If you want to learn more about the fascinating, isolated island of St Helena, listen to our podcast Extremities. We spent a whole season covering how St Helena works--its economy, its people, its government, and much more: extremitiespodcast.com
@@Wendoverproductions Lol, I'm aware it's in the works, I'm just bugging at every opportunity because it's the only thing holding me back from subscribing. I get 80-90% of my content through my phone, so it's the make or break point for me.
I love how proud they are of their little airport!! It's not the aesthetic marvel that most Airports are, but these people are so proud of what they have accomplished, and for good reason. I personally have dreamed of going to St. Helena for no other reason than it is an interesting an inconspicuous place. Now I can. I love seeing how happy these people are with their accomplishment. Thank you Wendover for making this awesome Documentary.
Didn't watch the whole thing but it seems the HLE airport was a fail, for the same reason that bridge in Tacoma Narrows, OR, USA fell, namely, the wind. Here in America we also subsidize farmers to live in out of the way places so we're no different.
@@raylopez99 You should finish it, alot of the key benifits are explained in the closing minutes of the documentry. From a personal view, though it hasn't had the most brilliant of starts, I'm directly benifiting from the airport being there. I was able to see my family in 2 days stay two weeks and head back, which would have been impossible before, I'm not alone alot of St Helenians have been able to go home for the first time in years as it is now less of a time requirement to get home. A failure wouldn't deliver that.
@@gerwyngeorge1258 Well that's nice, glad to hear that. I guess some folks in the UK don't mind subsidizing your travel anymore than my country folk mind subsidizing farmers. Still an economic failure however, but so is most of Amtrak (public trains) in the USA.
@@raylopez99 its abit more complicated than that and I don't think this documentry really goes much into enough depth about the islands economics if I'm honest. St Helena has always been a dependency, so has relied heavily to be subsidised by the UK. It had a short period in the 1950s, where it was making a surplus due to the flax industry but that was short lived with the introduction of synthetic fibres, but regardless the island needs to continue to exist its a British terratory, and it needs to be sustained. Making St Helena a more self sustaining terratory has always been a key aim of the local government and its people, but ultimately with the logistics of the islands location and what economic opportunities was available to it, it was always difficult. The airport in conjunction with the introduction of tourism seemed the best long term solution to establish a path towards self sufficienty and improving the livelihoods of local people. It not intended to be a massive short term return like striking oil in the desert, but a gradual catalyst for development. I understand from the perspective of a developed nation (i reside in the UK now) its difficult to imagine these challenges, but I'd say increased visitors is a positive sign.
@@raylopez99 Coming from Vienna/Austria, a city in a socialist democracy, literally everybody and everything in my everyday life is "Subsidized" but yet Vienna consistently ranks No.1 internationally on quality-of-life indicators. I might lack the necessary capitalist understanding but I have the urge to ask: Why does financial substitution and lack of Monetary profit of a public institution with the goal of increasing Quality of live for their people (Speaking of the airport,The airline operates in the green AFAIK) make it a failure?
This was REALLY good. I didn’t realize how invested I was until they showed the tabloid headlines calling it the most useless airport and I got really sad and defensive.
42:22 "The Christmas 2019 season is bringing something promising - sold out flights." Yeah, well, just wait another few months before you get your hopes up too high.
Kevin D I know RMS Saint Helena was decommissioned in 2018, but I don't know whether another ship serves the island for cargo. I agree, that wasn't clear.
RMS St Helena was the last ocean-going Royal Mail Ship and is one of only two remaining passenger-cargo liners in the world. It has been sold in 2018 and renamed MNG Tahiti by the new owner, a security firm that will use this vessel as floating armoury for anti-piracy services. You can track the current position on the maritime traffic web site by entering the name or the IMO number 8716306
I remember watching a few of Wendovers old videos a number of year back (a few of the ____'s geography problem videos) and thinking 'eh, seems sort of like a simple take on things' and went on my way. Finally circled back and watched some of his newer videos and... holy shit. They're so good. This video here definitely earned my subscription.
I've taken that flight over to Sain Helena, it's such a nice place but since you have to stay there for a week, it gets a little boring but I don't regret going, not even for one second.
When I worked in Nigeria & Angola, I often needed to travel to Brazil. However, there was only 1 Airline that seemed to go directly & that was TAAG out of Angola...not the best & very difficult to get flights onto. One could go to S.Africa, however, that was always at least an additional 10-12 hours. Flying from Nigeria (& indeed, probably the rest of West Africa), the only ways to Brazil were through Europe...& once through Abu Dhabi (40+ hours, 16 of which went the wrong way). Perhaps St. Helena could play a role in linking up Africa & Brazil. The question about the commercial viability to Recife seems like something that could be overcome by perhaps going a longer route to Sao Paulo or Rio. The type of targeted passengers might be someone like me - a contract worker who rotates in & out of Africa every few weeks. Additionally, there are a lot of Brazilians that go to Angola, Mozambique & S. Africa. Maybe St. Helena can play a role in improving ways to link the 2 continents.
Most definitely, they should stop concentrating on tourism (not entirely neglecting though). Business is key. Brazil - South Africa could become a strong link with St. Helena as a frequent touch down. To make South Americans feel welcome, you need to improve your Portuguese language skills. Start to put signs up in Portuguese, offer bread & breakfast in Portuguese. Angola by the way is also a Portuguese speaking country, so yes, teach your kids at school.
They'd almost be doing their own small scale imitation of an Icelandair or Aer Lingus if they did that - operating from the middle of an ocean corridor to bridge the lands on either side.
I guess y'all weren't paying attention about the limitations of plane size due to wind shear issues causing operational profitability issues for airlines
@@gw6667 Yep. The max range of a 737 MAX is about 3500 miles too, less than ideal for a 4000 mile round trip to Receife, especially if it cannot land in St Helena.
thanks for uploading this! This is a very well-done documentary! I learned a lot about the island of Saint Helena! Best of luck to its people, its airport and its tourism and economy!
Holy shit. I can't believe it. Can we all take a moment to appreciate the generosity of this channel for offering such insanely good educational quality content for free
I worked on embraers from 2017-2019 and during that found out about this flight. I was impressed over the route being so remote. Thanks for the finer details about how it came to be.
