The final posting in this weeks 'Take-offs and Landings' series is the recent footage of a Lufthansa flight from Munich making it's first attempt to land at Hamburg during Hurricane Emma. Even though it's left wing scrapped the tarmac, I understand that it successfully touched-down on the second attempt.
I remember this when it was on the news. On June 26, 1988, a new Air France Airbus A320-100 was involved in an air-show when it crashed into a wood. I was surprised to learn that 3 people died and 50 were injured; I wouldn't have thought that planes doing stunts would be carrying passengers...
This film contains five different videos of decreasing quality. Click here for an interesting summary of the crash.
The absence of wind-socks means that the wind speed cannot be gauged, but I'm guessing that there is a fairly stiff breeze along this runway; it's amazing to see how little tarmac is actually needed to get a plane into the air.
Via A Welsh View.
Courchevel is an area in the French Alps, which comprises of a number of differently altituded villages, all called Courchevel followed by the height in metres above sea level. There's Courchevel 1300, Courchevel 1500, Courchevel 1650 and Courchevel 1850 (which is actually only 1750 metres above sea level).
Courchevel airport has something of a reputation amongst pilots, and today's video shows why. Not only does the runway feature a 18.5% incline, planes have to make sure that they hit the short landing strip and not the sheer rock-face that faces them for the duration of the descent.
Via A Welsh View.
This weekend, I have been thinking a lot about travel; we have two actual proper holidays coming up this summer. In light of this, I will be mostly posting videos of interesting take-offs and landings.
First up, St Barts airport, which is on the main island of the Collectivity of Saint-Barthélemy in the French West Indies. The approach to the runway takes planes just feet above a main road (or the sea, depending on which way one lands):
More here. Via A Welsh View.
I really hope everyone saw America Unchained on More 4 last night. This film by Dave Gorman was a beautiful and funny document of his attempt to cross America without giving any money to The Man.
I have enjoyed all of Dave's ever-so-slightly deranged but immensely entertaining and unique projects, and would recommend you snatch at any chance to see this movie that comes your way.
One of the best pieces of advice I can give you is to never watch Threads immediately before bedtime. Boy, that is one bleak film. The ending is more crushing hopeless than The Empire Strikes Back.
Strictly speaking, this is a TV documentary made for the BBC in 1984. It's message is resolutely anti-nuclear weapon, although it was made just as the cold war was starting to 'thaw'. Do you see? Cold war - thaw. I am funny.
The story centres on two Sheffield families, joined by the relationship of their eldest children who are with child and plan to marry. They are full of hope; see how they decorate their new flat. Then the Russians and the Americans become embroiled in a nuclear war, underneath which sits Britain. One nuclear bomb lands a little outside Sheffield, and those who don't die in the immediate fireball face a slow fade from the effects of radiation sickness and hunger. The film speculates on the likely outcome of a nuclear war over the next few days and weeks, before finally projecting seventeen years ahead where we find things absolutely unimproved from the medieval conditions of the seventeenth day.
I liked that it wasn't all Hollywood big effects, big budget and big-name moving speeches. It was a low-key BBC film that seemed to capture well the utter bad horror of what at the time must have been a viable end of the world. In this vein, I particularly liked the inclusion of genuine and generally pointless public information films from the 'protect and survive' series, including this one:
I am digging Flight of the Conchords. It is being shown on BBC4 on Tuesdays, but I reckon that it has already done enough to earn repeats on BBC2 next year. It reminds me (and more than one of my friends who also watch the show) of The Mighty Boosh in a number of ways, especially in the format of each program as a kind of deadpan sit-com with musical interludes. Here is a sample, in the shape of my current favourite song 'If You're Into It'.
You've no reason not to press play and watch this reasonable amazing video of a commuter train trundling through a Bangkok market?
via a welsh view
I have new-found admiration for the patience that my friend Anthony, who recently passed his test on the third (and final) attempt and became a driving instructor, must possess. We all know that there are some people driving today who should not be on the road, and as someone who's office is now the passenger seat of his Fiesta, he sees plenty.
Gemma is currently learning to drive, and today I took her out in my car for the first time. She was pretty good, and once she had gotten used to a different biting point and the lack of power steering, we set out onto the main road. I was amazed at how many drivers felt it reasonable to drive really close to us - sometimes just a couple of feet. This is really poor driving anyway, and it must be incredibly intimidating to a learner. Before we had even got to York Road, at a roundabout, the driver behind beeped his horn aggressively, for we had committed the crime of delaying him for a few vital seconds. As we pulled away, he accelerated hard and unbelievably undertook us on the roundabout. As usual, I genuinely hoped to see his car embedded in a lamppost a little further along the street, with him lying bloodstained and lifeless against the wheel.
Gemma did really well, coping with the busy rushing traffic of York Road, and the quick country lanes beyond Scholes. Once she's used to my own Fiesta, she'll do just fine.
I realise that my hopes for the driver mentioned above might seem a little strong, so to lighten the mood, here follows a suitable Lee and Herring sketch from the mid-1990's.
