Up and away with Aggers
| 13:27 UK time, Thursday, 27 September 2007
“The attitude meter isn’t quite right” said Aggers, tapping a dial in the cockpit of a .
“The what?” I quizzed, peering over his shoulder from the seat behind. “It’s ok” he quipped. “It’s not an important instrument.”
With that, our flight supervisor climbed on board, Aggers completed the final checks (getting a second opinion on the attitude meter) and I strapped myself into a springy beige seat that reminded me of the upholstery in my dad’s that he drove in the early 1980s.
This was my first experience of flying with Aggers. I knew he had taken Arlo White up in a small plane in Guyana during the Caribbean World Cup, and Ian Chappell survived a flight around Table Mountain less than a week ago in Cape Town, so I was utterly confident that we would both return safely to commentate on the World T20 semi-final the following night!
The propeller burst into life and we took off elegantly from the Virginia Flight School just outside Durban. I had only been in a small aircraft once before, and that was only for about ten minutes over a few small villages in Buckinghamshire. This was to be a three-hour journey, hugging the coastline north to the St Lucia Wetland Park, where we would be keeping an eye out for hippos basking in the warm sunshine.
Our route:
The first treat though was to spot a number of whales in the ocean below as we cruised along at 5000 ft. The advantage of having a supervisor was that whenever we spotted anything of interest, she happily took the controls, banking the plane closer to the water, leaving Aggers to press his nose right up to the window, aspiring to Marine Life Photographer of the Year.
Unfortunately our memories are rather better than the pictures, as both our photos just show small black blobs amidst a flurry of white water, more akin to jelly beans than whales.
We had to climb to 15000 feet over St Lucia as it is a National Park, however our beady eyes still spied a cluster of hippos and a number of flamingos lazing in the muddy waters far below. At this stage the cockpit was getting rather hot, benefiting only from the ‘natural’ air conditioning of a small vent somewhere around my right ankle. We had a tail wind to help us home though, and we sped back down the coast with the evening sun firing deep orange rays through the window.
Aggers was delighted with his smooth landing, admitting to me afterwards that however well you fly, you will ultimately be judged on how well you hit the tarmac. Unbeknownst to Aggers, I filmed the landing from just behind his right shoulder on my digital camera. He was most excited to watch it afterwards, as it was one of his best landings (“a 9 out of 10 if I’m honest!”).
Unfortunately it was impossible to keep the camera still as we touched the tarmac, and on film it looks like he dropped the plane like a stone from about 2 feet onto the runway. Suffice to say, that film may never make it into the public domain!
Alison now flies to Sri Lanka to cover the one-day series between Sri Lanka and England for 5 live and 5 live Sports Extra. .
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Its altitude meter, not attitude...
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I can almost hear Aggers's voice.
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Great story. Enjoyed your commentary throughout the world cup and interviews.
Is it possible to get hold of the full commentary on podcast for the final?
I want to experience again the emotions of the ball by ball coverage leading up to Agnew's commentary in the very, very tense last overs...It gives me goosebumps just thinking that Monday afternoon again listening..
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SP - this message just in from Ali
The 'Attitude' meter is used to tell you when your wings are horizontal, a bit like a spirit level I suppose. I'm no expert, but here is one definition. An attitude meter "measures the orientation of a plane surface with respect to the magnetic North direction and a horizontal plane."
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message for SP... there is one instrument called an altitude meter and one called an attitude meter.
if your altitude meter is wrong you dont take off. It's quite important to know how far away the ground is from the aircraft.
On a clear day in a little aircraft like theirs it doesnt matter if your attitude meter is wrong because you can see the horizon and thus are able to tell whether or not you're level.
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ali mitchell is gorgeous.
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ali mitchell is gorgeous.
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Great to finally hear a woman on TMS - as a budding commentator myself could you please email me and give me advice on how to join the TMS staff when i leave school?
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The use of a female commentator is yet another example of the 91ȱ being totally over absorbed by P.C. I want to hear a male commentator commentating on a male sport. I know the 91ȱ has to represent the minorities, but they are kidding themselves if they think that there are many people out there who want to hear a woman commentating on cricket. They are doing it because they have to, not because they think, it's the right decision to take.
