I flew with birds. You can too.
2022 ж. 15 Мам.
955 514 Рет қаралды
In southern France, there's a man called Christian who flies a microlight aircraft, alongside flocks of birds. And he takes passengers. ■ More about Fly With Birds: www.flywithbirds.com/
Camera: Simon Gillouin
Editor: Michelle Martin / mrsmmartin
Producer: Axel Zeiliger block8production.com
🟥 MORE FROM TOM: www.tomscott.com/
(you can find contact details and social links there too)
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I realise that "you can too" is ignoring things like health and wealth, and I did worry about that; as ever, the need to make the title clickable, but short and honest, is a bit of a battle. And also, to be clear, this isn't an advert: I paid for my flight and my camera operator's flight!
Nice video
Cool 🤔
woooo
i can too!!11!!
fair
The passion that Frenchman has for his birds is admirable. His dedication is amazing
The passion those birds have for that Frenchman is admirabe
De-duck-ation
This is very "Fly away home!"
@@VuorensolaR underrated
Is chinaman derogatory term?
How in the world do you manage to make such consistently compelling videos with massively different themes and experiences each time? It's insane.
Research. the internet gives you ideas for it.
gpt-3
A team of researchers.
The ability to teleport.
@@scladoffle2472 there'll be a day when we have enough data on you to make internet searches quicker.
I really like it when interviews are done in the interviewee's native language. Please keep doing that, Tom
*angrily shakes fist at Nintendo dubbing English over Japanese game dev interviews*
I didn't know this was a thing
I'm not a fan, personally. I struggle to read the subtitles fast enough before they change, on top of that I take longer to read words with similar shaped letters, so I have to keep winding back or pausing to read the text. I like to hear the sound of other languages, but dyslexia is still a bugger
I like this too, it gives the person being questioned an opportunity to give a more detailed, natural flowing answer.
Remember that the Lord Jesus Christ died on a cross for you because He loves you so much. He then rose up from the dead three days later. The Ten Commandments are called the moral law, (most of us are lying, thieving, blasphemous and adulterer at heart) you and I broke the law Jesus paid the fine that’s what happened on that cross. By believing that Jesus died on the cross and rose up from the dead 3 days later and not just confessing your sin, but also repenting of all sin you have done and putting all your trust in Him in prayer, He will grant you everlasting life as a free gift.
Wow. As a glider pilot I'm used to flying with birds from time to time, but, wow. This is just a whole other level of intimacy with these amazing animals. Amazing.
Do they join you? or do you join them?
@@oskrm Also a glider pilot (in training), seen both happen before! Gliders find small patches of upwards moving air, thermals, to stay aloft and gain height. Birds use these same thermals for the same purpose - if the air is moving upwards then they don't need to bother flapping and expending energy to gain height, they can merely go round in circles and let the air do most of the work. Quite the experience either joining a bird mid flight or having a bird join you!
@@Mike546378 isn’t there a risk of hitting the birds? I’m guessing that the relative velocity is low enough that they can see the glider and avoid it?
@@Mike546378 That's really cool. If you still fly, capture some footage, please.
@@oskrm Modern gliders are usually too fast to follow birds, but birds tend to be great indicators for where a pilot could fly to find the best thermals that can carry them higher. An elderly friend of mine once ran into a huge fish in the air doing that. An osprey had gotten an unusually large catch. A different kind of "you should have seen the size of the one that got away!"
Being able to pet the birds mid flight must've been a magical feeling..
Until one of them shits in your hand
Exactly, I don't think many people in the world have been able to pet a bird whilst it's actually flying
That looks so crazy like touching a fish swimming with you it’s like no difference it’s insane
I would be very tempted to gently grab it mid-flight, put it on my lap for some pats and give it a well-earned rest 😂
@fenrar36 try seagulls, one of the barstewards must have exploded all over a fair few cars in the carpark today. I've also seen one aim a perfect mid air gut drop to land on an ice cream then pull a stall turn to grab it before it even hit the floor.
This video brought back strong memories of a movie from my childhood, "Fly Away Home", which was inspired by the life of Bill Lishman, a Canadian sculptor who did something similar.
There is actually a very good french movie about this guy! Called "Donne-moi des ailes", from 2019. I really enjoyed it
Yes I remember this!!!
