Awesome Flying

76-year-old Gennai Yanagisawa created the GEN H-4 helicopter, which weighs just 165 pounds, and can lift a single pilot to a speed of 56mph on a 30 minute flight. Inspector Gadget, anyone?

We can barely keep a kite from tangling on its own string – but the guys from the stunt kite team iQuad pull off a perfectly coordinated show, timed perfectly to Queen’s classic rock opera tune.

A team of wingsuited jumpers leaps from a plane and makes a beeline for the Earth at speeds approaching 140mph with the goal of being first to cross the finish line on the ground.

Passengers aboard Breitling’s DC-3 were treated to a once in a lifetime sight as Yves Rossy aka Jetman flew in formation with the plane at an altitude of about 4500ft and a speed of about 127mph.

An amazing visual feast featuring an army of 16 flying quadrotor robots dancing through air and manipulating sound and light. Created for the Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors’s Showcase.

Mind-blowingly awesome first-person flight footage over the stunning natural rock formations in Southern Utah, captured with an unmanned R/C plane and GoPro Hero 2 by Todd Sheridan.

While landing in poor visibility has become a regular occurrence thanks to modern flight and weather instrumentation, we’re still blown away by just how it looks from the cockpit.

We’ve seen Yves “Jetman” Rossy take to the skies in his jet-suit before, but this captivating new short film is our favorite footage so far, as Jetman flies solo through Swiss airspace.

(NSFW: Language) FPSRussia’s suspiciously fake looking, but nonetheless awesome killing machine called “Charlene,” is a flying quadrotor armed with a submachine gun with a 100-round magazine.

Tuscon’s Pima Air & Space Museum built a paper airplane that was so big it had to be lifted and launched by helicopter. The 800lb. plane hit a top speed of 98mph before it crashed to the ground.

A POV montage of Crazy Horst catching his RC plane in different locations, some of them beautiful scenery, others chosen for the challenge. Props for including a blooper reel at the end.

Just a little larger than the flying DeLorean, Gear Factor’s 1:1 scale R/C flying cars are made using lightweight foam and helium to lift them from the ground. Just don’t try and sit in one.

This custom-built 4-propeller plane is a perfect replica of Doc Brown’s DeLorean from Back to the Future, complete with illuminated headlights, taillights and light-up wheels. No roads required.

This video kicks off Smarter Every Day’s series of lessons about the helicopter physics, but it quickly turns into a lesson in R/C flying skills which seemingly defy physics and reason.

The University of Pennsylvania GRASP Labs’ fleet of quadrotors takes to the skies once more and performs the James Bond opening theme all by themselves. Is this the band of the future?

A remote-controlled lawnmower is the ultimate lazy-man’s dream. But a remote-controlled lawnmower that can fly sounds like way more fun. We only hope it doesn’t mow down any pigeons.

A teaser from Black Diamond, a civilian aerobatic jet team. We’re sure they’re a sight to behold from the ground, but these POV shots taken with a GoPro Hero 2 are exhilarating as well. Best in HD.

An FA-18 Super Hornet flies over Jones Beach back in 2009. There’s debate over whether it broke the sound barrier. But it’s not a sonic boom that woke us – it’s the vapor cone left when it kicks into gear.

Take an amazing flight through the rock formations West of Moab, Utah, from the eye-in-the-sky of a Reaper XL flying wing, controlled by DragonLink UHF with a GoPro Hero2 camera aboard.

Show the world you don’t give a damn by winning one of three flying, obscenity-filled R/C helicopters, courtesy of our friends over at Gadgets and Gear. Click the link to enter the contest.

Don’t be surprised if you hear about a sudden rash of bank robberies by robotic locust swarms. Our old friends at the GRASP Lab now have a fleet of programmable Nano Quadrotors at their disposal.

We’re not sure how BBC’s Earthflight managed to get so close to these cranes as they flew over Venice, Italy, but the footage captured is incredible – not just of the birds, but of their surroundings.

We’re not sure which part of the Werth Brothers’ stunt is more crazy: the guy flying the airplane upside-down inches from the ground, or the guy on the motorcycle trying to grab onto its rudder.