Written by Trevor Conn Theme music composer Bruce Lynch Genre Aviation | Narrated by Mike Binis Country of origin New Zealand Language English | |
Created by Malcolm Clement and Fletcher McKenzie Directed by Malcolm Clement and Andy McGrath Similar Dust Up, AFP: American Fighter Pi, Airline, Alaska Wing Men, Airport | ||
FlightPathTV was a New Zealand documentary television show about aviation. It was created by Malcolm Clement and Fletcher McKenzie and produced by Leading Edge Media. Filmed at locations around the world, FlightPathTV was produced in New Zealand.
Contents
Each episode of the thirteen week series was filmed at air shows and other aviation events, and profiled pilots, aviation destinations and the histories of famous aircraft.
Creation
Production of FlightPathTV commenced in March 2007 at the Australian International Airshow in Geelong, Australia. The film crew then traveled to the Wide Bay International Airshow in Queensland, Australia, the Classic Fighters show in Blenheim, New Zealand, the Warbirds Over Wanaka in Wanaka, New Zealand, the Reno Air Races in Reno, Nevada, Pearl Harbor, the Imperial War Museum Duxford in Duxford, England, and the Shuttleworth Collection in Bedfordshire, England.
In December 2009 FlightPathTV assisted veteran Ray Richards to reunite with the World War II Corsair he flew in the British Fleet Air Arm.
The Long Path to "On Air"
New Zealand's state broadcaster, Television New Zealand (TVNZ), declined to purchase FlightPathTV. The show was later purchased by Discovery UK, Finland's MTV3 Channel, Denmark's DR HD Channel, Discovery Turbo Asia, Malaysia's Astro Channel and Discovery Turbo (Australia).
The pilot episode of FlightPathTVscreened on Sky TV’s Documentary Channel in New Zealand on 2 July 2009, and in Australia. After the screening of the pilot episode, work commenced on the post production of all thirteen episodes.
FlightPathTV first aired in Australia on 1 January 2011, and also aired in Denmark, Finland, Malaysia and throughout Asia and the UK.
Funding
Filming was initially funded privately by Fletcher McKenzie and Malcolm Clement. Fundingfor the pilot episode was provided by angel investor Lynn Tilton of MD Helicopters.Air New Zealand, provided sponsorship to FlightPathTV in free flights for the film crew to travel around the world. New Zealand's oldest aviation magazine, Pacific Wings, provided free advertising for the show.
Both the Royal New Zealand Air Force and the Royal Australian Air Force allowed FlightPathTV access to their aircraft and pilots, .
Post Production
Post Production was done in New Zealand by Afterglow, directed by Andy McGrath.
The FlightPathTV theme song was written by Bruce Lynch,.