ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 มิ.ย. 2021
- Barra Airport, in Na h-Eileanan Siar in the west of Scotland, is unique: it's the only commercial airport where the runway's made of sand, and tide covers it up twice a day. Here's how it works.
Thanks to all the team at Barra Airport: www.hial.co.uk/barra-airport
I chartered with Hebridean Air Services from Oban: www.hebrideanair.co.uk/
Scheduled flights are available with Loganair: www.loganair.co.uk/
Editor: Michelle Martin (@mrsmmartin)
Location fixer: Vikki McCraw from Locations 365 locations365.co.uk
Filmed safely: www.tomscott.com/safe/
🟥 MORE FROM TOM: www.tomscott.com/
(you can find contact details and social links there too)
📰 WEEKLY NEWSLETTER with good stuff from the rest of the internet: www.tomscott.com/newsletter/
❓ LATERAL, free weekly podcast: lateralcast.com/ / lateralcast
➕ TOM SCOTT PLUS: / tomscottplus
👥 THE TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES: / techdif
And that's the last video of this trilogy from western Scotland! The area lived up to its reputation: the scenery was stunning, and the people were welcoming and friendly. Thank you to everyone I met up there!
12
monkey
woah
yes
Hello Tom Scott from the past!
Well I guess I can add this to my bucket list
so, that's item no. 300 then?
hope you have a big bucket
I found a Brian.
No, you need to add it to your book as per subtitles 😂
I'm less ambitious. I've added buying a bucket to my list.
You could land there in Microsoft Flight Simulator
I just love the laid back attitude of air traffic control: _"Just take a spin over the island and then figure it out for yourself please, and in the meantime we'll just try to make sure there's nobody going for a casual stroll on the runway."_
that's the main thing that atc does. their responsibility is making sure you don't crash on the ground. that does involve some air separation, but the majority of that is left to the pilots
As long as you don't run over anyone, the landing should be fine, probably.
It’s not really ATC.
Same as Mandatory Frequencies here in Canada. They give you weather and advisories. Lots of times they aren’t located anywhere near the airport. When they give you a clearance.. it’s “ATC clears.... “ meaning that they are just relaying it for the ATC that controls the airways and airspace above the airport.
@@magica3526 Yea, I suppose at big airports they're literally controlling the air traffic, so that runways are free, and planes don't crash into each other and stuff.
It's interesting, if you follow non commercial airplanes, they land at small, different and unfamiliar airports, the approach to their.. approach is a lot less "organised" than you imagine. The pilot will take several passes and discuss with his copilot ways to land. Reminds me of stooging around on a boat looking for the best place to anchor.
Having worked on Microsoft Flight Sim (2020), this was a very particular airport we liked to keep tabs on during development because it's such a unique landmark among aviation enthusiasts.
I was wondering, how does this place look like in FS :D
"They'll read the sign and then they'll ignore it and carry on."
Seems about right.
I used to work at an airport, and can say yes. absolutely. Like signs that read: HIGHLY FLAMMABLE- NO SMOKING.. shm.
Q: What's the difference between dumb people in the US and the UK?
A: In the UK, the read the sign but ignore it. In the US they don't even notice there was a sign there.
Probably because the signs are vague? People who don't know why will either dismiss it because of that or mistake the reason why not go past the point: "There's no high wind or bad tide now, I can walk there now". Many will also not know what a windsock is or expect the windsock to be on the sign when they're not supposed to walk there.
But I haven't seen the place and only rely on what this video shows so I'm just speculating.
Can confirm. There are signs that say that if the red flag is up then no swimming in the ocean but people walk pass the red flag to swim anyways
But are the signs in the correct language, Scottish Gaelic, or some other more common utterances!!
"So far the majority have been alright"
Not exactly what I want to hear from an air traffic controller
Can’t be worse than LOST
Meeehhhhhh you win some, you explode some, that's life :D
IDK, that's the kind of dry (pun intended) wit and honesty that made Kennedy Steve famous
As said in the video at 1:33 they're not ATC, just general ground info and clearances.
From the rule book: “This is not a control service, this is an advisory service, proceed at your discretion.”
Alternative title: "This airport's runway gets resurfaced twice a day. Every day."
Oh, that's quite good!
Love it
De iceing is free also . Just spin your engine a bit.
