All language subtitles for How.Tech.Works.S01E06.WEBRip.x264-ION10

[electronic music]

[narrator] On this weeks
episode of How Tech Works.

A visit to the Lufthansa hangar
for a whopper of a paint job!

And, we’ll meet the inventor
of this labor of love.

It looks like a super car,

but it’s actually
ultra-fuel efficient.

[electronic music]

Hi there, and welcome to
How Tech Works.

I’m Basil Singer, and we’ve got
a packed line-up of stories

about crazy inventions,

the latest in
military intelligence technology

and a really big paint job.

Really, really big.

We’ll go for a spin
on an electric unicycle,

think about that for a second.

Electric unicycle.

Plus we’ll experience some very
cool virtual reality training

for fighter pilots.

But first, How do you give
a makeover to an airplane

the size of three city buses?

I know, I know, that question
keeps me up at night too.

Well, let’s visit the Lufthansa
paint shop in Germany

and find out!

[narrator] In a huge hangar
near the Hamburg Airport,

something mighty big
is going on.

[electronic music]

An Airbus A330
is getting a makeover.

My name is John West.
I'm a foreman here in

Lufthansa technik’s paint shop.

This is where we spray all
the Lufthansa planes

and also a lot of different
aircraft, different airlines.

[background upbeat music]

[narrator] The plane is longer
than three city buses.

That’s about two thousand
square meters of surface area

that need to be painted
with speed and skill.

The biggest challenge for us
is to reach the quality

at a reasonable price,
and in the shortest time,

downtime for the aircraft.

My name is Maike Timm
and I am the responsible

operations manager for
the aircraft painting.

[narrator] Maike and John work
at Lufthansa Technik,

owner of this giant paint shop.

It’s size of football field.

It has six telescoping platforms
suspended from the ceiling,

and eight mobile ones
on the floor.

So they can cover
every surface on the jet.

[John] The color design
of Lufthansa is white on the top

and grey underneath.

We will be applying
the grey today.

[narrator] Planes need
paint jobs every few years

because of wear and tear.

UV rays cause paint colors
to dull and fade.

Take-offs and landings
crack the paint,

and pressurized fuselages
expand and contract.

[background upbeat music]

There is also
movement in the wings.

On the ground they hang down,
in flight they are up,

so the surface of the wings and
the paint has to be flexible.

[narrator] So every
five to seven years,

airliners come
to the paint shop.

[Maike] After an
incoming inspection,

we prepare
for removing the paint.

On the fuselage,
which is metal, aluminum,

we do a chemical stripping.

[narrator] They cover
composite parts

like the nose
and engine casings.

To protect them from
the acid-based stripper.

All the composite parts
on the wings and the engines,

we have to rub down the paint
with sanding machines.

[narrator] The aluminium
gets a special coating

to stop corrosion.

Then the primer goes on,
followed by the top coat,

turquoise for this Boeing 737.

Today we will be spraying
the underside of the wings

and the underside
of the fuselage.

[narrator] They’ve got nine days
to complete the A330 job.

The key thing is knowing
how long it’ll take

for the paint to dry.

We can only influence the drying
time in a limited way,

and so the down time
of the aircraft is influenced by

the drying time of the paint.

[narrator] John’s job:
mix the grey paint

so it’ll dry on time.

[John] The mixing of the paint
is very crucial.

The paint is delivered
in kit forms.

You mix two parts paint
to one part hardener,

and one part the activator,
what we used to call thinners.

Because we are spraying a large
area today we’ll be using

a slow thinners,

which means that the drying
time is a lot longer.

This enables us when we’re
spraying, to always keep

a wet edge so we can
apply wet on wet

so we don't
have so much over spray.

If we use a quick drying
thinners, it‘s basically drying

before we finish spraying
and all of the over spray

goes onto the painted areas and
is not absorbed into the paint.

It stays on the top
and it just looks terrible.

[narrator] The whole job uses
about 600 litres of paint.

A third of that paint is grey.

