Plane Spotting Live

[BOLLO]

Have any fC'ers had any photos shown??

Gary did tonight,first up.
viewtopic.php?f=16&t=178346

[The Phantom]

Really found this cringeworthy when I watched it tonight

"And that is a lovely Spitfire isn't it?"
"Lysander"
"Lysander yes"

Probably the worst moment for me.

Yes that was surprisingly bad for someone who is an enthusiast - but seemingly more with civvies than military; but still bad

It very much surprised me that the Ex RAF Jag pilot didn't know the Nationality of the Belgium F16 in DDay sceme... saying he thought it was Dutch because they have a 350 sqn.
T1

Also he thought that the picture of the Flanker from RIAT was possibly Hungarian Air Force

[jules50]

The only person who had any knowledge was stuck at LCY at night where nothing happens.And the female photographer he spoke to last night saying she took 2000 photos of the BBMF over a display weekend must have been totally bonkers.It was unfortunate that both Andi Peters and Peter Snow were exceptionally poor and like a camp comedy act and the ex Jaguar pilot and instructor had a very poor knowledge of military aircraft.If you watched it as a non aviation enthusiast it was mildly interesting but totally cringeworthy.Hopefully they will not make another series.

[Agent K]

It very much surprised me that the Ex RAF Jag pilot didn't know the Nationality of the Belgium F16 in DDay sceme... saying he thought it was Dutch because they have a 350 sqn.

Also he thought that the picture of the Flanker from RIAT was possibly Hungarian Air Force

That doesn't surprise me, nor concern me to a fair degree, I guess these guys (and girls) are not taken on for their registration number acquiring and paint scheme recognition and other such capabilities, and I guess if you're immersed in aviation as a career you get complacent and take some of it for granted (I have some experience here)

I know of an ex RAF pilot, trying desperately in social media to establish himself as a TV and media aircraft and aviation expert, and the quality of his posts and output contains basic errors and portrays a fundamental lack of knowledge.

[Andy_99]

OK it may have been a bit cringeworthy for those of us with some knowledge but we need to remember that it's aimed at the mainstream public.

Case in point my son (aged 13 lives with his mum) sent me a msg last night ' Hi Dad, Been watching that Plane Spotting Program on TV, have you been to that place where the RAF fighters are based & can we go there sometime'
This is from a lad who up until 6months ago thought planes were all boring. He's also asked can we go to that place where they have a Concorde & that really fast black American plane (SR71) ie Can we go to Duxford (I last took him with his grandad when he was 5).

Win Win in my opinion.

[Vulcan74]

Was that an Air Ambulance helicopter hovering over the aero park just at the end of the programme, and two men in white coats jumping out and coming for Snow & Peters!!!

[ChrisCwmbran]

OK it may have been a bit cringeworthy for those of us with some knowledge but we need to remember that it's aimed at the mainstream public.

Case in point my son (aged 13 lives with his mum) sent me a msg last night ' Hi Dad, Been watching that Plane Spotting Program on TV, have you been to that place where the RAF fighters are based & can we go there sometime'
This is from a lad who up until 6months ago thought planes were all boring. He's also asked can we go to that place where they have a Concorde & that really fast black American plane (SR71) ie Can we go to Duxford (I last took him with his grandad when he was 5).

Win Win in my opinion.

Good to hear.

Personally whether factually correct or not, if the program increases public interest and gets more people into the hobby it's a good thing.

Obviously those people on here who almost seem to think that locations such as Lakenheath "belong to them" won't see new people in the hobby as positives though!

[Hawkwind26]

I love the way some of you guys criticise an experienced RAF fighter pilot / instructor / tester over his failure to correctly identify immediately from a photo,the exact livery or paint identification of a fast military jet. The guy flew Buccaneer/Jaguar and Hawks for real and on missions. He should be thanked publicly and I'm sure is exceedingly happy, proud and content in himself. The series was as others have written, aimed for a wider audience including beginners. Personally I enjoyed the nostalgic film of the Heathrow public viewing area.... took me back to being there as 10 year old in the mid 1960s.