Wendover, thank you for labelling the airport as the most useful airport in the world, contrary to what big medias & tabloids said. This is heartwarming.
That one life saved 37:35 makes this whole airport worth it... not to mention every other potential one in the future. Id like to visit this place, I'm going t check the cost of flights and see if I can add it to a trip I wanted to do in Africa anyways. I just hope they let me fly my drone there and its not too windy for drone flying... I can imagine there is some incredible views here!
Unsubtle Major Dictator it could be seen that way. But since they didn’t build it to save one kid, and was already built - I think it’s okay with that lens to look through to say it makes the airport worth it. I know what you mean, I hope what I meant also comes across.
Unsubtle Major Dictator the USA 🇺🇸 has the largest GDP, it also has the most billionaires and millionaires and top 4 richest men in the world and has the only company worth 1 trillion dollars ( Apple Inc)
Unsubtle Major Dictator true first billionaire in the world was also American, he’s rather famous as well his name was Rockefeller. The United States of America 🇺🇸 is also the easiest country to get rich in. You could talk about China 🇨🇳 accept China has 10x the amount of people the USA does literally meaning that the average American makes 6.5 times as much as the average Chinese. The USA 🇺🇸 still has a larger economy than China at 22 trillion ( 2019) and china’s 2nd at 15 trillion ( 2019). The USA 🇺🇸 still makes 7 trillion dollars a year more than China. Russia’s GDP is 1.8 trillion a year that means that the Americans makes 19.7 trillion a year more than Russia 🇷🇺 the Americans do spend the most on their military at 740 billion( 2020) but they use just 2 percent of their GDP Russia spends 43 billion a year but they spend 3.3 percent of their GDP if the Americans also spent 3.3 percent they would be spending 1.2 trillion a year on their military.
I was born on Saint Helena and have sadly never been back. After 27 years though my mum was able to visit her parents and prior to that my granddads life was saved thanks to a medivac. Thank you for a fair documentary 💚
Great content. Was rooting for the airport’s success, and I’m glad to see that they’re on their way to it. Hoping that the current situation hasn’t impacted their lives too adversely.
I want to thank you sooooo much. I woke up sick this morning and dealing with anxiety. I scrolled through you tube and Everything just made me feel worse. I came across this video. The last video I would normally ever watch. As I watched and listened to the whole video, the story along with your voice and the great way you tell the story has calmed me down and now I'm feeling alot better. This Island and its people sound amazing. Thank you again. Peace.
It seems so cozy. I was just looking at it on google maps, and there are so many nice little cottage houses with a ton of land nicely tucked away along the tree lines. It would be so comfy waking up, seeing the forest and the mountains, but knowing that you’re still surrounded on all sides by thousands of miles of ocean.
Had the pleasure of visiting St Helena last year, it's an absolutely amazing place. It's far away from EU and the US, but if you live in South Africa for example, this is a place you definitely should go visit.
I was so pleased when the postponement of PA's visit was mentioned. I wonder how many buildings, projects, venues etc., that were officially opened by him, have taken down, or covered up their commemorative plaques?
I've been watching your videos for years, always enjoying them, and I clicked on this somewhat randomly to watch while eating. However, I almost screamed when i realized it was about st Helena! My mother's family is from the island, and myself being from the US it's so rare for anyone to know what/where the island is, let alone to go and make a documentary about it! Back in 2005 i took the RMS to the island to go visit family, and it was an experience I'll never forget. It's truly one of the most isolated places in the entire world and getting an airport was something a lot of saints never thought would happen. Thank you for doing this documentary, Sam- and huge props for actually pronouncing the name of the island correctly!
British Tabloids are cancer and should be all arrested. They are still going on about Diana decades on her from death in full on shit like "SECRETS EXPOSED".
The word "tabloid" in the UK doesn't have the same connotation that it does in the US. It just describes the printing format, which tend to just be a single fold and distinguished from the "broadsheet" format. That said, there _are_ definitely "tabloid journalism" papers which focus on more sensationalist stories with what we might, today, consider "clickbait" headlines.
@@StarkRG In the UK the literal meaning of "tabloid" refers to the format, but is generally used disparagingly about the content. Some quality papers now use this smaller format too though. I've no idea what it means in the USA.
@@evaluateanalysis7974 here in the US it means the same thing as the figurative sense you described for the UK: sensationalist, trivial, and bullshit content
Before this video I never actually listened to those curiosity stream and nebula ads of yours, just tried to skip over them. But after seeing such incredible level of content, far better than most documentaries you see on television or Netflix, I'm gonna get a subscription to curiosity stream and nebula. Bravo maestro.
The most important thing that should be on everyone mind currently should be to invest in different sources of income that doesn't depend on the government. Especially with the current economic crisis around the word. This is still a good time to invest in various stocks, Gold, silver and digital currencies.
I agree with you and I believe that the secret to financial stability is having the right investment ideas to enable you earn more money, I don’t know who agrees with me but either way I recommend either real estate or bitcoin and stocks.
@@MrFelFelix That won't bother you if you trade with a professional like *Mr Gary Mason Brooks* my coach, you may have come across him on interviews relating to bitcoin and stocks. He trades, manage trading account and offer mentorship program for clients who wish to become professional investors.
@Peter Moore This is the Fourth time I'm seeing someone talking about Mr Gary as there are lot of testimonies about him, do you know him ? if yes , did you invest with him ?
@@MrFelFelix It's 100% safe and legal, He’s an expert trader on stocks and bitcoin. I basically do nothing but collect profits, he was able to get me in early on most of these stocks and I exited just at the right time, his analysis was really on point.
Airport of Castellón (Valencia, Spain), which has not had a single flight for about 4 years due to being built by a company "friend of the government" that earned a solid amount of money collected via taxes: Am I a joke to you?
This video needs a follow up, with the effects of corona on its future path. And perhaps the viability of the electric revolution on the future of its flights as a new business model. And could Helena be a great test ground, for the future of travel to the moon and Mars?
