7 Aviation Documentaries Every Air Passenger Should Watch
Sure, you might have flown somewhere once or twice. But how much do you really know about aviation? Well, you always stand to learn more. So here’s Skycop-compiled list of 7 aviation documentaries all air travellers should see.
by Skycop team
- 2019-07-26
- 12:30 PM GMT
One Six Right
Airports are an inevitable part of the whole air travel experience, especially if you get stuck in one if your flight gets delayed, cancelled or overbooked. We have certainly covered the biggest airports out there in our writings.
However, “One Six Right” is a documentary that covers life at a local airport in California. Pilots and aviation enthusiasts agree: “One Six Right” is amazing, and a must see.
Errol Morris’ Leaving the earth
Part of Errol Morris’ “First Person” series, “Leaving The Earth” is the episode that focuses on Denis Fitch, an experienced United Airlines pilot. He was a passenger on United Airlines Flight 232, which crashed in 1989, and helped make it less of a tragedy.
Even though the flight ended up with nearly half of the passengers as fatal casualties, it is often brought up as an example of excellence in handling an emergency and landing an aircraft without conventional controls. Fitch himself is a great narrator and will guide through the story with all the required technical details.
Airbus vs Boeing: The Jumbo Jet Race
Jumbo jets were planned with hub-and-spoke configuration of airports in mind: big planes carry air passengers between big airports, where they switch for smaller planes for their destinations. That model didn’t turn out to work, but Airbus and Boeing couldn’t foretell it when they started their race to build jumbo jets.
The documentary deals with the companies racing to win the top position, a contest between the Boeing 747 and the Airbus A380. As well all know, the race didn’t end well, and A380 construction is being discontinued. But it would be well to look at the drama behind the development of the planes!
How to Build… A Jumbo Jet Engine
So, you know how a disrupted flight is considered claimable if it was a maintenance issue? Quite a lot of times that means that something was wrong with the engine. And this documentary deals with the task of building a jumbo jet engine!
It’s also notable because it focuses on Rolls-Royce. The company is iconic for their Merlin piston engines that powered many a plane in World War II. The documentary also goes into the history of the company itself, so really, it’s a 2-for-1 deal!
Wings: The Flying Boats – The Giants
Before you had passenger jet aircraft, flying boats were one of the premiere ways of getting around. Jets spelled their doom, but some of the biggest flying boats only appeared after World War II.
The documentary shows the failures of the frankly astounding Howard Hughes (played by Leonardo di Caprio in “The Aviator”) “Spruce Goose” and the massively awesome Saunders-Roe Princess. Meanwhile, the Martin JRM Mars still sees use in dropping water on fires (though, mercifully, they weren’t used in the Notre Dame fire).
A Very British Airline – British Airways Behind the Scenes / Flight and Fights: Inside The Low-Cost Airline
Here’s a documentary combo-wombo for you. The first one is a “A Very British Airline,” and it deals with British Airways, the airline you can hardly ignore. The documentary crew went behind the scenes to show how one of the oldest existing carriers works.
Meanwhile “Flight and Fight” is about airlines which continue to have fights on their flights: Ryanair and Easyjet. This one compares the operations of two of the most prominent budget airlines and how they differ from each other. Quite the contrast to British Airways, eh?
You know what’s also documented? The multitude of flight disruptions that befall air passengers every day. Flight delays, cancelled flights and overbooking are all conspiring to ruin our plans. Don’t let that get you down: claim flight compensation with Skycop! That way, you stand to gain up to €600 in compensation with minimal effort!
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