I'm surprised to see no one's talking about what good value for money this is - 60 euro is a fantastic price for a once in a lifetime thing like this. I'm going to have to try this at least once before I die, it looks so amazing.
Probably because if you're not within a day's travel by rail to France you have to factor in "vacation to France". Still a cheaper way to float around than the $8000 2 hour flight on the civilian "vomit comet" doing parabolas though.
Makes the title a question, immediantly answers the question, then provides entertainment for the duration of the video. Tom Scott is a UA-camr like no other.
I really like the stark contrast between Tom freaking out about standing on a metal mesh up high, but also not freaking out about literally floating by a helium balloon. Great video as always, this is definitely now on my bucket list!
i guess it's the difference between "i can fall from this height" and "I can fly this high". I for one also have a fear of heights, but strangely enough it's because i might try to jump when I'm high up, and the fear comes when you realize you can't fly.
I mean, on a mesh you're aware that you're standing on a lot of tiny cables, you recognize the fragility of what's holding you up even though the cables could probably support 10x more than you weigh without a problem. Meanwhile, the balloon feels relatively safe because it's so large.
Same reason the edge of buildings scares the hell out of me but I can ride a roller coaster that goes twice as high just fine. It's the falling, not the heights.
among the other good replies I would like to add that the balloon has a cradle - the web that supports the entire body. That provides a sense of security. When standing upright there can be a sense of " potential instability ".
yep theres a sizeable amount of good quality youtubers that practice ethical clickbait. there's even adam neely who puts the answers to the clickbait title, in the thumbnail, which is hilarious and awesome
This seems more like everyone's dream of flying than those car drones or jetpacks. On the drone cars or a jetpacks you're kind of constantly stressed and worried about accidentally hitting something, but this is more like a dream where you're just being lifted up and enjoying it.
... which is why I asked if any Aeroplume customer's fallen asleep while in harness. Pity they don't dare take these flimsy things out of the hangar ...
Nothing in this not to love. That instructor was just incredible, patient and relaxed while explaining aerodynamics in a second language. A brilliant business concept. And of course, Tom, a huge smile and clearly loving every moment.
@Steve D If you listened to the instructor you would have heard that they are aware of the limited nature of helium and their efforts not to waste it while still being able to do what they do.
I love how this and the robotic elephant create an unintended subseries of "French people recreating Jules Verne concepts in real life". Can't wait to learn about more steampunk adventures I could do for my next French holiday.
@@cartoonfantasy4541 Jules Verne is a French writer and author, one of many references in French Literature. His writings were often based on scientific progress of the times (XIXth to XXth century). He wrote "Around The World in 80 Days", "Twenty-thousand Leagues Under The Sea" and the series "Voyages extraordinaires". And as a concept, it would be objects inspired by that era, kind of steampunk-like. Like the Nautilus for example.
Can't wait for Tom to visit Iraq to see whatever remains of Project Babylon EDIT: oh wait, French people. Is there a Frenchman who has invented a gun that can shoot people towards the moon yet?
Can we just stop and thank the instructor. He did a very good job explaining the mechanics of the blimp 👍 as well as instructing Tom from what we can see
@@makingmach7 even though he didn't get paid by them to fly the blimp, the video will pay for the expenses. So yes, he gets to have once in a lifetime experiences every week and gets paid for it.
Without exaggeration, this seems like a lifechanging experience. Kinda like going to space. You can see in Tom's face how much fun it is to fulfill the ancient human dream of flying like a bird. It's an experience that not even a plane can give you, since it feels less "organic" I guess.
i think that the main thing is that it's you that is making the blimp move, with your own hands. in a plane you're just pulling, pushing and pressing different instruments
I fly paramotors, and the draw to that is often times the freedom and closeness to flying like a bird. It is far closer to bird-like flight when compared to planes. This is another level
One of the things that particularly struck me how the movement and maneuvering of the fins looked very much like how fish use their pectoral fins, especially when just chilling and trying to stay (relatively) in one place. This of course makes sense, because it's the same exact principles at play just in different fluids (air versus water).
@@robinlove6981 Ahhh but, fish CAN swim backwards using their pectoral fins. Puffer fish swim using their pectorals nearly all the time, only flicking the caudal for a rapid burst of speed when necessary. Many Cichlids also use their pectorals to reverse out of narrow spaces or to back away from another cichlid during confrontations.
This is now on my list of things to see/do in France if I ever end up going there. Very cool video Tom and a big thanks to all those who make such a fun, scientific activity available.
The creator of aéroplume is a friend of my dad's, i got to try the blimp a couple times. It's definitely fun and a very serene experience, just floating gently through the air. Beating the wings puts a hell of a strain on the arms though!
I appreciate that the end links to the 2019 video on "Is the world running out of helium?" Because that is exactly the video I thought about when I saw this one. Thank you as always Tom.
I gotta say I ended up doing a 25 page research paper on it in high school and spent the entire year studying/researching that. Suffice it to say we are not ‘running out’ there is still plenty of helium out there it’s just about the economics surrounding it being different in a lot of ways that has driven the price up over the past 20 years or so. It’s a lot like oil or natural gas (considering you often find helium where you find natural gas) where everyone says we are running out when in reality there is plenty just the current reserves of what is currently economical is being depleted. The helium situation is actually significantly more complicated though since it’s usually just extracted as a byproduct then as something people specifically target.
@@Summergch these blimp guy us etheir helium very efficiently. I wouldn't be surprised if they dont just vent it but recycle it at the end of the season
even if the 70k liters aren't 100% helium anymore, they might still be able to pass them forward as a "low quality" supply of helium, for party balloons and whatnot?
Absolutely, positively, Tom has the best intros. Period. The people that watch watch, the people that googled the question have their answer, and the universe lives in harmony.
It makes me wanna cry to think that almost 250 years ago people would draw sketches of such machines but never could saw it come true, nor fly them. And now we can.
The French actually pioneered hot air ballooning right around that time! Montgolfier brothers in 1783 at Versailles! The French love their dirigeables.
These have been around for hundreds of years. 100s of different FREE flying machines hidden from the masses so they can charge us for fuel and garbage polluting ways of travel. It's all about money.