You do such awesome work! I’m subscribed to you on several accounts over many devices for business reasons! So happy you did a full length documentary! It was awesome! Beautiful work!! Thank you for all you do and all it takes to do what you do! Bravo!
British press shitting all over British people, some things never will change. What a great video you made to set the record straight, I'm sure the people of St. Helena are grateful for your accurate reporting of the story.
Bill wanted a minute to get on film, and the Exec did not indulge him. That was a bit sad. Someone do an interview with him! Bill! I want to know what you are all about my friend!
I'll be honest, I usually don't really like the traditional documentary format. It can feel so slow and bloated. I was ready to hit that 1.5x as soon as I saw the length, but then I just got so sucked in. This is a REALLY quality film, the pacing is just as dense as a normal Wendover video
With respect to covid: I was just visiting their gov homepage and it states „We wish to reassure you that at this time there are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 on the Island.“ stay safe everyone
Hey, I hope Covid HELPS these isolated places by making things way more remote friendly. Remote personal assistants are in demand now, I know if I had kids or something paying $13 an hour to have all my appointments and odd jobs coordinated would be hella worth it.
@@crazyrobots6565 only because every Karen and boomer expects video calls constantly. You can do basically everything that comes with being a DPA with a 128k modem and a landline phone if nobody is a tard who expects zoom calls. And you need to spend money to make money.
I'm in the roller coaster enthusiast community. We know this shit. *Ride stops for safety reasons or because some guest on it is ill or has his phone out. Media: "Rollercoaster gets stuck!! EVACUATION!! Are roller coasters safe?!?"
@@TripleTSingt remember the time they use tape on an aircraft and people goes nut like its gonna fall apart like lego? Turns out they used industrial aircraft duct tape. Who would have thought right? Gosh dang news channels just want to land some title.
I'd definitely recommend listening to his podcast, Extremities, he has a lot more information on the history of the island, the episode on Napoleon's time on the island was my favorite personally
Thanks to this Channel. Its so fabulous of them to bring such lesser known yet interesting and informative series to the door step of millions across the World. Thankyou Wendover Productions.
Every time I see an Embraer airplane doing a so noble and significant job like connecting these people with the world, I feel so proud of Brazil's often underrated engineering.
E jets are probably the best regional jet used by U.S. carriers. I wish Delta would use the 190, but theyre supposed to be using the Cseries to our airport. JetBlue uses the 190, but we will see.
I love this video. I am a aircraft enthusiast . I am so glad for the people of St. Helena , but i hope one day, they are able to attract more tourism and therefore more flights into the island bringing economic growth to the island. I hope one day I can visit this island and contribute a bit to their economy ! Great documentary !
I don't know who wrote that closing statement but, wow, what an inspiring message to close with and at the same time carried a tone on power and confidence. Great job by the way. This is the kind of stuff people should be wanting to watch. Its a unique story and is informative about a mode of travel we all use giving us more details using this micro example and it also covers economies in growth. And seeing a populous that is its it own way frozen in time, in the best ways, makes this whole documentary easy and enjoyable to watch. Thanks for making it guys and gals, and thank you curiosity stream for paying for it.
You two emo wimps should remember that this airport cost 100s millions of dollars. It is a wasteful vanity project, a obscene misallocation of taxpayers money!
When I fly from London to Honduras I make a Stopover in Mexico City to change planes. The 2 hour flight on the Embraer from Mexico City to San Pedro Sula is always my favourite part of the trip.
Wat a fascinating documentary. Just looked at the charts of St Helena and seemed that they renamed the runway to 01 and 19, what is not uncommon in the Aviation industry. I also looked at the site of the airport and see that sometimes they get a few flights more. Thank you for this amazing story.
Thanks for the history and introduction to Saint Helena. Looking forward to the full documentary. Charming and magical place that I hope doesn’t get spoiled by tourism. I love the Observation Deck crowd!
What a great documentary! I'm curious how St. Helena fared through the pandemic. Hopefully it was only a pause to their growth in tourism, and that things are getting back on track now.
Wow! Fascinating documentary for sure. I was reminded of my time as a prosecutor in an extremely remote US county. We only had court in session once a month - th judge would travel from a neighboring county. For that day, the courthouse resembled many others - lawyers, clients, sheriffs’ deputies, etc. The remainder of the month the courtroom sat empty, ready for the scene to report itself.
What a brilliant video. I’ve worked with Saints down the Falklands. Great people. So happy to see they now have a functional airport they’ve longed for for decades
Watching this April 2020 and realising that this airport is currently beening f'ed by the Coronavirus together with the rest of the Airline Industry...
The name of the ship which connected the island to Ascension was the St. Helena - not RMS which is an abbreviation for 'Royal Mail Ship' and a designation.
Silly comment. All papers have news, all papers have opinion, all papers twist and slant things. The Mail is no worse or better than any other. Sometimes it has excellent articles and sometimes it prints rubbish. There is no British newspaper that is 100% reliable.
@@jonb6417 They are not tabloids. They don't do massive sensationalist headlines, they just do normal headlines. You might have a different opinion though, and you might fall somewhere else on the political spectrum, so I'm going to agree to disagree.
![[TH] VCT Masters Shanghai Playoffs DAY 6 // G2 vs GEN | 100T vs TH](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/M6jxF80AajI/mqdefault.jpg)
If you want to learn more about the fascinating, isolated island of St Helena, listen to our podcast Extremities. We spent a whole season covering how St Helena works--its economy, its people, its government, and much more: extremitiespodcast.com
Tell Nebula to get that Android app out already! Please ensure it can run the audio in the background a la TH-cam Premium! Please and thank you!
An Android app is in development! No ETA yet but I know it's pretty much top priority
@@Wendoverproductions Lol, I'm aware it's in the works, I'm just bugging at every opportunity because it's the only thing holding me back from subscribing. I get 80-90% of my content through my phone, so it's the make or break point for me.
Hello wendover. Happy new year, how much time left in this decade for you?
9:43pm at time of writing for me
@ynwa forever sadly not
If you start this video at 11:38:21 pm, the clock will strike midnight exactly when the first commercial plane lands on St Helena
You rock wendover
21:39 for people too lazy to do the math
What timezone?
whats the time zone?
hell ya buddy. just gonna watch it now though cause you rock
This airport still made more progress than the Berlin one.
