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Awesome Flying

Jetson ONE Forest Flight

Jetson ONE Forest Flight

The Jetson ONE is a single-seat flying machine that works like a giant quadrotor drone. Previously, we got a look at a test flight in an open field, now let’s go for a more scenic flight along a forest trail. It’s not as quick as the speeder bikes in Return of the Jedi, but it’s the closest you can get in real life.

Installing a Power Line Ball

Installing a Power Line Ball

Ever wonder what those balls are on aerial power lines? They’re used to prevent small aircraft from running into wires. What’s more interesting is how those balls get installed. Watch as this brave lineman sits on the edge of a helicopter platform, holding the ball between his legs as he heads into the sky and places the ball.

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Phantom of the Raptor

Phantom of the Raptor

Filmmaker Dustin Farrell captured this awe-inspiring footage of an F-22 Raptor aircraft as it was piloted through the skies by Maj. Joshua “Cabo” Gunderson. The 1000 FPS Phantom Flex4K slow-motion video shows every minute detail of the wake turbulence left behind by the fighter and its powerful jets.

Burberry: Open Spaces

Burberry: Open Spaces

Fashion design house Burberry celebrates its love of the outdoors, discovering new places, and its FW21 collection with a wild and inventive short film. Using a mix of live-action and VFX trickery, the film places its performers in a surreal world where they can fly through the air like skydivers, but without jumping out of an airplane.

Flying a Plane Through Two Tunnels

Flying a Plane Through Two Tunnels

Red Bull stunt pilot Dario Costa is now the first person to ever fly a plane through two tunnels back-to-back. His flight only lasted 43.44 seconds, but the 1.4-mile flight between Istanbul’s Çatalca Tunnels is truly a thing of beauty. The fact that he took off from inside of the first tunnel is equally mind-blowing.

The World’s Shortest Flight

The World’s Shortest Flight

The flight between Scotland’s Papa Westray and Westray islands is incredibly short, covering a distance of 2 kilometers in less than 90 seconds. But it does actually serve a purpose. Tom Scott took flight, and let San Denby from Wendover Productions narrate instead of annoying people on the flight with his own explanation.

How to Fly a Helicopter

How to Fly a Helicopter

This short video from Pilot Yellow provides an incredibly concise and easy to understand explanation of the basics of helicopter flight, using a small Guimbal Cabri G2 chopper to demonstrate. While it doesn’t go into the complexities of weather or flight safety, it’s a great primer on what all of those controls do.

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Underneath the Cockpit

Underneath the Cockpit

We’ve caught glimpses inside of airplane cockpits, mostly when boarding or deplaning. In this video from Bjornpilot, he takes us on a tour of the flight crew rest quarters, the avionics bay, and part of the cargo hold of an Airbus 350 jumbo jet. The sheer amount of computer equipment and wiring down there is incredible.

Singing in a Fighter Jet

Singing in a Fighter Jet

During Fleet Week New York, singer Gabriel Brown aka Black Gryph0n took to the skies in the passenger seat of a F/A-18F Super Hornet. While riding shotgun, he turned in 34 vocal impressions, including a spot-on version of Kenny Loggins’ Danger Zone. Shout out to his cool-as-a-cucumber pilot Amanda “Stalin” Lee.

Mall of America Drone Flight

Mall of America Drone Flight

Twin cities’ drone pilot Jay Christensen previously wowed us with an awesome flight through a bowling alley. Now he’s taken his aerial acrobatics inside of the Mall of America, zooming past storefronts and through its indoor amusement park to chase a group of rollerbladers celebrating the return of the Mighty Ducks to the ice.

Hoverboard Drone

Hoverboard Drone

Omni Hoverboards is working on a flying machine that allows pilots to take to the skies while standing atop a drone. In this clip, you’ll get a look at one such flying machine they showed during a Japanese TV show that imagines what sort of technology Doraemon might bring back from the future.