It might help if the signs had a picture of a prop chewing a person into bits.
Just have a still from North by Northwest.
At Yellowstone in the US they give flyers to all visitors with a drawing of someone getting gored by a buffalo. They don't help, people still walk up to Buffalo as if they are domesticated pets
It does - why do you think it's all red?
It might help if the sign said "THIS BEACH IS AN AIRPORT, THERE ARE PLANES COMING IN".
Like, looking at the sign, I can see why people ignore it. It looks completely boilerplate.
Tom Scott bringing a little joy to everyone's Mondays.
His videos always do for me. 😌
Highlight of my days alotta times.
Honestly I keep forgetting what day it is at this point
Mondays are nice
Nah, that’s Daily Dose Of Internet
Tom: I'm not [waterproof].
Tom is a robot, confirmed.
"terminators will kill humanity"
terminators:...
The rumors were true; Tom has been replaced by an AI.
Number of people surprised by this reveal: ~27
Well humans aren't waterproof either , yet. Perhaps the nest model
Robots who believe in free will.
Tom trying not to offend the Scots by giving himself subtitles as well...
Tom the diplomat
hahah
Tbf at some parts (especially the end) they were needed just because of the background noise
Ah yes, Tom [Offends] Scotts
Oh, I had thought it was because of the noise of the plane engine. The accent wasn't even thick to me and I"m not even from the UK.
"I'm bringing the camera back in"
"It's not waterproof then?"
"Oh it is, I'm not"
😂
Technically human are waterproof
Or are they?
How was the camera moving during this scene? I can’t figure it out. It moves even when Tom isn’t moving his arms…
@@lkahfi I'd argue water resistent. If you keep a human under water long enough, they will stop working.
@@FishAndKid it is about IP rating. Of course human are splash proof, but with high pressure water jet, I doubt it. Human just waterproof to some degree
I was looking for this one! 😂
We just learned that Tom uses a waterproof camera, but Tom himself is not waterproof!
More dirty details coming in the next video
Tom is a short-circuiting robot, confirmed.
You know what else are not waterproof?
A robot.
@@cucuawe465 what about robot fish?
@@richardmillhousenixon Then it's a waterproof robot. Specifically designed for water.
"Pilots have reported that the runway is quite a beach to land on"
They created a smaller, satellite runway, but it's so small a landing target that it's a real son of a beach.
@@madisntit6547 I have never seen a shingle beach in Scotland . Remember all the Link Courses in Scotland are at the sea , and all sand based .
Thank you Tom! As a native raised on the island, and an avid fan of yours, it was a pleasure to see you enjoyed your brief visit! Hope you met the rest of the amazing crew at the airport and not just Michael and Steve, as well as my aunties that run the Cafe inside the Airport itself! Thanks again!
I used to work for Britten-Norman as a design engineer. Those Islanders are absolute work horses.
And very forgiving aircraft to fly - been there, done that !
“So far the majority have been alright”
and the majority, I want to know about ones that haven't been.
Inspires a lot of confidence, especially immediately after: "They say if you walk from a landing, that's a good landing."
There is usually an annual ‘fly in’ where small private aircraft land on Barra and usually leave the next day. These are the ones that can have incidents. Think is was a piper cub a few years ago flipped over upside down. It was righted and lashed down at the side of the runway until it was dismantled and removed on a truck. I believe there was also an incident many years ago where the scheduled plane got stuck in the sand and the fire engine that went to rescue it was also bogged down.
@@MiseFreisin That’s an old aviation saying: “Any landing you walk away from is a good landing, if you can use the plane again it’s a great landing”
It's got a great safety record then! Less than 49% of flights crashed!
"The airport which lands planes on water"
The AI was definitely onto something.
They do make planes with pontoons instead of landing gear ;)
@@Sauvenil and planes with both
That used to be a common thing, it was the late interwar solution to the problem of long distance air travel: It was much easier to build a facility to refuel seaplanes on random tiny islands than to build a runway.
Scott: "But this is the only one with an internationally-recognised airport code."
Me: *Runs to check Microsoft Flight Simulator
So uhhhhhh, results?
@@krisnaputramaulidan2843 I dont own Microsoft Flight Simulator but im also very interested!
@@krisnaputramaulidan2843 It’s there! Just finished a landing on hard in a piper cub!
