Plane Crazy PBS documentary
Ranked 7 of 17 documentary films by recommenders
Recommended for its charming portrait of Robert X. Cringely trying and failing to build a composite airplane. Caveat: it got little distribution.
Recommended for its charming portrait of Robert X. Cringely trying and failing to build a composite airplane. Caveat: it got little distribution.
9 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 9
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 2 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 9 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 2 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Charming portrait of an eccentric builder
“I find Plane Crazy really charming, although it's a portrait of someone who I definitely wouldn't do business with.”
Comment from 20 Oct 2026 in “My Friend Bob Cringely” “I really liked Plane Crazy, where he tries to build an airplane while basically having a breakdown”
Comment from 22 May 2026 in “Robert X Cringely is back to blogging”
Other documentary films people recommend
The four most recommended other documentary films, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| You Can See Everything | 39 | 30 | 57% | 2 | — | — |
| The Thinking Game | 15 | 8 | 65% | 3 | — | — |
| HyperNormalisation by Adam Curtis | 14 | 1 | 93% | 7 | — | Approved |
| It's Quieter in the Twilight | 12 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | Approved |
| Plane Crazy PBS documentaryThis page | 9 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
What people said
6 of the 10 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I find Plane Crazy really charming, although it's a portrait of someone who I definitely wouldn't do business with.”
“mounting the engine at the back and the prop at the front and a bloody great propshaft running the length of it was a bad idea”
“Too bad that it didn't get a lot of distribution”
“Got a kick out of the 90s PBS vibe and the Chicago news!”
“Watching him try (and fail) to build a composite airplane says so much about the allure of modern techniques”
“I really liked Plane Crazy, where he tries to build an airplane while basically having a breakdown”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.