[Supra]

In these days of 'correctness' & non-judgemental comments it's not easy to express my views on the presentation Team & nightly Guests over the 3 episodes. Perhaps 'Cirque du Panic' goes someway to covering it. Quite why it was necessary to speak so fast their brains couldn't keep-up evades me. Phil O'Dell really must've wished for a metaphorical ejection seat, every time he tried to make good points he was cut short by some inane comment from the presenters. Even with his multi-tasking skills he dumbed-down to the presenters level of mediocrity & made embarrassing gaffs! I've nothing against inclusive types for presentation, but this formula simply didn't work on any level! Top Marks to the BBC for covering-off the inclusive aspect of Presenters/Guests...but please don't threaten Licence price hikes in the aftermath of this blatant waste of the Publics' money.
Andi Peters. Excitable, keen & plain wrong! Non-Caucasian....Tick.
Peter Snow. Pedigree, experience& borderline senile.... Tick.
Zoe Laughlin. Artist, Engineer, Clown on Speed & clearly more suited to CBeebies?...Tick.
Arthur V Williams. Former Royal Marine, commentator for the Blades-team, Great guy & in a wheelchair...Tick.
Catherine Burton. Former British Airways pilot, knowledgeable, cringing at their gaffs & transgender... Tick.
Maybe, just maybe some people found it enjoyable, BUT if it was truly aimed at under 10 year olds (as it seems?) then air it earlier on CBBC? For a mainstream audience I would favour remaining ignorant of plane-spotting over misinformation.
Yes, I watched it all & it just got worse. Perhaps the final comment from Peter Snow was the scariest, "we've run out of time for the models, keep an eye out for the second series."... Yikes! Run for the Hills!

[SpilsbyPete]

oh dear..

I waited for the final programme before commenting

Aimed it Joe Public,maybe
But the level of so called knowledge from a "plane spotter" left me speechless
Edd the Duck would have been better presenter and on CBBC
Hiding in the bushes to catch his "missing" plane on his phone
At least a "real" plane spotter would have a camera

Arthur Williams should have been used more

Anyway let's not loose any sleep on this

[lambo1784]

Friend of mine was the one interviewed at Stansted who had the heart attack.He said cameras were filming for 5 hours just for that small bit of the programme,can see how money gets wasted by BBC.

John

[Drinkmat]

The presenters on this type of programme are generally parachuted in to the slot because they have good agents working on their behalf. The end result is that you have TV made for children by the ill-informed.

[Mark Owen]

Does anybody know when they filmed the bit at RAF Coningsby.

Regards.

Mark.

[Cyberfox]

At least they aired our hobby and acknowledged its existence instead of wasting our TV licence on banal celebrity sh***.

The lack of knowledge was poor but maybe there aren't any presenters available with our level of knowledge? Sometimes I think I must have wasted my life being able to recognise an RAF jet from just seeing a tiny part of an oleo or tail fin - Joe Public or Joe Punter is never going to be that level, nor care. Way too much civvy stuff for me (I've no interest at all, or knowledge - I can't even tell an Airbus from a Boeing!) but if it gets kids into the hobby then it can't be a bad thing.

[StevenNFFC]

I love the way some of you guys criticise an experienced RAF fighter pilot / instructor / tester over his failure to correctly identify immediately from a photo,the exact livery or paint identification of a fast military jet. The guy flew Buccaneer/Jaguar and Hawks for real and on missions. He should be thanked publicly

His remit on the program was to provide expert facts on the images he was seeing and being asked about and unfortunately, for the most part, he failed in that regard.

[captain scarlet]

I love the way some of you guys criticise an experienced RAF fighter pilot / instructor / tester over his failure to correctly identify immediately from a photo,the exact livery or paint identification of a fast military jet. The guy flew Buccaneer/Jaguar and Hawks for real and on missions. He should be thanked publicly

His remit on the program was to provide expert facts on the images he was seeing and being asked about and unfortunately, for the most part, he failed in that regard.

Should've got 'team reedham' on it, we'd have had an even bigger laugh then!!!

[ChrisCwmbran]

Team Reedham?

[Campbell89]

Yikes! Run for the Hills!

Everyone is after they mentioned the Mach loop!

[paddyboy]

That's Supra +1