These are transcripts that we’ve done from some of the podcasts we’ve recorded.
Sam Chui Aviation YouTuber
Steve Collins:
Welcome to another episode of the Super Seven series here on TellmeWhere2Go.com. And I’ve got a real treat for you today His name is Sam Chui He is YouTube’s most popular aviation vlogger he has a mere 2.6 million subscribers, and they have watched more than 550 million views.
I’m one of them. I love watching Sam’s aviation videos.
Sam Chui, welcome. What a wonderful way to meet you and may I just say, I just finished watching your latest video in which you took part in the rehearsals of the Saudi Air Show where you had four commercial airliners flying in formation.
That must have been a real buzz for you to be involved in that. to be on, well, you were on two of the planes, at different times, of course, and it must have been just such a buzz to be able to do that.
Sam Chui:
Yes, Steve, that was probably the most exciting flight for me this year. It really brought my Av geekness outside of my body, and it was a thrill. It was a thrill, no doubt. And, having airliners flying within 200 feet of each other.
Steve Collins:
Yes!
Sam Chui:
Ah, usually commercial airliners, civilian airliners are not designed to do things like that.
Steve Collins:
No.
Sam Chui:
Ah, so this is really a testament to the pilot skills, to their discipline, to the coordination of the airshow to put on such a thrilling display to all the audience to enjoy, and I’m really glad to be given that opportunity to fly inside.
01:37
Steve Collins:
And I know there were moments when you couldn’t see the other aircraft because you were flying right above them. Not all that high, as you say, 200 feet. It’s just amazing what modern aircraft can do, isn’t it?
Sam Chui:
Oh, absolutely. You know it is an eye-opener to me as well to see how the pilots fly inside. how do they get coordinated in such a fashion? And have to be very disciplined.
Steve Collins:
Yes!
Sam Chui:
Because if you look at the video I was in the number three formation aircraft and I’m above number one and number two and if they don’t keep their altitude, and they come up a little bit, and I will be done inside the aeroplane.
Steve Collins:
(LAUGHTER)
Sam Chui:
So, you know, it’s thrilling and it’s also nerve-wracking at the same time watching how this whole thing pans out. It has to be very disciplined.
Steve Collins:
Are you amazed, as I am, about aviation? Now, I understand why we invented trains, and boats and cars because we are land-based creatures. But you take, say, the A380 which has a maximum take-off weight of 575 tonnes and not only do you get that huge hunk of metal in the air, you’ve got several hundred people inside, who are sitting in comfort, they’re fed, they’re toileted, when you’re flying up there in the jet stream at 39,000-40,000 feet, or whatever, they are sitting in comfort.
Are you amazed at how humans have developed flight to that standard? And not only that, flying is the safest form of transport in the world.
03:11
Sam Chui:
Yes. So, the safety standard is paramount to flying, to the aviation industry. This is the trust it builds on for passengers to believe in aviation for them to fly. And, of course, the A380 is the largest aeroplane, so it offered more space for every passenger.
Especially to the economy class passenger, the A380 is a treat compared to other conventional airliners because of the space. So yes, I am amazed and, you know when I was young I would go down to the airport fence and I’m always amazed watching an airliner go skywards rotate airborne and just that 500 tonnes of metal bird getting traction to go inside the air is amazing to watch.
Steve Collins:
Now, I understand that airport that you used to go to was Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong. Can I say, that is one of the things I miss about modern aviation? You cannot land at Kai Tak Airport because that was sensational.
Sam Chui:
Yeah. It’s in the past now. That’s all in our memories about Kai Tak, but it’s just amazing to see the airplane bank.
Steve Collins:
Yeah.
You know, in a very large angle before they land. Which is incredible! Incredible, and obviously the pilots capable to land in Kai Tak has gone through special simulator training. You know, it’s a captains’-only airport to land.
Steve Collins:
Speaking about different landings, you’ve had so many incredible adventures on so many different aircraft. What is one of the most memorable landings that you’ve had?
Sam Chui:
I’ve had many memorable landings. I’ll give you a couple of examples.
Steve Collins:
Yes.
04:51
Sam Chui:
One of them, in a very dangerous approach into a Himalayan mountain kingdom called Bhutan. It is considered one of the most dangerous approaches in the world, landing in Paro Airport in Bhutan.
Fortunately, I was in the cockpit and observing the pilot how they land. Only a handful of pilots and capable and certified to land at that airport, it was that challenging.
