Telling the work experience kid to pop next door for a long weight, setting fire to a paper bag filled with dog poo; gone are the days of the simple yet effective prank. If you want to make an impression in the age of YouTube, you’re probably going to have to involve aeroplanes or minor injuries somehow.
Just goes to show the whole ‘constant barrage of materialist images and social media posts’ argument has some logic behind it. If one of his mates had crouched down and the other pushed him over the top then we wouldn’t be talking about this.
But I want a 40 per cent rev share if anyone decides to upload that to YouTube. It’s a classic and I will claim my cut of someone else’s 15 seconds of internet fame.
Anyway, amped up YouTube Generation pranks is a hard lesson popular YouTube vlogger Karim Jovian discovered when going out for a razz in his mates’ plane.
Watch it all unfold below:
Karim had never ridden in a propeller plane before so the first time was going to be special. Except what he didn’t expect – or did, if you’re going to question the veracity of this content – was his mates were going to play an oh so clever banter card on him.
The plane takes off without any hitches, and not before long, the guys are flying high in the clear skies over New York state.
But then the co-pilot points out something up ahead of them: clouds. And not just any clouds. ‘They’re clouds with moisture in them’, the co-pilot responds. Cue: scary sound effect.
Then – shock – the engine seems to cut out and the plane appears to drop in altitude. Karim and his friend in the back of the aeroplane look visibly shaken. He starts screaming: ‘What’s going on, man?!’ His buddy is screaming hysterically.
Karim at this point is looking quite nauseous, putting his head between his legs and then coming back up for air. The co-pilot turns around to check on his mate, asking: ‘Are you ok? You good?’
It seems the prank has hit its mark because the video then cuts to the pilot and co-pilot laughing like naughty schoolchildren. Ah, bants at 5,000ft, is there any better.
Karim is not alone though. An estimated 6.5 per cent of Americans have a fear of flying – or aviophobia if you’re going to give it its pub quiz name.
And like all fears, they can be combated by rational statistical data. Flyfright.com writes, nearly one in three Americans is either anxious about flying (18.1 per cent) or afraid to fly (12.6 per cent).
Of those, the main fears include:
73 per cent were fearful of mechanical problems during flight
62 per cent were afraid of being on a flight during bad weather
36 per cent were afraid of mechanical problems on the ground
36 per cent were afraid about flying at night
33 per cent feared flying over a body of water
Me, I’m afraid of heights, as demonstrated by this photo below taken at swanky high altitude Manchester bar, 20 Stories.
Ok, maybe I was a little concerned about going back to my date and getting the next round in which costed approximately half my month’s salary, but the height thing definitely played a part.
Moral of the story: don’t get in planes, don’t be friends with YouTubers, don’t go on dates where you’re going to be maxing out your credit card, get an emotional support peacock when you fly. But also live a little. I need a sit down after all that.
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Tim Horner is a sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated with a BA Journalism from University College Falmouth before most his colleagues were born. A previous editor of adult mags, he now enjoys bringing the tone down in the viral news sector.