@@scoopet I don't think pressurizing the balloon would change the size or lifting capacity - because it's all about the volume of air displaced right? If you add more helium inside the same size envelope, you're still displacing the same amount of air but your balloon now weighs slightly more because of the extra helium. So net reduction in lift. I do wonder if it would help with environmental air infiltrating the balloon though.
After all the "don't go here, they're not prepared for tourists" and "this river will kill you" type videos, it's nice to get one where the rest of us could reasonably afford to do this, assuming we have another reason to be in the area. This has probably been one of your more rewarding experiences of late as well, as it looked like you were having a blimpload of fun. And Aéroplume will almost certainly see an uptick in business. Sometimes all a good idea needs is for people to know it exists and it can propel itself from there.
this is possibly one of the coolest experiences. This surely goes on my bucket list for flying, but in a hangar. And honestly, for €60 it's not exactly a expensive adventure.
@@ernstschmidt4725 There are much more important uses for the helium than frivolous pursuits like putting it in balloons or doing silly things like this video.
"Inventor, artist and engineer"- those three titles put together can bring out something either amazing or terrifying. Glad it was the former one:) I love Tom's reaction from 3:38, when he figured out how to control that thing!
Tom, have you ever though about how much of a legacy you will leave behind on the internet? your videos will always resurface and trend again and again. Love what you do, brilliant.
I belive he is, in his how to be popular on the internet series he looked at that i think. Quite interesting and I'd imagine a large part of his thinking about videos
2019 Scott: "Is the world is running out of helium? It's a valuable resource that should be treated as finite." 2022 Scott: "Watch me float in a giant helium balloon!"
Literally yesterday I was in a card factory shop in the UK and saw a sign to say they had run out of helium due to shortages and couldn't fill a party balloon! Would love to do this and a great price, way cheaper than if I'd tried to get 70,000 litres at UK card shop prices assuming they had any!
@@Drabkikker Uranus is a far easier source. A nuclear powered flying atmospheric liquefaction facility launching nuclear cargo rockets could get helium back to earth from there with clever application of the technology we have now (almost*). The surface gravity is actually slightly lower than Earth, and the methane can be processed into carbon fibres and plastics. The delta-v to get off the surface is about twice that of getting off earth, but the hydrogen available suits a nuclear engine well, and plastic fuel tanks can be disposable (or even fed through the engine). *A reusable heat shield that can survive entering from orbit around Uranus is beyond us currently, but with the amount of hydrogen available bleed cooling should be able to manage it.
I so want to go and try this, as I am stuck in a wheelchair for most of the time when I'm out. I could tell how much you were enjoying that Tom. Thanks for sharing an amazing adventure with us all. Kindest regards, Dave W 👏😊
So long as you would be physically capable of getting into the blimp harness, even if you need assistance, and your arms work, I guess youd be able to take one of these helium balloon rides. Then you, a mostly-wheelchair-bound individual, would have had an experience most of us with two perfectly good legs have never had, flight.
Thank you, Tom, for answering your question before your video, rather than an annoying "preview" of the video, followed by a sponsor, followed by an introduction, followed by a 7 minutes vlog, followed by a cameo of a random youtuber.
Tom, I cannot express how thankful I am for this video. Ever since I was a kid I've had dreams of flying by swimming through the air. This, I think, is the closest thing that exists to that. This is definitely going at the top of my bucket list of places to go outside the US!
Me, too! And the way it looks in the video seems exactly right for the way I remember it! Also I can absolutely see this as how people get around on some future planet of ours. Incredible
So you’re deathly afraid of standing on a metal mesh with an expert showing you it’s safe, but flying on your own in a large helium balloon is fine? 😂 Keep making great videos Tom!
i;ll second the "human brain is weird" answer. I've been skydiving. when you sat in the plane, looking out a window, yhea your high, but it doesnt feel dangerous. then, your stood in the doorway, and looking at the same drop, but without a sheet of glass in the way, sends you all sorts of danger signals and it takes a serious, deliberate mental effort to work past those. but 10 seconds later, when your out of the plane and under canopy? you dont feel unsafe anymore, your sat in a harness and the "danger" feels are gone again. id imagine its something similar. the albert hall felt unsafe because he had no harness or anything to catch him (he didnt need it, but his brain wanted it anyway). in this, he can feel he's lying in supporting straps, safe and secure....also you start at very low altitude which might help ease the brain into the situtation.
@@tompw3141 When I was 11, I went on a school trip to an activities place for a few days on the Isle of Wight. They had rock climbing walls there, and I flatout refused to do it as I wasn't fond of heights (still not really). I did, however, do abseiling on walls of the same height a couple times and thoroughly enjoyed it. I still won't do rock climbing, but I'd do abseiling again, and I've wanted to do skydiving for a while. The brain is odd.
Amazing, and amusing. The situation makes all the difference. Tom was legit terrified at stepping out onto the floor grid in a prior video about St. Albert's Hall. Yet here, he is calm and even joyous.
It’s the perspective, mentally, Tom is flying/floating here. On the corona he was standing over a great height. This doesn’t work for everyone but I know some people can pacify their fear of heights by thinking that they’re floating instead.
No because in most instances he doesn't want a mob of internet tourists swamping some little corner of the world that happens to have something interesting to see, like this neat blimp hangar in Northern France in a quiet little village of 100 which is about 20 minutes from where I was born :D
@@Soken50 But it would be like a 10 minute videos with about a hundred places so it will be an even distribution of people Some popular might get more people but it should be relatively even.
Every time I watch a video that really interests me (like this one) I put it in "Want to Go" on Google Maps, like that when there are enough spots (from Tom and others) I can organize a trip there.
Hey Tom, I just wanna say thank you so much for always providing the thumbnail question at the very beginning, it's a very mature and reasonable approach to "clickbait". I always watch the full video though because they are always interesting, thanks for all the free knowledge!
I've been scuba diving before and I know how cool it feels to just float in a perfect ballance, but achieving that in air instead of water must be so much cooler.
In Tillamook Oregon there is an old Airship Hangar that's been turned into an Air Museum, and standing inside that enormous building that looks very similar to this, was absolutely awe-inspiring. Standing next to an F-14 in a building that's multiple hundreds a feet tall, really puts it into perspective.
