After 10 years of tests and 12 billion Euros invested, the state-of-the-art Airbus jet completed its first commercial flight in January 2015. We will discover how it was conceived and built, and explore its technological innovations every step of the way.

Produced by MGM in cooperation with the U.S. Navy, this short film follows U.S. naval aviators through their basic training in Florida and advanced training in California.

Concorde: A Supersonic Story follows the story of the most glamorous aeroplane ever built - told by the people whose lives she touched. We uncover rare footage telling the forgotten row between the French and British governments over the spelling of Concorde which threatened to derail the whole project.

1910 Aviation Meet, Mineola Flying Fields, New York City. Miss E. Lillian Todd - history's first female aeronautical engineer - is making last minute checks before her plane will take to the skies. She has fought many battles to make it onto the airfield today. However her biggest challenge is yet to come, as the day's proceedings don't go quite as anyone could have imagined.

A bomb on board an airliner has an altitude-sensitive trigger. Unless a ransom is paid, it will explode when the plane descends to land.

Documentary about the development of the Boeing 747 jumbo jet. The 747 was a game changer, the airliner that revolutionised mass, cheap air travel. But the first wide-bodied plane was originally intended as a stopgap to Boeing's now-abandoned supersonic jet. This is the remarkable untold story of the jumbo, a billion-dollar gamble that pushed 1960s technology to the limits to create one of the world's most recognisable planes.

Bob Halsey is a first-rate pilot who's in love with stewardess Judy Wagner. He's ordered to deliver a secret formula to Washington, D.C., but a spy hears about the assignment and sabotages it by murdering Bob's fellow flyers and making off with the liquid. While the government conducts a vast search for the formula, the spies entangle Judy in their web of deceit, causing Bob to set off on his own in an effort to save his sweetheart and retrieve the missing mixture.

The 2022 film "Top Gun: Maverick" continues the adventures of the ace fighter pilot made famous by Tom Cruise. But how true to life is the fictional story to the real Naval Fighter Weapons School? TOPGUN flight instructors take us inside the most famous and prestigious training program in the sky, where only the top 5% of U.S. naval aviators are accepted. We reveal the tactics and techniques taught in the classroom and in the air. We also examine how the real Navy TOPGUN came to be, an origin story that is truly stranger than fiction.

College boy Taylor has his first flying lesson. He's not impressed with his tutor Henry, who seems to have the values and attitudes of a 1930's aviator. The duo soon find themselves in all kinds of trouble though when Henry's famed past lands them as unwilling contestants on a sadistic game show. They escape through cunning and skill, which ends in a climactic and spectacular space battle. Upon watching Henry really fly his ship, Taylor begins to have a new founded respect for him.

Air France was an early operator of the Boeing 747 taking delivery of its first 747-100 in 1970. A dozen years later it operated well over 30 "Jumbos" and eventually had one of the world's largest 747 fleets. Until a few years ago it had operated most types of the aircraft including the 100, 200B, 200F, 300, 400, 400ERF and 400BCF. Soon though the type will be leaving the fleet with most aircraft already gone, freighter service is scheduled to end in 2015 and passenger service sometime in 2016 ending nearly 50 years of operation! AirFrance 747s have been seen nearly everyone on earth! We are very lucky to have Captain George Mercovik, a 747 instructor, on this program. He and is 2 copilots will give you a great tour and presentation of this fantastic aircraft!

Spitfires were the nemesis of the Luftwaffe and the instrument which halted Hitler’s plans for invasion. After relentless bombing of the Spitfire factories in Southampton, the Germans were convinced they had halted the production of the Spitfires for good. But across the South of England, hidden in sheds, garages, back gardens, bedrooms, a bus depot, and even a hotel, a workforce of unskilled young girls, boys, women, elderly men, and a handful of engineers secretly built thousands of Spitfires to help win the war. Witnesses recount this never-before-told story of amazing achievement.

US federal investigators are called in to determine the cause of a mysterious jetliner crash in Panama. Nothing about the accident makes sense, until a key clue emerges.

Portrait of Rolf Ewald, a flight obsessive, who recounts his experiences as a pilot and manager at Düsseldorf Airport in an impressive way.

Travel into the world of aviation and explore the dreams of flight with the Smithsonian as they step into the unknown.

Go higher, faster and farther with the Smithsonian as they explore the dreams of flight.

Modern and historic footage tells the story of the war horse of the 12 Western air forces. The carrier-based Phantom II won its spurs in Vietnam where its extraordinary capabilities led to adaptation for land-based rolls ranging from ground attack through battlefield reconnaissance to defense suppression. McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II covers the first development of the type and its powerful engine and includes a walk-round of an F-4B. The Phantom then joins the fleet and US Navy, US Marine Corps and US Air Forces machines see action in Vietnam.

Guy joins an ambitious engineering project to recover a crashed WW2 Lancaster Bomber – and the remains of its missing crew members – from the depths of the Dutch lake where it’s lain for 80 years.

During the Falklands War, a team of Vulcan Bombers staged the longest bombing raid ever attempted. We tell the amazing story of the machines that undertook the near impossible mission of bombing Port Stanley. The programme features archive footage spanning the Vulcan's entire dramatic history, including newsreels, amateur video and film shot by the pilots themselves. We also make use of an enormous array of archival sources, including the plane's original design specification, and orders for construction from the War Office.

Meet Brian Boland—the beloved, eccentric hot air balloonist and artist from the rural Upper Valley of Vermont.