HOW ERRONEOUS "SPECIAL EFFECTS" AFFECT OUR THINKING

Posted by Ikes Blog at 12/6/2009 2:00 PM
Categories: aviation
                                               HOW ERRONEOUS "SPECIAL EFFECTS" AFFECT OUR THINKING

  Many , many years ago as a young kid enchanted with anything about aviation, I was excited to see the early movies about flying.  Even though I lacked the technical knowledge about how things actually worked something didn't add up in my juvenile mind when I saw Hollywood's portrayal of the sights and sounds associated with airplanes and the people flying them.  I couldn't understand that every time the airplane was supposed to descend to land the engine noise increased like it was preparing to set a speed record.  My little mind said, "Gee, if it's going to land the engine noise should get quiet, the roaring power should be reduced so it could slow down and then land."  But obviously Hollywood thought this wouldn't be exciting enough to its audience so it made a hell raising noise to keep the excitement factor at high pitch.  More than that observatiion, I couldn't understand that when the scene changed to the stress of the two pilots at the controls during an exciting moment, one was pushing and the other was pulling while they were yelling at each other.  I thought that the controls were hooked to the same cables and the control surfaces only reacted to a single input.  Even though my first exposure to this exciting error created by Hollywood's products we all had to see for entertainment began more than seventy years ago, nothing has changed.  It's still going on and the ignorant viewers today still don't know the difference.  They think ,"that's the way it really is."  And, this false visual and audio scam is still going strong except the consequences have much more effect on the public because the TV screen shoves it in our face every day.  Not knowing the difference between fact and fiction, impressions are seated in our thought process that leads to oppinion hard to correct, no matter how open minded people claim to be.  It is usually the first impression that ends up being a lasting impression regardless whether or not it proves to be fact or fiction.  Even though flying is an experience more common to hundreds of millions in the civilized world than childbirth, truth about the facts still skips by as if it doesn't exist.  So where would you look for the truth, a mother or a Hollywood producer?
  Just for kicks let's just explore a couple other Hollywood (TV) myths viewers think are true facts about how things work in the real world.  Anybody reading this blog ever witness a tire burnout after a Nascar win?  It's a lot of squealing and smoke.  But that's on a dry racetrack isn't it?  But Hollywood gives you tire squealing on wet roads.  Why?  Simply for effect just like the squealing of the brakes as the car comes to a stop whether it is a brand new model with disc brakes or an old Chevy truck with drums and brake shoes worn to the rivets.
  How about the dialogue going on between the driver and passenger in the front seat of the Hollywood automobile.  Check this one out.  The driver takes his eyes off the road for sometimes four, five or more seconds looking at his passenger while making his point.  And this is at high speed on a two lane country road.  Ever try taking your eyes off the road this long?  You'd become a statistic!
And that little observation leads to another topic that is becoming more deadly every day...the cell phone and texting while driving.  Unless this practice is outlawed the stats will become awesome.
  But back to aviation.  Contrary to common belief, one doesn't hold their nose and blow like hell to equalize the pressure due to change in cabin altitude that  "closes your ears," as the aircraft descends.  This can easily pop an ear drum in an effort to clear the problem.  Simply swallow several times and yawn.  You'd be amazed how effective this is.  I flew a couple of times in my life to offer this suggestion.  In closing this blog I would offer another Hollywood pile of crap that snuck into practice as a result of AIRPORT.  Clapping and cheering after a succesful landing doesn't do anything more than display a sign of relief on the part of the "white knuckle passengers."  The damn airplane is going to come down one way or the other.  It's a matter of physical law.  What you should clap for is the fact that it gets in the air in the first place.  The take-off is always the most critical and demanding part of any flight aside from running into something unexpected like the birds that Sulley ran into leaving LaGuardia.  After the plane settled into the Hudson and everybody got off safely, Captain Sulley deserved not only cheering and clapping, they should have elevated him to the rank of Savior.  Because that is what he really is.  He had the skill and ability to change a powerful jet ito nothing more than a glider.  Isn't experience a wonderful thing?  Happy flying.

Captain IKE
 

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