Thanks you! I've had that question since childhod. When my parents would get balloons for my birthday, I would always tie them to some toy to see if they would lift it. And now, this question is solved by not just someone, but one of my favorite UA-camrs! As always, thanks for posting, Tom! :')
and put out a popular video about it encouraging others to do the same. But no matter He is only used for party balloons, silly voices and MRI machines.
Wow, this concept is incredible. Imagine if you scale it up 100 times, add a motor to it and put an actual passenger cabin in the bottom. Oh, and maybe use a cheaper gas instead - hydrogen maybe? That would be such a great passenger ship!
Incentives for loosing weight: -to be in good health -to be in peak condition -to feel good about yourself -to be able to go to France and pay to pretend to be a blimp for half an hour
I'm french and i discovered aeroplume one month ago, visiting la "Grotte de la Salamandre" (in the Gard department). Yes ! you can fly into a cave with this "ship". I didn't because it was expansive (and i supposed you have to reserved you're ticket), but i saw someone flies over me with aeroplume while i was visiting the cave.
"Not for your safety, but for the safety of the blimp" Great line. I confess that I was ready to correct you when I saw "Helium", saying that you were floating, not flying, but you were flying in the sense of propelling your self in three dimensions. Years ago I came to the conclusion that birds swim through the air, and fish fly through the ocean water. Cheers, Chris
I don’t think birds and fishes are any different. They both on fluid medium, just with different densities and weights. And both experience gravity. Did you know sharks would drown if they didn’t swim?
Getting to see your unbridled joy at flying was Such a delight. Thank you so much for sharing this experience with us! You look like you have *an amazing* amount of fun up there.
@@Mihoshika please check out the dictionary definitions of bridled and check back. Unless you're talking about the fact that he's strapped into all hell to the metal balloon, and you're making a joke and I'm completely missing it?
Tom, thank you for (again!) showing us something really interesting and for NOT feeling that you had to make it 40 minutes long. I love your 7-12 minute bite size videos.
I normally am not a fan if “how many []” or “how much []” However this video is really well put together without extending for watch time. Good video as always Tom.
It's been done... And that guy had to be rescued by helicopter, when the wind direction changed and he got blown out to sea.. 3 miles up! Apparently the BB gun he took with him jammed, or he dropped it or something, and he couldn't reduce his altitude.. Very close candidate for that years Darwin Award..
I just love your honest, straight to the point approach. No nonsense, no scam, no clickbait, you provide the answer and proceed to explain, and I respect that and watch through whole videos beacuse of that.
Next week on Tom Scott Plus: Tom Scott travels across a tightrope into an aeroplume, floats to safety, then rides off into the sunset on a bike while rounding sheep.
I vividly remember a dream I've had as a teenager, and it was just me floating freely (of course without the helium-filled blimp), I felt so free. Waking up from that dream was devastating, but watching this video has given me hope to perhaps experience that feeling again!
When I watch videos like this I think to myself that Tom Scott just wants to share joy with others, even if it doesn't always work out that way. This one did for me :)
I'm imagining a character (played by Tom in my head, naturally) with one of these rigs trying to be a superhero and constantly being thwarted by actual physics.
Hold up one sec. This is the same hangar that is modeled in War Thunder and is present in the fields of Normandy map. I did some quick googling to be sure and it is :D
Fantastic. I'd love to have a go. Can you imagine some of these is NASA/Boeings largest buildings? The ones so vast rain clouds can form in the micro-climate indoors
You might be thinking about that one Zeppelin hall in Germany that's been converted into a waterpark (ack), on the Brand-Briesen airfield. More appropriate than in NASA buildings, esp the VAB, as it's full of stuff, technical platforms... There isn't a single big open space in it, as opposed to the largest free-bearing hall in the world, which was built in the late 90s to build and house an airship, but the company went bankrupt in 2002 and that huge building was then repurposed. Iirc it's over 300m long, over 200m wide, and over 100m high. It would sooo be the perfect place for this...
Just had an intrusive thought of the roof just coming off and you just flying up and out of earth aha. love your videos mate, smart fella with a good passion for understanding reality.
That was amazing, I had no idea that had that! (And I really like how you just answer the question in the title straight away in your videos, even though I almost always end up watching the whole thing).
The number of places on my bucket list because of you is staggering. Thank you. Your video subjects are unique and your authentic enthusiasm for them is heartwarming. Cheers!! Brilliant.
Really wanna try this next summer, it seems so much fun, plus it'll be the opportunity to visit Normandy lmao. Also I love how Tom literally answers the question in the title the second the video starts, amazing.
Instant sub for not burying the lead. Thank you so much for leading with the answer. It made me so much more interested to watch your experience and how you got there.
Apologies for the creaking noises here: they weren't that loud in person, it's just that lavalier microphones don't work that well when lying down!
It’s ok tom we love you
4 days ago
Love how he apologizes before he even uploads it. Like, he's saying sorry to his data pirates.
Apology not accepted. What compensation do I receive?
I think most viewers would assume it’s just part of the experience.
I'm surprised to see no one's talking about what good value for money this is - 60 euro is a fantastic price for a once in a lifetime thing like this. I'm going to have to try this at least once before I die, it looks so amazing.
Probably because if you're not within a day's travel by rail to France you have to factor in "vacation to France". Still a cheaper way to float around than the $8000 2 hour flight on the civilian "vomit comet" doing parabolas though.
Not once in a lifetime if you have 120 Euros :)
@@DHealey 180 euroes:
@@torinlupo807 You go to far, sir or madam.
If it's a fantastic price for once in a lifetime, does that mean if you go again its a ripoff
Makes the title a question, immediantly answers the question, then provides entertainment for the duration of the video.
Tom Scott is a UA-camr like no other.
Like anti-clickbait. Love it.
Daily dose of internet also kind of does this, can't think of anyone else though so you are right.
And i love it! Never liked a video so fast like this.
It is a welcome change from the long, drawn-out let downs.
But before we dive into that I would like to introduce to the sponsor of this video...
