Suspending Tom Scott from a Helicopter
A FAREWELL TO TOM SCOTT
Tom Scott, a well-known YouTube creator, recently announced that he will be retiring from making videos. Marking the end of an era for one of the platform's most established creators. In a video he released on the 1st of January, titled "After ten years, it's time to stop making videos". Tom announced his decision to step away from his content creation duties.
Throughout his time on YouTube. Tom Scott has covered a wide variety of topics including data science, science experiments, history, and educational cultural explorations. He has gained a loyal following of fans who have come to appreciate his unique approach to presenting complex ideas in a fun and engaging way.
GREATEST MOMENTS FEATURING GB HELICOPTERS
In his final video, Tom bids farewell to his viewers and reminisces about some of the most memorable moments from his channel. He shares some of the greatest moments including bloopers, behind-the-scenes footage, and highlights from his most popular videos.
For a long time, Tom had wanted to try something exciting on his YouTube Channel but had never found a reason to do so. This dream involved being harnessed to the underbelly of a helicopter. An experience Tom had always desired to film and share with his viewers. Finally, in his latest video montage, Tom was able to fulfil this wish. He ended his series with incredible footage of himself suspended by one of our AS355 helicopters.
Helicopters, long-lining and human underslung
At GB Helicopters dangling people from a helicopter isn’t an unusual request. We have conducted this stunt previously for Harry Styles' "Sign of the Times" music video, and most recently for a giant Dorito (albeit not a human). Taking part in Tom Scott's ultimate content release was a delight for us at GB Helicopters, and we were happy to make his dreams come true by suspending him from one of our helicopters.
Director and Chief Pilot Will Banks flew the twin-engine aircraft, G-GBTV to Little Staughton Airfield. Upon arrival, our team provided Tom with a safety briefing. He was then securely harnessed to our long line. Finally, Tom took flight across the airfield whilst being suspended from our aircraft.
PERMISSIONS REQUIRED
We required a permit from the CAA for using our Human External Transport System, this was obtained as task specific for this activity. Lec Park drone company shot the aerial footage for Tom Scott's farewell video. We have a close relationship with Lec Park after years of collaboration on countless projects.
Watch Tom Scotts latest upload on his YouTube Channel: @TomScottGo.
Aerial Stunts
At GB Helicopters we have the capability and expertise to safely execute helicopter stunts, one of the only helicopter providers in the UK to do so outside of military operations . So, if you're looking to perform a skydive, or a heli-jump, or you have an unusual request, don't hesitate to contact our operations team. Let's discuss your aerial stunt today!
Special Operations Platform
Film and TV purposes
Our TSOP specialist operations platform is designed to make helicopter missions easier, safer, and more efficient. Whether you are in demand to use the benches for action, drama or entertainment purposes, the opportunities are endless.
Explore your visions and ensure the final shot of your production provides viewers with exciting and daring scenes. Are you in demand for your cast to perform a special force’s operation? Make use of our specialist operations bench as a sniper platform or complete an enhanced search and rescue mission. Heli-borne snipers can serve as aerial patrols for convoys and raid teams while providing aerial support for missions. While completing courageous operations, create a compelling and thrilling scene for your viewers.
Create a dramatic entrance for presenters, whilst engaging audience anticipation. Provide a spectacular and adventurous opening or closing title, whilst the presenters sit on the exterior of a helicopter as it glides through the sky.
Allow viewers to grasp their seats and set a daring challenge for contestants participating in a reality show. Secure the contestant onto the specialist operations benches and assess their abilities.
Involving the ‘TSOP’ as part of aerial stunts will surely add to dramatic effects. No more CGI or receiving less for the image you initially had for your production. Here at GB Helicopters, we are excited to introduce our specialist operations platform for aerial film and TV uses.
There are countless purposes for the special operations bench, and we are always open to exploring. No matter how adventurous or unusual your requests are we will do our best to fulfil them.
Our specialist operations platform can be paired together with either our H125 or AS355 aircraft.
Time Efficient
Taking only five minutes to install. The benches are externally mounted to the rear of the cabin and fuselage area, with jack points, unique clamps, and brackets.
Safety Measures
Built with an aerodynamic design and provides dual seating. The TSOP allows four individuals to be positioned and secured to the benches. Once installed, the platform allows up to 500 lbs capacity on either side of the platform. The stable platforms have anchor points for a safety harness/belt.
Safety is paramount to us; we will always adhere to safety regulations in line with the CAA.
