ZM's Fletch, Vaughan & Hayley - Fletch, Vaughan & Hayley's Fact of the Day (of the Week!) - Pilot Week!

Episode Date: March 14, 2024

On Today's FOTD(OTW); Vaughan hits the runway, and takes off with a week of Pilot facts!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The ZM Podcast Network. Play ZM's Fletch, Vaughn and Hayley. On today's Fact of the Day of the Week, Vaughn hops into the cockpit and autopilots his way through Pilot Week. It's time for... Fact of the Day theme is pilots. Okay. People who fly planes.

Did you come up with this because of the news story that that is... Two pilots? So this is not you. Okay. What you were about to say. with this because of the news story that that is... Two pilots? So there's a... This is not new. What you were about to say. It's been put up again, but it certainly isn't new. But BALPA, the British Airline Pilots Association,

and it annoys me here because they've given AL a home in the acronym. Oh, and it doesn't need one. But it doesn't because airline's one word. It should be BAPA. BAPA. BAPA. Yeah, right.

But it's BALPA. Or BAPS. BAPS would be better. I love BAPS. BAPS. British Airline Pilots Squad. Squadron.

Yeah, there you go. Squadron's a great word. It makes you think of pilots, doesn't it? There you go. So BAPS. It's like when there's a business and they do an acronym.

Am I using acronym right? Acronym. And it's got of or that in it and they don't put those letters in. Yeah. Put the O's and the T's and the of's and the because it makes the word balanced.

Anyway, that's just me and acronyms. That's just me and acronyms. Belper did a study in 2013. They asked their pilots and of course it was completely off the record. This is their union. These are the people. They said that more than half of pilots have fallen asleep while in charge of a plane.

What? Of the 56% who admitted sleeping, 29% told Belper that when they had woken up, the other pilot was asleep as well. Because that's the article I read this morning that I thought was bizarre. This is a story out of Indonesia, a BATIC airplane. The pilot and co-pilot fell asleep for 28 minutes, and then they both lied about it, why they were so off course. They were like, nope, nothing happened.

They're off course. So the plane's just careening towards nothingness. So it drifted off its planned path So has this just happened Because this story This story was from 2013 Yeah this has just happened Oh my gosh

So about half an hour after the plane took off The captain asked permission from his second in command To rest for a while And he said yes The co-pilot took over command and then fell asleep himself. A few minutes after the last recorded transmission, the controller of the aircraft was handed over and the air traffic control received no answer.

And this 10 years almost to the day of MH37B's disappearance. Yeah, God. That's not good. So this, in 2013 when this was coming in, it was because there was new rules being introduced that allowed pilots to land an aircraft after being awake for 22 hours straight, which previously they were not allowed to do,

and to work seven early starts in a row rather than the current three. Yeah, I just was going to say, why were they so, there's something that's wrong here, right? Why were they so tired? Pilots shouldn't be that tired. I really like my pilots tired. You know, just those accidental errors that can happen.

Yeah, me too. I love it when they're sleepy boys. Yeah, it's like flying a bit more exciting, you know? 43% of British Belper Union pilots believed that their abilities had been compromised at least once a month in the last six months by tiredness. 84% of them at the time said it was compromised at some stage during the last six months. So tired plays a massive role.

Being tired plays this massive role too. Could we ever sleep on here? Because we're quite tired. I get a bit tired, but I also don't have 300 people's lives in my hands. I reckon even if you did, you'd still have a nap. Yeah, dude. Just like rest. Let's have a rest.

I struggle to sleep on planes, but I bet if I was a pilot, I could. No! That's terrible. But have you ever walked past a cockpit door when it's open? They have like real lush sheepskin covers. I'm like, oh, nappable. Because do they sleep in the

saddle? I think they should have a Shakti mat. I think every pilot should. So that they don't sleep. Yep. Well, the big planes have like bunk beds. Yeah, they do, eh? They actually like take themselves off for a sleepy day. And do they tag in and out?

Yeah, they have shifts. Okay. Gosh. That's good stuff. This one, I don't want this fact of painted pilots in a bad light. Oh, no. And we're going to do some positive stuff. It's not all going to be doom and gloom to put people off flying.

