Pilots

The 10 Coolest, Silliest, and Most Borderline Insulting TV Pilots of 2020

Television shows come and go, and now a fresh crop of potential fall shows are upon us. We’ve got some promising new series, a backdoor pilot hitching off the end of a popular show, and of course a few along the lines of “what if [insert science fiction thing] had more cops?” Here are the…

The Lost Boys Pilot Gets an Enthusiastic Update From Rob Thomas

The CW nearly put a stake in the heart of Rob Thomas’ The Lost Boys television adaptation earlier this year, asking the Veronica Mars showrunner to go back to the drawing board and redo the pilot. Now, with a mostly new cast and Scandal’s Heather Mitchell serving as showrunner, Thomas says they’re eyeing a 2020…

The 9 Weirdest, Dumbest, or Beautifully Baffling TV Pilots of 2019

Every year, networks get ready for the fall season with a “hot” list of new television shows. Usually, the final lineups are culled from a slough of pilot episodes, spec scripts, and at least one person’s crushed hopes and dreams. Here are some of the weirdest ones we’ve spotted this year—along with whether you can…

How Do You Even Pilot a 450 MPH RC Plane?

We’ve seen remote control airplanes powered by tiny jet engines before. But what’s mind-blowing about this particular RC craft is that it weighs just 17 pounds but can blast through the skies at an astonishing 450 miles per hour, making you wonder how any human has the reflexes needed to keep this thing from crashing.…

Watching a Daredevil Pilot Fly This Low Is Absolutely Terrifying

If you’re a nervous flyer, you’re probably going to want to skip this video, because after watching YouTube’s Linkerius fly so low to the ground that it looks like he’s perpetually going to crash, you’ll be terrified of ever stepping foot on a plane again. As dangerous as skimming the earth at hundreds of miles…

An Airline Pilot Captured This Beautiful Timelapse Footage of the Milky Way

As a passenger on an airplane, it’s not easy to shoot footage from your plane’s tiny window. But when you’re the pilot, with a large window to watch the night sky, you it’s possible to capture some amazing aerial footage of the Milky Way. This timelapse footage provides an incredible view of the Milky Way,…

What It’s Like to Fly Inside the Cockpit of an Airplane

One of my earliest memories as a kid on an airplane is poking in to say hi to the pilots while flying. Obviously, that doesn’t happen anymore, so just sit in with them through this video to see what it’s like to be inside the cockpit of an Airbus A320 flying across Europe. The views…

The CW Is Changing Frequencies, Going To Mars, Riverdale And Transylvania With Six Greenlit Pilots

The CW has announced that they’ve greenlit six new pilots for potential shows, including an untitled Mars project and an Archie Comics adaptation, Riverdale. The network has been on a tear when it comes to genre properties, and this news only strengthens their hold on science fiction and fantasy stories. Here’s the six projects currently…

US Pilots Forget How to Fly Manually, Says Department of Transportation

Don’t read this if you’re about to board an airplane. A new report by the Department of Transportation warns that US pilot training no longer helps airline pilots maintain the ability to fly commercial flights manually, because of the surfeit of autonomous technology inside the cockpit. The organization’s report explains that in cases where technical…

The 50 Best X-Wing Pilots, Ranked

Sure, Star Wars fans might dream of igniting a lightsaber and calling on the force like a Jedi. But honestly, if we were in a galaxy far far away, we’d want to lock our S-Foils in attack position like the dashing X-Wing pilots of the Alliance and Republic. But who’s the best of them all?…

What Happens When a Human Faces 457mph of Wind

Any flab? Any extra skin? Anything that’s remotely loose on your body, it looks like it’s mere seconds from flying away and detaching from the rest of you when you try to withstand 457 mph of wind on your face. Here’s a video showing a test conducted in 1946 where a human subject was exposed…

Watch this bad ass guy go through a 9G centrifuge test

This is awesome. Here’s a guy who just passed his 9G centrifuge test, going through four different bouts of 9 G-force (and making funny awesome faces the entire time) and even lasting 10 seconds under 9G’s. High-G training is done to train pilots and astronauts to get them ready to deal with the crazy g-forces…

Lawsuit: Helicopter Pilot Crashed After Fooling Around on FaceTime

A helicopter pilot was goofing off on FaceTime shortly before a fatal crash, according to a lawsuit filed by a surviving passenger. The plaintiff, Jonathan Desouza, was getting a flying lesson from pilot Luis Aviles through Palm Beach Helicopters last December when things went horribly wrong. The helicopter crashed while Aviles was showing Desouza a…

A.I. Pilots Are Not The Solution To Preventing Airline Disasters

We’re still trying to understand the horrific Germanwings tragedy. But already, some people are suggesting it could have been prevented if a computer had been flying the plane. But that’s not the solution. We spoke to an expert about why an A.I. pilot would open up an entirely new set of risks and complications. Airbus…

This is one of the most amazing images in aviation history

Gizmodo’s Attila Nagy got this high resolution photo by Eric Schulzinger from Lockheed Martin: “This unaltered image was captured at Beale Air Force Base, CA, in the late 1980’s. All of the subjects wearing pressurized flight suits are actual pilots or back-seat reconnaissance systems officers.” SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us…

Now You Can Hang the Most Badass Aviation Photo Ever on Your Wall

Not long ago Lockheed Martin posted on its Instagram account the most badass aviation photograph ever. Just look at it: The caption says: This unaltered image was captured at Beale Air Force Base, CA, in the late 1980’s. All of the subjects wearing pressurized flight suits are actual pilots or back-seat reconnaissance systems officers. Not…

You can watch the whole pilot of ABC’s Forever on their site and onHulu right now. The show stars Ioan Gruffudd as Dr. Henry Morgan, a medical examiner who solves crimes and is an immortal trying to solve the mystery of his existence.

The World’s Largest Solar Plant Is Blinding Pilots

We probably should have seen this coming. At the Ivanpah solar power plant near Las Vegas, a massive glittering field of 170,000 garage door-sized mirrors reflects sunlight. And all those mirrors are making flying near Ivanpah not so fun—or safe. The Clark County Department of Aviation sent a letter earlier this week urging the plant’s…

July’s San Francisco Airplane Crash Caused By Computer Inexperience

Back in July, Asiana Flight 214 crashed at San Francisco International Airport. Now, the National Transportation Safety Board has explained that the accident occurred because the pilot didn’t understand the plane’s computerized auto-throttle system. According to interviews with the flight crew, pilot Lee Kang-kuk set the throttles to idle, believing on-board computers would keep the…

First-person videos of pilots ejecting will make you hyperventilate

I’ve seen pilots ejecting from fighter planes in extreme situations. It looks scary, but it’s nothing compared to listening to the minutes prior to the ejection. That’s when you start to hyperventilate just by watching them. https://gizmodo.com/combat-pilots-ejecting-after-aircraft-crash-5177025 The video on top shows a pilot landing an F-15 aircraft with a burning engine—only to discover that…