The song jumped into my head when I saw this video
Someone had to say it
This whole video through, I was thinking "Oh what's the title of that movie?!" So, thank You!
As a former hang glider pilot, ultralight pilot, microlight pilot and paraglider pilot, this video really strikes home. I've never had the luck to fly with a bird, but perhaps as close as one can get to fly like a bird, especially the unpowered versions. This video brings tears to my eyes.
Do you still fly? I haven’t even completed my glider license yet and have already flown together with birds in thermals. I’m sure you might still experience it at some point!
Go to Algodonales in Andalusia. Flying with vultures is guaranteed there! :)
Where did you fly? I fly paraglider mostly in south America and no flight goes by when I don't share thermals with vultures hawks and the occasional 🦅
Remember that the Lord Jesus Christ died on a cross for you because He loves you so much. He then rose up from the dead three days later. The Ten Commandments are called the moral law, (most of us are lying, thieving, blasphemous and adulterer at heart) you and I broke the law Jesus paid the fine that’s what happened on that cross. By believing that Jesus died on the cross and rose up from the dead 3 days later and not just confessing your sin, but also repenting of all sin you have done and putting all your trust in Him in prayer, He will grant you everlasting life as a free gift.
Tom, thank you for keeping the original French with subtitles rather than dubbing - I find it preferable to listen or read to the original language!
Tom would never do anything such distasteful as dubbing
@@whyamiwastingmytimeonthis I do think dubbing has its place every now & then, but Tom having a background in linguistics & computer science jibber jabber does make the inclusion of original audio & proper subtitles the obvious choice & all the more sweeter.
@@Asummersdaydreamer14 dubbing is just annoying to listen to especially if it's an interview
@@n1ppe it can be done well, but a lot of news dubbing or interview dubbing is usually done with an annoying pause at the beginning and it's most likely due to being taken from a simultaneous interpreter. It's the kind of dubbing which I really dislike as well. But if you can't hear the original sound and the dubbing is done well, it can be nice to listen to
@@atriyakoller136 it's still nicer to listen the original audio and just read the subtitles
As someone who took 4 years of U.S. Highschool French, but is still getting familiar with the language, his French was so easy to follow and understand, super articulate. Very awesome video also!
As someone who took 0 years of French , his French was easy to follow because the video has subtitles 😝
2 years of HS French and I DEFINITELY have to read the subtitles
Well as a French it was easy... oh wait. Tom is easy to follow for me :).
@UCaAYFxgBsNBPgQr7Xhjiyvg just different accents. There are as many people from Québec who speak clearly as there are from France. Only trouble is most people study metropolitan French, so it's hard to get used to the prononciation and vocabulary used in Québec.
I was going to post something very similar. Normally I can only easily follow African Francophones.
i fully support this frenchman taking tourists out with these birds to fund his conservation efforts. what a hero
I remember watching a film about a family who raised geese and taught them to fly using a glider when I was young. I think it was called fly away home. I wonder if this guy was part of the inspiration.
Fly Away Home is a great movie
I had a VHS for something else (possibly Nightmare Before Christmas?) that had the trailer, so I have never seen the movie but I saw the trailer like 50 times 😆 so I was instantly reminded of it
I immediately thought of that film watching this as well.
That film was based on someone called Bill Lishman. I checked the Wikipedia.
It’s called donnes moi des ailles (Give me Wings) or spread your wings in english
Until now I never realized how little flapping is needed to keep a bird in the air. In human terms, it's like imagining that one would need to run in order to cover distances when in reality you can simply walk from point A to point B. That gets the job done. I thought this because from the ground we can only watch birds take off and in order to get to flight, that's where the big flaps come in. But the minute you are settled in the sky, you don't need to give off that much power. I guess this is why some birds can cover hundreds of miles in a day.
Ironically, ducks and geese seem to have the most difficulty in getting airborne, and yet they fly the furthest distances, as you mentioned, with ease!
More akin to ice skating than walking.
It's like riding a bicycle: The accelleration from a standstil is quite energy consuming and thus difficult but once you built up enough speed, you only have to occasionally pedal your bike when you're on a flat stretch to maintain a somewhat constant speed. The only time where you have to be constantly pedalling is when the decelleration is too high, either because you're moving uphil or because you're driving fast where the air resistance is higher too.