So true.
Almost forget. Lol Hope theres a change in this 20s.
And the Paramaribo one.
Suriname’s airports are truly third world, even more third world than Rwanda’s.
@@brianlau172 Rwanda has one of the best airports in Africa?
16:11 I never thought I'd ever hear a British-Australian-Chinese-Indian-Texan accent
Yeah, a bit of South African and Jamaican in there too
@@RealUlrichLeland that accent is so cursed
She said "people doesn't want to see". That's a bit of poor English too.
I think that's just called speaking English as a second language? lol. she kinda sounds normal to me
I don’t think English is her second language…
I love how proud they are of their little airport!! It's not the aesthetic marvel that most Airports are, but these people are so proud of what they have accomplished, and for good reason. I personally have dreamed of going to St. Helena for no other reason than it is an interesting an inconspicuous place. Now I can. I love seeing how happy these people are with their accomplishment. Thank you Wendover for making this awesome Documentary.
this is exactly what it’s happening to me
As someone from St Helena, it's nice to see someone setting the record straight. Wonderful documentry.
Didn't watch the whole thing but it seems the HLE airport was a fail, for the same reason that bridge in Tacoma Narrows, OR, USA fell, namely, the wind. Here in America we also subsidize farmers to live in out of the way places so we're no different.
@@raylopez99 You should finish it, alot of the key benifits are explained in the closing minutes of the documentry. From a personal view, though it hasn't had the most brilliant of starts, I'm directly benifiting from the airport being there. I was able to see my family in 2 days stay two weeks and head back, which would have been impossible before, I'm not alone alot of St Helenians have been able to go home for the first time in years as it is now less of a time requirement to get home. A failure wouldn't deliver that.
@@gerwyngeorge1258 Well that's nice, glad to hear that. I guess some folks in the UK don't mind subsidizing your travel anymore than my country folk mind subsidizing farmers. Still an economic failure however, but so is most of Amtrak (public trains) in the USA.
@@raylopez99 its abit more complicated than that and I don't think this documentry really goes much into enough depth about the islands economics if I'm honest. St Helena has always been a dependency, so has relied heavily to be subsidised by the UK. It had a short period in the 1950s, where it was making a surplus due to the flax industry but that was short lived with the introduction of synthetic fibres, but regardless the island needs to continue to exist its a British terratory, and it needs to be sustained. Making St Helena a more self sustaining terratory has always been a key aim of the local government and its people, but ultimately with the logistics of the islands location and what economic opportunities was available to it, it was always difficult. The airport in conjunction with the introduction of tourism seemed the best long term solution to establish a path towards self sufficienty and improving the livelihoods of local people. It not intended to be a massive short term return like striking oil in the desert, but a gradual catalyst for development. I understand from the perspective of a developed nation (i reside in the UK now) its difficult to imagine these challenges, but I'd say increased visitors is a positive sign.
@@raylopez99 Coming from Vienna/Austria, a city in a socialist democracy, literally everybody and everything in my everyday life is "Subsidized" but yet Vienna consistently ranks No.1 internationally on quality-of-life indicators.
I might lack the necessary capitalist understanding but I have the urge to ask:
Why does financial substitution and lack of Monetary profit of a public institution with the goal of increasing Quality of live for their people (Speaking of the airport,The airline operates in the green AFAIK) make it a failure?
This was REALLY good. I didn’t realize how invested I was until they showed the tabloid headlines calling it the most useless airport and I got really sad and defensive.
dustisdeadbodies85 Well said!
Agreed, i loved this documentary.
You got sad I wished to escalate the violence
That's why people call the media "fake news"
I felt sad too. Sam is a great narrator. The video title is perfect
That right hand man to the CEO has such David Brent energy
hes such a simp but we still like him
*a wild evan edinger appears*
42:22 "The Christmas 2019 season is bringing something promising - sold out flights."
Yeah, well, just wait another few months before you get your hopes up too high.
RMS St Helena: business in the front, party in the back?
The RMS Mullet
@@ellinar1 or perhaps in this instance RMS stands for Royal Mullet Ship
Couldn't tell from video if RMS still offered passenger service. Also, whether the airport is used for cargo delivery.
Kevin D I know RMS Saint Helena was decommissioned in 2018, but I don't know whether another ship serves the island for cargo. I agree, that wasn't clear.
RMS St Helena was the last ocean-going Royal Mail Ship and is one of only two remaining passenger-cargo liners in the world. It has been sold in 2018 and renamed MNG Tahiti by the new owner, a security firm that will use this vessel as floating armoury for anti-piracy services. You can track the current position on the maritime traffic web site by entering the name or the IMO number 8716306
A 45 minute 2 years in the making documentary? Seems like Wendover's really soaring to new heights here... And with such nebulous causes too...
40X as interesting ;)
Nah, not enough people are signing up to Nebula; they are trying to boost that. Though, it is a nice documentary.
Hopefully this becomes his most-watched video! Good luck!
Just wondering, which 'nebulous causes' are you talking about? Thanks
I remember watching a few of Wendovers old videos a number of year back (a few of the ____'s geography problem videos) and thinking 'eh, seems sort of like a simple take on things' and went on my way.
Finally circled back and watched some of his newer videos and... holy shit. They're so good. This video here definitely earned my subscription.
When I saw the thumbnail I was like "I swear to god if this is about anchorage again"
Why am I getting emotional watching an airport documentary?
BECAUSE THEY ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE. WITH NOWHERE TO GO AND THEIR ONLY WAY IS KINDA F______D lol sorry for the CAPS
Every single person on this island appears to have a different accent lol
It's everything from pseudo-American to Kiwi with hints of Pirates of the Caribbean.
@@waqqashanafi And subtle nutty notes with a dry texture...
Centuries of inbreeding
@@tanmaysingal2179 then they would look similar and they still had ways of getting off the island too.
Does Wendover delete comments?
