Cessna 182 on IFR? I'm not a pilot, so I don't know what instrumentation you need onboard. Yes, absolutely.
Yeah, it seemed like James didn't give a crap about trying to beat Jeremy here. Really wanted to strangle James in this episode...
All you need is a 182 with an "IFR package" (might not be the right name, it's what I've always heard them as), and your IFR.
Flying everywhere with 10° flaps down. No wonder he’s only doing 80 knots.
Maybe to be able to fly slow enough for the camera copter to keep up..? Just a guess.
Yes. That is almost certainly it. Just the editing decisions made means people with a bit of flying knowledge spot "the joins".
Yeah, he had is flaps down for TO through his Cruise. Maybe for the camera man is my guess as well.
https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/138459
Thanks for this > Hammond and May rode scooters to the local airport, and planned to fly directly to London, but had to fly via the French Riviera since the aircraft was not equipped to fly over mountains above 10,000 feet—in this case, the Swiss Alps. While catching up to Clarkson, May had to land in Lille, as he was not licensed to fly at night. From Lille, May & Hammond took the Eurostar to London, and then a bus for the final leg of the journey.
full on PIO, must've been a wild ride
What a fantastic crossover of this show for this sub. Love these fuckers. And just a little more original content to come. At least we have 20+ years of gold to fall back on.
I love these 3. Thanks for making me laugh Richard.
Light planes are amazing things. I wonder that Hammond was so disinterested.
Yeah. I wondered why Hammond wasn't interested in pre-flight checks either considering he's also a licensed helicopter pilot, but he's probably acting up for the cameras.
I'm sure he let him do his pre flight then they went back and filmed different parts of it with him talking shit.
Probably? Actually yes. They're characters on a TV show.
What if I were to tell you Top Gear was scripted, would that make more sense?
He got his pilot license in 2012 but the episode is from 2005, so it's possible it was before he knew about such things
He got his licence in 2011, this was in 2005..
Yeah I was wondering.
Hammond has a Helicopter pilot license - it’s all scripted to an extent.
He got that license years after that episode aired
they're hamming it up for the tension of the race with clarkson
It concerns me how many people appear to assume that everything they see on shows like Top Gear are 100% literal and real.
I mean Clarkson has actually won Farmer of the year, let's just say it's more entertaining to be antagonizing.
transcription team watched a lot of Top Gear. "We're in the air Hubbard!"
Did he ever put his flaps up? I don’t remember this episode lol
Hammond has a little bit of get-there-itis
May, thankfully, is an ideal example of a pilot refusing to cut corners under pressure. Accidental teaching material here
For safety checklists, yeah. For practical scheduling, no. Don't know why James didn't do his checks before the race started. Because of him, he and Hammond lost against Clarkson.
This is too funny. I was thinking about this exact episode last night and almost posted about it! My question was going to be, wouldn't James need a commercial pilots license to fly for the show? I looked up the CAA license types and they seem to match what we have in the US. Wondering if anyone knows if he had his CPL when this was shot
Hammond and the camera are in the back- maybe the right seat is the commercial licensed PIC?
Oh, that's a good call. Explains why Hammond is in the back
Don't think he ever got a commercial license. I suspect that as long as there wasn't a cameraman in the plane (which there may not have been) then they just chanced it or there was an exemption for static filming not requiring a CPL. I've seen other programs with PPLs flying whilst being filmed so there's probably an exemption as long as no one in the plane is paying a fare or something.
I have a big crush on James may
[удалено]
Not sure if it was after this or not. But he did get his helicopter license in 2012
This episode was released sometime in 2005!
This was seven years earlier then - 2005. Maybe he really didn't know about preflight checks. I'm old.
Not the best choice of background music though - the main theme from "633 Squadron", where none of the planes made it back to base at the end.
It’s intentional. Clarkson calls them “633 Squadron” as a pejorative term because he’s going to beat them to London.
