Paul Baxter: FatMax: Win a serious high

The brief was to record a voice artist reading a script in a jet, so we could get the authentic sound and performance while in flight.

Anyone can record a radio spot.

Only Stanley FatMax, the over-engineered, hardcore range of serious hand tools for serious tradies can record one at 8000ft, flying 600k/h in a jet whilst pulling 6.2g.

To promote their competition to win a ‘flight to the edge of space’ (a 20km flight straight up in a MiG29 fighter jet in Russia) we had to record the radio the FatMax way.

So we sent voice over artist Ditch Davey up in a L-39 jet fighter, piloted by Captain Mark Pracy, the only certified Australian pilot to race in the fastest motorsport on earth, the Reno Air Races.

Directing Ditch through two way radios, we had two recorders and some carefully placed microphones inside the jet fighter.

And whilst pulling G-Turns, loops, rolls, Cuban Eights, Hesitation rolls, inverted flight and vertical rolls Ditch read the script out, over and over again.

And we captured every fear-filled, dizzying, heart-stopping moment.