It’s a special polyurethane
that flexes with the aircraft.

But before the paint
can be laid down

John checks the thickness
by timing how fast it flows.

I was just testing
the viscosity of the paint

using this stop watch
and a viscosity cup.

The manufacturer gives
us a range and in this case

it was between
15 and 18 seconds,

and I had an average viscosity
of 16 seconds.

The end result from the spraying

relies upon how
thick or thin the paint is.

[narrator] Too thick, you get
a dimpled paint surface

called “orange peel.”
Too thin, and you get runs.

We now have the perfect
viscosity for them

to be able to do a perfect job.

[narrator] The painters
apprentice for

three and a half years to get
that spraying motion just right.

Side to side

and up and down.

The trick,

is spraying a layer that’s only
a tenth of a millimeter thick.

[Maike] The customer demands
that the weight has to be

as low as possible,

so we have to spray
as thin as possible.

[narrator] Once it’s dry
the paint weighs just 400 kilos.

Then the finishing touches.

Dark blue for
the Lufthansa lettering

and the tail logo.

Details like that
are stenciled on.

You can see the process up close
on this Boeing 737.

It all happens
according to a graphic plan

for the whole aircraft.

The backing is peeled off.

The paint is sprayed on

and viola!

This plane gets
a wild new paint scheme.

As for the Airbus A330,
work is coming along.

With forty people
working three shifts a day,

This paint job
is ahead of schedule.

It's a nice feeling when
you've turned out

a good job
and everybody is happy.

[narrator] And when
the A330 goes back into service,

another customer rolls in

and the clock
starts ticking once again.

Now we’re shifting gears from
a gazillion gallons of paint

to a single gallon of petrol.

And just what kind
of mileage can you get

from this one gallon?

The chap in the next story
is working on a car

designed to squeeze
as many miles

from as little fuel as possible.

It’s called a ‘Zoleco’.
Let’s see how he does it.

[electronic music]

[narrator] It’s blue like water

and shaped like a droplet.

Zoltan bod designed
this one of a kind car

to look unique
and run on the cheap.

[Zoltan] My main interest
was always performance

and that shifted to where
I wanted to see how much

performance you can get with
the least amount of gas.

[narrator] He calls his car:
"The Zoleco".

'Zol' from the first part
of his name,

‘eco’ as in eco friendly.

Zoltan is not a car designer,
he’s just someone with a dream.

[Zoltan] I have always had this
passion to be creative

and this is my outlet.

[narrator] And his dream
started with this.

A turbo forsa that gets
about 25 miles per gallon.

He wants to double
that performance.

[buzzing]
[Zoltan] I took that car and I

incorporated a
teardrop shape around it.

As I was getting my
teardrop shape created,

then I started cutting out
parts of the car I didn’t need.

[upbeat music]

[narrator] Zoltan’s using
a teardrop design

to make this vehicle
as aerodynamic as possible.

[Zoltan] The air flowing over
the surface as it is streamlined

does not detach.

So as a result there
is minimal turbulence

and not that much drag created.

At the back of the car the
teardrop shape comes to a point

so that the air coming
over the body comes back

into a stream and doesn’t create
any turbulence in the back.

[narrator] It’s sleek but Zoltan
wants it to be comfortable too.

[Zoltan] The greatest
challenge it to take that

tear dropped shape and make
it practical.

I don’t want to have to
lay down in this car

that's extremely aerodynamic
but you've got to lie down

and use a periscope
to see where you're going.

[friend] Hi Zoltan
how’s it going?

[Zoltan] Hey I'm laying out
the back seat in this thing.

It’s got more room
than I thought it would have.

We can sit side by side in here
no problem and stretch out.

It has 10 inches more leg room
than my Mustang has.

For the size of the car,
it's amazing.

So four guys can sit
in there just perfectly.

[Zoltan] Yeah four guys in
a tear dropped shaped car.

Who would have thought it?

[narrator] To put four
guys in this car

means zoltan needs
to make the car stable.