I love how he filters through viewers by just straight up answering the question. Like "now you're just here to see me!"
imagine how much it takes to lift you in your Vehicle🤔
😂
I really like the stark contrast between Tom freaking out about standing on a metal mesh up high, but also not freaking out about literally floating by a helium balloon. Great video as always, this is definitely now on my bucket list!
i guess it's the difference between "i can fall from this height" and "I can fly this high". I for one also have a fear of heights, but strangely enough it's because i might try to jump when I'm high up, and the fear comes when you realize you can't fly.
I mean, on a mesh you're aware that you're standing on a lot of tiny cables, you recognize the fragility of what's holding you up even though the cables could probably support 10x more than you weigh without a problem. Meanwhile, the balloon feels relatively safe because it's so large.
Same reason the edge of buildings scares the hell out of me but I can ride a roller coaster that goes twice as high just fine. It's the falling, not the heights.
So much fear is just about a feeling of control.
among the other good replies I would like to add that the balloon has a cradle - the web that supports the entire body. That provides a sense of security. When standing upright there can be a sense of " potential instability ".
Tom has accomplished his lifelong dream of becoming an airship, congrats Tom!
Haha
My addiction to Helium is out of control, but...
no one is taking my cries for help seriously.
@@In.Darkness xD
Thomas The AirShip
Blimplasty.
Love how he doesn’t beat around the bush. Just walks into frame and tells you the answer. Amazing.
He has transcended clickbait, he gave it away so quick you feel compelled to stay just to hear more :D
Lmfao exactly. Love that about him
Refreshing, isn't it.
he has confidence that the rest of his video is enough to keep us interested, so he doesn't feel the need to string us along..
yep theres a sizeable amount of good quality youtubers that practice ethical clickbait. there's even adam neely who puts the answers to the clickbait title, in the thumbnail, which is hilarious and awesome
This seems more like everyone's dream of flying than those car drones or jetpacks. On the drone cars or a jetpacks you're kind of constantly stressed and worried about accidentally hitting something, but this is more like a dream where you're just being lifted up and enjoying it.
... which is why I asked if any Aeroplume customer's fallen asleep while in harness. Pity they don't dare take these flimsy things out of the hangar ...
@@seanbigay1042 5:31 "(because) the slightest breeze would blow me completely off course"
Nothing in this not to love. That instructor was just incredible, patient and relaxed while explaining aerodynamics in a second language. A brilliant business concept. And of course, Tom, a huge smile and clearly loving every moment.
@Steve D If you listened to the instructor you would have heard that they are aware of the limited nature of helium and their efforts not to waste it while still being able to do what they do.
@Steve D Like filling party balloons? I'm joking but i guess a lot more gets wasted at Disney parks. We can excuse this use.
@@maxsnts and given how they are reused its far more effective than most common uses of helium, which are (very often) a single use time thing
@@maxsnts the biggest consumer of helium is the macys parade
@@theflash95 just because they are trying to be efficient doesn’t mean it isn’t wasting rare elements
I love how this and the robotic elephant create an unintended subseries of "French people recreating Jules Verne concepts in real life". Can't wait to learn about more steampunk adventures I could do for my next French holiday.
What is a Jules Verne concept?
@@cartoonfantasy4541 Jules Verne is the father of science fiction.
@@cartoonfantasy4541 You know the old science fiction author who made such classics as "2000 Leagues under the Sea" or "Around the World in 80 Days".
@@cartoonfantasy4541 Jules Verne is a French writer and author, one of many references in French Literature. His writings were often based on scientific progress of the times (XIXth to XXth century). He wrote "Around The World in 80 Days", "Twenty-thousand Leagues Under The Sea" and the series "Voyages extraordinaires".
And as a concept, it would be objects inspired by that era, kind of steampunk-like. Like the Nautilus for example.
Can't wait for Tom to visit Iraq to see whatever remains of Project Babylon
EDIT: oh wait, French people. Is there a Frenchman who has invented a gun that can shoot people towards the moon yet?
Can we just stop and thank the instructor. He did a very good job explaining the mechanics of the blimp 👍 as well as instructing Tom from what we can see
I also liked the colour of his shirt.
The instructor was great, I enjoyed listening to him. He had great explanations.
Thanks instructor guy, you added a lot to this video 👍
He actually knew the physics of it too, not just someone who is repeating instructions, someone that actually understands what's going on.
In his second language, too! I can't explain aerodynamics in English and I've been speaking it since birth
Lovely accent too, I could listen to his instructions all day!
tom's living the life. he gets to have once in a lifetime experiences on a weekly basis and get paid
_Thy shall read the description_
imprecise words
@@makingmach7 even though he didn't get paid by them to fly the blimp, the video will pay for the expenses. So yes, he gets to have once in a lifetime experiences every week and gets paid for it.
@@outandabout259 👍
And now it’s his time off
Without exaggeration, this seems like a lifechanging experience. Kinda like going to space.
You can see in Tom's face how much fun it is to fulfill the ancient human dream of flying like a bird. It's an experience that not even a plane can give you, since it feels less "organic" I guess.
i think that the main thing is that it's you that is making the blimp move, with your own hands. in a plane you're just pulling, pushing and pressing different instruments
it's similar to indoor skydiving in that way, though this is surprisingly much cheaper (unless you account for trave prices I suppose)
I noticed his face as well. He was having a blast.
@@tegxi safer too
I fly paramotors, and the draw to that is often times the freedom and closeness to flying like a bird. It is far closer to bird-like flight when compared to planes. This is another level
That looks amazing
You're gonna make one, aren't you
Build one with rc propellers so you can use it outside
make it but give it flamethrowers
A wild Furze appears
@@bingus2550 He'd defo use Hydrogen :D
One of the things that particularly struck me how the movement and maneuvering of the fins looked very much like how fish use their pectoral fins, especially when just chilling and trying to stay (relatively) in one place. This of course makes sense, because it's the same exact principles at play just in different fluids (air versus water).
Apart from moving backwards yes
@@robinlove6981 Ahhh but, fish CAN swim backwards using their pectoral fins. Puffer fish swim using their pectorals nearly all the time, only flicking the caudal for a rapid burst of speed when necessary. Many Cichlids also use their pectorals to reverse out of narrow spaces or to back away from another cichlid during confrontations.
flippers might be able to get some forward speed too
...Uh. Overly obvious.
water and air are both fluids that share the same basic properties
I really respect you opening the video with the answer for anybody who wanted to find out quickly! Though I am definitely here for the whole video :)
Imagine hearing an air raid siren and then seeing an army of Tom Scott balloons come from behind the clouds. Someone needs to make a movie about that.