To use our Special Operations Platform email our operations team at ops@gbconcierge.co.uk or call us on 0800 030 4105
Gordon Ramsay's Future Food Stars
Gordon Ramsay is well known for his choice of language. With this in mind, his new competition series aired on BBC One on Thursday night - Gordon Ramsay’s Future Food Stars. Also known by the acronym ‘FFS’. The show offers 12 entrepreneurs the chance to win a life-changing investment from Gordon Ramsay, who will put £150,000 into their business.
Throughout the series we will see a variety of tasks set, challenging the contenders whilst highlighting each of their weaknesses. Each entrepreneur must prove to the formidable chef that their food and drink business is worth the investment. Gordon Ramsay puts his contenders straight to the test, as their first task was to do a ‘leap of faith’ off the cliff edges in Newquay.
The candidates run a business within the catering industry. We meet Amit who has created bottled Indian sauces from family recipes, Matthew who is establishing a zero-waste restaurant. Jen's business, which comprises of low-sugar bottled cocktails, are examples of diverse and unique backgrounds the entrepreneurs come from.
What was our involvement in Future Food Stars?
One of our twin-squirrel AS355s was flown by Dan Hagan during Gordon Ramsay's grand arrival. At Lust Glaze Beach in Newquay, Gordon leaps from the helicopter into the sea performing an aerial stunt. This foreshadowed what was to follow for his candidates.
Together with LecPark, we captured the required shots using their camera system and drone. As a result, we were able to film Gordon Ramsey's stunt whilst also providing us with aerial shots of our aircraft.
Required permissions
To perform the stunt we were required to be granted special permission from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). As with all our stunt work, we always ensure we have the appropriate permissions from the CAA before the project begins.
FFS airs weekly on Thursday nights on BBC One.
Ultimate Hell Week - The Professionals
One of the toughest reality TV shows around has returned to screens in Ireland. Ultimate Hell Week sees eighteen recruits put through an intense selection course that’s been put together by former members of Ireland’s Special Forces. This time, it’s the turn of the professionals. And taking on this daunting course are some of Ireland’s most well-known faces from the world of sport and entertainment.
Over five days, they will endure rigorous physical and mental tests. Pushed well out of their comfort zone, each recruit will have to complete cold-water events, height tests, claustrophobic challenges and interrogation, alongside demanding trials of strength, stamina and determination.
GB Helicopters was brought in to help carry out the cold-water events and height tests. Producing the incredible footage of the stunts, was drone operator Lec Park.
First up was the ‘Heli Jump’. We performed this stunt recently for Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins and on numerous Bear Grylls productions.
Flying low and fast over the waters near Cork, two recruits sit nervously in the back. Accompanying them in the cabin is their course instructor and a camera operator. Ensuring there’s unrestricted movement in the back, both the rear and co-pilot seats have been removed, as have the doors on one side. The camera operator now has the freedom to perfectly capture the raw emotions of each recruit in anticipation of their jump into the cold waters.
The second stunt we carried out is one of our favourites, the ‘Long Line’. Officially termed ‘Human External Cargo’, this stunt involves one or two people being suspended on a long line underneath the helicopter. It is another stunt we’ve done frequently with Bear Grylls. It’s also how we made Harry Styles fly in the music video for his hit single Sign of the Times. No CGI required.
For Ultimate Hell Week, this was performed around the spectacular coastline and cliffs of Mizen Head. We began by flying along the coast before sweeping up to a clifftop, one the recruits had just climbed up. Coming to a hover overhead, two of the recruits were carefully secured to the line below. Once safely attached, we lifted them over the edge of the cliff and out towards the ocean. The incredible vistas making this stunt all the more spectacular. The recruits were then dropped off further down the coast, ready for their next challenge.
For those of you in Ireland, you can watch the whole series on RTE Player.
To find out how these thrilling scenes could be part of your next production, get in touch on 0800 030 4105 or at ops@gbconcierge.co.uk.
Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins
Once again we find ourselves hovering over the waters just off the Isle of Raasay. This time, Ore Oduba is onboard, carefully perched on the skid of our hovering helicopter. Facing the instructor inside the aircraft, he’s given his instructions on how to perform the dive into the sea...backwards...from 20 ft. He crosses his arms over his chest, and lets himself fall blindly backwards towards the water below. This is no Strictly Come Dancing.
He is one of the 12 new recruits for the latest series of Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins.
One by one each contestant is picked up from the island and taken to the drop point. They are flown in low and fast before quickly coming to a hover, simulating a rapid military insertion. They climb out of the helicopter and onto the skid, before psyching themselves up and blindly dropping into the sea.