Although with the price of flights, it would be quite good if people were a bit more scared. So they didn't go so you got the cheaper flights. I like what you're doing here, Steve. I've got friends that are pilots. They train so much. Yeah, they never stop learning. It's insane the amount

of training they go through. So you should feel in safe hands. Yeah. It's just when the wheels start falling off, that's not anything to do with them. That's kind of out of their hands. That's out of their hands. Do you see that video at the weekend?

It was the United Airlines, like, massive big, like, Boeing 737, 777, and a wheel just fell off. Because you know those plain-spotted nerds always take videos of take-offs? Yep. Perfect video. And you just see this massive wheel fall off. Wait, it fell off on takeoff?

Yeah. So it had already done all the hard work. No, it's got to land. No, but it had just been all the way. It had been on the wheel and it's running like, phew, wait off and the wheel's just like plump. Yep. Jeez, that's terrifying.

I know. But there's like 100 wheels. There's heaps of wheels. So don't worry about it. Wait, but how'd they change the wheel? I'm going to find the, what's that? How'd they land? Well, they landed okay because there's 100 other wheels. They had allaps of wheels. So don't worry about it. Wait, but how'd they change the wheel? I'm going to find the... What's that? How'd they land? Well, they landed okay because there's a hundred other wheels.

They had all the other wheels. I thought there were only two wheels. No. There's two wheels on each side of the... Don't they go to bloody Tony's tyre service and get a couple of... Cost them a bloody fortune. Tony would make sure it's bloody on there secure. He would, actually.

That's what they need is to get to Tony's. That's right. Get those lug nuts nice and tight. So today's Fact of the Day and the first for Pilot Week on there secure. He would actually. That's what they needed to get to Tony's. That's right. Get those lug nuts nice and tight. So today's fact of the day and the first for pilot week is that 56% of pilots admitted they'd fallen asleep

and 29% of those pilots said they'd woken up and the other pilot was asleep as well. Play ZM's Fletchford and Ailey. Play ZM. This is pilot fact of the week Timely Ladies and gentlemen

This is your pilot fact of the week Speaking Yeah yesterday that was chaotic Breaking news There was 10 emergency response vehicles At Auckland airport But the flight had already landed So everyone was like, what's happening?

And it just, it's not described as turbulence. No, apparently the pilot said they, yeah, they had a technical issue. Now this is a Boeing? A Boeing, yeah. Was it a couple of weeks ago, John Oliver did the big story on Boeing? Yeah. And events around the world with Boeing aircrafts? Yes.

And you can opt now when you're buying tickets to fly what kind of aircraft you want to fly in. Yeah, a lot of people are filtering out the MAX. We're not loving the MAX. They are not loving the MAX. The MAX has had so many problems. Yeah, I don't think we're definitely not any aircraft in New Zealand flying domestically.

If you ask, because it's booked flights. You've got NEON. I would recommend popping back a couple of weeks and watching the John Oliver episode on Boeing. Just very eye-opening about the whole thing. But today's fact of the day about pilots is that an airline captain has the ability to arrest you or take your last will and testament.

What? Oh, interesting. Apparently, traditions inherited from ship captaincy. Oh, okay. Because if you were the captain on a ship, you were kind of considered the ruler of the ship. Yeah, right. And you were on international waters.

So they needed to have somebody out there with the ability. So they would take your last will and testament. If you were dying on a ship and no one was there, you couldn't trust just the passenger next door. They could be like, oh, on this eight-month journey to New Zealand, we became quite close and he's decided to leave me everything. But he might have a family back home.

So the captain would take the last will and testament, and that's just kind of been inherited by pilots. Is that actually a thing, though, really? If they didn't have a will, well, exactly. I don't have stats on how many times it's actually happened. Yeah, right. But, you know, you're on a 17-hour flight. You're somewhere over.

You look out the window and all you can see is the vast expanse of nothing, but definitely the curvature of the earth, but the vast expanse of nothing. And you're dying. Yeah. And you're like, I didn't get my will sorted at public trust. Yeah, I think the pilot's going to be a little busy. Can the pilot come back and take some notes on a sick bag?