@@alexwidish548 is the sand accurately represented?
Why would you check ICAO or IATA codes on Microsoft Flight Simulator ? Other much more authoritative sources are available.
You need to come do Orkney next, we have the worlds shortest commercial flight, neolithic ruins that had indoor plumbing (from the time the Pyramids were built), one of the last working watermills that still mill flour. Lots of roll-on-roll off ferries too.
Funny
I flew that aircraft a he’s on couple of weeks ago on a scheduled service from Oban to Tiree, and I flew from Barra to Glasgow on the Twin Otter in the video a few years ago. I love this video so much
I'm amazed that no-one has commented on the plane type being an Islander. 8-)
@@gordonmcmillan4709 The Twin Otter and the Islander are 2 of my favourite aircraft. I've had plenty of PC flight sim time in them, they are the perfect craft to land at Barra
Did you see the policeman from Tiree that is charged with investigating whether or not people on Sark have illegal c̶a̶r̶s̶ hovercraft?
@@TigerWalts Made for the job ...
@@richardmillhousenixon Missed that one
"don't go beyond marker posts when windsocks are flying"
"well it's not windy right now, so i can go"
sign: "Don't go beyond marker posts when windsocks are flying."
tourist: "What's a windsock?"
It's Scotland. It's always windy. The only surprise is the direction.
"hm, my socks are still on."
There is always wind up there, hence why there is very little in the way of trees growing around the coast
"They're not flying. They're still solidly attached to the pole."
His accent sounds like an amalgamation of Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish (all in a general sense), and it's really quite a thing to hear honestly. Damn I love accents.... wish Tom would revisit that wonderful world. I'd love to see him do something with Erik Singer. Anything really.
I thought that too
I felt like I detected a smidge of Indian accent too, not quite sure how that got in there.
I thought it was South African, Scottish, and a tiny bit of southern Irish. I thought Indian at the start too, but I'm not sure about that one
It's the West Coast, and further to that it's the isles! The accents on the isles are unique and vary a lot from the accents of Glasgow or even Inverness. It's a Scottish accent, just not one you're used to or have heard much of.
It's a Scottish Western Isles accent.
"Unusual solution to unique transportation problems" needs to be a full series here
Possibly controversially, I love his accent. Still definitely Scottish, but with some very Irish-sounding vowel sounds and a Nordic-sounding cadence. Musical combination.
I had to double check which country it was in; it could easily have been from western Norway.
It reminded me a lot of an Indian accent too.
The western Isles had some Viking invasions in times long past, so it’s possible certain aspects of the Nordic accent stuck around, certainly a few place names did.
A lot of his d, t, s, n sounds were retracted/retroflex, especially near an r. This is common in nearby languages like Norwegian. These sounds are a hallmark of Hindi and Indian English, which is why his accent sounds similar to that. Really fascinating! I think it must be Nordic influence in the area.
Na h-Eileanan Siar is a majority Scottish Gaelic speaking area, which probably influences the local English pronunciation greatly.
After the AI episode, every single title has felt like something an AI would come up with
I’ve done the scheduled Loganair service from Glasgow to Barra in the Twin Otter and also flown in the yellow Islander of Hebridean Air Service from Oban to Islay and Colonsay. Very cool of Tom to simply charter the Islander to take him from Oban to Barra, not many will experience that!
I was wondering if they also flew Twin Otters there.
@@rogerwilco2 yes, the Twin Otter is used on the scheduled service from Glasgow. They are flown by Loganair on behalf of the Scottish Government.
@@egpx The Twin Otter feels huge by comparison.
The traffic controller is a remarkably charming fellow, I'd say he's perfect for his job and it was a privilege to have him explain the airport.
Meanwhile in Microsoft Flight Simulator...
Anything's a runway if your brave enough.
I've flown in and out of this airport numerous time in FS9.
Inverted 747s landing at every hour I imagine.
@@Lubecgeo you're
@@Lubecgeo you're*
If this isn't an AI generated title, I don't know what is.
yes
Exactly what I thought.
Ever since that video, I can't stop thinking this XD
but how does the ai know that this is true?