Normally, until the final turn, you start to see the runway visually. A large airliner lands just like that, banking round, similar to Kai Tak, replace all the buildings with mountains. Imagine that.
Yeah, it’s high altitude as well.
Equally, I also landed on supersonic on the Concorde into London Heathrow. Our landing speed was much fast than conventional airliners. So, was given priority. And, also because the landing speeds fast you feel you are coming n very fast as well, so that’s also an experience.
05:39
Steve Collins :
Concorde used to fly faster than a bullet can move, did you get that feeling when you were flying at supersonic speed?
Sam Chui:
I certainly felt there was lots of vibration inside the fuselage. And there was also some heat coming out of the fuselage from the wall where I sat next to the window. Tes, you can look outside the window when you’re over the land you can definitely see yourself moving much faster.
And then at the end, when you’re flying higher than any other airliner, you’re flying at 58,000 ft compared to around 35 to 40,000 ft on a conventional airliner. So, you can see a deep blue curve and that’s the curvature of the Earth.
Steve Collins:
Is there a feeling when they sort of go into supersonic speed after taking off, is there the feeling that boom, you known, suddenly we are much faster than we were before?
06:32
Sam Chui:
I only flew it once and I did not pay particular attention to the sonic boom. Ans I, in fact, I flew it when I was 22 years old in 2003, the last year of the supersonic operation. I did not know and I did not understand until after I’d flown it and people asked me about it. And, it was very loud inside the cabin and the only way I can tell my speed is looking at the speedometer gauge in the cabin. There was a display there showing you were over Mach-1 now, so we broke the sound barrier. I did not detect the sonic boom inside myself.
Steve Collins:
I know that your favourite aircraft of all time is the Boeing 747, cause I think you had something like over 350 flights in the Jumbo jet. What amazes me is that the wingspan of the Jumbo jet was actually longer than the first powered flight by the Wright Brothers in 1903. (LAUGHS) And yet, it was such a graceful aircraft to fly in, wasn’t it?
Sam Chui:
Yeah, it’s forever the Queen of the Sky. And, it’s a very bold design in the 1960s to come up with something (Steve Collins: Yes) like that. And it changed the world. It changed the way we travel. and many generations started their love of aviation because of this aeroplane, including myself.
And I think without this aeroplane the world be quite different. Let’s simply put it that way.
Steve Collins
Really, it democratised flight, didn’t it? It was such an economical plane to fly that suddenly tickets became a lot cheaper and, so, ordinary people could plan to fly somewhere for their holidays. Whereas prior to that it was really only for rich people, wasn’t it? To get on a plane and go somewhere.
08:16
Sam Chui:
Yes. I mean I am one of that generation that I started flying some 747’s in the nineties. I don’t know what happened before that. But, you know, every year the airfare has become stable and dropping little bit by little bit. Because of the capacity.
Steve Collins:
Now, you’re one of the few people that have managed to fly during the Covid pandemic. As you know, that’s had a great effect on the aviation industry. And quite a few airlines probably won’t survive. What are your views on what flying, and I’m talking about from a passenger perspective, what do you think COVID-19 will do to the passenger experience on aircraft, at least for the next couple of years post-Covid?
Sam Chui:
I think we are all learning the experience throughout this pandemic. The experience changes over time.
Initially, when the pandemic came, there was no vaccine at that time. And there were very few travellers. And they were told to social distance. Even maybe inside the aeroplane wearing a face shield in addition to masks. Some even wearing a gown, a PPE. And, airlines resorted to serving you a boxed packaged meal to avoid contact.
And slowly you see things are returning back to the normal level, pre-pandemic level. Noe airlines are giving back the hot meals, apart from wearing a mask, no one wears PPE anymore. Nobody wears a face shield. And there’s hardly any social distancing at the airport. Planes are full again.
So, we’re learning through this pandemic. Not only the aviation sector, everywhere in hotels, in hospitality, in restaurants, in everywhere. I don’t know what’s going to be next.
But, the problem right now with Covid in relation to travel is it’s hitting hard on the international long haul travel. If you have a home domestic market like Australia has, or the United States has, you might be able to move around with some comfort in the same country, but if you’re travelling long haul it is the inconsistent border policy of governments that deters the travel. Lots of countries adopting traffic light systems yellow, amber, green, umm, it changes a lot. And by the week. It creates a lot of instability. And is driving less confidence into the long haul travel.
And right now, this is where hitting the travel hard is all the restrictions, and also the cost of doing PCR tests before and after, and if you are a family of four adding that cost is tremendous. So, the long haul travel is yet to recover because of these inconsistencies and all of the new regulations.