He's going to be quite busy. So there's a couple of leather jackets in there that are worth a bit of money. Those are going to go to Jess, okay? Write that down, Jess, okay? Jess is going to go to Jess. Yeah, and I've got my teddy bear that is not to go to a child.

Are you writing this down? Kweli is not to go to a child. Not to go to a child. Do you want to be buried with that? No, no, no. He won't be able to breathe, you idiot. Write it down. Oh, yeah.

So where do you want him to go? In a museum. In a museum. Donate to Te Papa. Te Papa. Te Papa's the one you want to meet? Te Papa. They've got the school shoes, don't they?

They do. They've got the nomads. Yeah. Kwale Te Te Papa. A nomad's back. By the way, quick side note. A nomad's back? Like a moccasin sort of a shirt?

Yeah, I believe they are. Oh, God damn it. Can I dock Martin Collection? They can go to Vaughan. They can go to Vaughan. I don't know if he wants... Is he the same size foot as you, though? He's a little bit bigger, but...

What can I have? I want something. What do you want done with Aaron? Give him to Vaughan. Give him to Vaughan. Well, they've got that giant squid. They could have a giant Greg Grover from Nova. Yeah.

Great. Put him in that solution. Send him in resin. Put him in there. That's great. Like that monk in Thailand. He's been there for 100 years and look at him. He's looking fantastic.

He's wearing sunglasses because his eyes have evaporated. But, you know, I could really see that happening. Can I leave my mortgage to Fletch? Yes. Thank you. Absolutely not. What happens to your mortgage Can I leave my mortgage to Fletch? Yes. Thank you. Absolutely not. Why happens to your mortgage when you die? They just, the bank sells it.

Whoever you leave the house to inherits the mortgage. Oh, my God, absolutely not. You can have my house. I don't want that crippling debt. You can have my house. You can have my house. I don't want that crippling debt. You can have my house.

So today's fact of the day is an airline captain on a pilot on a flight can, if they need to, either arrest you or take your last will and testament. Today's Fact of the Day is about the first ever scheduled commercial aeroplane flight and its pilot. Okay. Because it's pilot week. It's pilot week. We're learning about pilots.

So the first ever commercial pilot. This was a man that had a paying passenger. Yep. For an organized flight. What year do you think it happened? Oh, I don't know. 50s. Interesting. And wrong.

I was going to say earlier. Oh, yeah, earlier because they did have planes. Yeah, blah, blah, blah. 40s. 1920s. 14. Oh, you're 14. You were right. On the 1st of January, you were right.

Just seconds after, just in the shadow of my telling you. No, no, no, you're my shadow. Oh, I shadowed you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Play the audio back. We're short on time. 1st of January 1914, Tony Janis flew a Benoist 14 biplane to which I was like,

wonder what that looks like? Sticks? Does it look like sticks? Dude, it looks like sticks. Dude, they look like sticks. It looks like your washing line on Sheets Day. Oh, God. You know those people that build their own plane

in their garage and then it never ends well. And then they throw it off a cliff for Red Bull or something and you're like, oh, no. This looks worse. This looks like one of Dick Dastardly's wacky races. Oh, yeah. Trying to stop the pigeon. Does it even have room for a passenger?

Yes, he sat behind him. Early plane days. Okay. It was a two-person plane. It had floats on the end of the wings. Right. But look, if you're imagining something that even resembles a modern airplane, it's not. Okay.

So he flew for 23 minutes from St. Petersburg in Florida, not St. Petersburg in Russia, St. Petersburg to Tampa in Florida. It was a 23-minute long flight. And he took a paying passenger. And thus, he became the first ever commercial pilot. Huh. Wow. Paid to transport a passenger. Do you reckon he was the first ever commercial pilot. Huh. Wow. Paid to transport a passenger.

Do you reckon he was nervous? Do you know what I mean? Like he would have flown the plane on his own. Maybe he wasn't nervous because he didn't know that his plane looked like a washing line. Like at the time, that was what he had. That's what a plane was. That's what planes were.

