These hidden heroes protect your flight from lethal weather

On May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens became the largest and most destructive volcanic eruption in U.S. history. By the end of its cycle of fire and fury, 57 people had died.

Footage of the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption (3:47)

Aviation pioneer Wiley Post needed an oxygenated pressure suit to survive a high-altitude transcontinental flight. Enter engineer Russell Colley—who sewed the material for the suit on his wife's sewing machine.

This pressure suit helped pilots survive new heights (3:59)

In the early 1900s, a New Zealand farmer named Richard Pearse built what looked like a flying bicycle. Some of the ideas he developed are now standard in modern aviation.

This New Zealand farmer revolutionized modern planes (1:20)

One big challenge facing Jaguar in its switch from steel to aluminum was how to utilize this lighter, less flexible alloy. For inspiration, they turned to an entirely new field: aerospace.

Why Jaguar uses aerospace aluminum to build its cars (3:09)

Without Nicholas Straussler, D-Day wouldn't have been possible. He came up with the design for the Duplex Drives tanks—a key part of the initial invasion at Normandy.

This inventor made the famed D-Day swimming tanks (2:47)

It’s January 16, 2002 and Garuda Indonesia Flight 421 is struggling with a loss of power. The captain decides to perform a maneuver few other pilots have ever attempted: to land his Boeing 737 in water.

This pilot made an emergency landing a shallow river (3:21)

On December 28, 2014, 43 minutes into its flight, AirAsia Flight 8501 vanished from radar. With 162 people on board, it would go down as one of the deadliest plane crashes that year.

AirAsia Flight 8501 plummets into the Java Sea mid-flight (2:56)

Vying with the Russians for space supremacy, the U.S. successfully launches Apollo 8. Once in orbit, astronaut William Anders takes one of the most legendary photographs of all time.

This Apollo 8 astronaut took the famous "Earthrise" photograph (2:43)

From getting sucked into a fighter jet engine to a misjudged landing by an approaching jet fighter, an active flight deck is a minefield of danger and accidents waiting to happen.

This sailor got sucked inside a jet engine. (1:54)