# Plane Crazy PBS documentary

9 Hacker News commenters recommended Plane Crazy PBS documentary and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 2 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended for its charming portrait of Robert X. Cringely trying and failing to build a composite airplane. Caveat: it got little distribution.

## Why people recommend it

- Charming portrait of an eccentric builder (2 comments): "I find Plane Crazy really charming, although it's a portrait of someone who I definitely wouldn't do business with." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50174175)) "I really liked Plane Crazy, where he tries to build an airplane while basically having a breakdown" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48241939))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [You Can See Everything](https://hackerapproved.com/p/you-can-see-everything.md): 39 recommend
- [The Thinking Game](https://hackerapproved.com/p/thinking-game-documentary.md): 15 recommend
- [HyperNormalisation by Adam Curtis](https://hackerapproved.com/p/hypernormalisation.md): 14 recommend
- [It's Quieter in the Twilight](https://hackerapproved.com/p/it-s-quieter-in-the-twilight.md): 12 recommend
- [BBS: The Documentary](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bbs-the-documentary.md): 11 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Plane Crazy PBS documentary", https://hackerapproved.com/p/plane-crazy/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).