@@necaton it doesn't need to - Tom Scott can work as a fact checker
I really appreciate Michael Galbraith's accent - I never realized how bits of it sound so similar to what is a neutral Indian English accent until now. Great video and it looks like a lot of fun! :D
I was also thinking it sounded a little Indian at times, strange
@@Narmatonia don’t forget welsh, it sounded very welsh throughout, and Indian at times yes, really didn’t sound much Scottish
@@nickevershedmusic8927 Sounded exactly like a Western Isles accent to me.
The salt water has to be a serious issue for the aircraft. They must jet wash them back at base.
I was thinking the same for the vehicles. Not the easiest place to pop to the dealership!
Can't be worse than float planes
Float planes don't deal with as much sand.
It's the perfect combination... sand and weathers away protective coatings, then salt water corrodes it
@@leexabyz I was wondering why they don't just use float planes rather than the beach. They do have a marina at Barra, though I suppose it may not be sheltered enough from choppy seas to function in that capacity.
@@adm_ezri Probably the floats (size and weight) mean a floatplane of similar carrying capacity is a lot thirstier on fuel when cruising, and also, finding calm enough water to land in, and taxiing (on water) to the shore, and getting up speed to 'unstick' on takeoff, is going to take a lot more time and use a lot more fuel than landing on a beach. I don't know the economics of it but I'd bet that landing on the beach (if you can do it) costs a lot less overall than water.
Fascinating accent to be honest. There's twangs there that remind me of north-western Ireland. But it has its own identity to mainland Scotland too. Do an accents video!
Glad someone else pointed that,it sounds Welsh,with a Scottish twist with the odd word having a bit of Irish twang to it,really interesting.
Being born in the Western Isles is cool seeing how even between Lewis, Harris, North Uist, South Uist and Barra the accents vary
Almost has a scandinavian twang to it. The way it flows
Strange! It sounded like a lot of Indian English accents i've heard too!
It strangely sounds like an indian accent
The man's accent is phenomenal.
Almost Scandinavian.
Almost Indian. There are a lot of Indian British people 🌈
Scottish mixed with a touch of Ulster very nice 👌
No harder to understand than many Americans I've heard. (And I'm not Scottish.)
@@robertschnobert9090 Indian?? What about it makes you think that? (What I notice in English spoken with an Indian accent are retroflex consonants and sometimes w instead of v or vice versa. There's nothing like that here.)
I've been to this airport a few times, most of the "airport" is a wee tearoom
I feel that the crossover between aviation geeks and Tom Scott fans is somewhat niche, but I know there’s others out there. I’ve always wondered if Tom would do a video on Barra Airport. It is rather unique.
Recreational Pilot and Tom Scott fan checking in. I'd say there would be a lot of crossover. Pilots are generally curious people.
Well, I got a Wendover Productions video recommended to me before this one went out, and TH-cam told me "Other Tom Scott viewers also watched this", so maybe there are more then you might think ;)
Wait, it's not just me?!
Aviation is a strange world, commercial aviation especially. I can think of loads of things that might interest Mr Scott.
This is definitely an A.I titles and it just happened to exist
"Oh it is waterproof, I am not" ~ Thomas Scott in Scotland, 2021
It's really weird how it never feels right to see his name written as Thomas and not just Tom.
I'm Scottish and his accent even made me feel confused.
@@liambaillie218 no, nothing like a Shetland accent. Sounds like a Western Isles accent to me, unsurprisingly.
Weird as an American I understand 90% of it. Is this my superpower?
Yeag its wierd how a guy in the Western Isles has a Western Isles accent...
@@volvos60bloke Nope just normal accent for the area.
Lowlander ?
The flight itself is stunning, given the scenery you fly over. Then you get to land on a beach! I thoroughly recommend it.
Love that Tom had to put subtitles on the guys thick accent. My brother tried to argue with me the other day that the US had greater dialect diversity than the UK. I laughed.
Does sometimes amaze me how accents can change so much even just in the same county. I’m from Lancashire so are my parents. My parents were brought up about ten miles apart but some words are said so differently.
That's really funny actually!
I especially like to bring up that fact whenever one of my family members complains about how African-Americans speak. For some reason when it's a white person speaking unintelligibly it's less about laziness and lack of education and more about cultural history. I hope they'll connect the dots one day...
There's a whole video about that exact topic on this channel
The UK has about a thousand years' head start on the US though, so hardly surprising
@@HMJ66 Try five thoudand plus, Stonehenge dates back to 2-3k BCE, I can't imagine they managed that without talking to eachother.