The stunt would be carried out in our AS355N twin-squirrel helicopter, flown by GB Helicopters Director and Chief Pilot Will Banks.
As with all our stunt work, special permissions from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) were required. We always work closely with the CAA when carrying out aerial stunt work, and our continued experience and skill in performing stunts for film and TV productions helped us gain this permission.
The third series of Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins started on Channel 4 on 29th August 2021 and is on at 9PM on Sundays. If you want to catch up on the action, you can do so on All 4.
Helicopter Stunt Work with Bear Grylls
Over the last 15 years, Bear Grylls has produced a whole host of survival and adventure programmes. Pitting himself against the elements for our entertainment, he quickly grew in popularity. This allowed him to start taking some the world’s most famous people and placing them well outside their comfort zone.
His hit US show, Running Wild with Bear Grylls would see him challenge some of the worlds most famous actors and actresses to perform dangerous stunts. From Zac Efron, Channing Tatum, and Ben Stiller, to the then sitting President of the United States, Barak Obama.
For series two, we would assist Bear in putting American actor Michael B. Jordan through his paces in the Welsh Highlands. Flying them both out over the sea in our AS355 Twin Squirrel helicopter, Michael and Bear would rappel out of the hovering aircraft, and then drop into the water before having to swim to the shore.
In series three, in a remote part of Wales, we would lift a jet ski with a twin-squirrel and drop it in the sea for Spice Girl Mel B to swim out to in her final challenge. Earlier in the episode she had to assist Bear with some controversial pain relief, which we will leave for you to look up!
Adventure in the UK
Following its success in the US, Bear would produce a UK version featuring a selection of famous Brits called Bear’s Mission With…. While most of Bear’s programmes see him travel all over the world, this one would take place solely in the UK. We are always eager to get involved when Bear shoots in the UK, so when the opportunity to feature in all five episodes came to us, we jumped at it.
First up was the two-time world heavyweight boxing champion, Anthony Joshua. Being a world class professional athlete, Bear would certainly have his work cut out giving the boxer a challenge. Anthony would be tasked with climbing Commando Ridge in Cornwall. Getting him to the bottom of this breath-taking cliffside is where we came in. With a rope ladder attached to the belly of our AS355 helicopter, and Bear and Anthony attached to the end of it, we flew them both to the base of the ridge. From there they could tackle the former WWII Commando training ground.
That’s a new one…
Next up was actor and comedian, Rob Brydon. This one started off like any other project. Our task was to fly Rob and Bear over an ice-cold lake, where they both would then jump out of our hovering helicopter into the freezing water below. Nothing out of the ordinary there. However, later in the episode, Rob and Bear spy a sheep trapped in a quarry. After carefully corralling the sheep and fitting it with a harness, we were called in to lift it out to safety. This was definitely a new one for us. While technically it was no different from any other long line work we’ve done, the pilot is normally in constant communication with the person on the end of the line. But not this time.
The third episode would feature the legendary Star Wars and Harry Potter actor Warwick Davis. For his stunt he was fitted with a safety harness before being hooked to the long line attached to our helicopter. We then lifted him into the sky, much like we did with Harry Styles, to finish off the episode.
For the final episode in the Bear’s Mission With… series, England Football Manager Gareth Southgate was to be put through his paces. Taking place in Dartmoor, we flew Bear and Gareth to a remote location in the national park, where he would then rappel out of our hovering helicopter, some 20ft off the ground.
One of Bear Gyrlls’ most recent survival programmes was Netflix’s You vs Wild. The interactive series would see him take on a range of missions where the viewer gets to decide which routes he takes along the way. After we drop Bear off on a beach in Wales, his adventure begins, and you start deciding his actions. Part way through the episode we help extract Bear with a long line stunt. But in order to see this you’ll have to make some wrong decisions and put him in harm’s way.
Outside of his TV programmes we also worked with Bear for the launch of the new Land Rover Discovery. This event saw him rappel out of our hovering helicopter onto the top of a small replica of Tower Bridge made from Lego. Rappels require expert precision while keeping the helicopter as still as possible in a hover. This stunt was made all the more difficult by taking place at night. You can see a small clip of this stunt here.
Most recently we performed a skydive stunt with Bear and his son Jesse for his YouTube channel. You can read more about this stunt here. Our growing experience and safety record is what has kept Bear Grylls coming back to us time and time again. Helicopter stunt work is something we love doing and you can read more about our service here.
