Pacific231G Posted September 9, 2016 Share Posted September 9, 2016 Properly of course the name of the movie is "Airplane!". If you watch "Zero Hour" some of the scenes that otherwise feel like random 'yuks' have more context - particularly the scene where the instrument panel goes on and on and on. This is a lot funnier after seeing how hamfistedly the original scene was shot in "Zero Hour". Watching Zero Hour when you know Airplane! is a wonderfully hilarious experience that, if you get the chance, I can warmly recommend. I believe that Airplane! was technically a remake of Zero Hour and because Paramount who made it also owned the earlier film they were able to lift most of the script verbatim. "Ted, that was probably the lousiest landing in the history of this airport. But there are some of us here, particularly me, who would like to buy you a drink and shake your hand....Oh and the insurance company want to talk to you aobut the damage you caused to the plane and the runway" . OK I made up the last bit but you do wonder. Interesting question whether aeroplane or airplane is purer English. The British version is from the French aéroplane whereas airplane is taken from two English roots. In British English we also adopted aerodrome (from aérodrome) where the Americans call anything from a private airstrip to LAX an Airport, again using two English roots. Hangar, Aileron, Fuselage, Longeron and Empennage were taken from French into most if not all versions of English. This is probably because, after the Wright Brothers' initial invention and development of controlled flight a great deal of the early development of practical aviation before the first world war took place in France. In 1907 Robert Esnault-Pelterie developed the aileron (little wing) as well as the familiar "stick and rudder" control system adopted by Louis Blériot and still used on most aircraft to this day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted September 9, 2016 Share Posted September 9, 2016 ...."Ted, that was probably the lousiest landing in the history of this airport. But there are some of us here, particularly me, who would like to buy you a drink and shake your hand....Oh and the insurance company are going to sue you for damaging he plane and the runway" ..... Reminds me of the line from Cabin Pressure: "A good landing's one you can walk away from. An excellent landing is where they can re-use the plane....." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pacific231G Posted September 9, 2016 Share Posted September 9, 2016 Reminds me of the line from Cabin Pressure: "A good landing's one you can walk away from. An excellent landing is where they can re-use the plane....." I loved Cabin Pressure and John Finnemore is a brilliant radio comedy writer. He also clearly did plenty of research to get enough of the aviation stuff right as I don't think he flies himself. . The original version of this may be "Any landing you can walk away from is a good one!" written in 1944 by Gerald R. Massie, a U.S.A.A.F photographer, after the crash-landing of his B-17. It may have been Chuck Yeager who added the bit about being able to use the aircraft again. The latest extension adds to "an excellent landing being when you can use the plane again afterwards" an even higher category "it's an outstanding landing if your passengers are prepared to fly with you again" My favourite definition of flying though is still "The knack of flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss" (Douglas Adams) Since landing is the hardest part to get right that's actually not a bad description of what it takes to flare properly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted September 9, 2016 Share Posted September 9, 2016 I loved Cabin Pressure and John Finnemore is a brilliant radio comedy writer. He also clearly did plenty of research to get enough of the aviation stuff right.... Yes, his father was the aviation consultant for the show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 9, 2016 Share Posted September 9, 2016 I loved Cabin Pressure and John Finnemore is a brilliant radio comedy writer. He also clearly did plenty of research to get enough of the aviation stuff right as I don't think he flies himself. . Episode one I think. Arthur (an idiot) spends the episode asking the crew how aeroplanes fly and somehow stumbling over the flaw in each explanation. Like this: https://xkcd.com/803/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymw Posted September 9, 2016 Share Posted September 9, 2016 There is a software analogy somewhere, about taking an aeroplane apart to find the piece that makes it fly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bernard Lamb Posted September 9, 2016 Share Posted September 9, 2016 A place where planes take of and land. In WW1 and a bit later it seems to have been called an Aerodrome. In WW11 it was an Airfield. A civilian version is an Airport. So Heathrow was at first an Aerodrome, then an Airfield and now an Airport. Bernard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wombatofludham Posted September 9, 2016 Author Share Posted September 9, 2016 A place where planes take of and land. In WW1 and a bit later it seems to have been called an Aerodrome. In WW11 it was an Airfield. A civilian version is an Airport. So Heathrow was at first an Aerodrome, then an Airfield and now an Airport. Bernard ...or an early British silent melodrama film about rich people flying called "Aerodrome", later picked up by the Mancunian Film Corporation and remade in the late 1940s as a "B" movie called "Airfield" before some Hollywood producer completely wrecks the plot and turns it into "Airport". The Mancunian Film Corporation did actually exist and a lot of their output now graces Talking Pictures TV. A sort of 20th Century Whippet based in an old church which later became the home for the BBC in Manchester for a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted September 9, 2016 Share Posted September 9, 2016 Meaningless ad speak came to mind today when I bought a BT phone with meaningless instructions. 