A margarine advert featuring a Beech Bonanza was the catalyst for flightlogistics.tv managing director Tim Desbois's choice of career and inspired him to become an expert on aerial filming
What is your background and how did you get into this field?
My first job involved work as a projectionist. I screened a showreel that included a commercial with a stunning aerial sequence of a polished aluminium Beech Bonanza, sun glinting off the wings, flying through the Grand Canyon. I fell in love. Then came the voice over: "Scott Carpenter, astronaut, likes the good things in life - Blue Band margarine."
So a 30s margarine ad changed my life. I have been flying ever since, mainly on business jets and on the North Sea.
 |
|---|
© Flightlogistics.tv |
Working freelance, I combined filming and flying careers. I leaned towards filming, initially as an assistant director, because if, over the years, you plot the peaks and troughs, particularly of general aviation, you get a reasonable drawing of a Toblerone bar.
Some of the highlights?
In the 1980s I got a call from the Saatchis. Someone at British Airways had calculated that the annual distance flown by the BA fleet was the equivalent of going to Mars. So, for a TV ad, "Could Concorde fly vertically to resemble a Space Shuttle?"
Lots of meetings and scratching of heads. With little fuel, reheat and only five of us on board, we achieved a sustained 75° nose-up attitude climb. Inconceivable now, because it would be done as a computer-generated image.
However, some shoots have to be for real. Emirates called me to organise an air-to-air shoot on its first Airbus A380 to fly into Dubai and then fly past the iconic Burj Al Arab hotel.
There is a lot of pressure on any air-to-air shoot, but it is also important not to frighten anyone on the ground. The world's largest airliner, with a Learjet in close formation at low level, flying towards a famous tall building could be misinterpreted.
The trick is to turn it into an event, get it announced in the press and on the radio.
What is more important - to understand aeronautics or to be a good cameraman?
Both are equal. Film and aviation people view each other as Biggles and Luvvies. Both mean well, but often do not understand each other's problems. The best pilot and camera operator teams seem to understand each other like an old married couple. So, when briefed, they can go and shoot what is required.
How would someone get into this type of work?
It is difficult, but the skills required vary considerably. Shooting news or sport from a helicopter at 1,000ft is completely different from close-tracking a car chase, or arriving at the precise position for a stunt involving large explosions.
You now run "everyday" English courses for pilots whose first language is not English. What led to it and how does it work?
I was working in Spain. Next door were Spanish students who had completed a combined air transport pilot's licence and management degree, but could not get work with non-Spanish airlines, largely because of their general spoken English comprehension.
Their problem was colloquial spoken English. For example: "I've just got to nip to the loo. Pop down to the gate and hold up the minibus. I'll just be two ticks." This reduces most English-as-a-second-language-speakers to Manuel from Fawlty Towers.
We have grouped hundreds of these odd phrases together with a simple keyword - for example, what do the British or American, Australian or South Africans use as alternative words and phrases for, say, "angry"? We are getting interest from cabin staff trainers, as the role requires comprehension of passenger requests.
Desbois: projected into a filming and flying career
"The best pilot and
camera operator
teams seem to
understand each
other like an old
married couple"
Source: Flight International