[Zoltan] Now this body shape
requires three wheels.

It has got to have one wheel
in the back to allow the point

but as I was designing
the interior I realized

I have room for two guys
my size in the back

so it is going to be a little
bit tipsy so I went with

the dual wheels in the back.
That will have superior handling

compared to the one wheel
in the back and that will allow

it to go around
corners really nicely.

[upbeat music]

[narrator] Zoltan believes
the teardrop shape of this car

will help make
it super fuel efficient.

[scraping]

[narrator] That is once
he gets the engine working.

[upbeat music]

[Zoltan] Right now we're
looking like we're pushing

three horsepower.

[music continues]

[laughing]

[Zoltan] It is a labor of love.

I‘ve got 18 hundred hours
into it so far now and I figure

to have a completed
proof of concept

where you can drive it,
skid pads and all.

That kind of testing is another
five thousand hours

because this car I am creating
right now is just the plug.

Off this you have to build the
molds to make the real body.

[friend] A beautiful day
to have your car out.

[Zoltan] It is. Let’s take it to
the top of a hill and try a

bigger hill this time.

[narrator] But for now,
seeing this car fly down a road

means finding a good hill.

[Zoltan] It’s time we
started to conserve energy.

We should still be able
to have a beautiful exotic car

but not be throwing

energy out the window
like there is no tomorrow.

[narrator] A droplet car running
on just a few drops of petrol.

One day, it could be a reality.

[electronic music]

Coming up on How Tech Works.

We’ll experience the thrill
of being a jet fighter,

thanks to the latest in virtual
tech-training for pilots.

And,

we’ll take a test drive on this
amazing ‘Ryno’ micro-cycle.

It's half a motorcycle...
literally!

[electronic music]

Welcome back to How Tech Works
I’m Basil Singer.

When it comes to action, there's
nothing quite like a good,

old-fashioned dog fight
in the air.

I’m talking pilot v. Pilot,
plane-to-plane battles.

But with modern weapons
technology, those are

a thing of the past, right?

I want to introduce you to a new
piece of pilot training gear

that not only puts you
right in the cockpit,

it brings new meaning to
the words “if looks could kill”.

[rock music]

[narrator] At BAE Systems,
this team is assembling

one of the most sophisticated
helmets ever built.

[rock music]

[narrator] Packed with an
arsenal of electronics,

it’s about to take the edge

off one of the world’s
toughest jobs.

[rock music]

[Paul] You’re operating
a number of different radios.

You have a number of other
aircraft on the mission,

there’s guys on the ground
you've got to talk to.

There’s bad guys in the air.
You have all this going on,

plus you’re
flying a helicopter or a jet.

[laughing]
You’re trying to do all of it

at once.

[narrator] At the company’s
flight simulator lab, today,

Paul Cooke is putting
the Striker helmet to the test.

A former Apache pilot
for the US army,

Paul knows how difficult flying
into combat can be.

[Paul] All the information you
needed was down on gauges

and dials in the dashboard area.

You get distracted,
you look up and you’re drifting,

you’re climbing, you’re
descending, you’re very close

to an obstacle or another
aircraft and it scares you.

[narrator] With Striker,
a special visor-mounted display,

takes all those worries away.

[Paul] You have an attitude
indicator, radar altitude,

your barometric altitude,
ground speed, your airspeed,

your trim, your heading.

It’s all right there
in front of your eye.

[narrator] If the pilot flies
too close to danger,

a built-in proximity
warning goes off.

[simulator] Obstruction!

[Paul] It’s telling me there’s
an obstruction and it’s

advising me which way to turn.

[narrator] The system can even
make the aircraft invisible.

[futuristic music]

I’m not limited
by any of this structure.

I see through all that structure
like it’s not even there.

I can see the rotor blades
turning above me.

[narrator] With no blind spots,
the pilot’s attack capabilities

are greatly improved. And
Striker can control weapons too.

