Taking to the Skies

October 25, 2021 3:03 PM

Bike trials legend Danny MacAskill (previously, previouslier) visits a wind turbine factory, while content creator Danny MacAskill shows the youths how much energy is generated by renewable sources.
posted by box (14 comments total)

There is surely no way they would let him go out on a blade, tethered or otherwise.
posted by biffa at 3:32 PM on October 25, 2021

Behind the scenes although it doesn't answer the chicken-and-egg question: who rigged the tether?
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 3:57 PM on October 25, 2021 [4 favorites]

The thing for me is, sure, he's out on a tether, so it's a challenging time if he falls off but probably not necessary to get the spatula out of the ambulance, but... Who ran the tether out in the first place? I mean sure they weren't on a bike but still I get dizzy just thinking about it.

And unlike Tom Scott riding a turbine's emergency exit for testing purposes. That almost looks fun in an industrial safety sort of way.
posted by Kyol at 3:59 PM on October 25, 2021 [2 favorites]

National Treasure. How is he not, Sir Danny MacAskill at this point?
posted by alex_skazat at 5:36 PM on October 25, 2021 [4 favorites]

29% is pretty darn surprising, considering the pushback in the country that consumes he penultimate share of energy. The next 60% suddenly feels doable! Here's the breakdown: https://www.iea.org/reports/global-energy-review-2021/renewables
posted by TreeRooster at 6:21 PM on October 25, 2021 [2 favorites]

My Dad worked at a power plant, and also pronounced the word “turbine” with a short “i,” so it sounded kind of like “turban.” Whenever he’d talk about the turbine operators, I’d always picture them in traditional Sikh dress.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 6:22 PM on October 25, 2021 [2 favorites]

I don't think that I would be willing to go out there.
posted by Literaryhero at 6:28 PM on October 25, 2021

Who ran the tether out in the first place?

This dude.
posted by CaseyB at 6:28 PM on October 25, 2021

Or maybe this guy.
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 6:36 PM on October 25, 2021 [1 favorite]

As a former industry insider, the factory shots were more interesting to me for what was hidden. Enercon are extremely secretive, and the only production facilities shown were for their small turbines. They're about the only manufacturer who still make small turbines, and there isn't much that's cutting edge about those. Nice one-piece blade moulds, though, and those little cast stators are very clever.

Having been up in open air on top of a turbine and been involved in slightly ill-advised actions while up there, my palms were sweating when he was out on the blade. I suspect that was a standard blade inspection running line he was on.
posted by scruss at 8:15 AM on October 26, 2021 [1 favorite]

scruss maybe you can answer this: Would they be allowing him to bounce his bike up and down on fan blades they intend to ship, or were those rejects they hadn't disposed of yet?

I don't know why but that detail kept bothering me while I watched.
posted by ardgedee at 8:26 AM on October 26, 2021

Hard to say, ardgedee: this was not cheaply staged, and when Enercon do something, they don't cut corners. They designed their own low-emission ship to move turbines worldwide. They boycotted the USA for a while until it had any form of climate policy (and there's the small murky detail of stolen IP that had been in use at Enercon for years but miraculously turned up as a US company's patent and fucked up the industry for decades). Their corporate magazine had a back page that was given to a different NGO each edition, and the NGO had full editorial control over the content.

But the trailing edges of short blades like Danny rode over are pretty thick, and not curved like the larger ones. They're made of hollow moulded glass fibre composite (you see a couple of shiny open moulds: Danny would've had a severe talking to if he'd touched one of those) and extremely strong. It might have been a display blade, but it might as well go through another round of NDT before shipping
posted by scruss at 3:49 PM on October 26, 2021 [1 favorite]

A very small derail to point to another famous MacAskill

wonder how the tree branches connect?
posted by elkevelvet at 8:34 AM on October 27, 2021

As with many of his videos I watched saying out loud no Danny that’s too high!!
posted by ellieBOA at 11:55 AM on October 28, 2021