WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 1 00:00:01.199 --> 00:00:03.780 I got an email from an aerobatics team that said, 2 00:00:03.780 --> 00:00:06.189 "Hi, we attach pyrotechnics to our planes 3 00:00:06.189 --> 00:00:09.260 "so we can produce a fireworks show in mid-flight. 4 00:00:09.260 --> 00:00:12.200 "Do you want to come for a test ride?" 5 00:00:12.200 --> 00:00:14.639 [radio] "Going right, now." 6 00:00:14.639 --> 00:00:17.640 What else was I going to say? 7 00:00:17.640 --> 00:00:19.430 Look at that sunset. 8 00:00:19.430 --> 00:00:22.020 Oh, wow. 9 00:00:22.020 --> 00:00:27.550 - My inspiration for Aerosparx came from seeing New Years Eve on television, 10 00:00:27.550 --> 00:00:31.270 in Edinburgh, where underneath the castle they had a waterfall of light. 11 00:00:31.270 --> 00:00:36.220 I always imagined that being somehow trailing off behind the wing of an aeroplane. 12 00:00:36.220 --> 00:00:39.210 - Aerosparx, as a display team, we are lucky enough and privileged enough 13 00:00:39.210 --> 00:00:40.900 to go all over the world. 14 00:00:40.900 --> 00:00:44.690 We've been to China, Saudi Arabia, Portugal, 15 00:00:44.690 --> 00:00:49.000 lots of locations in Europe, and obviously locations in the UK. 16 00:00:49.000 --> 00:00:54.940 And we can display from up to 300,000 people, to a million people. 17 00:00:54.949 --> 00:00:56.050 - All right. 18 00:00:56.050 --> 00:00:59.540 It is nearly dark enough and our planes are nearly in position. 19 00:00:59.540 --> 00:01:01.560 This is going to happen very soon. 20 00:01:01.560 --> 00:01:04.000 Just to be clear, this is a practice run. 21 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:05.000 This is not a proper display. 22 00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:08.170 When it's a display, there is a lot more going on in the cockpit, 23 00:01:08.170 --> 00:01:09.939 a lot more going on the pyrotechnics, 24 00:01:09.939 --> 00:01:12.469 and they are very much not allowed to take passengers. 25 00:01:12.469 --> 00:01:15.440 But, um, yeah. Let's see what this is like. 26 00:01:15.440 --> 00:01:17.480 - And, relax(!) 27 00:01:18.040 --> 00:01:19.840 - Are my nerves that obvious? 28 00:01:20.320 --> 00:01:24.400 - One of the big wows is flying in extremely close formation. 29 00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:27.640 We're helped by the wings being extremely long, 30 00:01:27.649 --> 00:01:30.789 so your peripheral vision is just full of aeroplane. 31 00:01:30.789 --> 00:01:32.619 - I don't see Guy very often, 32 00:01:32.619 --> 00:01:37.750 but I know that he's probably only three metres from my aircraft, 33 00:01:37.750 --> 00:01:38.849 and that's where trust comes in. 34 00:01:38.849 --> 00:01:44.099 - You'll see us firing lots of different kinds of fireworks, pyro, from the aeroplanes. 35 00:01:44.099 --> 00:01:47.219 They all need preparation and that can take some hours. 36 00:01:47.219 --> 00:01:51.590 So all of the igniters, eMatches, need inserting into the fireworks. 37 00:01:51.590 --> 00:01:54.840 We need to work out what we're going to put on the aeroplane where, 38 00:01:54.840 --> 00:01:57.560 and then the process of actually fitting the aeroplane, again, 39 00:01:57.560 --> 00:01:59.169 can take half an hour to an hour. 40 00:01:59.169 --> 00:02:03.350 We genuinely can't shimmy down the wing and light the blue to uch paper. 41 00:02:03.350 --> 00:02:06.439 All commercial firework displays are ignited the same way. 42 00:02:06.439 --> 00:02:11.330 They're all ignited with a control box lighting an eMatch or an igniter. 43 00:02:11.330 --> 00:02:13.780 And that goes into the blue touch paper, effectively. 44 00:02:13.780 --> 00:02:15.780 And we do just the same. 45 00:02:15.780 --> 00:02:17.810 We started out by having a bank of switches. 46 00:02:17.810 --> 00:02:21.150 But when you're under high workload in formation flying, 47 00:02:21.150 --> 00:02:23.630 it's so easy to hit the wrong button. 48 00:02:23.630 --> 00:02:26.930 We can fire 24 separate fireworks in our display. 49 00:02:26.930 --> 00:02:29.849 You can't get 24 right in a sequence. 50 00:02:29.849 --> 00:02:32.540 So we've actually had a bespoke computer system designed, 51 00:02:32.540 --> 00:02:35.670 and not only does it fire our fireworks for us, but it also 52 00:02:35.670 --> 00:02:38.790 controls the LED light system on the aeroplanes as well. 53 00:02:38.790 --> 00:02:41.180 And that means I now have only one button. 54 00:02:41.180 --> 00:02:46.060 So once I've pressed it once, it then auto-sequences onto the next part of the programmes. 55 00:02:46.060 --> 00:02:47.780 My imagination, I've found over the years, 56 00:02:47.780 --> 00:02:53.280 has always been a leapfrog ahead of the authorities' regulation. 