Awesome Flying

The single-seat Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II, aka A-10 Warthog, is one of the most successful military aircraft ever made. The USA Military Channel posted this fascinating footage captured from the underbelly of an A-10 as it performs operational tests of weapon deployments after software and systems upgrades.

The last time we checked in on the Jetson ONE quadrotor, it was buzzing through a forest. The single-seat eVTOL aircraft has continued to improve over the years, and it looks even more impressive as it flies over the hills of Tuscany in Italy. The company is closer than ever to production, with initial shipments scheduled for later in 2024 into 2025.

Modern airplanes generally have two wings. But there was a time when biplanes and triplanes took to the skies regularly. Peter Sripol and his pals built a scale R/C model of the Caproni Ca.60, a wild-looking passenger aircraft with nine wings, arranged into three sets of three. The real version of the seaplane broke apart on landing. Will Peter’s plane fare any better?

Festo specializes in robots that utilize biomimicry, or otherwise machines that move like their animal counterparts. Their BionicBee is an ultralight flying robot that takes inspiration from bees and can fly in a swarm indoors or out. It flies by flapping its wings, which can pitch and roll. Where was this bee drone when Corridor made this video?

Henry Behal’s captivating documentary short 26,000 Days introduces us to stunt pilot Eric Tucker, who describes the things that keep him going in his thrilling and dangerous pursuits, and what it’s like to intentionally cut his engine mid-flight. Among its highlights is an incredible 95 seconds of chase footage captured by cinematographer and drone pilot Alex Vanover.

Red Bull skydivers Marco Fürst and Marco Waltenspiel arrived in London, England, in the most dramatic way. They jumped from a helicopter over the River Thames and headed right for the city’s iconic Tower Bridge. After flying through their target, they used the winds to increase altitude so they could open their parachutes and safely land on floating platforms.

There’s a real camera out there that’s the size of a grain of sand. But for this video, the guys from Corridor didn’t strap one of these technological marvels to a bee. Nope, they used a drone and their visual effects skills instead, giving us a fun bee’s-eye perspective on the world as the apian buzzes around. See how they made the clip in the Behind-the-scenes video.

Prior to this video, the fastest recorded flight speed for a battery-R/C drone was 224 mph. Luke Bell and his dad, Mike, built a custom drone that set a new Guinness World Record of 298.47 mph and an unofficial top speed of 317 mph. But the feat wasn’t without its challenges, including multiple battery fires. Stick around til the end for some cinematic shots.

Gravity makes it easy to glide down a zipline, but traveling uphill requires additional energy. The guys from Hacksmith Industries built a motorized ziplining rig that allows riders to fly up to 81 km/h up the line. To make it look like Thor’s mighty Mjolnir, they hid the mechanism inside a machined hammer shell and connected a harness to its handle.

This spherical plaything flies and hovers when you toss it. If you throw it just right, it’ll also come back to you like a boomerang. It uses a pair of counter-rotating fan blades to work its magic, and they’re contained inside of a cage to protect them from damage. The one in Roo’s Reviews’ video is no longer available, but there are many other versions on Amazon.

This crazy flying bicycle was created by Chinese maker Aircraft Model Art. He started by purchasing the lightest bicycle he could find, then made a custom foam wing and attached a pair of powerful motors. It took several redesigns to come up with a version that could stay airborne. We suggest turning on English captions.

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Superdrone! Expert drone pilot Chris FPV did something fun and strapped a Superman action figure to the front of his high-speed quadcopter. He then captured third-person footage of the superhero’s flight using a GoPro Hero 11 action camera. Here’s another flight from the mini Man of Steel.

Out of space in your suitcase? This lightweight carry-on is perfect for toiletries, gadgets, power cords, and other small gear. Airportag made it look like a flight data recorder, so you might get some strange looks going through the TSA checkpoint. The bag measures 12.4″ x 7.2″ x 3.1″ and is made from waterproof polyester with a waterproof zipper.

Inspired by how hummingbirds hover in flight, Works by Design wanted to see if he could build a flying machine that lifts off vertically and stays aloft by flapping its wings. It uses compressed gas for propulsion and a custom-built air motor to move its wings. It’s not an efficient method of flight, but it was cool to observe the engineering process.

Most remote-controlled airplanes are made from lightweight materials like styrofoam or carbon fiber. Not one to be constrained by norms, maker Peter Sripol and his pals wanted to see if they could build aircraft made almost entirely from food — the ingredient list: puffed rice, barley, tortillas, and caramelized sugar.

We always assumed that an airplane needs its wings to be at the same height on both sides of its fuselage to remain airborne. Model airplane enthusiast Eternal Progression shows us how it’s possible to build a relatively simple R/C plane that flies with cardboard wings that are offset at different levels. He also made a flying R/C boat with fold-out wings.