(Photo: Oxford Scientific Films Ltd.)
Television has been around in some form since 1923. Thousands of programs have come and gone. If you're a producer and you want to think of an original concept, then you've got to dig. You got to think to think outside the box. You've got to teach dogs how to fly airplanes, then film and broadcast the results.
Dogs Might Fly is a new program that will air on the British channel Sky 1. It exists to answer an essential question: are dogs intelligent enough that, with proper training, they could fly airplanes?
There are several finalists, including Shadow, a Staffordshire bull terrier-collie cross, who is pictured above. Like the other canine competitors, he's learning on a simulator. But if Shadow wins, then he'll get the chance to fly a real airplane. The Independent reports:
Secluded at a mansion in the Sussex countryside, the 12 rescue dogs have been put through their paces by animal behaviour experts, who believe that the cognitive abilities of the most intelligent pets can be directed towards flying a plane. […]
Carole Hawkins, creative director of Oxford Scientific Films, said the series would test in a “safe and controlled way” the question of whether a highly intelligent dog could take control of an aircraft.
The experts will assess how the dogs response to stimuli and sensations designed to acclimatise them to their high-flying challenge. Their head for heights will be tested by being sent to the top of a London landmark in high-rise lift and they will be strapped in for a spin around the Thames on a speedboat. Each dog will be found a new home at the series conclusion. The six-part Dogs Might Fly begins in a fortnight.
-via Marginal Revolution