The sheer diversity and beauty of Tom Scott's videos broadens my horizon ,you genuinely find here things you might have never known. Keep up the great work !
The Outer Hebrides are just stunning. Would recommend anybody to take a visit. But don't come expecting luxury accommodation. The bunkhouses are a personal favourite place to stay.
Privileged to watch & privileged to see Tom with a smile on his face. Hat off
I love your style of narration and the stories you bring to light. Thank you.🔆
There is so much Norwegian in that air traffic controller's accent; though the driver's southern accent was quite a surprise too. That's a nice beach.
I don’t hear it, as a Norwegian.
@@rudymatheson1415 It is probably just my old Sassenach ears. 🧏♂️
@@euansmith3699 Could be, I get where you’re coming from. The soft-spokenness of it sounds like a Bergen accent.
Tom, Can you release a remastered version of “We flew a kite in a public place”? I think we all would like to listen to a HD remaster of that masterpiece.
Sorry to be "that guy" Tom, but it's actually not the only airport that's also a public beach. Sable Island, a national park in Canada off the coast of Nova Scotia, has a commercial airport on the beach (IATA: YSA). It's mainly used by tourists looking to visit Sable and bringing supplies to the scientists there. It's harder to get to and no one lives there permanently but still. :)
Huh. Interesting.
I was interested so I googled it and most websites seem to refer to it as an aerodrome vs an airport, I'm not an expert or anything just googled Sable island airport and it called it an aerodrome. aerodrome means any area of land or water used for aircraft operation, regardless of facilities, whereas airport means an airfield (an area designated for the takeoff and landing of aircraft), including one or more runways and (for commercial airports) one or more passenger terminals. Barra has a terminal and a control tower, where as sable doesn't
@@bennuter Interesting distinction.
Sable Island Aerodrome is not a commercial airport (it's private) and also has no airport infrastructure (i.e. no tower, fire service, etc). There are actually many privately operated beach runways, but Barra is the only public commercial beach airport.
Kind of talking semantics here. I'm sure there must be a few island communities around the world that rely on a beach to land airplanes, regardless of what facilities are in place.
We used to go on holiday to Colonsay, an island in the inner Hebrides in Scotland, where the airport was also part of the golf course, full of rabbit burrows and sheep. Was always a bit sketchy for planes landing there.
I flew here on Flight Simulator and I honestly reloaded the game because I thought the game was broken
what, why?
"In my free time, I enjoy long walks on the runway"
I think "long plane touchdowns on the beach" sounds more fun.
Better make sure it's the runway's free time too!
Nah, it's a RUN-way, you should do runs there :))
where did I hear this before?
How was Tom’s camera able to pickup his voice over the noise of a BN2 at takeoff!! That microphone deserves a goddamn medal!
Vital services offered to the outer hebrides. A great experience. Also in the Scottish Islands, is the worlds shortest commercial scheduled flight of just 2 minutes from Westray to Papa Westray. :D
The amazing Scottish Tom Scott trilogy has come to a wonderful end.
Amazing how Tom always has such anticipated episode arcs.
Tom Scottish.
@@phineas81707 :0
Good luck landing when the tide comes in!
They don’t. They know when the tides come in and go out and they work around that.
Landing ok, it’s taking off again - unless of course you have a sea plane.
That's what seaplanes are for!
Just get a catalina :P
Now I want a Cabin Pressure Special there. Douglas desperately trying to get rid of something slightly illegal, Caroline stuck in some administrative desaster, Martin scared to death by some non-standard procedure. Arthur, obviously, thinks it's brilliant.
Could Gerti really have landed on a beach without something falling off her?
@@BinturongGirl See, now we have a real plot bunny ;)
This is GREAT!!!!
Tom's joy is infectious.
I've an uncle who used to live there, went there a fair few times and that landing was always a highlight
Now you've got me imagining an A380 doing a beach landing.
Have been loving this beach airport since FSX, and now finally Tom Scott make a video about this! Thanks!
Every Tom Scott video I appreciate, thanks friend!
"Is it waterproof?"
"Oh it is. I'm not."
Imagine being a crab minding your own business, then a giant metal bird ran over your house.
A Lovecraftian image.