57 00:02:53.280 --> 00:02:56.730 Not trying to stop what we're doing, but trying to understand what we're doing, 58 00:02:56.730 --> 00:03:01.380 and finding out where it fits into regulations that were written, quite genuinely, 59 00:03:01.380 --> 00:03:02.960 not for aeroplanes. 60 00:03:02.960 --> 00:03:08.000 So at the moment we're dealing with aviation regulation and firework regulation. 61 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:11.540 [radio] Diving now. 62 00:03:12.740 --> 00:03:15.100 Loop now. 63 00:03:16.480 --> 00:03:18.820 Fire, fire, fire. 64 00:03:24.700 --> 00:03:27.300 Loop. Loop, now. 65 00:03:27.300 --> 00:03:29.220 - Check your CB, Rob, check your CB. 66 00:03:30.180 --> 00:03:33.099 - So the question is, how can they do this? 67 00:03:33.100 --> 00:03:35.900 And how can they do this safely? 68 00:03:35.900 --> 00:03:36.540 [radio] Loop. 69 00:03:38.260 --> 00:03:39.860 Loop, now. 70 00:03:41.260 --> 00:03:42.560 - We have defined roles. 71 00:03:42.569 --> 00:03:46.180 My job is to lead the formation, lead the display. 72 00:03:46.180 --> 00:03:48.160 - Rob is working very hard in the climb out, 73 00:03:48.160 --> 00:03:50.609 working out exactly where to start the display, 74 00:03:50.609 --> 00:03:53.609 and how to modify the display subtly 75 00:03:53.609 --> 00:03:56.660 to keep it in the right place with the wind conditions. 76 00:03:56.660 --> 00:03:58.400 My job is very clear, 77 00:03:58.400 --> 00:04:02.320 to fly safely and as close as I can without hitting him. 78 00:04:02.320 --> 00:04:04.600 Planning is everything in our display, 79 00:04:04.600 --> 00:04:07.819 and that planning starts on the ground before we even get airborne. 80 00:04:07.819 --> 00:04:12.060 We do a bumblebee dance, as we call it, so we go around in circles, 81 00:04:12.060 --> 00:04:17.380 in our mind and physically mimicking the manoeuvres that we're then going to do in the sky. 82 00:04:17.380 --> 00:04:23.150 And that then sets a cadence and a rhythm, and the physical memory of what you're doing, 83 00:04:23.150 --> 00:04:27.670 so that when we start a display, we're on the same page and working as a team. 84 00:04:27.670 --> 00:04:31.560 On the radio, we're confirming all the time what we're going to do before we do it. 85 00:04:31.560 --> 00:04:33.660 - Okay. Firing now. 86 00:04:35.180 --> 00:04:39.380 - Our choice of using a Grob 109 motorglider was for lots of reasons. 87 00:04:39.390 --> 00:04:42.640 One of my original imaginations of this firework display 88 00:04:42.640 --> 00:04:47.420 was to separate the fireworks as far as we could, and we needed a big wingspan for that. 89 00:04:47.420 --> 00:04:50.630 Because it's a glider, it also has the efficiency of a glider. 90 00:04:50.630 --> 00:04:56.760 Which means that we can perform aerobatics with a very small engine, and it gives us grace. 91 00:04:56.760 --> 00:04:59.140 The disadvantage with a motorglider is a very small engine. 92 00:04:59.140 --> 00:05:01.630 That means we take a long time to climb to altitude, 93 00:05:01.630 --> 00:05:02.840 and when we're at altitude, 94 00:05:02.840 --> 00:05:06.130 we try and conserve all the energy we have. 95 00:05:06.130 --> 00:05:08.920 We describe our as play as painting with light. 96 00:05:08.920 --> 00:05:13.760 We like to think that the focus is more on the image we're painting with the aeroplanes, 97 00:05:13.760 --> 00:05:16.720 rather than the distinct manoeuvres we're doing separately. 98 00:05:16.720 --> 00:05:18.950 Fireworks are great on the ground, 99 00:05:18.950 --> 00:05:21.190 when you're flying next to fireworks, it's even better. 100 00:05:21.190 --> 00:05:26.310 And I still pinch myself every time I even think about going flying with fireworks, 101 00:05:26.310 --> 00:05:30.380 and just think, 'I can't believe we're actually going to do this'. 102 00:05:30.380 --> 00:05:31.380 - That's incredible. 103 00:05:31.380 --> 00:05:35.630 So that's, what, two tests now. And what are you doing tomorrow? 104 00:05:35.630 --> 00:05:40.060 - Tomorrow will be twice as much pyro in the same length of time. 105 00:05:40.060 --> 00:05:42.940 So it's going to be Armageddon. 106 00:05:42.940 --> 00:05:45.479 - Thank you so, so, much. 107 00:05:45.479 --> 00:05:46.949 - Very good. 108 00:05:46.949 --> 00:05:50.910 - You can find out more about Aerosparx and all the displays they're going to, 109 00:05:50.910 --> 00:05:52.650 at the link in the description. 110 00:05:52.650 --> 00:05:53.920 - Thank you. 111 00:05:55.260 --> 00:05:58.080 What we are going to do is turn the engine off. 112 00:05:58.080 --> 00:05:59.700 - Oh. - And land as a glider. 113 00:05:59.700 --> 00:06:01.360 - Okay. Um. 114 00:06:02.300 --> 00:06:03.380 Sure! 115 00:06:06.560 --> 00:06:08.400 - There you are, look. No engine. 116 00:06:10.780 --> 00:06:12.680 The propeller's just... just stopped.