Congo Bush Pilots - Nat Geo Channel

[ScudRunner]

Anyone else get National Geographic Channel? caught a good show called "Congo Bush Pilots" Some great footage and insight into flying around the Democratic Republic of the Congo,some funny moments when they play up the danger at times "Can the Dash 8 handle landing on a dirt Strip?!!!!"


http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/s ... 8/Overview

[MZUNGO]

what you didn't see were the drunk russians cutting them off on final, and the goats/dogs/cows on the runway before the workers came back from lunch

[chipmunk]

Yeah I caught it! Really interesting stuff, I enjoyed it... the bit about the Russians (before they got shut down by the aviation officials) was kinda funny...

[bcflyer]

The Dash handles gravel quite well from what I've seen. Never had the opportunity myself but I know Air Creebec operates on gravel and I believe Arctic Sunwest does as well. I'm sure there are lots of others doing it, those are just the two that I know of.

[Rowdy]

Dont forget cdn north operating dash 8's all over the canadian arctic into and out of gravel strips...

[Hedley]

What really pissed me off about the show is that the
dash 8 was the true hero, and they vaguely described
it as being a "western" aircraft - as opposed to the
russian aircraft.

Correction: it's a frikken CANADIAN aircraft,
bought and paid for by the Canadian taxpayer, incidentally.

I do wish Canadians would be a bit more proud of their
accomplishments. This excessively false modesty crap
gets on my nerves.

It's ok to do something well, ok? Try not to feel
so goddamned ashamed of doing something well from
time to time.

[lilfssister]

This was a Canadian show? I thought it was National Geographic?

[Phlyer]

This was a Canadian show? I thought it was National Geographic?

Hedley was referring to the Dash 8 being Canadian.

[aileron]

PVR'd it last night, will watch the rest later after... Lost. Only got to the part where the DC9 went off the runway, wow

[ski_bum]

PVRed it too, caught a few minutes, looked pretty cool. On that note, when the Buffalo Airways show hitting the air?

[carholme]

Speaking of the DRC, the most lawless aviation spot in Africa, here is the latest loss:


http://www.avherald.com/h?article=418d693b&opt=0

carholme

[termerair]

F*** I missed it!

It doesn't look like it's going to be played again anytime soon... How difficult is it for you guys to transfer it from your terminal to a DVD or a digital format...?

I used to fly the Caravan there and I am quite nostalgic of that experience. i would love to see some nice shots from the good old black dark DRC...!

Thanks!

T.

PS : if you're interested to see more about DRC, you may watch the video I made... Not a National Geopgraphic document though!

[chipmunk]

I PVR'd it... no idea how to make it in to a format I can upload though. Maybe there's some info on the Nat Geo website as to when it would air next?

[Captain X]

The 16 MILLON DOLLAR DASH 8! I should buy bunch here in North America and sell em over there and cash in!

[Gumby]

If the company operating would please accept my CV!

[Cannonballer]

The Dash handles gravel quite well from what I've seen. Never had the opportunity myself but I know Air Creebec operates on gravel and I believe Arctic Sunwest does as well. I'm sure there are lots of others doing it, those are just the two that I know of.

I havnt seen the show but i have flown in the Jungles and deserts of africa. I have never seen a gravel strip there.... i would be surprised if one even exists on the entire continant. Only 3 types of runways in Africa as far as i am concerned. Paved, Dirt (which is very different than gravel) and mud...sticky slick mud!!!

They are very different to our gravel "bush" strips.

[Cat Driver]

You forgot to mention sand runways.

[Mobotu]

They are mostly flying into "Dirt" strips which any three year old can tell you when you add a little water turn to MUD!

A few times already they have had this aircraft burried up to the fuselage and taken 2-3 days to dig out.

Oh and by the way the length of the runway they were landing on was 750mt ONLY fully loaded!

Let's see them do that in Canada and keep their licenses and AOC afterwards!

[Cannonballer]

You forgot to mention sand runways.

Ah yes so i did. The ones that blend in to the surrounding terrain so well that they would almost be invisible if it wernt for the small rocks painted white along the edges!!!

[flyinthebug]

PVRed it too, caught a few minutes, looked pretty cool. On that note, when the Buffalo Airways show hitting the air?

Nov 18th- 2200 History Channel. Should be a good watch as well.

[DHCdriver]

Watched it last night, thought it was pretty interesting. Just wondering if it is really that bad or is it like the rest of the shows out there trying to get good ratings?

[Fling Wing]

I thought it was pretty interesting too, landing a Dash 8 on bush strips, and landing the caravan on a busy highway.

Then you have the russians with there maintenance operated out of a cargo container. I thought there was no such thing as aviation safety there until it said, " 3 days later the russian company was grounded, ending inspections of there aircraft." Meaning they must of still operated but underneath the table.

[Cobra64]

Where did you watch it? I can't find it anywhere.

[DHCdriver]

It was on National Geographic television. I'm sure they will run it again.

[longjon]

fw have you ever been to Africa?

operating out of a sea can is standard for many, many companies in remote strips and even international airports. I've saw some containers better set up than the average shop in civilization where you obviously live.