Maybe the best aviation based TV commercial ever?

[PR19_Kit]

There's a new television commercial running that's inspired by BA's motto 'To fly, to serve' and it has some of the best flying sequences, both real and CGI, that I have ever seen. They range from early DH9s to Concorde and trying to see where real stops and CGI starts is almost impossible. At one point there are FOUR VC10s in one shot!

The last sequence where a 747-400 and a VC10, flying in loose formation with earlier aircraft astern, is overtaken by a Concorde is spine tingling!

There's a full length version on the BA web site here : BA Commercial

Scroll down, put the volume to full and go full screen and hit the play button.

I defy any aviation fan not to be moved by it.

[Later: If you let it run to the end you get a choice of other filmettes about how they made the commercial, and other BA stuff, most impressive]

[The Big Gimper]

WOW!!! Outstanding. I really like the transitions.

[lenny100]

so it today on sky sports looked fantastic

[Merv_P]

Thanks for the heads-up on this. It's also on Youtube in HD if you want to grab it in that format.

[MilitaryAircraft101]

Speak of the devil, I'm flying BA... Very nice ad though.

[scooter]

Spine-tingling

[RotorheadTX]

Stunning! They certainly know how to tug at a heart-string.   

[TsrJoe]

really nicely made, kindv moving for technogeeks and aeronerds, sigh the promise ... long range air travel across the Empire and supersonic transport with the Concorde ! inspiring yet it has a sense of 'paradise lost' and what once was about it too ... i noticed that the ad doesnt truly bring the service up to date tho, maybe they could do a sortv follow up ... regular 'bus flights' between destinations in Spain et al full of drunken Brits, the same old 747's droning across the Atlantic half empty at pretty much the same flight times as the past 40 years, passengers as passive 'sheep', crews damaging their health with cabin aerotoxins due to the use of 'bleed air' for air conditioning, etc. what happened to the 'magic' ? its all soo mundane, what with pretend 'security restrictions', the 'mall shopping experience' and the general lack of 'spark' when it was all so wonderful !

[PR19_Kit]

I tend to agree Joe, the earliest 'BA' aircraft I ever flew in was a BEA Viscount, although I did later fly in an ex-BEA DC3.

The difference between that Viscount flight and my last BA flight about 5 years ago, in a 757 'tour bus' en route to Frankfurt, was like night and day! The problem is that air travel these days has become a commodity, thanks to our wholly money aligned society.

I wish they'd have had at least one CGI flying boat in the film, that would really have put the icing on the cake for me.

[scooter]

The difference between that Viscount flight and my last BA flight about 5 years ago, in a 757 'tour bus' en route to Frankfurt, was like night and day! The problem is that air travel these days has become a commodity, thanks to our wholly money aligned society.

That's exactly how my squadron commander (pilot for America) describes it--Greyhound bus in the sky.

[simmie]

The difference between that Viscount flight and my last BA flight about 5 years ago, in a 757 'tour bus' en route to Frankfurt, was like night and day! The problem is that air travel these days has become a commodity, thanks to our wholly money aligned society.

That's exactly how my squadron commander (pilot for America) describes it--Greyhound bus in the sky.

With passengers as "self-loading cargo"!!!!

[PR19_Kit]

I just lucked upon that AMAZING 2011 BA advert again.  

I'd forgotten how wonderful it was, and the closing shot where a Concorde overtakes a 747-400 and a VC10 is just spine tingling! Here's the link again if you haven't got it faved.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XozHLoqwp_4

When it finishes, let the time bar go right to the end, then click on the 2nd thumbnail down on the left hand side, labelled 'The Making of our advert' and it plays a short vid of how they did it. Still doesn't say how they got THREE VC10s in the same shot though, let alone FIVE Dakotas! If you can't find it, here's a direct link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chjN5SerNeQ

[Weaver]

Excellent!

There's another related film here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUQJiFARd80

Re the multiple VC-10s, they may have used "flats": literally a full size, 2D, photorealistic "cardboard cut-out" for the planes in the background. It sounds daft, but as long as the camera angle doesn't have to change much, the illusion holds up. Flats have been used in all sorts of flying movies for background aircraft before now.

Alternatively,  it may be out-and-out CGI of course...