Very easy to take out with AAA.
@@user2C47 Not for Londoners at the Start at wwI
What would he drop? A deuce?
The army would just slowly and joyfully paddle over to tell you new facts XD
Bruh 😂
I love the anti-clickbait style of these videos where you answer the title question straight away. Thanks Tom!
I loved Antoine's calm and slow demeanor, he really sets the speed of how people are going to act in there.
IKR If he teach faster Tom probably would cut the weight and break the roof then fly away 🤣
He probably has to deal with people having panic attacks 2 seconds after leaving the ground
It`s called being French.
5:04
"Kilogram - De igher u arr, De otter et es."
@@Cantfindaname917 The most French sounding sentence ever uttered.
This is now on my list of things to see/do in France if I ever end up going there. Very cool video Tom and a big thanks to all those who make such a fun, scientific activity available.
From the website: Flights at Écausseville suspended until further notice (helium crisis)
I think w3 caught this too late
The creator of aéroplume is a friend of my dad's, i got to try the blimp a couple times. It's definitely fun and a very serene experience, just floating gently through the air. Beating the wings puts a hell of a strain on the arms though!
id imagine on the neck as well
Thank you for sharing :)
Imagine flying in tropical winds in it
Wow! Does it feel like you're a bird? xD
Or in a hurricane
I appreciate that the end links to the 2019 video on "Is the world running out of helium?" Because that is exactly the video I thought about when I saw this one. Thank you as always Tom.
Yah, used for really important things like mris no?!
I gotta say I ended up doing a 25 page research paper on it in high school and spent the entire year studying/researching that. Suffice it to say we are not ‘running out’ there is still plenty of helium out there it’s just about the economics surrounding it being different in a lot of ways that has driven the price up over the past 20 years or so. It’s a lot like oil or natural gas (considering you often find helium where you find natural gas) where everyone says we are running out when in reality there is plenty just the current reserves of what is currently economical is being depleted. The helium situation is actually significantly more complicated though since it’s usually just extracted as a byproduct then as something people specifically target.
they found a bunch more.
@@Summergch these blimp guy us etheir helium very efficiently. I wouldn't be surprised if they dont just vent it but recycle it at the end of the season
even if the 70k liters aren't 100% helium anymore, they might still be able to pass them forward as a "low quality" supply of helium, for party balloons and whatnot?
When Tom Scott poses a question, he answers in a prompt and concise fashion. No intro, no adds; 70,000 litres before three seconds!
And he didn't beg viewers to hit the bell button to subsribe! You get the answer immediately.
And he's been making videos like these weekly for almost 10 years. People who say that you have to have other things for 'engagement' have no excuse
For me it's more like 85000 litres.
6:06 "If it's too late to avoid the wall or the roof it will pull, not for your safety, but for the safety of the blimp"
I imagine the door is closed not only because of the breeze but also to stop the otherwise irresistible urge to make a dash for the open skies.
The air whales are always in search of freedom.
You know thats actually a great SCP idea in the making
STOP HIM HES MAKING A BREAK FOR THE DOOR!!!
OH GOD HES FLOATING AWAY OMG JOHNNY NOOOOOO
That was freaking cool. I definitely want to try that!
If you ever have the opportunity to go, Bobby, I would love a video of you experiencing this! I can already imagine the punny fun you'd have. 😄
You could even make a sculpture of yourself in one of the aeroplumes out of WEWD
Wow! Really cool to see you here
I can imagine you watching this and just saying: "I wawnt to dew thayut" XD
Me too. But I would need two of these blimps. Oh, they say they have one for 270 kg. Perfect size for me!
I want that!
Absolutely, positively, Tom has the best intros. Period. The people that watch watch, the people that googled the question have their answer, and the universe lives in harmony.
Don't forget the physics nerds like me who calculated to answer before watching the video, and then watched the video anyway.
@@JoshSmith-db2of 🙏
It makes me wanna cry to think that almost 250 years ago people would draw sketches of such machines but never could saw it come true, nor fly them. And now we can.
The French actually pioneered hot air ballooning right around that time! Montgolfier brothers in 1783 at Versailles! The French love their dirigeables.
These have been around for hundreds of years.
100s of different FREE flying machines hidden from the masses so they can charge us for fuel and garbage polluting ways of travel.
It's all about money.
Oh god why am I learning about this through a Tom Scott video, now there's no chance that they're not gonna be booked out for like, the coming 7 years
No but same this is incredible!
Yep
It's not that overbooked at all - and it's right behind Normandy's Utah Beach, in Écausseville.
ive never once considered that having an unpressurised balloon would make a puncture almost totally safe thats rad
I wonder the size difference if it was pressurised
@@scoopet I don't think pressurizing the balloon would change the size or lifting capacity - because it's all about the volume of air displaced right? If you add more helium inside the same size envelope, you're still displacing the same amount of air but your balloon now weighs slightly more because of the extra helium. So net reduction in lift. I do wonder if it would help with environmental air infiltrating the balloon though.
@@noahorr3480 Also wouldn't pressurized balloon make the gas inside heavier (being denser and all)? That's even less lift
The balloon is pressurized. The fabric can not support itself. It's about 0.2 psi, so they call it unpressurized.
@@noahorr3480 surely you will get more lift if the balloon was smaller and a more sturdy material but with the same amount of helium in it?
Tom at this point is just the physical embodiment of that one random ass thought that appears in your brain
You meant "of our dreams"
Have you heard about the helium shortage?
It's only gotten worse with inflation.
@@In.Darkness Thanks dad.
"Babe what are you thinking about?"
Tom Scott "Brb going to The Aéroplume, France." *leaves*
@@In.Darkness We need to use hydrogen for blimps. It can be just as safe. And/or somehow repurpose ITER to make helium!
Added to my bucketlist! Respect for the instructor! He explains how to operate perfectly and one will feel completely safe.