@@jamesengland7461 It's not ironic. It's trade-off. Either the take-off is easy or the gliding is easy. They can't have both. Things like this happen a lot in biology.
also there is the slipstream, only the leading bird does most of the work and they trade off
Tom Scott never disappoints
As a kid and obsessed with all things aviation, I loved the movie “Fly Away Home”. This guy is the real deal of that movie.
The real deal of the movie "Fly Away Home" is actually a Canadian named Bill Lishman who did something similar with geese back in the mid 80s. The Jeff Daniels, father character in the movie is based on Bill himself.
Started listening to this while doing something else, didn't even realize it was in two languages until I looked and saw subtitles (fluent in both). Funny how the mind works sometimes.
I've had similar experiences. I speak English and Polish... But I can't translate! People think because I speak both it's easy, but my brain is like a HD with two operating systems! One or the other, but not both.
@@brick6347 Strange, I can translate from French to English and vice-versa for myself almost seamlessly but as soon as I try to speak either of them I forget words in both despite one of them being the one I was born in (it's French, nobody's perfect ;) )
I know right!!
Watching Tom reach out to gently pet the birds brings me so much joy (:
The bird seems annoyed at having aerodynamic surfaces disturbed.
That's like a dream.
3:00 One takes for granted that flying is "just what birds do." Watching them in flight up close, from an as-literal-as-possible bird's-eye view, renews one's appreciation of both the mechanics of flight, and of the long and meticulous path that evolution has taken and continues to take. Thanks, Tom! :D
This is in France?! *books tickets immediately* Incredible video Tom. What an experience, and what spectacular footage! p.s. congratulations on the 5m subscribers that you're about to hit as I type this
Hi Tim! *whispers* Tes vidéos sont meilleures que celles de Tom Scott ;)
Random Tim Traveller out of nowhere, wow. ...but I also need to book those tickets now. I wish Tom Scott also had a section at the end explaining how to get to where he's filming.
Tim/Tom crossover when!?
@@gdijkema YES YES!!!!
I'm literally on a TGV to Paris right now. 😂
I remember hearing about this guy decades ago-- I'm really glad he's still around and still doing this!
That moment when those birds were redirected from a pilot to another was amaazing - it shows an amazing feat of trust and intimacy of the birds with the pilots. It's just amazing how they could do that automatically, without much 'orders' and with an animal not usually being a pet!
This is amazing it’s incredible how people can dedicate there lives to helping animals that most wouldn’t even bat an eye to.
@♜Pinned±①②①②②③⑤①⑧⓪⑧ Begone bot
@@WanderTheNomad wow it worked
FLY AWAY HOME WAS MY FAVOURITE MOVIE AS A KID AND YOU'RE TELLING ME I CAN DO THIS FOR REAL????? You are literally living my dream Tom
It's the same damn plane even!
Tom Scott is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.
and you enjoy one after the other, unable to stop 👀
Until you inevitably get the coffee cream and it's all ruined.
@@jamesmason3348 now that's philosophy!
What if it's a box of one type?
One would expect nothing but chocolate coming out of that box 👀
This was seriously mind-blowing. I expected some goof chasing birds around. This was an entirely different level of experience that I had no idea was even possible. I had a huge smile on my face throughout the whole video and I wasn’t even flying.
These things are honestly hugely cool to me. It’s kind of reminiscent of some of those very first flying designs from centuries ago, with that vague idea that it actually feels like you are flying, rather than getting into a machine that does.
Based pfp
Very cool pfp
It's even more immersive when you fly an unpowered hang glider. Laying prone, you can't really see the wing, just part of the control bar in your periphery. You steer by shifting your weight around which quickly becomes nearly subconscious muscle memory and it's silent. One of the most amazing moments of my life was circling in a thermal with a red tail hawk. The bird just seemed to understand and stayed at my 180 the entire time.
love the pfp
nice pfp
I love when you cover people who speaks languages I've tried learning, as I can choose not to look at the subtitles mostly but as I am learning a fully new topic, I end up learning new words like "gosling" and "micro light aircraft" . Hope to see more from France, Italy, Czechia or one day China or Japan
it's funny how in English is "micro" but in French it's "ultra". x)
@@minirop the ultra refers to the weight! it's ultra light !
ULM stands for Ultra Léger Motorisé ! Rough translation would be "ultra light with an engine"
@@Loweene_Ancalimon Motorized ultra light if you want to go shorter.