I love how official but friendly that behind the scenes tour is
Inherently Wicked Chauvinist lol you’re irrelevant
24:07 the guy standing in a hallway for the past half an hour
"Hello Bill"
I've taken that flight over to Sain Helena, it's such a nice place but since you have to stay there for a week, it gets a little boring but I don't regret going, not even for one second.
How is tourism doing now that the pandemic is over?
I can't believe I spent 46 minutes watching a documentary about an obscure airport. I can't believe how much fun I had watching it as well
Same bro
Same
And i get to get up in 4 hours for work
@@MeloFloww ndtnm
Same
I bet this video just gave the islands tourist economy a boost
Almost like this was the intended purpose.
Well...no...he outlines the lack of impact a once weekly flight of 90 people has on the island
Eye wanted to go as soon as he showed where it was
I hope so!
@@warbler1984 Everything has to start from somewhere
When I worked in Nigeria & Angola, I often needed to travel to Brazil. However, there was only 1 Airline that seemed to go directly & that was TAAG out of Angola...not the best & very difficult to get flights onto. One could go to S.Africa, however, that was always at least an additional 10-12 hours.
Flying from Nigeria (& indeed, probably the rest of West Africa), the only ways to Brazil were through Europe...& once through Abu Dhabi (40+ hours, 16 of which went the wrong way).
Perhaps St. Helena could play a role in linking up Africa & Brazil. The question about the commercial viability to Recife seems like something that could be overcome by perhaps going a longer route to Sao Paulo or Rio. The type of targeted passengers might be someone like me - a contract worker who rotates in & out of Africa every few weeks. Additionally, there are a lot of Brazilians that go to Angola, Mozambique & S. Africa. Maybe St. Helena can play a role in improving ways to link the 2 continents.
Most definitely, they should stop concentrating on tourism (not entirely neglecting though). Business is key. Brazil - South Africa could become a strong link with St. Helena as a frequent touch down.
To make South Americans feel welcome, you need to improve your Portuguese language skills. Start to put signs up in Portuguese, offer bread & breakfast in Portuguese. Angola by the way is also a Portuguese speaking country, so yes, teach your kids at school.
They'd almost be doing their own small scale imitation of an Icelandair or Aer Lingus if they did that - operating from the middle of an ocean corridor to bridge the lands on either side.
I guess y'all weren't paying attention about the limitations of plane size due to wind shear issues causing operational profitability issues for airlines
@@gw6667 Yep. The max range of a 737 MAX is about 3500 miles too, less than ideal for a 4000 mile round trip to Receife, especially if it cannot land in St Helena.
thanks for uploading this! This is a very well-done documentary! I learned a lot about the island of Saint Helena! Best of luck to its people, its airport and its tourism and economy!
A 50 minute wendover video? What a way to start off the new decade
And it's about planes, too! Could it get any better?
i didnt see it was 50 minutes, oh no but oh yes
Well, end it off for me
It's still 2019 here.
@@QuarioQuario54321 hello, we are talking to you from the future
Holy shit. I can't believe it. Can we all take a moment to appreciate the generosity of this channel for offering such insanely good educational quality content for free
So happy I didn’t have to pay for nebula
well they are actually being paid. (ads/nebula/youtube premium/sponsors/patreon/other)
speedy01247 obviously but this is easily subscription level content
fake account, prolly bot likes too
Shut up man
Well... how is the airport now, after covid? I live in the "south American city of Recife" and there is no flights arriving here from Santa Helena.
I worked on embraers from 2017-2019 and during that found out about this flight. I was impressed over the route being so remote. Thanks for the finer details about how it came to be.
Wendover, thank you for labelling the airport as the most useful airport in the world, contrary to what big medias & tabloids said.
This is heartwarming.
That one life saved 37:35 makes this whole airport worth it... not to mention every other potential one in the future. Id like to visit this place, I'm going t check the cost of flights and see if I can add it to a trip I wanted to do in Africa anyways. I just hope they let me fly my drone there and its not too windy for drone flying... I can imagine there is some incredible views here!
@@drone_video9849 That would value the human population as greater than the GDP of the planet...
Unsubtle Major Dictator it could be seen that way. But since they didn’t build it to save one kid, and was already built - I think it’s okay with that lens to look through to say it makes the airport worth it. I know what you mean, I hope what I meant also comes across.
Unsubtle Major Dictator the USA 🇺🇸 has the largest GDP, it also has the most billionaires and millionaires and top 4 richest men in the world and has the only company worth 1 trillion dollars ( Apple Inc)
Unsubtle Major Dictator true first billionaire in the world was also American, he’s rather famous as well his name was Rockefeller. The United States of America 🇺🇸 is also the easiest country to get rich in. You could talk about China 🇨🇳 accept China has 10x the amount of people the USA does literally meaning that the average American makes 6.5 times as much as the average Chinese. The USA 🇺🇸 still has a larger economy than China at 22 trillion ( 2019) and china’s 2nd at 15 trillion ( 2019). The USA 🇺🇸 still makes 7 trillion dollars a year more than China. Russia’s GDP is 1.8 trillion a year that means that the Americans makes 19.7 trillion a year more than Russia 🇷🇺 the Americans do spend the most on their military at 740 billion( 2020) but they use just 2 percent of their GDP Russia spends 43 billion a year but they spend 3.3 percent of their GDP if the Americans also spent 3.3 percent they would be spending 1.2 trillion a year on their military.
I was born on Saint Helena and have sadly never been back. After 27 years though my mum was able to visit her parents and prior to that my granddads life was saved thanks to a medivac. Thank you for a fair documentary 💚
excellent comment!
Start a go fund me, we will all contribute
A medivac from where? At Helena?
Great content. Was rooting for the airport’s success, and I’m glad to see that they’re on their way to it. Hoping that the current situation hasn’t impacted their lives too adversely.
I can't believe that the wind analysis wasn't undertaken before building a runway like this!
"The next couple years for St Helena are crucial."
Pandemic: Allow us to introduce ourselves
Oof.
They have the power to not to take his calling card!
Just checked flights. Non for the next 6days
@@chokstachan8635 Damn.
Corona pulling up on the scene rubbing hands like Birdman
This airport seems like a good setting for an office sitcom.
I would definitely watch that
And the whole island could be a good setting for a TV drama.
