Flight of the Future - Science Fiction or Reality

Every other Wednesday we present a new video, so join us to see the truth laid bare...

In the not too distant future strange craft will zoom across our skies. These are not UFOs, they’re not alien craft from another planet, these are machines developed and built by human engineers and designers. Today’s science fiction will become tomorrow’s reality. These are the aircraft of the future!

What you’re about to see is a glimpse into the future of aviation. Winged aircraft as we know them will soon be a thing of the past. Across the world designers are racing to create fantastic new aircraft that can fly humans higher, faster, and further than ever before. New military designs, airliners that can take us to the edge of space and around the planet in minutes, and new propulsion systems that will make the jet engine obsolete forever.

One casualty of this race for the future sits abandoned on an airfield, this fighter was more advanced than aircraft in service, but was already obsolete. It was the loser in the engineering competition of the century. In 1985 the United States Air Force demanded a new fighter plane, one that would incorporate the most up-to-date advances in stealth and agility. Two multibillion dollar designs by rival companies took to the air in a fight to the death. One was the Northrop YF-23, it had diamond shaped wings. The other was the Lockheed YF-22. The winner would become the backbone of the US Air Force, the loser a billion dollar pile of scrap.

A fierce fight was about to take place between the two most advanced fighter aircraft ever built. The test pilots fought to outperform each other. But after the YF-23’s wheels touched the ground it never flew again. With its greater performance and agility, the YF-22 was chosen to take the US Air Force into the next millennium. It is a truly remarkable craft, it is able to reach speeds and perform manoeuvres far beyond that of the front line fighter of the time, the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle.

[Zetauri]

Although the technology presented in this documentary (from 1998) is considered outdated by now, it is a gem and great find on YouTube! Thanks for sharing this!

[edcox]

Back in the 90's when i lived in an apartment and only had basic Cable, 'Extreme Machines' was my absolute favorite with Beyond 2000/Beyond Tomorrow. Boy i miss those days, wish i could go back.

[you]

indexed on February 14, 2022
00:00 start
00:54 introduction
01:45 Northrop YF-23
02:25 Lockheed YF-22
05:02 thrust vectoring technology
05:24 Sukhoi Su-37
08:04 high-G training
09:50 integrating pilots with automatic systems, modern cockpits
10:12 eye tracking technology, voice command technology
10:48 thought-controlled flight systems
11:51 pilot error
12:14 unmanned aircraft
14:12 ultralight glider
14:37 miniature air vehicles (MAVs)
16:12 blade efficiency
16:54 flapping wing models
17:20 Charles Ellington insect wing model
19:13 Charles Ellington insect wing aerodynamics
20:25 insect sized micro air vehicles
21:23 pulsed thruster prototype
22:17 M2 lifting body
23:59 Barnaby Wainfan lifting body
28:54 blended wing body
34:12 Concorde
34:34 Tupolev Tu-144
35:25 High Speed Civil Transport (HSCT)
36:19 difficulty landing the Concorde
37:06 windowless cockpits
38:49 HSCT flight simulator
40:20 new engines needed for flying at Mach 3+
40:35 the jet engine was first invented by Sir Frank Whittle in the 1940s
40:49 the biggest and most advanced jet engine in the world is the Rolls-Royce Trent 800
41:27 North American X-15
42:13 Space Shuttle
42:43 spaceplanes
43:02 air-breathing rocket engine prototype Hyper-X
44:34 White Sands Missile Range, beam-powered lightcraft
51:25 credits
51:58 copyright 1998

[THEMATT]

10:36 pilot can speak to the jet plane
Pilot speaks: repair the jet
Jet hears: Prepare to EJECT!

[canzer]

love how he is getting so much facts in there and he almost flies the thing into his head at 15:29

[Tony-hsmu]

The next barrier to conquer is the creation, development, and the advancement of technology. Manipulating the field of gravity and creating a mobile liquid or multiple fields using the planet's poles polarities. The possibilities exist.

[SwampDonkey]

23:56 . The pilot survived. Absolutely amazing.

[piehound]

@ 20:06 "It's a low pressure region. *Things get sucked in* . . . " Getting sucked into various circumstances has been the story of my life. But do go on with technical stuff. I love learning about this type of thing. . . . even if it's not brand-spanking-new. It's still fascinating.