He hasn't seen a modern plane. I don't know if I'd pay to go on that, to be honest. Neither. I think it would have been a gimmick for the rich people. I'd give it a bit more room, a bit more time, a bit more testing. Yeah, to skip the traffic

but then, I'm thinking in 1914 there probably wasn't a ton of traffic either. No. Tony, uh-oh. Uh-oh. What happened? Well, Tony died two years after that. In a? Well, Tony died two years after that. In a plane crash? Tony died on October the 12th, 1916, near Sevastopol, then part of Russia,

when his plane, a Curtis H-7, which I'm guessing looked a lot like a washing line with sheets on it as well. Well, a little bit more of a plane. There's some wood involved. He was using to train Russian pilots, had engine problems and crashed into the Black Sea, killing him and his two-man Russian crew. His body never recovered. Wow.

Okay. Spooky. Never recovered. So today's fact of the day is the first ever commercial pilot was a guy named Tony who flew his first passenger on the 1st of January 1914 and later died in a plane crash. Play ZM's Fletch, Vaughn and Hayley. Today's fact of the day. flew his first passenger on the 1st of January 1914 and later died in a plane crash. Today's fact of the day,

well, this week's fact of the day theme is pilots. Okay. Now, I received a message yesterday. The show was pirates. What did you do on pirate week? Do you want to go straight from pilots to pirates? Pilots, pirates, and then pikelets. Bingo, bingo, damn. I don't know if you have a week of pikelet facts.

I don't know that you would either. I mean, I definitely could. The quality of the facts towards the end of the week might just be really. My nana made pikelets. I know. I was going to say one of them could be my mum would make pikelets in our letters of our names. Oh, that's cute. That was C for Carl.

Yep. Scott. That's harder. Yeah. That's harder. Yeah, it's pretty cute. Would she give That was a C for Carl. Yep. Scott, that's harder. Yeah. That's harder. Yeah, it's pretty cute. Would she give your dad a John? Yeah.

Wow. Would she do herself a Bev? Yeah. Because she's got two there that could close up. And then I would say you're getting more because your bees are just closing in and you're getting two pinecarts. You are such a shit. You are. You'd be really good at that. Have you seen that German game show Where you've got to cut things

Perfectly in half Yes Oh my god My brother and I Could have been The winners of that In the 90s My brother and I

Would get a tape measure Yeah To cut a chocolate bar in half Or a cake Did you ever go You'd cut it in the Like size wise Like centimetres wide

It was the same But you'd be like I believe that's denser So you'd weigh them And then you'd just keep Carving bits off Until they weighed the same Great stuff It's so bratty I know isn't it wild You're so lucky If my kids pulled that out I believe that's denser, so you'd wave them. And then you'd just keep carving bits off until they weigh the same.

Great stuff. It's so bratty. I know, isn't it wild? If my kids pulled that out, I would hit the roof. I'd slap it out of their hand and tell them not to get any. I feel like it's a brother's thing to do. Maybe it's a brother's thing to do. So today's fact of the day comes to us from Anthony Reid, who said, Vaughn, I believe I have found a pilot fact

that will also itch the never ending itch. Scratch the itch. You itch an itch and you scratch an itch. But you never itch a scratch because it's got to be left alone to heal. Yes. Of my World War 2. My love of World War 2. And it's a home

growing story about James Allen Ward Victoria Cross recipient. Born in Whanganui, he was a teacher when the Second World War began and he volunteered for the Royal New Zealand Air Force. He completed his flight

training and off he went. He flew a Vickers Wellington for the flight nerds listening. Look at these things. What's a Vickers Wellington? It's a plane. Remember the Mitsubishi Sports Pack? Yep. Famous way to get around a troop of children in the 1990s.

Yep. I'd say it's the 1930s plane version of a Mitsubishi Sports Pack. It's very square. Very square on the front. Yes. Very square on the front. They didn't do any rounding there

for the aerodynamics, did they? I thought they would have been onto it by then. How many seats? Just as many as you can cram in. It was a bomber, so most of the space used was for carrying bombs. He was in the 75th Squadron and he operated the Vickers Wellington Bombers.