Reminded me of Dwight when he said right arm of the CEO hahahahaha ♡♡♡
How about "Come fly with me 2"? :-)
@@AristoCat221 Assistant *to* the CEO :p
I want to thank you sooooo much. I woke up sick this morning and dealing with anxiety. I scrolled through you tube and Everything just made me feel worse. I came across this video. The last video I would normally ever watch. As I watched and listened to the whole video, the story along with your voice and the great way you tell the story has calmed me down and now I'm feeling alot better. This Island and its people sound amazing. Thank you again. Peace.
Dude I freaking love everyone's different accents, even more so knowing all these people live along side each other on the island.
It seems so cozy. I was just looking at it on google maps, and there are so many nice little cottage houses with a ton of land nicely tucked away along the tree lines. It would be so comfy waking up, seeing the forest and the mountains, but knowing that you’re still surrounded on all sides by thousands of miles of ocean.
I have a feeling that this documentary will help the tourism situation.
Are you trying to tell me that this wasn't partially paid for by St. Helena to boost tourism?
It is trending #18 right now
Tom Sko 11 now
Don't bet on it.
@gurusson, No and why does it even matter??
This could also be a documentary about integrity in journalism
Calling them journalism is too much of a compliment
This sounds ike something I'd say if i had to write a long-ass paper for school and needed an all-in-one source.
Integrity in journalism? Ha, that doesn't exist and will never exist
Journalists who cover aviation should have to pass a certification to demonstrate they actually know something about aviation and aircraft.
I'm not clear what you mean by that.
Keep it up Wendover..
Watching this in 2023 is really thrilling.
Hello from Nigeria.
I'm a big Fan
Had the pleasure of visiting St Helena last year, it's an absolutely amazing place. It's far away from EU and the US, but if you live in South Africa for example, this is a place you definitely should go visit.
I'm a Capetonian, planning to visit some time next year
I knew there was a catch when he hasn’t talked about aviation in the past few episodes
He was saving up his energy
He had to begin the new decade with the right leg. Or wing.
Your point?
In hindsight, postponing that ceremony with Prince Andrew turned out fine.
He would of turned into a legend of the royal who touched up 90% of all the kids on an island
Ever heard of Pitcairn Islands?
lollll
I was so pleased when the postponement of PA's visit was mentioned. I wonder how many buildings, projects, venues etc., that were officially opened by him, have taken down, or covered up their commemorative plaques?
Heheheh.
I was not expecting an documentary about an airport to be this interesting and touching. I laughed, cried and smiled.
I've been watching your videos for years, always enjoying them, and I clicked on this somewhat randomly to watch while eating. However, I almost screamed when i realized it was about st Helena! My mother's family is from the island, and myself being from the US it's so rare for anyone to know what/where the island is, let alone to go and make a documentary about it! Back in 2005 i took the RMS to the island to go visit family, and it was an experience I'll never forget. It's truly one of the most isolated places in the entire world and getting an airport was something a lot of saints never thought would happen. Thank you for doing this documentary, Sam- and huge props for actually pronouncing the name of the island correctly!
This was a bloody good documentary and you should be proud
"the British tabloids got hold of it". Oh god. The words you never want to hear.
A horror story in seven words.
British Tabloids are cancer and should be all arrested. They are still going on about Diana decades on her from death in full on shit like "SECRETS EXPOSED".
The word "tabloid" in the UK doesn't have the same connotation that it does in the US. It just describes the printing format, which tend to just be a single fold and distinguished from the "broadsheet" format. That said, there _are_ definitely "tabloid journalism" papers which focus on more sensationalist stories with what we might, today, consider "clickbait" headlines.
@@StarkRG In the UK the literal meaning of "tabloid" refers to the format, but is generally used disparagingly about the content. Some quality papers now use this smaller format too though.
I've no idea what it means in the USA.
@@evaluateanalysis7974 here in the US it means the same thing as the figurative sense you described for the UK: sensationalist, trivial, and bullshit content
Before this video I never actually listened to those curiosity stream and nebula ads of yours, just tried to skip over them. But after seeing such incredible level of content, far better than most documentaries you see on television or Netflix, I'm gonna get a subscription to curiosity stream and nebula.
Bravo maestro.
The most important thing that should be on everyone mind currently should be to invest in different sources of income that doesn't depend on the government. Especially with the current economic crisis around the word. This is still a good time to invest in various stocks, Gold, silver and digital currencies.
I agree with you and I believe that the secret to financial stability is having the right investment ideas to enable you earn more money, I don’t know who agrees with me but either way I recommend either real estate or bitcoin and stocks.
@@MrFelFelix That won't bother you if you trade with a professional like *Mr Gary Mason Brooks* my coach, you may have come across him on interviews relating to bitcoin and stocks. He trades, manage trading account and offer mentorship program for clients who wish to become professional investors.
@Peter Moore This is the Fourth time I'm seeing someone talking about Mr Gary as there are lot of testimonies about him, do you know him ? if yes , did you invest with him ?
@@MrFelFelix It's 100% safe and legal, He’s an expert trader on stocks and bitcoin. I basically do nothing but collect profits, he was able to get me in early on most of these stocks and I exited just at the right time, his analysis was really on point.
@@MrFelFelix look for his name on the web
“The most useless airport in the world”
Berlin: am I not a joke to you
its the most useful airport 🤣
Airport of Castellón (Valencia, Spain), which has not had a single flight for about 4 years due to being built by a company "friend of the government" that earned a solid amount of money collected via taxes: Am I a joke to you?
23:22
“Assistant to the regional manager”
Colin Copland “assistant regional manager” 😂
he will soon become manager
The Devil Wears Prada
From time to time I send Dwight faxes...from himself...from the future...
The security room was probably beer and pizza and they just didn’t want him joining in
This video needs a follow up, with the effects of corona on its future path. And perhaps the viability of the electric revolution on the future of its flights as a new business model. And could Helena be a great test ground, for the future of travel to the moon and Mars?
“christmas 2019 is promising”
my partner and i simultaneously: “oh no”
This didn't feel like 46 minutes at all. It felt like a slightly longer Wendover video. Well done! :)
Exactly. I wanted to hear more, to see more of the island, just more!