Pinball Warehouse Fly-through

Pinball Warehouse Fly-through

The Pacific Pinball Museum is home to thousands of vintage pinball machines. Video producer Eddie Codel toured their warehouse and shot some awesome aerial stills and videos of the collection. Some machines are kept for archival purposes, while others will be repaired and placed in the museum for the public to enjoy.

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Running an Airport in Antarctica

Running an Airport in Antarctica

Scientists needing to access Antarctica’s Troll Research Station used to have to travel by boat and on foot to access their outpost. These days, airplanes make the trip easier, but there’s nothing easy about the preparation needed to land a jumbo jet on a runway built on the slick blue ice of a glacier. Flightradar24 explains.

DIY Rubber Band Helicopter

DIY Rubber Band Helicopter

It’s pretty easy to find toy airplanes that are powered by a rubber band. On the other hand coming up with something that replicates the dual rotor movements of a helicopter is more of a challenge. Maker Peter Sripol managed to create one. Download the 3D printed part designs on Thingiverse and watch the build video here.

Jetson ONE Test Flight

Jetson ONE Test Flight

How’d you like a drone you can fly inside of? Jetson is working on a single passenger manned drone and is showing off test footage from its production prototype. The electric quadrotor is expected to have a 25 minute flight time (plus 20% reserve) depending pilot weight. Here’s footage of an earlier prototype with a pilot aboard.

Drone Chases Ice Skater

Drone Chases Ice Skater

Photographer Brandon Rieck of Wanderlust Imagery captured this glorious FPV footage by flying his drone along the top of an ore dock in Marquette, Michigan, then diving down to follow a hockey player skating on the ice below. The transition from above to below is buttery smooth. (Thanks Craig!)

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 Scenic Tour

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 Scenic Tour

With an amazing amount of graphical detail and real-world map data, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is closer than ever to recreating the experience of flight. Digital pilot TheNinjaCowboy shared this video footage of some of their favorite locations from the game, looking out from the pilot’s window and above their single-engine plane.

Salt-Spreading Drone

Salt-Spreading Drone

Covering sidewalks and driveways with salt in the wintertime can be a pain. Sure, there are salt spreading machines out there, but how many of them can fly? FliteTest created an over-engineered solution which uses a powerful drone to lift a hopper of salt into the air, then spits it onto the ground below.

Mountain Surfing the Austrian Alps

Mountain Surfing the Austrian Alps

Drone pilot Shaggy FPV takes us on a ride through the mountains of Austria with breathtaking footage of the Dorfertal Valley he captured with his aerial photography rig. The reverse perspective offers a great sense of speed and changes things up a bit from the typical forward view.

Paper Airplane Aerodynamics

Paper Airplane Aerodynamics

If you want your paper airplanes to stay airborne for a long time, you could add motors to it, or you could watch this clip from Wired and paper airplane expert John Collins and learn a thing or two about the four main aerodynamic forces that that influence your folded paper’s flight.

Making an Air-powered Airplane

Making an Air-powered Airplane

Most airplanes run on some kind of fossil fuel. But physics expert Tom Stanton recently built an airplane that runs entirely on compressed air. The model plane is based on the diaphragm air-powered engine that Tom previously built, and its fuel tank is an ordinary plastic soda bottle.

BMW Electric Wingsuit

BMW Electric Wingsuit

While BMW is best known for its cars, SUVs, and motorcycles, they can now add “electric wingsuit” to their list of accomplishments. Working with pilot Peter Salzmann, they created a solo flying machine that gives a flyer a boost of power, the ability to stay airborne longer, and to also increase altitude.

Herding Sheep Drone View

Herding Sheep Drone View

If you’ve never seen sheep being herded by sheepdogs, it’s a pretty impressive sight. A few years back, New Zealand-based photographer Tim Whittaker piloted his drone over a farm to observe thousands of sheep as they moved in concert between their paddocks.

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