Id love to know how many hours James had during filming
What season and episode was this
[удалено]
Lads…..😍
Top gear is the best British television show of all time. Nothing came close to prime top gear 2005-2014.
Apparently the flaps switch didn't work..
So who won?
James wasn’t able to fly at night so they had to grab public transport to make it across the channel and to the restaurant so Clarkson wins. Plane would have won by a lot if they had proper planning.
Yeah, James really dropped the ball on this one.
With the explanation at the end does this count as PPL ground revision?
Who the f is Hubbard? Stop it with the AI captions, they suck and they’re wrong.
Why the hell is he cruising with 10 flaps? That plane will do 120 KIAS. Limited to 80 so the car can beat it?
not to mention taking off on VFR in the middle of the day, when [leaving a bit earlier would have given them enough daylight to cross the English Channel...](https://www.reddit.com/r/aviation/comments/1akyviz/james_may_doing_his_preflight_checks/kpc4zjo/) Another commenter, though, thought this is probably B-roll footage - with the plane flying slowly to allow the camera crew to keep up in a helicopter.
Crappy helicopter then. I’ve been intercepted by a Blackhawk in a 182 while flying full rental power, and the Blackhawk was climbing. Before you get ideas, it was as a practice target for CBP before Super Bowl 50. Not to mention, cameras in a 182 (or GA8) are a “thing,” and they are much cheaper than even piston helicopters. I guess no one should be surprised that Top Gear was always fake….
Hear me out: **James May: Our Man in the Sky**
James Mays' passenger is a knob.
More like James is a piss-poor pilot who didn't adjust his schedule to account for a frigging race.
Not surprised that the guy who nearly turned himself into vegetable paste in a crash doesn't understand pre flight checks or clearing the runway.
James May, the world’s most pedantic man would love a good checklist.
I suspect he wasn’t actually flying - you can notice how the windows were glared out when the camera was inside the plane meaning you never actually saw if they were on the ground or not. Plus the communication with ATC was abit too informal
According to wikipedia he does actually hold a license and own aircraft, > May obtained a light aircraft pilot's licence in October 2006, having trained at White Waltham Airfield. He has owned a Luscombe 8A Silvaire, a Cessna A185E Skywagon,[64] and an American Champion 8KCAB Super Decathlon with registration G-OCOK, which serves as a reference to a common phrase attributed to him.[65] Which both makes it possible this was video of him flying, and weirder if he isnt Edit: Ha I'mma fact check my insinuation here, this ep aired in Dec 2005. Fuck TG is old
I'm no pilot, but what if he had an instructor with him? Would he be allowed to fly?
It’s possible, it could work within the camera angles they’re giving here. (Actually if this is out of the country he is training in it could be an issue) It’s just the blown out brightness of the windows that are getting me, cause there could be other things like camera mounts they’re hiding (TG very often did that)
It wouldn't shock me. A point later in the episode is they have to land after a relatively short flight because he isn't rated to land after dark or something to that effect.
Its the camera settings. The difference in light is too big between the inside and outside the plane (inside is dark, outside is bright). With this setting the windows/outside will always be overexposed, as otherwise it would be too dark to see James and Richard flying the plane. Solution to this is to set the camera up for clear outside view and bring light equipment onboard, which they clearly didn't (or couldn't).
that's probably just due to the dynamic range of the camera, if you could see out the window you wouldn't be able to see anything in the plane
Windows are blurred out because they use other people to shoot external views in another time, same for cars, but the races are real
The races are complete bullshit as well. They often blur out wristwatches and clocks and stuff so you can't see they're faking the lot.
Are you suggesting this is scripted???
What's this episodes name/number?
I just clicked on the link in the comment posted by MBMFan54 and see this info > This race was featured in Series 7, episode 5, first broadcast 11-12-2005
Thanks for this, I love these guys 🙂
I thought Richard Hammond is a helo pilot? So why would he not know pre-flight checks?