it was on tv, so it must be true

AAC Cadet Leader · 7 November 2006, 09:26 PM

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/santos/

Someone at PBS ought to help their researchers spell important names like Bleriot and Gnome Rotary.

Quote:

The world's first practical monoplane, the Blot XI was assured immortality by Louis Blot's heroic 37-minute crossing of the English Channel on July 25, 1909.

Quote:

The most remarkable was this sleek "Monocoque" version, the fastest prewar airplane, powered by a 160 hp Gnrotary engine.

cfgray · 8 November 2006, 01:01 AM

Hi, AAC CL,
I helped with fact-checking and script review on Wings of Madness. The errors are actually a result of the use of accents in the text, which seldom render properly unless coded. I've contacted the people who put together the Wings Of Madness show's web site and have let them know about the problem. I did catch one simple (and common) spelling error, "Levasseur" in place of the correct "Levavasseur" - but did you enjoy the show?
Best,
cfgray

Sandy Spigot-Colon · 8 November 2006, 01:42 AM

Surely they mean Deperdussin Monocoque.
The first aeroplane to exceed 100 mph in level flight.

Gnome powered.

S S-C.

margaret smith · 8 November 2006, 04:04 AM

I saw the show last night and was amazed at what this man accomplished. He worked rings around the Wright brothers and that little personal airship of his was the coolest thing I ever saw! I wish he was alive today.

ONEALM · 8 November 2006, 09:33 AM

Quote:

I wish he was alive today.

I'm sure he does too....

Wind In The Wires · 9 November 2006, 12:56 AM

The Nova program is well worth watching just for the film footage of pioneer aircraft.

cfgray · 9 November 2006, 03:32 AM

AAC CL,
The oddities on the NOVA Wings of Madness site have been cleaned up. It turned out that the problem was the use of accents which caused ther page to render with hidden error codes and deleted text.
Glad you spotted the problem - from your eyes to NOVA's ears.

REMINDER: November 12th is the 100th anniversary of Santos-Dumont's most spectacular flight in the 14bis. Here's to Alberto!

Best,
cfgray

AAC Cadet Leader · 9 November 2006, 07:48 AM

sorry to be so critical, carroll.
yes, i did enjoy it, but i only caught the tail end of the santos-dumont show, then the full hour of the ken hyde segment as i got in late and fliegerJG1 alerted me that it was on. thanks flieg! i hope to catch it on a PBS repeat.
doubling back through the pbs.org link, i do see your name in the credits. that's pretty neat! so it's your fault that they don't know how to spell bleriot and gnome - how ironic! just joking - i see what you said about the computer formatting messing with the spelling and i get it. well, i'm glad to have affected a change.