Live from 1999, it's
the unaired pilot for The Jon Brion Show! With special guests Paul F. Tompkins, Grant-Lee Phillips, Mark Oliver "E" Everett, Greg Behrendt, Elliot Smith, Rickie Lee Jones, Robyn Hitchcock, Cheap Trick, and Mary Lynn Rajskub.
[more inside]
posted by Iridic
on Sep 6, 2011 -
13 comments
The exotic blend of international travel, the authority of commanding the ever larger and faster airliners, and those dashing uniforms turned heads, drew autograph hunters and attracted groupies. Pilots also made a lot of money. Today it is different. Captain Dave Ryter earned so little when he was a co-pilot for a major airline that he lived in a gang area of Los Angeles, commuted for hours to work and made less money than a bus driver. A pilot's life: exhausting hours for meagre wages
posted by fearfulsymmetry
on Jan 11, 2010 -
39 comments
Pilot School. A nice collection of teevee show pilot scripts. Observe the embryonic state of many of the classics of the past few decades, including
Buffy,
The Wire,
Hill Street Blues,
Battlestar Galactica,
The Sopranos and
The West Wing.
[more inside]
posted by Bookhouse
on Nov 21, 2008 -
29 comments
Join Hitler and his pirate robots on a hacky journey of learning. Eight
video tutorials on how to create a great video pilot
(starring Jack Black, with a cameo by Andy Dick as a police car). Just be aware... true success in the entertainment business entails a lot
more than just decent cinematography.
Courtesy Acceptable.tv and Channel101.com (of Yacht Rock fame.)
posted by miss lynnster
on Mar 31, 2007 -
14 comments
Bruce Peterson has died. Peterson was one of
NASA's top test pilots for the lifting body program,
a wingless aircraft with which
NASA experimented during the sixties. Peterson retired from research flying after he barely survived a spectacular crash of his
M2-F2--after Peterson recovered from an oscillation in which the aircraft rolled uncontrollably from side to side, he changed course to avoid colliding with a rescue helicopter, but a cross wind shifted him to an unmarked area of the lakebed. Peterson fired his landing rockets for additional lift, but the M2-F2 hit the lakebed at 250 mph before the landing gear was fully down and locked, rolled six times, and
came to rest upside down. Peterson survived, but lost sight in his right eye.
You may not have heard of
Bruce Peterson, but you're probably familiar with his crash of the M2-F2, although Peterson didn't appreciate being the inspiration and backstory for another fictitious NASA pilot who was badly hurt and lost an eye when his experimental aircraft crashed.
Here he is.
posted by fandango_matt
on May 4, 2006 -
17 comments
Kamikaze. 'American and Japanese images of kamikaze pilots differ greatly. This web site explores diverse portrayals and perceptions of the young men who carried out suicide attacks near the end of World War II.'
'When Japanese kamikaze pilots carried out their attacks between October 1944 and October 1945, Japanese and American people had opposite perspectives. Japanese people saw young smiling pilots as they waved goodbye. In contrast, American soldiers viewed death and destruction when the pilots' planes exploded upon crashing into their ships. These very different points of view continue to influence Japanese and American perceptions of kamikaze pilots even until today.'
posted by plep
on Mar 3, 2005 -
16 comments
Aviation Explorer "Your online source for aviation information and media...aviation web resources for pilots and flight enthusiasts." I'm neither a pilot nor a flight enthusiast, but still found this site interesting (especially the
accidents section, which reminded me of
this previous thread on cockpit voice recorders).
posted by jdroth
on Jan 21, 2004 -
5 comments
27 Israeli Pilots have been grounded by the military after refusing to take part in airstrikes carried out in the occupied territories. Some active, some retired, they were accused of "making cynical use of the Israeli air force to express a civilian view," but in a joint letter to their command, they spoke out against "
air force attacks in civilian population centers." Either way, Edward Said may be
resting a little easier, at least tonight.
posted by scarabic
on Sep 25, 2003 -
10 comments
Want to create your own TV Show? So do some folks who aren't from the big lit up place we call Hollywood.... All you've got to do is click up on the site, sign up, pay $25 bucks, and you're in... Oh - and you have to have an idea, too. [thanks
MSNBC]
posted by djspicerack
on Jul 30, 2003 -
3 comments
Friendly fire pilots cleared. Even though a joint US-Canada investigation found that there was sufficient evidence to proceed with court-martial proceedings against the two pilots, no military charges will be filed.
Now, while charging these two pilots will not bring the dead Canadians back, I don't think that it's too much to ask that these two hotshots be required to face the consequences of their
lethal actions.
Frankly, a court-martial is not too much to expect, in the face of the fact that these officers disobeyed a direct order.
posted by Dipsomaniac
on Jun 18, 2003 -
16 comments
Man and his family booted off airplane after asking if pilots were sober. Hans von Schweinitz, on his way to go fishing in Canada, asked one of the flight crew whether the pilots had taken a sobriety test. They hadn't. A blood alcohol test kit was sent for. Two and a half hours later, with the plane sitting there on the tarmac, the pilots were found to be clean. Then they ordered von Schweinitz and his family to get off the plane, while the other passengers cheered.
posted by RylandDotNet
on Jul 16, 2002 -
43 comments
U.S. Spy agencies say Gulf War pilot likely seized. A U.S. intelligence report on the case of Navy Lt. Cmdr. Michael Scott Speicher provides the most complete explanation by the U.S. government on why the pilot probably was captured alive by Iraqis after ejecting from his F-18 in 1991. Interesting that this story comes out just as the U.S. is preparing to war on Iraq.
posted by Ty Webb
on Mar 15, 2002 -
26 comments
The "Tuskegee Airmen" of the Marine Corps. This is sort of a self-link; the history of the
Washington DC Chapter of the Montford Point Marine Association is a project I'm working on, but I have nothing to do with their website. The Montford Point Marines were the first black Marines specifically trained to serve in combat, but very few people seem to know about them.
I decided to link this after watching a special on A&E about the men who raised the flags (there were two flag raisings) at Iwo Jima. Nothing was mentioned about the black Marines who served and died there, since none of the flag-raisers were black, but they should be remembered nonetheless.
posted by jennaratrix
on Jun 21, 2001 -
5 comments