Being from Saint Helena, this video is pretty cool to watch.
You live there? What are the internet prices right now? Do you have a undersea cable or pure sat?
@@whuzzzup I'll go out on a limb and suggest they didn't run an undersea cable for ~4500 people.
whuzzzup theyre pretty expensive
Elon Musk's starlink will be up soon
I wonder just how many tourists Wendover will be individually responsible for sending over. I imagine a few hundred at least
You do such awesome work! I’m subscribed to you on several accounts over many devices for business reasons! So happy you did a full length documentary! It was awesome! Beautiful work!! Thank you for all you do and all it takes to do what you do! Bravo!
British press shitting all over British people, some things never will change. What a great video you made to set the record straight, I'm sure the people of St. Helena are grateful for your accurate reporting of the story.
"Hello, Bill!"
"Hello!"
Delightful!
Bill wanted a minute to get on film, and the Exec did not indulge him. That was a bit sad. Someone do an interview with him! Bill! I want to know what you are all about my friend!
I'll be honest, I usually don't really like the traditional documentary format. It can feel so slow and bloated. I was ready to hit that 1.5x as soon as I saw the length, but then I just got so sucked in. This is a REALLY quality film, the pacing is just as dense as a normal Wendover video
Wow! What a quality production.
Can we just appreciate how much effort was put into this. Absolute masterpiece! Amazing job🙏! May God bless you🙏❤️.
Door: "keep closed at all times"
Wendover: *doesnt close it behind him*
I knew it I wasn't the only one who noticed that.
If you listen you'll hear the door close after camera passes through. There are such things as gimbles guys...
Such a badass!
If the door is meant to be closed at all times, doesn't that make it less of a door and more of a wall?
Might have been a 3rd person trailing them who closed the door?
amazing content, i hope the community is doing well during covid and the effect it's had on the travel industry :(
With respect to covid: I was just visiting their gov homepage and it states „We wish to reassure you that at this time there are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 on the Island.“ stay safe everyone
Hey, I hope Covid HELPS these isolated places by making things way more remote friendly.
Remote personal assistants are in demand now, I know if I had kids or something paying $13 an hour to have all my appointments and odd jobs coordinated would be hella worth it.
As of now, they have had no cases.
@@LeviForWaifu well they don't have good internet. So working remotely in the way most in the developed world means would be impossible.
@@crazyrobots6565 only because every Karen and boomer expects video calls constantly. You can do basically everything that comes with being a DPA with a 128k modem and a landline phone if nobody is a tard who expects zoom calls.
And you need to spend money to make money.
12:35 Hans Zimmer really living his life out there as a part time direcot of tourism
42:25
"December 31, 2019"
"hmm something weird's going on in Wuhan, whatever"
Plane: *wiggles
News media: BREAKING NEWS, PLANE NEARLY BLOWS UP
I know, right...
I'm in the roller coaster enthusiast community. We know this shit. *Ride stops for safety reasons or because some guest on it is ill or has his phone out.
Media: "Rollercoaster gets stuck!! EVACUATION!! Are roller coasters safe?!?"
@@TripleTSingt remember the time they use tape on an aircraft and people goes nut like its gonna fall apart like lego?
Turns out they used industrial aircraft duct tape. Who would have thought right?
Gosh dang news channels just want to land some title.
@@anhduc0913 They want viewership and money, that's why
Plane: *wiggles*
Media: EMBRAER BOEING A330 ABORTS LANDING, THREATENS TO DESTROY AUSTRALIA
Never thought I'll ever get so emotionally invested for an Island I just learned about 46 minutes ago. This was an amazing documentary. Period.
I'd definitely recommend listening to his podcast, Extremities, he has a lot more information on the history of the island, the episode on Napoleon's time on the island was my favorite personally
Geeth San This🙌🏻. I was looking to comment something like this, but you said it perfectly.
You said period meaning you put two periods unless your on your period
about time to make update videos on old videos like this one!!
Thanks to this Channel. Its so fabulous of them to bring such lesser known yet interesting and informative series to the door step of millions across the World. Thankyou Wendover Productions.
Every time I see an Embraer airplane doing a so noble and significant job like connecting these people with the world, I feel so proud of Brazil's often underrated engineering.
Yeah Embraer seem like great planes for smaller runways. Perfect for aerfields or small airports
Eu sou brasileiro também. Eu também senti o mesmo orgulho.
E jets are probably the best regional jet used by U.S. carriers. I wish Delta would use the 190, but theyre supposed to be using the Cseries to our airport. JetBlue uses the 190, but we will see.
For some reason I thought Embraer was French but I was thinking about Dassault. Damn good for Brazil man
Building a airframe is one thing, where are the engines, controls and avionics all built.
My favorite part of this video was Bill walking in at the exact wrong time and then just freezing solid for like 15 seconds. 23:47 "Hello Bill."
Did everyone say hello to bill?
@@truetechchannel they did
I'm pretty sure that was the same Bill as the one that got interviewed at 27:39
I thought I was watching "the office" for a minute. Whether comedically or naively, it was brilliant.
I love this video. I am a aircraft enthusiast . I am so glad for the people of St. Helena , but i hope one day, they are able to attract more tourism and therefore more flights into the island bringing economic growth to the island. I hope one day I can visit this island and contribute a bit to their economy ! Great documentary !
that wing flex on the 737 looks lethal....
32:00 Imagine being so excited for an airplane to fly in. Wendover must have felt right at home.
I've learned that Wendover production has been around for 4 years now. Damn even time flies with WP.
Sılaym videosy
I don't know who wrote that closing statement but, wow, what an inspiring message to close with and at the same time carried a tone on power and confidence. Great job by the way. This is the kind of stuff people should be wanting to watch. Its a unique story and is informative about a mode of travel we all use giving us more details using this micro example and it also covers economies in growth. And seeing a populous that is its it own way frozen in time, in the best ways, makes this whole documentary easy and enjoyable to watch. Thanks for making it guys and gals, and thank you curiosity stream for paying for it.
I love that all they needed was an airstrip...
Yet they blew 100 million and went full international.