[mikhailhunter]

"Commander, there seems to be a small bird traveling at mach 2, should we ignore it?"

[paulhaynes]

Made in 1998 - the Sukhoi Su-37 it gets so orgasmic about was a single prototype that crashed in 2002. The consensus was that, although it was hyper-manouverable, in reality it wouldn't do well in dog-fights. No further versions were built or flown.

[joshcharles]

Colleageus of mine used drones they bought from home into the theatre of war as they were not issued them by their own military. One unit had about 6 drones which engineers upgraded ingeniously. Also casualties were minimal as every partol had a couple of drones searching the battle field spotting the enemy and vectoring the troops to intercept them and airstrikes. Brilliant things

[daemonshadowcaust]

no way! I watched this almost 20 years ago, when south africa first got satellite connection! Where are those inventions today?

[bonyfoxschannel]

12:05 i honestly thought he's gonna say: *"and the only way to eliminate human error is to eliminate ALL HUMANS!"* too much sci-fi heh..

[rajat]

Xtreme Machines, 1 of my favorite documentaries. I think this is from 1990s telecasted on Discovery Channel's Wings program. I was in school then & so fascinated by these programs. Now we need a good documentary on 6th gen jets.

[Bearak_]

Su-37 - (which was actually just a technology demonstrator, of which only one was ever built and that one crashed - we'll ignore this for now) does summersaults in the air. Narrator: "...the MASTER of the skies".
F-22 - which the Suhkoi can't see, fires an AMRAAM from 12 miles. No more Su-37.

[dagann]

It is hard to believe how advanced we've become since the day at Kittyhawk. I worked in military aviation back in the day and saw the Navy Tomcat through the f-18 Fighter. However, once in that world, one can't escape the notions of military aircraft of the present and to the future. I have a lot of respect for the various contractors such as Grumman, Lockheed, Pratt & Whitey, etc., and the results of Skunkworks, yet, I also share the same respect for the Russians too. In fact, I've often noticed some "experts" we find on the net appear to be too loyal to our accomplishments and are quite vocal with their opinions that only the West is capable to designing and producing mind-blowing technology to rule the skies. The Su-37's thrust vectoring capabilities and the use of canards along with the speed of the aircraft may be the ultimate answer our designers dread and keep the lights on all night at the White House. However, only time will answer the plethora of questions involved. Bur, these videos that illustrate the virtues of the Su-37, just in maneuvering capabilities alone, is enough for me to question our capabilities to counter the threat associated with this aircraft.


Due to the fact I left the military years ago, I may not have enough information that only hands-on experience can explain. Yet, I know there are many veterans out there that do. Therefore, I wish this to be only a moment to learn and not debate with angry super-hero type patriots drunk on ignorance of recent recipes of Kool=Aid. One question alone is worthy to discuss and that is: "has American aircraft manufacturers reached that level of maneuvering and agility talent and possibly achieved better?" Or, "does the F-22 Raptor and the F-35 meet and or exceeds such capabilities or are we banking on better avionics and weapon systems with the aid of stealth to prevail? I think these are questions that are fair after watching t6he Su-37. I assume our aircraft share if not exceed what I witnessed, but I need verification. However, I'm amazed by their recent achievements and it was a pleasure to watch it. Also, don't assume I won't seek and or research this myself. In fact, I will be looking for videos of our aircraft doing the same feats. But, again, I'm thrilled by the recent technology and I often wonder if we will, in time, be able to do everything we can imagine.

[kevangunn]

It's amazing how far we could go, and how much better off we all would be, if we all just got along

[pauliether.c.guy.]

Wow I remember this show from back in the day. Extreme Machines 1997 was the year and holy shit I loved this show I watched It religiously. It was on the TLC channel which Plays nothing but garbage today. TLC had alot of good shows back then.

[charrua]

The real breakthrough that will make the difference and will make flying indefinitely safer is antigravitational technology. As long as flying is based on aerodynamics the forces keeping aircrafts in the air will need to keep a very delicate balance and disaster will occur when that balance is broken

[gswovoka]

@around 23:30 - No mention of the m2f2 pilot seeing a helicopter which he thought too close and in trying to correct is when the craft started it's wild roll. I worked at the Northrop "Advanced Lifting Re-entry Group at the time as a programmer.