Surviving The Most Dangerous Job In The Sky | Skies Above Britain | S1 E1 | Our Stories

In the first episode, Skies Above Britain explores how our skies are safeguarded: air traffic controllers deal with an unidentified aircraft flying across Gatwick's flight path and the RAF scramble a typhoon jet to intercept an unresponsive plane. We follow the RAF pilots training to fly Britain's front line combat aircraft the Typhoon. The supersonic jet flies at twice the speed of sound and becoming a Typhoon pilot is the pinnacle of the RAF. Trainees face a grueling series of mental and physical tests, including being subject to high gravitational forces in a centrifuge, to experiencing rapid air decompression and training for emergency scenarios, like ejecting over water. In Humberside, the helicopter crews of HM Search and Rescue are often the only aircraft that fly when the skies are treacherous. We follow the crew on a dangerous mountain rescue, flying through thick fog, just feet away from a mountain's rock face to reach an injured hiker. Elsewhere thick fog hits London's airports and NATS must rapidly cut the number of planes allowed to enter British airspace. Meanwhile, two vintage plane enthusiasts - brothers Nick and Giles English explore their continued passion for flight, despite having faced personal tragedy in the air. Subscribe to Our Stories: https://bit.ly/3lzSXhv This film was first broadcast: 17 Aug 2016 Check us out on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OurStoriesChannel Watch More Documentaries Up Close - youtube.com/@UpCloseITVS True Lives - https://bit.ly/3A8xRMJ Our History - https://bit.ly/3rUpdhL Our World - https://bit.ly/3ftuckM Our Stories - https://bit.ly/3ynfFyk Taste - https://bit.ly/3OZoDcV Blueprint - http://bit.ly/3ZK5UdD Welcome to Our Stories, your home on YouTube for our exciting range of fly-on-the-wall style documentaries and special access reality programmes which will give you an inside look into the everyday lives of people; exploring what life is like for those working in education, healthcare, policing and many others! Content distributed by ITV Studios.