This is rather telling, considering my involvement with their production of “Alaska Wingmen” (notwithstanding the featured pilots who happened to be women… but who cares? Clichè rules the day) during the summer of 2010, wherein they seriously missed the point on how a Learjet flight crew (consisting of 2 pilots) works together for the safe and efficient operation of the airplane. In the end, considering how ridiculously they created high drama out of routine operations, I’m glad that my presence was shrouded in anonymity and almost completely ignored as the copilot of the featured air ambulance Learjet, saving me embarassment.

It was clear that the producers were far more interested in personalities than in accuracy or documentary and educational portrayal, two concepts that are not antithetical to entertainment, as demonstrated by National Geographic television specials of yore. Of course, this is to be expected nowadays if a program is to attract shortened attention spans and advertising revenue, but the lack of attention to reality was not necessary–indeed, it missed a significant element of the human story they were presumably attempting to convey; that is, people working together as a team in a complex and demanding endeavor–instead, becoming a lazy, sadly hilarious but forgettable manufactured drama.

What once was an assurance of documentary quality, the National Geographic imprimatur, is now little more than a brand name roulette wheel of “Reality”-TV production values; to the Old Believers I say, if you think you’re feeling lucky, let them in and hope you get a thoughtful and accurate portrayal, but the odds of getting something on the order of “Amish Mafia” or some other sensational pseudo-educational treatment from the sausage factory of television fare are considerable.