Hacker News Reader

Comment by lnxg33k1 | Hacker News Reader

I’m not sure but can we just stop this idiocy of people playing with planes like they’re Luna park attraction and just go back on being serious? Has marketing turned us In a idiot society

View on HN

Right? I love Red Bull's statement of "going down in history of being the first pilots to take off in one plane and land in another" as if this extremely contrived situation is somehow notable. It's the epitome of hyping something just to hype it. Seems like a really expensive water bottle flip to me.

That is, more or less, the core idea of Red Bull's marketing strategy--one of the most successful marketing strategies ever.

Is it so wrong to hype something for the sake of hyping it? I certainly get as much entertainment value out of this as I do from a Hollywood movie.

This has been going on since the beginning of aviation. Look up "Barnstorming"

Barnstorming was at low altitude by slow moving planes. Things have come a long way and we're now dropping planes out of the sky from 3 miles up at 150mph.

I'm thankful the FAA is here to keep this shit under control.

I dont see how slower speeds or lower altitudes invalidates the point that doing dangerous stunts in planes isnt some recent development caused by "idiocracy". Thrillseekers have always existed and Red Bull is just capitalizing on them for marketing. There's no reason for Pearl Clutching.

If I own a plane and I want to crash it or kill myself, as long as the place of the “landing” is controlled, why shouldn’t I be able to?

That's a big part of the problem: It couldn't be done safely. It's very difficult to crash a plane safely.

What about the petrol and smoke? Can you control where they go? Who breathes it?

You may be able to control the place of "landing" but you can't claim to control the airspace above it.

One of the two planes did not land in a controlled manner.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com