What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

RVs on Airplane Repo

bsacks05

Well Known Member
The latest episode of the quazi-reality show Airplane Repo was taped at SNF this year. It aired last night and I was happy to see my -9, Catalina, in a background shot for a few seconds. The big repo guy was bench pressing a Glasair in HBC. (I'm not sure why and I hope he had permission:eek:) I also recognized Jay's "Borrowed Horse".
There were other RVs in the episode. Check out this episode if your plane was in HBC this year.
 
I've watched the show, but just for the enjoyment of seeing various airplanes. Even then while watching, I have an inner battle with myself contemplating why I'm watching such a fake and fraudulent television show.

You can take it to the bank, anything and everything on the show is scripted.
 
I have that same inner battle when watching that show; to be fair they do state the stories are recreated. They also say they're true, but I think 'based on truth' would be more accurate.

Didn't the show open with a bunch of RV's in formation?
 
Season and Episode?

Bruce, what season number and episode number?
I'd like to see it!
 
Bobby, I'm not sure about the numbers but it is the latest show, so it will probably be repeated a few times. The discovery channel here seems to replay these shows fairly often.
Nevermind, I just found it, season 4 episode 5 "Mid-Air Repo"
 
Fake

I watched until they repoed a falcon 20 somewhere in Mississippi that was actually based in Lafayette La. And the falcon expert copilot was the planes owner! I worked on his aircraft for him!
 
sad spiral downward to mediocrity

like all these shows, reality just ain't interesting enough....
even AIR SHOW has pilots gritting their teeth, then switching it off!
My apologies that much of it is filmed in Canada, where, apparently, none of the pilots EVER fly with enough fuel, or in decent weather, and parts are always falling off, and our aircraft FALL FROM THE SKY!.....
you know the Repo series is in trouble when; the cameraman is already in the hangar/plane when they break in, & they get out the night vision gear, and for no apparent reason, only involve women with tattoos and push-up bras.
 
>> to see my -9, Catalina

That's one of those fancy planes that VIP's and business men must use... :D
 
Hollywood vs Real

Yes, what you see in Discovery Channel's 'Airplane Repo' series is absolutely all "Hollywood", and for those of us involved in aviation activities it's just wrong at every level.

What's REAL however are the activities of the actors when they're off camera. The photo below was taken at SnF this year with a group of Eagle's Nest students from Circle Christian school in Florida. At first glance it may appear to be nothing more than a PR shot... not so. Kevin Lacey's passion is aviation and sharing his passion with youth. As Kevin was entering the HB parking area with his film crew, he was told not to enter, that he needed to elsewhere for an interview, and not to visit our kids. Yes, I heard first hand Kevin say; "Well ya'll just call security cause I'm going out to visit with those kids"... and he did.

20150424_093224.jpg


Kevin's home airfield is Aero Country in McKinney, Texas, and when he's not wearing his Hollywood hat he's visiting local schools and conducting Aero Country Young Eagles Flights.

Stay tuned for an announcement coming soon... a new Eagle's Nest Project at McKinney High School. Thank you Kevin Lacey!
 
Last edited:
and for no apparent reason, only involve women with tattoos and push-up bras.

Hey, what's wrong with push-up bras!? :p

I agree, this show made me sick, and I've totally lost all respect for the Discovery Channel. I now doubt all the shows I used to like but know nothing about, like Deadliest Catch.
 
good advice

"I have to watch that show on mute"
Best answer to Discovery Chan. I have heard to date.
 
Alternative?

Say what you will about this show (and I don't disagree with anything said yet), it's the only show that made me sit up and say, "That's Jay Pratt's 'Borrowed Horse'....I've met that guy!"
 
The show is a train wreck, I feel used after watching. My only issue is that people think that's the way pilots operate, dumb and naive!
 
They tried to film an episode at a nearby airport. Just remember, in order to film on a city property you need proper permits. So everything filmed has already been scripted and ran though the municipality's film commission.

BTW, that airport turned them down. This show does a good job of making fun of an airport's security and adds no benefit to showing the public how safe the GA's community is.
 
reality shows - unreal

sadly this trend has encompassed our airplane enjoyment, but it's hardly a 'new' low..... back in the 90's, a neighbor living in NYC, hoping and waiting for a modeling call, would occasionally 'go on' the Likki Rake show ( not the real name!) ;) and perform whatever part the script required....unwed interracial knocked-up teen mother...or some such nonsense.

I love the term someone coined for all things related....."chewing gum for the eyes"

ok, a little Rv tidbit.....there was a half-decent Discovery show in 2008, Jetstream, that followed a group of rookies going thru CF-18 initiation at CFB cold Lake Alberta. (410 cougar squadron)
One of the instructors, former Snowbirds team member 'Flailin' Mike Ayling' has an RV-4 stationed nearby!

( pardon if any of the above details are incorrect)
 
Yeah, I agree with all you guys. I really long for a really good, high quality true to life aviation based show like oh, maybe, Airwolf! :D:D:D
 
Hey, what's wrong with push-up bras!? :p
It's a subject that deserves close examination.