[Paul] As I turn, the gun
follows where I go,

and I simply look at the target,
put the crosshairs where I want

the bullets to go,
and pull the trigger.

[explosion]

[narrator] To understand
how it works,

check out the back
of the helmet.

Paul calls it frogskin,

but each one of these
bumps is an infra-red LED.

There’s a specific number
of LEDs and they’re arranged

in a very specific pattern.

[narrator] At the factory,
a special system calibrates

every helmet, memorizing
the exact layout of the LEDs.

In the cockpit, mounted cameras
use that same data to track

the helmet everywhere it moves.

Here, the virtual and real world
become one.

I still have all
my peripheral cues

but I have that symbology set
right in front of my face.

I can use that to maintain
my situational awareness,

fly and operate
the machine safely.

[narrator] Without doubt,
the Striker is a high-end

piece of kit. But built
specifically for top level

fast-jets like
the eurofighter typhoon,

its price-tag
puts it out of reach for most.

For all other aircraft,
BAE has a different solution.

This is the Q-sight.

[Paul] Whatever helmet
you already have,

we can clip onto.
This is a standard HG-56P.

It’s representative
of an in service helmet.

[narrator] LED stickers can also
be added for head tracking

giving this system
striker-like capabilities,

in a much cheaper package.

To test the Q-sight,

Paul’s about to land in one
of the toughest situations

for any chopper pilot.
A brownout.

It’s been compared to parallel
parking for a car

with your eyes closed.

In an empty desert
it’s bad enough. But today...

[Paul] For tactical reasons
I’m going to have to land

in a very precise spot,
in the middle of all

those buildings
that I see out to my front.

[narrator] Luckily,
Paul has a secret weapon.

[Paul] There’s a radical that
I can see here in the Q-sight

that I can put right on the
exact spot that I wanna land.

I hit a button here,

and I designate that
as my desired landing point.

So now if all
the sand and things blow-up

and I go into a brown out,
I can still use the symbology

that I see here on the Q-sight
to land safely at that exact

point in the middle
of all those obstacles.

Alright Dan, you can, unlock me.

[upbeat music]

[narrator] As the mission begins

the outside world
is crystal clear.

[Paul] About 130 feet now.
Descending and decelerating.

[narrator] But soon…

[Paul] I can see sand coming up
on my left. Now on my right.

Now in front of me.
So I'm starting to brown out.

I’m at 40 feet.
Coming forward and down.

I can see everything
I need to see on my Q-sight.

Forward and down.
Eighteen feet.

Fifteen feet.

And i’m on the ground!

[sighs]
Safe and sound.

Mission complete.

[narrator] With
their advancements in

helmet technology,
BAE is pushing the capabilities

of fighter pilots and their
aircraft to the next level.

More than that,

they’re making
the job safer for all.

And on those days when
this is your morning routine,

a little extra
safety isn’t a bad thing.

We’re finishing up now
with a cool piece of tech

that looks a bit like a Segway,

but only has one wheel.

Better yet,
this home-made invention

doesn’t topple over when you
come to a complete standstill.

Sounds impossible, I know.

But you’ll believe it,
when you see it.

[upbeat music]

[narrator] riding a unicycle
takes a lot of practice

and a certain finesse.

If you want to make it easier,
just put a motor on it!

[Chris] I know it sounds crazy.
And everybody says: "huh?".

And they try to get a mental
picture of what that is.

A unicycle comes to mind

and I say no:
"it’s like half a motorcycle".

You just chop the front off
and throw it away,

but keep the handle bars!

[narrator] Chris Hoffmans
was hooked by the idea

on a fishing trip.

[Chris] I was just driving
out to go fishing with my

thirteen year old daughter.

There’s this long period
of silence and out of that

silence she says: "Hey Daddy.

I saw this one wheeled
motorcycle in a video game.

Could you actually build that?"

There’s this
moment of silence.

I guess you could,
what would that look like?

She takes out a piece of paper
and scribbles out this sketch.

So we took about half an hour
to break it down.