On her actual commentary, much of it lacked authority and required constant endorsement by the co-commentator. Like the presenters of 91ȱ1s coverage of the Cricket World Cup, don't sacrifice knowledge and ability for the sake of P.C. - let the best person capable do the job. That way the paying public are given the best service possible.
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Alison Mitchell is a complete turn-off as a commentator. Her endless "chatter" ruined the 20:20 series and after one match in the present
one dayers vs. Sri Lanka; I cannot put up with it any longer. I have been a fan of TMS since it started 50 years ago but whilst AM continues to front up the programme, one of life's great pleasures is being denied to myself and others like me.
DB-W.
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I agree that TMS has lost something lately. I still think it's one of the finest broadcasting institutions we have, but I don't think it's P.C. that's spoiling it, but commercialism. By that I specifically mean the introdcution of 'professional' Fivelive commentators such as Arlo White. They're more like Sky commentators, who constantly go on about matches being "live on Five Live Sports Extra" They don't have the humour or the sophistication of the true TMS commentators and their introduction is a sad direction for TMS to take.
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Great story, thoroughly enjoyed Alison's commentary during the T20 world cup. Thought she did a great job and looking forward to hearing much more of her on TMS.
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what absolute, utter and complete nonsense Ian and David Brunel-White have come up. Hope you 2 chaps are happy that you've made yourselves appear sexist, dull and above all utterly ignorant. This is the 21st century. Get used to it.
A woman commentator? Frankly, who cares as long as she has the skills to commentate on cricket. Which given that she's now an established TMS commentator, I'm guessing she has. She probably knows more about the game than you 2 "gents" put together.
Simon Mann and Arlo White were never world class test players (sorry guys if I've got a short memory!!). Does that make a difference to the quality of their commentary? Of course not.
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what absolute, utter and complete nonsense Ian and David Brunel-White have come up. Hope you 2 chaps are happy that you've made yourselves appear sexist, dull and above all utterly ignorant. This is the 21st century. Get used to it.
A woman commentator? Frankly, who cares as long as she has the skills to commentate on cricket. Which given that she's now an established TMS commentator, I'm guessing she has. She probably knows more about the game than you 2 "gents" put together.
Simon Mann and Arlo White were never world class test players (sorry guys if I've got a short memory!!). Does that make a difference to the quality of their commentary? Of course not.
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what absolute, utter and complete nonsense Ian and David Brunel-White have come up. Hope you 2 chaps are happy that you've made yourselves appear sexist, dull and above all utterly ignorant. This is the 21st century. Get used to it.
A woman commentator? Frankly, who cares as long as she has the skills to commentate on cricket. Which given that she's now an established TMS commentator, I'm guessing she has. She probably knows more about the game that you 2 "gents" put together.
Simon Mann and Arlo White were never world class test players (sorry guys if I've got a short memory!!). Does that make a difference to the quality of their commentary? Of course not.
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What was banal was the lunchtime chat with Colin and Richard re the Hugh Morris and Mike Gatting appointments. Mann's first question to Gatting summed up the rest. Mike can you cancel Pro40 on your own? Answer - ' the counties like it. Good money spinner and watched by families'. These guys have got a huge hangup with Pr040 because they don't watch it/like it. They seem to think that their requirements have got to hold sway over the county members and watchers, who judging from the crowds prefer 40/40 to their largely boring 50/50 format which starts too early for many. 50/50 has already had two makeovers, firstly with power plays and now a new ball after 35 overs to pep up a bit. Talk about getting youngsters interested in cricket - they have'nt got a clue.
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None of the commentators have got the aircraft instrument nomenclature right...
I suspect Aggers is referring to the 'Attitude Indicator' or 'AI' as it is more commonly known. This shows how level the aircraft is both across the wings and fore and aft. It is vital when instrument flying but not essential when flying under visual flight conditions. It does require setting to show the aircraft level whilst stood.
Someone has referred to an 'Altitude Meter' but the 'Altimeter' as it is correctly known is all but impossible to check on the ground. A pressure must be set in order to reference the ground both before take-off and during flight [according to local or area conditions].
For reference, the six basic instruments are:
Air Speed Indicator [ASI]
Attitude Indicator [AI]
Altimeter
Turn Indicator
Heading Indicator [HI]
Vertical Speed Indicator [VSI]
Oh, and last bu not least, I think Miss Mitchell is a fine commentator.
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