For those who like to travel, the Aerial America television series is incredible!

[JodieJRanch]

My wife and I have started watching a series called Aerial America on the Smithsonian Channel. Each 1 hour episode is a flyover of a different state and is completely narrated. They are filmed using a helicopter and the cinematography is incredible. Each show primarily gives a human, geographic and geologic history of a state. It also highlights current festivals and famous people, authors, movies and major historical events that lived/wrote/filmed or occurred in each state. They are very well done. They spend a lot of time on National Parks which we love and the founding history of each state. We were disappointed that they spent very little time on Disney World though, on the Aerial Florida episode. Recently they've expanded the Aerial Series to include, Natural Wonders, Great Cities, Great Small Cities and now foreign countries like Aerial Ireland, Scotland, Great Britain, New Zealand, Greece, etc. It's well well worth checking into.

 

[jcb]

FAA rules likely limited their ability to fly over one of Disney theme parks. Per the air traffic controller in this video,

, if the pilot is in "two way coms" with ATC, the helicopter can transit the theme park but it can't maneuver over it.

 

[hhisc16]

My wife and I have started watching a series called Aerial America on the Smithsonian Channel. Each 1 hour episode is a flyover of a different state and is completely narrated. They are filmed using a helicopter and the cinematography is incredible. Each show primarily gives a human, geographic and geologic history of a state. It also highlights current festivals and famous people, authors, movies and major historical events that lived/wrote/filmed or occurred in each state. They are very well done. They spend a lot of time on National Parks which we love and the founding history of each state. We were disappointed that they spent very little time on Disney World though, on the Aerial Florida episode. Recently they've expanded the Aerial Series to include, Natural Wonders, Great Cities, Great Small Cities and now foreign countries like Aerial Ireland, Scotland, Great Britain, New Zealand, Greece, etc. It's well well worth checking into.

Great series!
Hard to find on a streaming app though.
How do you watch it?

 

[SorcererHeidi]

My wife and I have started watching a series called Aerial America on the Smithsonian Channel. Each episode is a flyover of a different state. The cinematography is incredible. They filmed each episode using a helicopter and is completely narrated. Each show primarily gives a human, geographical and geological history of a state. It also highlights current festivals and famous authors, movies and major historical events that lived/wrote/filmed or occurred in each state. They are very well done. They spend a lot of time on National Parks which we love and the founding history of each state. We were disappointed that they spent very little time on Disney World though on the Aerial Florida episode. Recently they've expanded the Aerial Series to include, Natural Wonders, Great Cities, Great Small Cities and now foreign countries like Aerial Greece. It's well well worth checking into.

Wow - I'm going to DVR this right now. I'm ashamed to admit I didn't even know if I get the Smithsonian Channel or not, but I do. I think I'd love this. Especially because I'm sure a lot of the places in this world I didn't take the time, or chance, to see when I was younger, and more agile. So this might be one of the only ways I ever will.

Thanx for the heads up on this!!

ETA - Turned the channel on for a little while, they were doing different types of factory tours, and explaining how different things were made, etc. I was FASCINATED! I think this might quickly become one of my favorite channels!

 

[JodieJRanch]

Great series!
Hard to find on a streaming app though.
How do you watch it?

We have ATT U-Verse. It doesn't come with the basic package though. Had to upgrade from the basic 200 channels to 300. Other Cable providers also have it, though typically its not available with basic packages. Would be worth calling yours just to enquire.

 

[JodieJRanch]

My wife and I have started watching a series called Aerial America on the Smithsonian Channel. Each 1 hour episode is a flyover of a different state and is completely narrated. They are filmed using a helicopter and the cinematography is incredible. Each show primarily gives a human, geographic and geologic history of a state. It also highlights current festivals and famous people, authors, movies and major historical events that lived/wrote/filmed or occurred in each state. They are very well done. They spend a lot of time on National Parks which we love and the founding history of each state. We were disappointed that they spent very little time on Disney World though, on the Aerial Florida episode. Recently they've expanded the Aerial Series to include, Natural Wonders, Great Cities, Great Small Cities and now foreign countries like Aerial Ireland, Scotland, Great Britain, New Zealand, Greece, etc. It's well well worth checking into.

A few interesting things we've learned about Florida is the white sands of the Florida panhandle on the Gulf of Mexico actually came from erosion of the Appalachian Mountains. Also, after the Civil War, Florida tried to sell the panhandle to Alabama for a million dollars, but they turned it down.

 

[MDIME]

Great series!
Hard to find on a streaming app though.
How do you watch it?

