Unless you’re a true aviation geek (avgeek) or afraid to fly, I don’t think you’ll want to watch one of these videos in full. However, a man from Manchester, England created a very interesting site called inflight Video where he organizes full-length films of his flights (he usually takes a trip once every 1-2 months).
I was shocked to see that he uploads video of his whole flights—and I mean the whole flights—to YouTube. The videos usually begin with him walking through the airport terminals, then onto the plane and finally off. I haven’t watched any of them in full, so I don’t know if he takes the camera into the bathroom, but I doubt it. His videos are uncut and sorted neatly by airline. For each video, he lists the type of aircraft, city pair, flight number, and duration. For example, his video from Philadelphia to Dublin on American Airlines (above) is over nine-hours long.
At first I wondered who would want to sit and watch one of these, but the videos have tens of thousands of views. I also decided that when I was afraid to fly (for three years in the 80s), I definitely would’ve watched them.
According to an interview he did with the Daily Dot he uses a “GoPro Hero4 attached to the window of the aircraft with a suction mount, powered by either the aircraft’s USB power or a USB battery pack.”
For the airport footage and cabin views on the aircraft he uses a GoPro Hero Session or sometimes just his iPhone. He also uses 128GB MicroSD cards in the GoPros that gives him up to nine hours of footage per card but on longer flights he uses two cards.
His favorite video is JFK-LAX on American Airlines and on the YouTube page it breaks down the highlights.
00:09:00 Walking to the gate in JFK
00:01:30 Boarding the aircraft
01:39:16 Lake Huron, Canada
01:48:27 Flint, MI
03:38:00 Passenger in the row ahead advises crew they are feeling unwell
03:39:40 Cabin crew call for doctor
03:41:00 Cabin crew put out second call for doctor, nurse or EMT
03:43:35 Cabin crew ask everyone in the main cabin to remain seated while they attend to the sick passenger
04:07:00 Beginning of Rocky Mountains
05:16:12 Las Vegas, NV
05:40:41 Final approach into LAX runway 24L
05:53:58 – 405 Freeway
05:53:59 Go-around due to another aircraft on the runway
05:56:17 – Santa Monica Beach and Pier
06:00:10 – Los Angeles International Airport
06:31:55 Deboarding into the terminal, walking to kerbside
I love that he also says which seat he films from.