He did some bombing missions as a co-pilot. And then when he was a co-pilot, this was on July 7th, 1941. This is where he earned his Victoria Cross. I just think of Victoria Cross as 20-year-old Tom, Dick or Harry. No, not Willie or Norley. When they're taking off in World War II,

did they have to do that whole bing bong? Did they do a quiz before they took off? Was there an in-flight quiz? There wasn't an in-flight quiz in World War II. Well, how were they

passing the time? They were too busy. Well, they were all very busy. They had navigators. You guys got to watch Masters of the Air. Did they download a show before they took off?

Okay, so the last Masters of the Air episode just came out. There's only nine and now I'm going to start. Nine? No, it doesn't come out here last Masters of the Air episode just came out. There's only nine and now I'm going to start. No, it doesn't come out here till Friday. Oh, well, whatever. There's only nine. There's only nine. I know. How disappointing. Round it to, go to eight or

ten. Are you sure? Steven Spielberg. I'm 100. Yes. He's listening as well. Because that was what blew my mind was when they went through what everybody on a plane, there was 10 men on those bombers that they focus on, the B-17 bombers, and each of them had

the navigator on board. The navigator's insane. There was no like, there was no GPS, there was no Google Maps, my dudes. This guy had a pen and he was working out how fast they were going with the speed and he'd have to draw a line and he'd be like, yeah, okay, we should be coming up on it and then they're like, can't see it and he's like, uh-oh. We're on a, yeah, okay, we should be coming up on it and then they're like, can't see it. And he's like,

uh-oh. We're on a different island. Yeah, we've been going the wrong direction. Anyway, slightly distracted because you know I get very excited. I know.

Also, the last episode is tomorrow, part nine. Right. March 15th. I can't believe they're going to crank out

all they need to do. What are you kicking? What is that noise? Oh, my toes resting against the grate. I'm going to be able to hear that. It freaked me out.

I didn't know what it was. I thought, sorry, carry on. Yes, you can hear it very loudly. Oh, you can? I apologise. So, please, let's get back to James Allen Ward, Victoria Cross recipient. Sorry, yes, yes, yes.

Because this is how we got as Victoria Cross. Oh, we're so late. Quick. Holy moly, are we what? This shan't be rushed because this is an amazing story. 7th of July, 1941. He is on a night bombing mission. Yeah.

When one of their engines catches on fire. Oh, goodness. He climbed out. He opened the door. What? He climbed out onto the wing of the Wellington bomber and extinguished an engine fire so that him and the rest of his crew could return and land safely.

Mid-flight. Mid-flight. How did he do that? He did a wing walk. He crawled out holding on. Oh, no. With a fire extinguisher or a bucket of water? I imagine a fire extinguisher.

Also, I haven't seen a tap on a plane, apart from in the bathroom. Yeah. No, there wouldn't have been any taps. Okay. If there was no... Amazing. So that's what he got his VC for, his Victoria Cross. Right.

Unfortunately, killed two months later. When he became a pilot, he went from co-pilot to becoming a pilot after that horrendous act of heroism. And unfortunately, was killed two months later while piling at his own bombing mission against Germany. Right. But that's... Amazing story.

Today's fact of the day is in World War II, a New Zealand pilot climbed out on the wing of his own plane to put out a fire. Play ZM's Fletch Von Anele. Play ZM. Well, Fletch has told me I can't take my time and craft

along in detail. We're late. Haberdashery of a story about today's Fact of the Day. But it has been Pilot Week here at Fact of the Day. I'm in real shame I have to hurry this one becausey of a story about today's Fact of the Day, but it has been pilot week here at Fact of the Day. And it's a real shame I have to hurry this one because this is a story of the first ever authenticated membership of the Mile High Club. Oh!

Now, we can linger here. Now, can we have confirmation before we finish pilot week that next week will be pirate week? Yes. I had a friend that was trying to convince a group of us once that the mile-high climb, he joined it solo. I was like, that's not it. That's not it.