It can be found on Hulu Live.

 

[fla4fun]

The Smithsonian Channel was my favorite before I had to cancel my satellite. It’s almost all documentary and/or educational, but the shows are interesting. I was also disappointed that Orlando didn’t get much coverage in the Florida show, but I think they wanted to highlight things that people might not be as familiar with.

 

[mom2rtk]

My wife and I have started watching a series called Aerial America on the Smithsonian Channel. Each 1 hour episode is a flyover of a different state and is completely narrated. They are filmed using a helicopter and the cinematography is incredible. Each show primarily gives a human, geographic and geologic history of a state. It also highlights current festivals and famous people, authors, movies and major historical events that lived/wrote/filmed or occurred in each state. They are very well done. They spend a lot of time on National Parks which we love and the founding history of each state. We were disappointed that they spent very little time on Disney World though, on the Aerial Florida episode. Recently they've expanded the Aerial Series to include, Natural Wonders, Great Cities, Great Small Cities and now foreign countries like Aerial Ireland, Scotland, Great Britain, New Zealand, Greece, etc. It's well well worth checking into.

I watched most of these some time ago and absolutely loved the series!

And FWIW, the narration is so even and calming, I used it to help get me to sleep sometimes when I was up in the middle of the night. Not that it's boring. Just very calming.

 

[izzy]

I’ve been watching it, too. Fabulous series and so much interesting information!

 

[Dan Murphy]

Great channel, great series!! Just wish they had a high def channel choice on our system. Low def is not nearly as enjoyable.

 

[mrodgers]

Great series!
Hard to find on a streaming app though.
How do you watch it?

I have the Smithsonian app on the phone that can connect to my Chromecast TV interface. Are they not on that app? I haven't looked into watching anything on the app yet, just have had it on my phone forever now. I don't know if it's a paid subscription or free sign up subscription or open.

I saw quite a few of them years ago when we had a weekend of "free premium channels" on DirecTV. I nearly recorded every program on the Smithsonian channel until the free preview was over, LOL. It is a fantastic series.

 

[mrodgers]

FAA rules likely limited their ability to fly over one of Disney theme parks. Per the air traffic controller in this video,

, if the pilot is in "two way coms" with ATC, the helicopter can transit the theme park but it can't maneuver over it.

Deemed "National Defense Airspace" by the FAA for both Disney World and Disneyland. NOTAM FDC 3635 .

 

[fla4fun]

Great channel, great series!! Just wish they had a high def channel choice on our system. Low def is not nearly as enjoyable.

I bet a high def of the Hawaii episode would be fantastic! That one was beautiful in standard def.

 

[easyas123]

I saw quite a few of them years ago when we had a weekend of "free premium channels" on DirecTV. I nearly recorded every program on the Smithsonian channel until the free preview was over, LOL. It is a fantastic series.

We get the Smithsonian Channel every now and then w/ free channel weekends on our DirecTV service and there are always good programs on there!

 

[jcb]

Deemed "National Defense Airspace" by the FAA for both Disney World and Disneyland. NOTAM FDC 3635 .

Makes you wonder what Disney has buried under the Castles.

 

[porschegrl]

Thank you for the recommendation. I was looking for something to watch just now. Cool idea for a show!

 

[Timandalicia]

My wife and I have started watching a series called Aerial America on the Smithsonian Channel. Each 1 hour episode is a flyover of a different state and is completely narrated. They are filmed using a helicopter and the cinematography is incredible. Each show primarily gives a human, geographic and geologic history of a state. It also highlights current festivals and famous people, authors, movies and major historical events that lived/wrote/filmed or occurred in each state. They are very well done. They spend a lot of time on National Parks which we love and the founding history of each state. We were disappointed that they spent very little time on Disney World though, on the Aerial Florida episode. Recently they've expanded the Aerial Series to include, Natural Wonders, Great Cities, Great Small Cities and now foreign countries like Aerial Ireland, Scotland, Great Britain, New Zealand, Greece, etc. It's well well worth checking into.

Whaaaaaaat? I’ve been watching it for years and then my wife starts telling me about it this week as if it just came out. It must have upped it’s game recently! Goes more in-depth. Sure makes you want to travel!

 

[goofyernmost]

It is indeed a great program. I learned things about my home state that I never knew. The best part of it is that it doesn't pull any punches. If we, as a nation or a state, have done some terrible things, they have no problem in pointing them out. I've found it to be extremely accurate. It's on the Smithsonian Channel.

 

[DoryGirl1963]

Lots of Aerial America episodes are available on Paramount + if anyone has that