From the website: Flights at Écausseville suspended until further notice (helium crisis)
After all the "don't go here, they're not prepared for tourists" and "this river will kill you" type videos, it's nice to get one where the rest of us could reasonably afford to do this, assuming we have another reason to be in the area.
This has probably been one of your more rewarding experiences of late as well, as it looked like you were having a blimpload of fun. And Aéroplume will almost certainly see an uptick in business. Sometimes all a good idea needs is for people to know it exists and it can propel itself from there.
You want ANOTHER reason? (grin)
Those jokes float outside my tastes
That blimp will kill you, it killed Ross 😢
...."bigger one can carry up to 90 kilograms".... not for me then 😒
@@mrbeeoutdoors3213 Another motivator to lose weight?
this is possibly one of the coolest experiences. This surely goes on my bucket list for flying, but in a hangar. And honestly, for €60 it's not exactly a expensive adventure.
For 60 euros this is a steal!!
Then do it quick, because helium is leaving the atmosphere and will be gone in 15 years during this time the prices will go up significantly.
That's actually completely affordable. I was expecting much more than that
Honestly, for me, it is the 90 kg limit... and it is in France.
@@jimdennis2451 yup 90kg limit puts me out of the running...
Tom in a separate video: helium is a finite resource with only about 100 years worth left in the world
Also Tom:
gotta enjoy it meanwhile it lasts!
If we simply strip our atmosphere by around 50% helium flight will become a lot more viable and less wasteful
@@ernstschmidt4725 There are much more important uses for the helium than frivolous pursuits like putting it in balloons or doing silly things like this video.
We can make more right
@@Lagmeister12382 There are much more important uses for your time than frivolous correction of silly strangers in the internet.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ANSWERING THE QUESTION AT THE BEGINNING OF THE VIDEO, AND ADDING EVERYTHING ELSE AFTER
I think this is an excellent demonstration of how adapt we are at tool use. As soon as Tom was in the air, he adapted to his new body as an air whale.
Air whale......🤣
Wailord
@@latro5002 Skitty
I hope this is a joke
@@tejas238 Why would it be a joke?
"Inventor, artist and engineer"- those three titles put together can bring out something either amazing or terrifying. Glad it was the former one:)
I love Tom's reaction from 3:38, when he figured out how to control that thing!
Amazing or terrifying OR BOTH. 😳
Inventor, artist, and *GERMAN*
@@hundredfireify Which wasnt considered an artist nor an Inventor in Austria :D
3:45😂😂
Tom, have you ever though about how much of a legacy you will leave behind on the internet? your videos will always resurface and trend again and again. Love what you do, brilliant.
I belive he is, in his how to be popular on the internet series he looked at that i think. Quite interesting and I'd imagine a large part of his thinking about videos
He just does such a great job of finding things worth documenting and recording them in an informative and interesting way
He's a major part of history from his two videos on voting machines alone.
All it will take is one massive solar flare to hit the earth to completely wipe out all electronics and data
@@jamiehughes5573 One can only hope. Maybe then Facebook would go away and people could get back to minding their own business.
I love this .
The answer i wanted at the start, no clickbait
I love it.
2019 Scott: "Is the world is running out of helium? It's a valuable resource that should be treated as finite." 2022 Scott: "Watch me float in a giant helium balloon!"
Literally yesterday I was in a card factory shop in the UK and saw a sign to say they had run out of helium due to shortages and couldn't fill a party balloon! Would love to do this and a great price, way cheaper than if I'd tried to get 70,000 litres at UK card shop prices assuming they had any!
Stealing helium from the sun? Now there's an idea for a mythical heist!
@@Gillsing Let's hope it won't retaliate.
@@Drabkikker Uranus is a far easier source. A nuclear powered flying atmospheric liquefaction facility launching nuclear cargo rockets could get helium back to earth from there with clever application of the technology we have now (almost*). The surface gravity is actually slightly lower than Earth, and the methane can be processed into carbon fibres and plastics. The delta-v to get off the surface is about twice that of getting off earth, but the hydrogen available suits a nuclear engine well, and plastic fuel tanks can be disposable (or even fed through the engine).
*A reusable heat shield that can survive entering from orbit around Uranus is beyond us currently, but with the amount of hydrogen available bleed cooling should be able to manage it.
Try it with hydrogen, what could go wrong...
I so want to go and try this, as I am stuck in a wheelchair for most of the time when I'm out. I could tell how much you were enjoying that Tom. Thanks for sharing an amazing adventure with us all. Kindest regards, Dave W 👏😊
If you can, I know some swimming pools have "aqua-gym"-like activities for people in wheelchair. Not as fun as this, but still nice.
Did you see the Fly With Geese episode?
That looks awesome too!
So long as you would be physically capable of getting into the blimp harness, even if you need assistance, and your arms work, I guess youd be able to take one of these helium balloon rides. Then you, a mostly-wheelchair-bound individual, would have had an experience most of us with two perfectly good legs have never had, flight.
it would be so cool to do this, right?
@@benoitbvg2888 Floats for the legs let you swim with upper body Australian crawl, breast stroke, or butterfly.
Thank you, Tom, for answering your question before your video, rather than an annoying "preview" of the video, followed by a sponsor, followed by an introduction, followed by a 7 minutes vlog, followed by a cameo of a random youtuber.
Gotta love how proud the guy is about having zero accidents, great stuff!
Tom, I cannot express how thankful I am for this video. Ever since I was a kid I've had dreams of flying by swimming through the air. This, I think, is the closest thing that exists to that. This is definitely going at the top of my bucket list of places to go outside the US!
I've had the same dreams, of flying by myself.
look up wingsuit base jumping
Me, too! And the way it looks in the video seems exactly right for the way I remember it!
Also I can absolutely see this as how people get around on some future planet of ours. Incredible
So you’re deathly afraid of standing on a metal mesh with an expert showing you it’s safe, but flying on your own in a large helium balloon is fine? 😂
Keep making great videos Tom!
the guy stood on a flying plane. this is nothing
The human brain is weird!
i;ll second the "human brain is weird" answer. I've been skydiving. when you sat in the plane, looking out a window, yhea your high, but it doesnt feel dangerous. then, your stood in the doorway, and looking at the same drop, but without a sheet of glass in the way, sends you all sorts of danger signals and it takes a serious, deliberate mental effort to work past those. but 10 seconds later, when your out of the plane and under canopy? you dont feel unsafe anymore, your sat in a harness and the "danger" feels are gone again.
id imagine its something similar. the albert hall felt unsafe because he had no harness or anything to catch him (he didnt need it, but his brain wanted it anyway). in this, he can feel he's lying in supporting straps, safe and secure....also you start at very low altitude which might help ease the brain into the situtation.