Actually, the relationship with birds in the air goes even deeper than that this very special, very close relationship with the birds in this video. I am a paraglider pilot and when we fly in thermals with birds, we follow the same traffic rules. We see the birds - usually birds of prey, but also sea gulls and the like - as pilots, and they see us a pilots. Sometimes you can come up a litttle to close to a wild bird and they will let you know that you are too close. Or they will just fly away. But birds don't normally see us a threat in the air. If you can fly, then you are a bird. I don't believe most birds like to be touched the way you do, though. That's probably just because these particular geese are somewhat domesticated.
Tom brought the “I believe I can fly” philosophy to a whole other level
ew
I believe I can touch the sky
@@DoiInthanon1897 but I couldn't so I died... 😥
This is literally one of the coolest things you’ve covered, Tom.
As a French person, it's really a pleasure to listen to a Tom Scott video with some parts in my mother tongue.
Its people like this that make me realise that humanity still has a change, simply heartwarming.
If you ignore our dumb "leaders", politicians and all sorts of "experts", humanity is doing all right.
@@clray123 Or if you look at statistical indicators, rather than listening to the news. We have always been trending in the right direction and will continue to.
@@SeanKH19 But those statistical indicators can change in the other direction too, if our "leaders" intensify their efforts to destroy real economy and everyone's life in general while increasing "investments" in military technology (aka direct physical destruction of goods and services).
Wow, that seems like an incredible experience, and a genuinely cool conservation/outreach program.
They turned "Fly away home" into a real thing
That movie was based on a real thing - Bill Lishman helping canada geese migrate in 1993
"Fair thee well, my own true love..."
My thoughts exactly
@@ashipnerdoffical4260 10,000 miles by Mary Chapin Carpenter. Love that song.
This is VERY reminiscent of the film "Fly Away Home," a father-daughter pair work together to raise a flock of Canadian Geese in the same way this gentleman does here. Very awesome to have a real-life comparison to the film I spent time watching as a kid.
What a legend. If only more people had this level of respect and compassion for animals. Liberté, égalité, fraternité.
To be able to touch a bird that’s in flight? Incredible! Those close ups of them in flight were amazing!
I was just waiting in my subscriptions menu, ready to start watching at the exact moment that this was uploaded. That's how much I love Tom Scott's videos!
Honestly im crying. To see such a passionate person spend his life preserving the birds generations
Tom, this was genuinely touching. I honestly wish I could go do something like this, to experience flight in this way and experience the joy of being with the birds. Thank you for highlighting this man's story and the possibilities in the world.
I love this guys video's. Shows us some amazing things that most of us will never get to experience. Think this might be my favourite so far though.
You got the apostrophe in the wrong place. It should be "this guy's videos". Please fix.
What an incredible guy.
This may be my favorite video you've done (and that's really saying something, since you make consistently interesting and awesome videos!) You looked so happy being able to fly the birds and and pet them mid-flight!
This is just so wholesome. He’s committed so much of his life to helping these birds - I’ve never seen anything quite like this. Just so, so cool.
"Someone" I noticed is almost at 5M Subscribers this video will hopefully tip the tide on that huge milestone
Fascinating as always Tom. Congrats on the imminent 5m subs! Cheers, and here's to many more years of you tubing, I hope.
Wholesome goodness embodied.
There was a movie in the 90's I think it was called "Fly Away Home" that was about this
It was loosely based upon Bill Lishman.
"I don't see how anyone could object to this." -Tom Scott "Hold my beer." -PETA
I feel like I just watched the sequel to Fly Away Home. Great stuff as always!
Merci Tom de ne pas avoir utilisé de doublage. J'aime mieux les voix originale avec sous titres qu'un doublage par dessus.
This is probably one of the coolest things I've seen in a while. Thanks Tom.
Love your videos Tom, thanks for being an inspiration to me!
It started kind of weird with letting birds out on the runway, but turned into such an wholesome story!
Of all the things Tom has done, you can see it in his face that this one was quite special.
That is really cool, and it is amazing that a person can become a generational guardian for birds like this.
If I ever find myself in France, I'd love to experience this!!! I'm so intrigued by birds and I'm currently learning French so this is like a dream for me :)
Tom really lives an interesting life meanwhile me...
Tom Scott is living the life! And that guy's passion to dedicate his life to helping these geese is very inspiring.