'Removing card will activate battery'. Fine. 'When prompted, set date and time'.... Ooops I wasn't fast enough. How do I get back? Nothing on the instruction sheet on HOW to do these bloody things. OK put numbers in phonebook...... Entered name, but had to look up number on mobile which did not stay lit long enough for me to copy said number. Oooops, BT phone returned to zero. Start again.... Technology, and yet there are young 'uns on this forum who want instructions sheets to be fully explanatory to the extent of informing what is valvegear and what is a chimney. If only modern technology did this. This phone is packed to the brim with bullsh*t when all I want is something I can take with me into the shed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewartingram Posted September 9, 2016 Share Posted September 9, 2016 I don't know about the film airplane. I refused to watch it unless the British release was titled "Aircraft" or "aeroplane". Actually, that's not true. I did watch it and did find it funny, but only for the first 30 or 40 screenings. That should be "Flying Machine", surely? Stewart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewartingram Posted September 9, 2016 Share Posted September 9, 2016 A place where planes take of and land. In WW1 and a bit later it seems to have been called an Aerodrome. In WW11 it was an Airfield. A civilian version is an Airport. So Heathrow was at first an Aerodrome, then an Airfield and now an Airport. Bernard Heathrow to me is always a station (4 actually), as I work on the tube. Stewart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derekstuart Posted September 9, 2016 Share Posted September 9, 2016 World War eleven? Are you sure? I must have missed WW3-10. OK, I'll exit stage left. I certainly have some descriptives for Heathrow these days but I dare say they would earn me a banning from Mr York. In WW11 it was an Airfield. So Heathrow was at first an Aerodrome, then an Airfield and now an Airport. Or a "damned fine kite" perhaps. That should be "Flying Machine", surely? Stewart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted September 9, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 9, 2016 In a similar vein to the "adspeak" that is creeping in everywhere: When did "Elvis Impersonater" become "Elvis Tribute Act"? Most of them are still as bad as ever! Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pacific231G Posted September 9, 2016 Share Posted September 9, 2016 A place where planes take of and land. In WW1 and a bit later it seems to have been called an Aerodrome. In WW11 it was an Airfield. A civilian version is an Airport. So Heathrow was at first an Aerodrome, then an Airfield and now an Airport. Bernard Heathrow is still an aerodrome. Common usage in British English includes airports, airfields and even airstrips but officially they're all aerodromes even if they use the word Airport in their name. That term is not just British but is used internationally and is in the ICAO treaties."An aerodrome is a defined area on land or water (including any buildings, installations, and equipment) intended to be used either wholly or in part for the arrival, departure, and surface movement of aircraft." The term is also used on aeronautical charts so it's not in any way obsolete. Note that even Manchester Airport is a "customs aerodrome" on the chart. (This is part of the legend from the CAA half million scale chart I'm currently using) AFAIK it's only the USA that doesn't refer officially to aerodromes. (even the Canadians do) and in the USA the term airport has the same wide meaning. That can be slightly odd when you follow the signs for say Tuba City Airport in Arizona (it's actually in the Navajo Nation and owned by them) and find a deserted runway and apron in scrubland five miles from the nearest town with about 20 aircraft movements a month and none based there (it does though have runway and approach lighting) In some countries Airport does have a specific meaning in terms of certification and facilities so all airports are aerodromes but not all aerodromes are airports. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium John M Upton Posted September 10, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 10, 2016 Advert irritations for me: Products (usually hair/cosmetics and also a certain brand of yoghurt) which are plugged by famous people I've never heard of. Dentists in toothpaste adverts whose surgeries seem to be suffering from subsidence going from the pointless wonky camera angles. Taking a 'funny' premise for an advert and plugging it continuously for years and years where they go from mildly amusing the first time to utterly tedious (Go Compare opera singer, Meerkats and those silly prancing builders and bloke in hot pants). As an aside I was told that adverts often feature extensive overuse of the product, you only need a pea sized amount of toothpaste not sqiudging all over the brush plus a daily recommended amount of cereal is maybe a third of a bowl, not the whole thing filled to overflowing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bescotbeast Posted September 10, 2016 Share Posted September 10, 2016 Like this... http://youtu.be/qdeB1eGK57o How desperate must you be to appear on telly dressed like that? so desperate that you've only got cans of kitty kat in your cupboard to eat????