As for shows on Discovery or NatGeo, or for that matter most of the junk on History Channel any more... these shows are useful only in knowing for certain how things are NOT done, ever, by anyone. I may not know HOW an airplane repo or gold mining or crab fishing or alligator hunting is done... but I'm pretty sure I know how it's NOT done.

I can't even stand to watch Airplane Repo. It's way past my tolerance level for stupid. Ranks right up there with Dance Moms.
 
SKY KING!

I have an old VHS player and a small TV in my shop and I enjoy watching old "SKY KING" TV shows while I work.

The airplane shots were used over and over in different episodes, and the plots were predictable, but that show takes me back to my childhood when I dreamed of being a pilot like Sky King!
 
Buffalo Airways

I use to like to watch Buffalo Airways and even got to meet some of them at Oshkosh one year but every flight on the show seemed to be a life or death situation and it got a little old. Plus the owner was the most miserable boss I've ever seen. They need another show like Sky King or Whirlybirds. As least it held my attention when I was young.
 
DRAMA

When it comes to the world of entertainment, DRAMA is the coin of the realm. This is true in both scripted and non-scripted (so-called Reality) programming. As this applies to Airplane Repo, most viewers (non-pilots) aren?t interested in watching real life aviation take place. Too boring! It is the drama they create in the plot lines of the show that makes it appeal to the broader (necessary) audience. Heck, even sporting events require drama, as they routinely start losing significant eyeballs (i.e., ratings fall off) when the score becomes lopsided and/or the outcome becomes a foregone conclusion.

In the non-scripted content world, Drama is accentuated, and when necessary, manufactured. Such is the case with Airplane Repo. I?m not making a case for whether this is a good or bad thing, it just is what it is.

Personally I?m not a consumer of this type of content, but it is VERY popular and a HUGE $$ generator for the folks who create/own it. That?s why it has become so pervasive. Remember that TV is an economic enterprise, and therefore comports itself to certain ?realities?. ;)
 
The show has many flaws. We all know that but the fact that it's on its third season says something. I can say that off camera Kevin is one of the nicest most genuine people I've met and avid supporter of general aviation and the future of aviation. Tomorrow morning he and other pilots will be doing young eagles flights at T31.

I wish the show was more about the real repossessions Kevin and the other guys have done. To me listening to Kevin talk about a repossession that actually happened is very entertaining. But apparently that doesn't get the ratings.
 
...ok, a little Rv tidbit.....there was a half-decent Discovery show in 2008, Jetstream, that followed a group of rookies going thru CF-18 initiation at CFB cold Lake Alberta. (410 cougar squadron)
One of the instructors, former Snowbirds team member 'Flailin' Mike Ayling' has an RV-4 stationed nearby!...

That show was pretty cool, binge watched it on U Tube over the holiday's a few years back. All 'real' IMHO, just cameras following some noobs through the CF-18 replacement course. Nothing falling off the jets, no stolen/repoed aircraft, no in-flight emergencies. Everything airplane wise, speaking from a 24 year military aircraft maintenance perspective, I felt, was pretty accurate. The only 'drama' so-to-speak, was watching the studs struggle with the high-speed, low-drag, no-mercy syllabus. Sure they could fly the Hornet, but did they have what it took to be an effective wingman/fighter pilot?

As Len Morgan said years ago, in his column in Flying when referring to his time in a post-war Air National Guard P-51 squadron, and I'm para-phrasing here, "There are people who fly fighters and there are fighter pilots" They're not necessarily the same thing.

OBTW I can't stand the Airplane Repo Show either.
 
Airplane repo

Airplane repo is pretty much un-watchable . Black Sheep Squadron was my favorite show as a kid. Haven't seen an episode in 20 years .
 
The Black Sheep series has been on regularly this past year (not sure what network). Probably the best aviation series of it's time and much better than most others currently on today. Love it!

Bevan
 
ok, a little Rv tidbit.....there was a half-decent Discovery show in 2008, Jetstream, that followed a group of rookies going thru CF-18 initiation at CFB cold Lake Alberta. (410 cougar squadron)
One of the instructors, former Snowbirds team member 'Flailin' Mike Ayling' has an RV-4 stationed nearby!

( pardon if any of the above details are incorrect)


All correct to my knowledge. My son was posted to 410 (the CF18 training squadron featured in the show) right at the time that the show aired. Most of the instructors and quite a few of the students from the show were still there. He has since flown with several of them, and I've met a couple of them myself. The show was real. Unfortunately, one friend of mine who knows these people very, very well feels very strongly that the added distraction of the film crew, as well as subtle pressure to up the drama, was responsible for the failure of the one student who washed out. Too bad; fantastic guy and an excellent pilot. Coincidentally, "Flayling's" name just came up in conversation the other night; a flying acquaintance of mine worked with him in Cold Lake and knows him well.

Despite that one issues, "Jetstream" was the best aviation show I have ever watched. I've watched the whole series a few times now.
 
Last edited:
Sponsor of Young Eagles

If Kevin is sponsoring Young Eagles program and another build project, I can't bring myself to complain about the show. I will watch it knowing that the guy on TV is a good guy. Lots of them are not.
 
Back
Top