Makes sense.
Where would they go if not international? It's literally *further* to not go international, it's 4x further.
At 34:42, my mind told me “yo he’s gonna hit you with that end-of-video advertisement again” but nope it’s a documentary so we good
Lets just appreciate a free 46 minute high quality captivating documentary. What a great way to start the decade.🙌
20:39 talking about Jo-burg, shows the entry flight towards the southern runway at Heathrow :P
Great video Wendover though! Informative as always!
This was a beautiful documentary. Loved it all.
i was just crying once i realized the meaning of calling it "the most useful airport".. what a beautiful documentary
me too!
You two emo wimps should remember that this airport cost 100s millions of dollars. It is a wasteful vanity project, a obscene misallocation of taxpayers money!
@@sharefactor nice copypasta
I cried.....I'm unstable I don't care haha
@@ae112 they don't mean it. That's why the other guy said "nice copypasta" :)
Transportation to the island:
80% by ship
5% by plane
15% "others"
what is it? teleportation? swimming? bus?
Crashed satellites?
Bike
Walking on water
Maybe helicopter
The Jesus shuttle
The girls of St Helena dodged a bullet when Prince Andrew's visit was cancelled
You'd think they'd at least try landing a plane there before they built out the whole airport
I'm brazilian and this makes me so happy, seeing one of our Embraer aircraft be of such good service to these folks.
Embraer makes wonderful planes, on which flying is actually fun again.
Flown on the E190 many times within Australia and it is a lovely aeroplane.
The new ones that Alaska Airlines bought are both extremely pretty inside and out, and fun to fly on. Like a Dash-8 without the prop-drone.
When I fly from London to Honduras I make a Stopover in Mexico City to change planes. The 2 hour flight on the Embraer from Mexico City to San Pedro Sula is always my favourite part of the trip.
A lot of positivity! God Bless!
I would love to see a “The Office” version at that airport. Seems so quaint and nice.
"hello, Bill!"
A workplace sitcom at an airport sounds amazing, I would watch that for sure
You should watch borderline. It's an amazing british mocumentary show about a regional airport.
@@samcavanagh7993 Might I be able to introduce you to Wings?
@@kerryhess3641 Oh wow, had no idea that existed
Wat a fascinating documentary. Just looked at the charts of St Helena and seemed that they renamed the runway to 01 and 19, what is not uncommon in the Aviation industry. I also looked at the site of the airport and see that sometimes they get a few flights more. Thank you for this amazing story.
Thanks for the history and introduction to Saint Helena. Looking forward to the full documentary. Charming and magical place that I hope doesn’t get spoiled by tourism. I love the Observation Deck crowd!
21:50 guy in red baseball cap goes to put sunglasses on his head where there are already sunglasses
Aren't those his normal glasses ? so not sunglasses ?
HHahahaha when he realises as well, classs
Lol.
How did you catch that
Glasses-ception
For those wondering, round trip flight from Johannesburg to St Helena is about £800 or about $1060.
I did a search for round trip tickets from NY to London and it’s about 400$. Of course it’s a totally different thing, but still. Damn.
Because theres no first or business class which cheapens the normal seats in major routes
From orlando it's about a 3 day trip with multiple multi hour layovers for a grand total of a little over 2000$
j c That’s actually less than I thought it would be, though long. Even if that’s one way, it is cheaper than I would have guessed.
USD, CAD, or AUD?
What a great documentary! I'm curious how St. Helena fared through the pandemic. Hopefully it was only a pause to their growth in tourism, and that things are getting back on track now.
Wow! Fascinating documentary for sure. I was reminded of my time as a prosecutor in an extremely remote US county. We only had court in session once a month - th judge would travel from a neighboring county. For that day, the courthouse resembled many others - lawyers, clients, sheriffs’ deputies, etc. The remainder of the month the courtroom sat empty, ready for the scene to report itself.
Less than 3 minutes and 30 seconds into it, and the first “you see” was dropped...a sign that this is going to be an awesome documentary.
You released this just as the clock struck twelve in my country, bravo to you Sam.
Edit: grammatical error (stroke instead of struck)
Lol im still in 2019
What's 2020 like?
Unfortunately, its 20 minute late here.
I still have to wait 4 hours.
Lucky. It's noon where I am.
Great documentary 👏 Thank you guys !
What a brilliant video. I’ve worked with Saints down the Falklands. Great people. So happy to see they now have a functional airport they’ve longed for for decades
The landing of the first aircraft was so intense. I was expecting something to go wrong and I had held my breath. Amazing writing and delivery
Watching this April 2020 and realising that this airport is currently beening f'ed by the Coronavirus together with the rest of the Airline Industry...
We all are
F in the chat for Earth
Yea I was just about to comment about that...
@ben yosep it's not all china's fault
I bet its easy for them to monitor it there though. Like if they dont fly anyone in, they dont have to worry about the virus on their island.
i love the fact the you make long analytic videos. makes it much more watchable for me!
The name of the ship which connected the island to Ascension was the St. Helena - not RMS which is an abbreviation for 'Royal Mail Ship' and a designation.
Sorry have to point out an inaccuracy - you referred to the daily mail as "news"
BURN !!!
Top notch comment
Silly comment. All papers have news, all papers have opinion, all papers twist and slant things. The Mail is no worse or better than any other. Sometimes it has excellent articles and sometimes it prints rubbish. There is no British newspaper that is 100% reliable.
@Khandaker MURSHED ...and Guardian and "Independent" and Times.
@@jonb6417 They are not tabloids. They don't do massive sensationalist headlines, they just do normal headlines. You might have a different opinion though, and you might fall somewhere else on the political spectrum, so I'm going to agree to disagree.
As a German, I truly love all the Berlin Airport references in this comment section.
What's up with that airport
@@firehawk8521 Precision German engineering! 🥁😂🤣🇩🇪
@@ryanmendes6520 No, because it's been stuck in development Hell and has been incomplete for decades.
@@firehawk8521 The question is: what's _not_ up with that airport?
The Germans forgot to be German while building Berlin airport 🥴
Funny story - Comair, the British Airways franchise company that dumped Saint Helena, went bust earlier this year.