@@tompw3141 When I was 11, I went on a school trip to an activities place for a few days on the Isle of Wight. They had rock climbing walls there, and I flatout refused to do it as I wasn't fond of heights (still not really). I did, however, do abseiling on walls of the same height a couple times and thoroughly enjoyed it.
I still won't do rock climbing, but I'd do abseiling again, and I've wanted to do skydiving for a while. The brain is odd.
@@xerxeskingofking it also helps that he is somewhat in controle of the blimp.
tom scott: answering questions ive never asked for
And I love it 😂
This brought me joy and a little lift, just when I needed it. Superb Tom..., as always.
Amazing, and amusing. The situation makes all the difference. Tom was legit terrified at stepping out onto the floor grid in a prior video about St. Albert's Hall. Yet here, he is calm and even joyous.
Seems Tom has a lot more trust in Fluid Dynamics than Material Sciences ^^'
The illusion of control is one helluva thing.
It’s the perspective, mentally, Tom is flying/floating here. On the corona he was standing over a great height. This doesn’t work for everyone but I know some people can pacify their fear of heights by thinking that they’re floating instead.
Tom flies through the air majestically like an eagle. piloting a blimp.
nice 👍
I understood that reference
This was a triumph.
Good one!
After all this daredevil stuff he's done, it's amazing he's...
😎
Still Alive
The pure joy in Tom's face when he started ascending put a huge smile on my face.
I like seeing him happy, especially because he works hard to give us such great videos
Tom should make a bucket list blog with everything he's done so we can do what he has done without searching all the videos!
No because in most instances he doesn't want a mob of internet tourists swamping some little corner of the world that happens to have something interesting to see, like this neat blimp hangar in Northern France in a quiet little village of 100 which is about 20 minutes from where I was born :D
Yesss! I would love to watch that
@@Soken50 But it would be like a 10 minute videos with about a hundred places so it will be an even distribution of people
Some popular might get more people but it should be relatively even.
Every time I watch a video that really interests me (like this one) I put it in "Want to Go" on Google Maps, like that when there are enough spots (from Tom and others) I can organize a trip there.
I just want to sit in a cavern filled with radioactive gas. Is that too much to ask?
Hey Tom, I just wanna say thank you so much for always providing the thumbnail question at the very beginning, it's a very mature and reasonable approach to "clickbait".
I always watch the full video though because they are always interesting, thanks for all the free knowledge!
I've been scuba diving before and I know how cool it feels to just float in a perfect ballance, but achieving that in air instead of water must be so much cooler.
In Tillamook Oregon there is an old Airship Hangar that's been turned into an Air Museum, and standing inside that enormous building that looks very similar to this, was absolutely awe-inspiring. Standing next to an F-14 in a building that's multiple hundreds a feet tall, really puts it into perspective.
Thanks you! I've had that question since childhod. When my parents would get balloons for my birthday, I would always tie them to some toy to see if they would lift it. And now, this question is solved by not just someone, but one of my favorite UA-camrs!
As always, thanks for posting, Tom! :')
@@ragnkja A cubic meter is just a liter. And Tom said himself, it's about 1L per _gram,_ not kg.
@@Antigen__ ?? no, 1 cubic meter = 1000 litres, therefore yea, 1 cubic meter (1000 L) = 1 kg (1000 gram)
@@victorio60 Augh, you're right. My bad. Happens when you're fresh out of bed.
Same 😅
Learn math n science
Tom Scott: The world is running out of helium
Also Tom Scott: I’m gonna go get enough helium to make me float
and put out a popular video about it encouraging others to do the same. But no matter He is only used for party balloons, silly voices and MRI machines.
Well I'd argue that this type of usage if done right actually uses (or loses I should say) very little hellium.
The alternative is hydrogen
Tom teaches me a lot in just 1 minute; he's excellent at getting straight to the point. Good Work!
Wow, this concept is incredible. Imagine if you scale it up 100 times, add a motor to it and put an actual passenger cabin in the bottom. Oh, and maybe use a cheaper gas instead - hydrogen maybe? That would be such a great passenger ship!
Lmao
What a life Tom gets to live, he is able to experience so many unique and inspiring aspects of so many peoples lives. Thank you for sharing
Incentives for loosing weight:
-to be in good health
-to be in peak condition
-to feel good about yourself
-to be able to go to France and pay to pretend to be a blimp for half an hour
Incentive to *not* lose weight: pretend to be a blimp all day long!
I would rather gain muscle than pretend to be a blimp.
@@FrietjeOorlog Always be the blimp you wanna be !
Thank you Tom for showing interesting things in France that even I, a French person, has never heard of :)
That's the thing! He finds interesting stuff that locals don't even know about! Almost all things he covered in the Netherlands were a surprise to me!
I'm french and i discovered aeroplume one month ago, visiting la "Grotte de la Salamandre" (in the Gard department).
Yes ! you can fly into a cave with this "ship".
I didn't because it was expansive (and i supposed you have to reserved you're ticket), but i saw someone flies over me with aeroplume while i was visiting the cave.
The last video I watched before this was picked by UA-cam was Tom telling us helium is a non renewable resource and we are running out
5:05 "De 'igher u r, de 'otter it is" amen brotha 🙏
Who doesn't want to see Tom be this happy. It sure made my day!
"Not for your safety, but for the safety of the blimp" Great line.
I confess that I was ready to correct you when I saw "Helium", saying that you were floating, not flying, but you were flying in the sense of propelling your self in three dimensions.
Years ago I came to the conclusion that birds swim through the air, and fish fly through the ocean water.
Cheers, Chris
What is your reasoning behind your last statement?
@@Nofishnoclue I think it's because birds propel themselves up into the air. Whereas fish already float in water, they just controlling their vector.