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold ikks Posted September 10, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 10, 2016 Here in Oz we have a large Brewing Company who are advertising their Pale Ale as "The Drinking Ale"....What the heck else would you do with it, apart from perhaps make batter!!!! Another product is advertised as "Brewery Fresh".....................the mind boggles but cr*p springs readily to mind. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted September 10, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 10, 2016 Here in Oz we have a large Brewing Company who are advertising their Pale Ale as "The Drinking Ale"....What the heck else would you do with it, apart from perhaps make batter!!!! Mike Chuck it down the drain? Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonny777 Posted September 10, 2016 Share Posted September 10, 2016 A place where planes take of and land. In WW1 and a bit later it seems to have been called an Aerodrome. In WW11 it was an Airfield. A civilian version is an Airport. So Heathrow was at first an Aerodrome, then an Airfield and now an Airport. Bernard Never mind - in a few years time it will be a "plane station". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free At Last Posted September 10, 2016 Share Posted September 10, 2016 How desperate must you be to appear on telly dressed like that? so desperate that you've only got cans of kitty kat in your cupboard to eat????? I don't get what the advert is about at all. No one walks around like that (I hope). What is it trying to get me to buy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted September 10, 2016 Share Posted September 10, 2016 Never mind - in a few years time it will be a "plane station". ...By which time we may have Choochoodromes.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BG John Posted September 10, 2016 Share Posted September 10, 2016 I don't get what the advert is about at all. No one walks around like that (I hope). What is it trying to get me to buy? It's succeeded in getting me to never buy anything from Money Supermarket, whoever they are. If it's run by mindless morons who think that will work with me, I have absolutely no confidence in any product they might offer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Coryton Posted September 10, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 10, 2016 Yes, his father was the aviation consultant for the show. Credited as such only in the last episode, so perhaps a little tongue in cheek. But presumably much of what went in came from him. I suspect a lot of what went on in the flight deck in Cabin Pressure is more true than most of us would like to think. Certainly my impression from visiting the flight deck on transatlantic flights in the days when you could was that they did get rather bored up there (consequently, if you were interesting to talk to you could sometimes stay in there for hours which was more fun than sitting in the back). And to get us back on topic, my contender is: "Hitachi. Inspire the Next". I hope that works better in Japanese than English... Reminds me of the line from Cabin Pressure: "A good landing's one you can walk away from. An excellent landing is where they can re-use the plane....." Last year I was in a landing that reminded me of that - the pilot who landed it did come on the PA afterwards to apologise and explain that the sun got in his eyes and the runway wasn't quite where he thought it was. All of which reminded me of the other Cabin Pressure episode where Martin explains that a firm landing is often the safest one, to get the response that if the landing had been any safer it would have killed them all... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted September 10, 2016 Share Posted September 10, 2016 ....my impression from visiting the flight deck on transatlantic flights in the days when you could was that they did get rather bored up there... Anyone fancy a few rounds of "The Travelling Lemon"? Let me just check my citrus pocket.... Last year I was in a landing that reminded me of that - the pilot who landed it did come on the PA afterwards to apologise and explain that the sun got in his eyes and the runway wasn't quite where he thought it was. All of which reminded me of the other Cabin Pressure episode where Martin explains that a firm landing is often the safest one, to get the response that if the landing had been any safer it would have killed them all... There was a similar anecdote in The Times this week, where the Captain of one particularly dodgy landing announced that his First Officer would now steer what was left of the plane to the stand..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Coryton Posted September 10, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 10, 2016 Anyone fancy a few rounds of "The Travelling Lemon"? Let me just check my citrus pocket.... There was a similar anecdote in The Times this week, where the Captain of one particularly dodgy landing announced that his First Officer would now steer what was left of the plane to the stand..... An old one, along with the one about a flight where the captain made a particularly "firm" landing and then had to stand outside the flight deck to say goodbye to the passengers as per regulations, only to have an elderly passenger ask him if they landed or were shot down. Many more at: http://www.snopes.com/travel/airline/announce.asp http://www.liveatc.net/forums/listener-forum/airline-announcements-humor/?wap2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.