I am from the North East of the Scottish mainland and have spent many a holiday on the Scottish Islands growing up. Although we never took the plane to Barra, we did go along to the tiny airport and have coffee in the Cafe and watch the plane come in to land. It really is amazing to see and such a clear memory despite this being about a decade or more ago.
Loved this video seeing how it all works from a piolets' perspective.
What an adventure! Glad you're staying safe out there!
I travelled here when i was about 8 as my mothers friend lived on the island and it was one of the coolest things I'd ever seen.
"A good landing's any landing you can walk away from; a great landing is one where they can reuse the plane..."
I CANT BELIEVE IT BARRA !!!!! has made it onto tom scott , thank you so much for sharing it tom !
Always pleasing to see a new Tom Scott video when I come home.
I never considered corrosion in the mechanisms of an aircraft but seawater has really got to do a number on the landing gear and fuselage.
And the engines. Just look how much spray those are sucking in.
Just imagine if there's quicksand and your announcer says "we are unable to land due to quicksand on the runway"
If it's that quick it's able to get away...
Thank you Tom. You make such wonderful videos of this fair isle of ours.
Whoever makes the subtitles, thank you so much!
Needs a Mark Knopfler sound track.
Just use Theme from Local Hero.
I'm probably not the only one, but now I want to fly to Bara Airport.
Barra, in fact all that area, is genuinely stunning. Folk up there are brilliant too.
Ye, just be considerate and know that the public facilities on the Isles aren't exactly abundant and can come as a shock for many tourists
Tom Scott always brings joy to my Mondays!
really great subtitles and accessibility on this video. well done.
Landed there many times. When you fly over, getting ready to land, it still looks like the tide is in. Scary as hell. :)
Tourists reading the signs, taking a moment to process what the signs say, and still deciding to ignore them? Honestly, really humbling to know that entitlement is a global phenomenon.
I would have gone with "horrifying" rather than "humbling."
I mean if I read the sign. I'll be like. Wtf? Really? Lets check it out!
More like that fucker curiosity than entitlement. Well, wee bit may be.
It's that and more than a wee bit of the "wet paint warning sign syndrome"
We Brits are the kings of self entitlement. I’ve people from here arguing over the fact that a small cafe in rural Spain doesn’t serve an English breakfast 🤣
Incredibly clean beach to be able to do that props to them for keeping it so spotless
I really liked the built-in subtitles! I know that was likely, at least partially, due to accent and potential confusion due to it, but I really appreciated it!
Another random fact. The original film "Whisky Galore" was filmed on this island of Barra. The incident it was based on happened on the Hebridean Islands just to the north, Eriskay and South Uist.
Tom isn't waterproof. Now we know who made the AI generated titles
Amazing. Loved the subtitles
Couldn't have done it without the subtitles! What a chill job
I'm convinced that tom is a robot
Barra's elevation is also officially BELOW sea level. Beat that!
Schiphol
These never stop being wonderful.
thank you for this video, what a piece of miracle this is
What a cool accent... almost sounds Scandinavian with a Scottish twang. Maybe from the proximity to the Faroe Islands or historically Scandinavian settlers?
I thought it was Indian when I wasn’t concentrating and yes what a cool accent!!
The Scottish accents can almost always be linked back to Scandinavia, mostly through the Viking raiders
@@mickys8065
Hello I am deaf & dumb...
I don't have job to handle my family 😭
I work on TH-cam but no a good reponse 😭
You think I am worse thank other 😭😭
It's from the Gaelic influence on the accent
Tom's native accent kicks in half way through
Thanks Tom, great to see and hear you speak so fondly of our country. If I had known you were in Glasgow would have got you a beer. Thanks for the videos.
The thing about these videos is, I'll probably never go there or do this, but now thanks to Tom, I kindof have. Thanks, pal!
I love the fact that there is a plastic cover between the pilot and Tom that makes it look like an uber...
1:09 I genuinely thought Tom had a PPL.
Absolutely wonderful!
There is no other channels like this..Luv it
Ngl, Just landing on a beach is like the most badass thing ever
Filming on a 360 camera kinda makes Tom a whole camera-crew rolled into one person :-)
Never flown in (or departed from) an airport where oystercatchers rule when the plane is done.
I was there a few weeks ago. Amazing watching the aircraft land and take off.
I love how Tom can take something kind of cool and make it really cool. I bet it takes a lot of work.