@@alifaan595 Both are fluids, think of it that way.
I don’t think birds and fishes are any different. They both on fluid medium, just with different densities and weights. And both experience gravity. Did you know sharks would drown if they didn’t swim?
Some birds glide... Just saying. :)
This looks insanely fun!
Getting to see your unbridled joy at flying was Such a delight. Thank you so much for sharing this experience with us! You look like you have *an amazing* amount of fun up there.
Bridled*
@@Mihoshika I meant what I said. I guess I interpreted his joy differently.
@@lyzvoogd4547 He is literally bridled.
@@Mihoshika please check out the dictionary definitions of bridled and check back.
Unless you're talking about the fact that he's strapped into all hell to the metal balloon, and you're making a joke and I'm completely missing it?
Tom, thank you for (again!) showing us something really interesting and for NOT feeling that you had to make it 40 minutes long. I love your 7-12 minute bite size videos.
I normally am not a fan if “how many []” or “how much []”
However this video is really well put together without extending for watch time.
Good video as always Tom.
That is INCREDIBLE! It looks so magical, I don’t think I’d ever want to come down to earth. I’d want to swim in the air all the time
This was a cool video, looked like great fun, however, it would’ve been a lot cooler with lots of multi coloured small balloons tied to a deckchair
It's been done... And that guy had to be rescued by helicopter, when the wind direction changed and he got blown out to sea.. 3 miles up!
Apparently the BB gun he took with him jammed, or he dropped it or something, and he couldn't reduce his altitude..
Very close candidate for that years Darwin Award..
@@GenoLoma Perhaps but he also lived his life! I’d like to go out like that when I’m old
@@youngmoney9041 Don't let anyone stop you. That's a hell of a retirement plan!
ack ack.
I loved Antoine's calm and slow demeanor, he really sets the speed of how people are going to act in there.❤❤
New bucket list item! Thanks for the vid!
Thanks Tom... your experience is so inspiring and fresh to the soul! Thanks again for your work.
6:05 "If its too late to avoid the wall of the roof, we will pull, NOT FOR YOUR SAFETY, But for the safety of the blimp..."
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
very honest
@@firmanawd 😂😂 imagine if all politicians were like this honest down to earth guy.
@@Scientist_Albert_Einstein Marcon must go
Tom went from learning how to bike to learning how to fly, now that's character development.
Next vid: I learned how to launch a rocket
@@Cosmik60
I think that episode should be done after Tom learn how to burrow
I just love your honest, straight to the point approach. No nonsense, no scam, no clickbait, you provide the answer and proceed to explain, and I respect that and watch through whole videos beacuse of that.
Only had to watch like 20 seconds to find the answer to my piqued curiosity.
Thank you for answering upfront instead of needlessly drawing things out.
This looks like a lot of fun! The instructor was great also, explained things very well..
Have to put this on the bucket list!
Next week on Tom Scott Plus: Tom Scott travels across a tightrope into an aeroplume, floats to safety, then rides off into the sunset on a bike while rounding sheep.
Don't forget the parcour into a plane, flying it blindfolded whilst on fire, then having coffee and ice cream
I vividly remember a dream I've had as a teenager, and it was just me floating freely (of course without the helium-filled blimp), I felt so free. Waking up from that dream was devastating, but watching this video has given me hope to perhaps experience that feeling again!
You can do it again if you learn to lucid dream
I dream that every now and then, its so fun :))
That's one of my favourate dream i see time by time
The drawback would be to feel the gravity pushing you towards the harness.
This is how I fly in dreams? I paddle my arms just like that as if they're wings and I'm swimming through air!!!
Dude, you are so awesome for answering the question of the thumbnail right off the bat. Subscribed!
When I watch videos like this I think to myself that Tom Scott just wants to share joy with others, even if it doesn't always work out that way. This one did for me :)
I'm imagining a character (played by Tom in my head, naturally) with one of these rigs trying to be a superhero and constantly being thwarted by actual physics.
Hold up one sec. This is the same hangar that is modeled in War Thunder and is present in the fields of Normandy map.
I did some quick googling to be sure and it is :D
It was very wholesome to see Tom's pure exhilaration in this video.
Love that Tom seems to always immediately answer the question if it's part of the title
Fantastic. I'd love to have a go. Can you imagine some of these is NASA/Boeings largest buildings? The ones so vast rain clouds can form in the micro-climate indoors
You might be thinking about that one Zeppelin hall in Germany that's been converted into a waterpark (ack), on the Brand-Briesen airfield. More appropriate than in NASA buildings, esp the VAB, as it's full of stuff, technical platforms... There isn't a single big open space in it, as opposed to the largest free-bearing hall in the world, which was built in the late 90s to build and house an airship, but the company went bankrupt in 2002 and that huge building was then repurposed. Iirc it's over 300m long, over 200m wide, and over 100m high. It would sooo be the perfect place for this...
I love how Tom is always out of breath. It makes me feel as though he loves educating us so much that he actually runs out of breath.
Just had an intrusive thought of the roof just coming off and you just flying up and out of earth aha. love your videos mate, smart fella with a good passion for understanding reality.
Skip to 0:01 for the answer
This seems like a lot of fun. Imagine in a giant enclosed stadium
They should try to do it with one of the many NFL teams have abandoned here in the states.
Imagine having a big slow version of bumper cars like that! Sign me up! :D
@@jamesgizasson incoming!
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.
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.
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*bonk*
@@dreska255 I'll get you for that!!
....
as soon as I rebound off thr far wall. X3
That was amazing, I had no idea that had that! (And I really like how you just answer the question in the title straight away in your videos, even though I almost always end up watching the whole thing).
Thank you for getting straight to the point of the video at the start! Im going to do this at home unsafely!
The number of places on my bucket list because of you is staggering. Thank you. Your video subjects are unique and your authentic enthusiasm for them is heartwarming. Cheers!! Brilliant.
Really wanna try this next summer, it seems so much fun, plus it'll be the opportunity to visit Normandy lmao. Also I love how Tom literally answers the question in the title the second the video starts, amazing.
Instant sub for not burying the lead. Thank you so much for leading with the answer. It made me so much more interested to watch your experience and how you got there.
a great reason to visit France!