French Billy Connolly seems like a cool dude.
Tom you have an extraordinary life, appreciate it 🕊
Just incredible. Tom, I like all your videos, but this is simply phenomenal. So cool!!
Granting the gift of flight to so many around the world. Truly a noble Frenchman
Absolutely incredible!!! Thank you for sharing, Tom!!!
Came here thinking it'd be a gimmick about flying with trained birds, absolutely did not expect someone literally trying to save a species by redirecting them along a safer route. Never thought I'd be in awe of a Frenchman, but here we are.
Lots of folk inspiring awe from all over the world :)
They've done it with Whooping Cranes for years too
why would you not be in awe of a Frenchman specificaly ?
@@thedarkflowkiller because I'm English
@@slymako Oh, well I guess it's on you then, I could be in awe of anything and anyone in the world !
Spectacular display! We're used to thinking of humanity as separate from nature, but this proves how close we really are to animals.
This video made my morning. Thank you Tom, as always
my guy literally speaks fluent bird. amazing.
"HONK!"
Tom has a dream, wakes up and decides to reenact it
The only worry I have is how the constant loud noise of an aircraft right next to them might affect the birds, I imagine that's very hard to study, but if it's helping the birds form safer migration routes and saving them from extinction it's almost definitely worth it. It's also very cool.
They are used to it ever since they were in the egg. It's their source of comfort, so it's quite the opposite.
@@thedarkflowkiller Maybe they're thinking about it from the potential for constant loud noise damaging their hearing as can happen with humans.
This is one of the most amazing and heartwarming things I've seen this year.
The translator did an amazing job, the translation is really accurate
This whole thing reminds me somewhat of an old film called "fly away home"
I remember watching a film about this (or at least something similar) at the French theme park Futuroscope a few years ago. One interesting thing that they did with that film is they used two IMAX screens, one in front of you and one below you, to give you the feeling of flying with the birds.
same!
Tom thank you so much for maiking great videos with great people
I think this has to be the most magical of all your videos, Tom.
Reminds me of the film _Fly Away Home._
I'm rarely speechless but for 6 minutes I sat with an open mouth and could barely believe what I saw!
I got goosebumps. One of the best vids Ive seen in Yt. Thanks Tom.
Every video is an experience, Thank you Tom.
At so many points, it looks like something out of a Ghibli film. Aircraft and passionate dedicatipn and connecting to nature.
I saw a movie like this, called "Fly Away Home."
What a fabulous guy! He saw what needed to be done and did it. He didn't wait for someone else to fix the problem he could see right in front of him. That he cared enough about those birds to go to such lengths to protect their future just amazes me.
Let's not overlook the fact this dude didn't merely start doing it solely for the fun of it, but to help guide them on new migratory routes(?) to help reintroduce them to an area where they went extinct. I genuinely have no idea if anyone else has done something similar, but that is frankly amazing.
Fly Away Home vibes are strong
I swear this is literally the plot of fly away home...except his mum didn't die at the start of the video.
Of all the cool places and things you've showed us, this has to be one of the best one yet.
What an awesome way to conserve a species. Such dedication. Bravo.
I have to imagine that you need a big (in relative terms) two-person aircraft like that because the passenger has to be replaced by fuel and supplies for the longer flights. I would wonder about the logistics of supplying en-route, because setting down for gas at even small airfields with a flock of birds in formation would be a recipe for bird strikes.
It could be reasonable that there's a chaser car on the ground carrying supplies to minimize weight on the plane and maximize fuel and flight time.
Fly away home Tom, Fly away home
Congrats on 5M Tom you deserve it!
Tom you bring us such unique and amazing things that happen in this glorious world of ours. So close to 5 million subscribers too. Well-deserved.
Fly Away Home but IRL
Fly Away Home was based upon real life, look up Bill Lishman.
This is just like the movie "Fly Away Home".
Those are some cool looking birds! I'm glad people care about saving them.
Another amazing video Tom, you are getting to do and see things we would all love to try. Thanks for sharing these experiences. Touching a bird in flight has to be up there as a unique experience.
Birds: "Is that Tom Scott?"
I like the mental image of a goose watching KZhead.
Très bien!
Omg this is awesome. The birds warm my heart so much.
That was an emotional moment for Tom at the end and rightly so. Amazing.