[narrator] After that first
crude drawing on the shore,

Chris went home and tried
to crush his daughter’s dreams.

[Chris] You know at this
point in my life as an inventor,

I’m more about how
do I kill this thing right now,

So I can move
on to the next idea.

So I tried
to kill it really hard.

[upbeat music]

[narrator] But the more
he learned,

the more it made sense to him.

[Chris] Pretty soon I thought:
"I’m just gonna take a machine

shop class and make
the sheet metal parts!"

[narrator] The first prototype

was pretty much
an oversized paperweight!

[Chris] We tried to ride it
and it was totally un-ridable.

[narrator] But still,
the idea wouldn’t die.

Chris and his software engineer
took one last crack at it.

[Chris] I said let’s just
stick some steering on it

like off the front
of a motorcycle.

Let’s just put some forks on it,
and see what happens.

And he said that was crazy!

So a month and a half
of up at the shop and welding

some crap together. Which
is actually inside that bike.

We actually wrapped
some cooler stuff around it.

I was riding that thing around
my neighborhood in 5 minutes.

Our mouths just hung open.

How’s that possible?

So now we’re thinking:
" now what do we do?”

[narrator] It’s now selling
for over £15 000 a unit.

But with mass production,

Chris hopes to get the price
down to £2 500 next year.

I've got probably two or
three hundred dealers

waiting to adopt the bike.
I mean everywhere.

It’s going to be crazy.
Once we’ve got product to sell.

You could be Ryno guy.

I mean they yell at me:
"Hey Ryno man!"

I don’t even know these people!

[narrator] Alright then
“Ryno guy “ give us the specs

[rock music]

First of all it’s all electric,

Battery powered,
20 miles an hour,

We’ve got electric motor
inside the wheel and then

drivetrain braking system.

Then as far as the controls,

it’s a standard twist throttle,
like a motorcycle, and a brake.

The batteries in this case are
in the wheel in this version.

It recharges
in an hour and a half .

You can actually
pull out the battery

and carry it like a suitcase so
I can take it to my apartment.

I can take the whole bike
up to my apartment if I want.

[narrator] The tricky part
was designing it to stop

without doing a face plant.

We use the same balance
technology as a Segway scooter.

Using these little
accelerometers that are

so common now, and through
a lot of sophisticated software

you can get these vehicles
to be really reliable.

[narrator] The Ryno
also has three gyros in it

to save you from road rash,
no matter what you do to it.

It’s a little tuning fork

the size of a human hair
vibrating in a magnetic field

knows where the center
of the earth is at all times.

So our processor
is looking for a tilt angel.

If it deviates it simply
drives the bike underneath

the center of gravity.

It’s a sensor
that costs a dollar!

and you end up
with a product that looks like

you’re riding a magic carpet.

[narrator] Right now it’s all
about proving it’s safe to ride.

[Chris] Do you guys
wanna try this?

-[men] Sure.
-[Chris] Who’s first?

[narrator] Chris invites
a local unicycle club

to take the Ryno out for a roll.

[Chris] These guys are bruisers.
They’re a blast

[electronic music]

[narrator] They’re daunted at
first, but within a few minutes,

they’re addicted.

[music continues]

[Chris] Nice!

I was starting
to get it at the end.

- One more time?
-[Chris] Yeah, go ahead!

That’s actually the thing that’s
kept me going the whole time.

There’s something about this
engagement with this machine

that is going
to appeal to people.

There’s this whole
landscape that unfolds

because I have this
piece of machinery.

[narrator] Chris,
you’re awesome.

It’s looks like his
father daughter fishing trip

wheeled him in
the catch of the day.

[electronic music]
It makes you wonder doesn’t it?

A man driven to create
a seemingly impossible vehicle

just because his 13 year old
daughter asked if it could work.

As they say: “kids these days”.

That’s all we’ve
got time for today.

Thanks very much for watching,
until next time,

I’m Basil Singer.

[ending electronic music]