And also, don't do that. Also, yuck. In the air, really? I was like, where are you doing that? Don't do that. Don't do that. Where are you doing that? Don't do that.

Oh, don't do that. Don't do that. So today's fact of the day is about a pilot called Lawrence Sparing. Okay. And his lady love, socialite and fellow pilot, Dorothy Rice Sims. They were flying in Dorothy's Curtis Model F flying boat. Oh.

Which. What year was this? It was in 1916. Oh, wow. In a flying boat. Well, that was just basically what they call planes that landed on the water. Yeah.

I love a boat. Well, she did just basically what they called planes that landed on the water. Yeah. I love a boat. Well, she did. Flew, darling. It was equipped with autopilot. Now, he was also the inventor. Lawrence Sparing was the inventor of autopilot and something that was called artificial horizon. To keep your wings, it would work out the artificial horizon

and keep your wings flat. In 1916. Is it very advanced? Was autopilot just a string that you tied around the... artificial horizon and keep your wings flat. In 1916. Is it very advanced? Was autopilot just a string that you tied around the... Probably locked it in and held it

to the artificial horizon. Okay. Yeah, a brick. A brick on the pedal. There's a clever old boy out there, Lawrence. Anyway, in 1916 when they were up there

in her boat, the Curtis Model F flying boat with autopilot on, they clicked on autopilot. Oh, okay. November 21st, 1916. However, in the throes of passion,

Lawrence bumped the autopilot off. Wait, when were they doing this? At least go to the back of the flying boat. No, no, there's no room in the flying boat. There's only two seats. It's like doing it on a motorcycle. Or a small boat. Okay, right.

I'm imagining she climbed over into his part. Okay, yeah, right. Wow. His cabo into his part. Okay. Yeah, right. His caboose. Yeah. It was the front. It was the cockpit. Yeah. Because the caboose had sort of indicated the back.

Well, I don't know. Easy. Easy. Easy. Pull up. Pull out. She. So she climbed over easy.

Easy. She climbed over into where he was sitting. Yeah. And during the love easy. Easy. She climbed over into where he was sitting. Yep. And during the lovemaking, he bumped the autopilot off and they went into a steep pitch. Goodness me. Down. Although still flat as artificial horizon was still on.

And a botched landing. When it landed, it was quite an ordeal. And people ran to it. Yeah it, they were undressed. Have we checked that that didn't happen on the LATAM flight earlier this week? Oh, I don't know. Not that close to Auckland. Oh, it was an hour out, wasn't it? It was an hour out.

You've got time. Isn't it time for a clean up? Plenty of time. Plenty of time. A couple of times. Lawrence and Dorothy there. It was quite scary. That's incredible that it was that long ago.

But wait, then they told or they only, they were found out. They were discovered. Right. They were discovered and even back in the day, in the early days, you know, what happened? Yeah. Is your autopilot no good? Like your invention, the autopilot that you've said you invented, is it no good? And he's like, it is good.

I bumped it. And then they were like, how'd you do it, Lawrence, old boy? And he said, well, I was making love, you see, to Dorothy. And they were like, say no more, old chap. High five, high five, high five. Jolly good rogering. Jolly good old boy. Sad news and something that's kind of like keeping with the theme of a lot of these old pilot stories.

He's dead. He died. Of course he did. It was 1916. He took off in 1923. He took off pilot stories. He's dead. He died. Of course he, it was 1916. He took off in 1923. He took off in fog. Oh yeah. From the United Kingdom heading for France.

Never reached his destination. They found his body in the English Channel on the 11th of January, 1924. Goodness me. Dorothy, however, lived a longer life. She died of a heart attack in Egypt. Oh. In 1916. She was on the eve of the return home in Egypt. Oh. In 1916. She was on the

eve of the return home from a world tour. She was a very fascinating lady, Dorothy Rice Sims. We simply don't have time to get into it today. Don't be afraid to read up on Dorothy Rice Sims. Very interesting lady. So today's fact of the day is the first ever authenticated

membership in the Mile High Club happened on November 21st, 1916 between Lawrence and Dorothy. Fact of the day, day, day, day, day.