10:51
Steve Collins:
Now, you were talking about the future of aviation can I suggest that if Elon Musk rand you up and said, “oh, by the way, Sam. We’d like you to participate in the next civilian flight on Space-X.” Would you be up for it?
Sam Chui:
Absolutely! If he rings me up, I will absolutely go there. Yeah, I think it’s tremendous.
Steve Collins:
After having seen civilians go up there. He has made space travel absolutely, now, it’s not going to happen in my lifetime, but I can see that in 30, 40, 50 year’s time going into space may not be a major event for people.
Sam Chui:
I really think that if he has that vision he dreams very big, and then, you now, and then it will become a reality I believe.
Steve Collins:
Now, I’ve got to ask you this, because you do a lot of flying, do you suffer from jet lag?
Sam Chui:
I do! I have to admit that I honestly do. And, at times I have chronic jet lag.
Steve Collins:
Yep.
Sam Chui:
It all depends on some days, some nights when you have a good sleep after the flight, and you feel better. And some nights you don’t! Some nights you wake up at 2 am and, or 4 am, and then you could not adjust to the time zone. Especially going to the United States and it’s always upside down and then sometimes it will take a week o adjust to the right time zone. And by the time, you know, sometimes I only stay there for three or four days and you’re back already, so your body clock feels really funny. Yes, that is the price for frequent travel.
And every frequent traveller will have jet lack at some point.
12:18
Steve Collins:
And do you have tips? ‘Cause you fly so often, and you probably wish you could actually fly a lot more I suspect. But do you have any tips for making yourself comfortable on a plane? Do you drink plenty of water, or whatever? Or, do you have little toys to play with? Or anything like that? Or, do you have special clothes that you wear?
And I know that a lot of the times that you fly you do travel on Business and First, etc. And they come with their own comforts. But even then, you’ve got to have some sort of thing that you do to make your flight more comfortable, I guess.
Sam Chui:
Well, maybe have a game plan? Before you go on the flight, you know how long is that flight. And maybe stick with the plan and you know that they’re going to serve you a meal first, and after the meal, what are you going to do? Watch a video for a couple of hours? Or, go to sleep and then, have a game plan and, you know, you’re not wrong. You cover all the areas, wearing comfortable clothes, drinking water to keep you hydrated.
But, I think it’s just doing whatever you need to do to make yourself happy and relaxed in the cabin. That’s very important. Once you relax, you’re able to rest a little bit, and the time will pass very quickly.
13:25
Steve Collins:
And Sam, does your wife ever say to you Sam, can we do a cruise for a change?
Sam Chui:
My better half has some motion sickness on the cruise.
Steve Collins:
Oh! Okay.
Sam Chui:
So, fortunately, I’ve never really came to this question, yeah.
Steve Collins:
Well, that’s like …… knowing you, you’d probably book a cruise on an aircraft carrier, I guess.
Sam Chui:
(LAUGHS)
Steve Collins:
Sam Chui, it’s been wonderful to speak to you, and look, I’ll give you a tip everyone, go to YouTube, Google Sam Chui, Sam is S-A-M, Chui – C-H-U-I , look at his YouTube page and get into his videos. Here is a man that thoroughly enjoys flying and it just comes through in your attitude, Sam. You just love it, don’t you?
Sam Chui:
I think the reaction from my face, you can see I’m very passionate. I switch on when I’m inside an aeroplane. On the ground, I’m “Oh, this is boring.” But when you get near a plane you really got turned on, and I think you really felt the excitement there. And I think “This is always in my blood.” This is always with me like that, and I’m always very excited when I travel. When I fly on the aeroplanes.
14:39
Steve Collins:
When you plan your trip, is it because of the destination? or, is it because of the way of getting there? The type of aircraft, or the type of airline, or are there a number of decisions that influence your next flight?
Sam Chui:
Yes, certainly. To a large degree if I manage to look at the aircraft’s schedule. If I find an interesting aeroplane I’ll go out of my way to fly it. To get that experience for me. To most aviation lovers, this is very important and we can tell the different types, with different characteristics. So, yes, you’re not wrong. You know, if time permits, I will detour around just to get on the plane I want to go.
Steve Collins:
Sam Chui, thank you for being part of our Super Seven series here on TellMeWhere2Go.com. It’s been a real pleasure speaking to you, thank you very much.
Sam Chui:
My pleasure.
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