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Line 1: {{~~trope~~work}} A 1984-87 action-adventure program about Stringfellow Hawke, a helicopter pilot whose brother is missing in Vietnam. The concept of the show is that Stringfellow Hawke manages to blackmail the Firm (A thinly veiled branch of the CIA) by failing to return a prototype helicopter that he'd retrieved for them after the chopper's creator, the evil Dr. Moffet, flew it off to Libya. Unusually cordial about this act, The Firm proceeds to hire Stringfellow Hawke as a mercenary to fight against various threats from communists or criminals. Several times, the Firm would attempt to recover Airwolf despite the fact that they routinely allowed Stringfellow Hawke into sensitive areas to discuss the helicopter's placement. The Soviets tried to do the same, although the discussions tended to be far more forceful. After Season 3, the show was radically retooled with Stringfellow Hawke replaced by his brother Saint John Hawke. The sole season after this, which was made for [[USA Network]] at a time where cable series literally had [[No Budget]], was mostly composed of (painfully obvious) [[Stock Footage]] and ceased to have much of the previous helicopter action that they had once had. The show is well known for its theme music that combined techno with a humming meant to invoke helicopter blades. It also includes some very impressive low-level helicopter flying. The show is number one on ''[[Cracked~~\|Cracked's~~.com]]'''s list of [https://web.archive.org/web/20131107053135/http://www.cracked.com/article/242_6-tv-shows-that-completely-lost-their-shit_p2/ 6 TV Shows That Completely Lost Their Shit]. ---- {{tropelist}} ~~This show contains examples of:~~ * [[Affirmative Action Girl]]: Caitlin joins the guys in the second season. * [[America Saves the Day]] * [[Ace Pilot]]: Stringfellow and almost certainly Dominic. * [[AIA.I. Is a Crapshoot]]: Though not played with much in the series, Airwolf does have a primitive AI system that monitors and constantly optimizes the copter's systems. It also learns from and can assist the pilot in combat situations. These abilities are utilized in "Moffett"'s Ghost, as Airwolf has to find its own way to Langley and to deal with the situations it's in. These precise situations are not likely to be things Moffett could have predicted or programmed the autoplilot to do without such AI, as he had no idea where Airwolf would be or what it would be doing if he were dead or in jail at that point in time. There are also times when Airwolf seems to respond to the crew, such as the hydraulics hissing right after Dom asked if she missed him, or one of the engines stalling directly after an insult directed at her. The insistance upon refering to Airwolf as female is even used by Moffett and seems to go beyond the typical reference to machines as female. Line 23 ⟶ 24: * It seems that the white underbelly is unnoticed by most people, as "The Lady" is defined by Caitlin as "The biggest, blackest helicopter I've ever seen" in Sweet Britches. * The fuel caps are also bright red. Not that the enemy ever seems to notice. * [[Blessed ~~With~~with Suck]]: Stringfellow Hawke. Almost everyone he's close to dies. There are 4 exceptions to this. 1: Dom. 2: Archangel. 3: Marella. 4: Caitlin. ** And even Dominic dies eventually, at the start of Season 4. Because [[Anyone Can Die]]. * [[Cloak and Dagger]]: The Firm is a fictional Spy agency) Line 29 ⟶ 30: Meaningful one at that- as in "Archangel Michael" and the former English name for the Russian city of Arkhangelsk. * And sadly, completely forgotten after season one. Seriously, it's like they wanted us to believe his name was Michael Archangel. * [[~~Colour~~Color-Coded for Your Convenience]]: All Firm agents wear white suits, though this may be more attributable to Archangel's preferences, since his own superiors wear perfectly ordinary business outfits. * [[Cool Plane]]: Airwolf. The actual chopper (a Bell 222 with bits stuck on) was destroyed in a fatal crash in 1992, being used as a air ambulance. A non-flying replica has been built and was [http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330211610399 recently on eBay]. Several computer games have had people add the distinctive chopper in mod form. ** This is also one of the more popular model/RC copter models. * [[Dirty Communists]]: Although some episodes go out of their way to have sympathetic Russian characters, most notably in "Proof Through the Night" when a deep-cover American agent was forced to come home...and the very Russian family he now had thanks to the length of his cover was forced with him. * [[Disney Death]]: String is the master of this. Often when it appears he can't outrun a missile, he'll dodge behind a sand dune or blow it up at the last minute, appearing to have been taken out with it. Airwolf then proceeds to fly over a sand dune or around a hill, in front of the badguy, [[Offscreen Teleportation\|Jason Voorhees-style]]. In one episode he does this with a B-52 bombing run ''simulating a nuclear attack''. {{quote\| '''Stringfellow Hawke:''' I was born in that briar patch!}} ** Moffett also does this at the beginning of the pilot episode/movie. * [[Dodge Byby Braking]] * [[Elaborate Underground Base]]: Although there's not much in there, it's inside an extinct volcano and Airwolf takes off through the top. ** There's the ruins of a cliff dweller city in the Lair. Unfortunately, these ruins seem to be more of [[Easter Egg]] than anything else. Still, they could have been used as a base if needed. Line 53 ⟶ 54: * [[Follow the Leader]]: ''Airwolf'' is [[Dueling Shows\|one of several shows]] based around [[Cool Plane\|Cool Helicopters]] that were inspired by the 1983 film ''[[Blue Thunder]]''. ''Viper'' can be seen as the car version of Airwolf. As can the Knight Industries Three Thousand from the recent version of [[Knight Rider]]. * [[Future Copter]] * [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]: Archangel commenting on his aide's "above-average oral dexterity". The [[Blooper Reel]] from ''that'' episode must have been a hoot. * [[Good -Looking Privates]]: Stringfellow Hawke. ** He never seems to be wearing a shirt under his flight suit... * [[Guy in Back]]: Dom or Caitlin, but on one occasion Archangel. Line 69 ⟶ 70: * [[Lzherusskie]] * [[Man in White]]: Michael "Archangel" Coldsmith-Briggs, Hawke's contact with the FIRM, who not only wears white suits, but is flown around in a white helicopter and driven in a white limo, and aided by a string of exotic looking female assistants dressed in (wait for it...) white. Lampshaded several times by String and Dom. * [[Mecha -Mooks]]: Airwolf destroys hordes of enemy helicopters in many episodes, frequently with individual components that are superior to Airwolf's. However, as the bumper sticker that clearly belongs on Airwolf's fuselage reads: "Outnumbered? Yes. Outgunned? Maybe. Outclassed? ''Never.''" ** This usually has more to do with String's flying abilities. {{quote\| '''Archangel:''' They haven't invented a machine yet that can out-fly a good pilot.}} * [[Mnogo Nukes]]: Including "The Key" (season 4) and a "Delta III" SSBN in Season 3's "Crossover". ** "Condemned" includes nuclear-tipped cruise missiles fired from a Soviet submarine. * [[Post -Mortem Comeback]]: The mad creator of Airwolf had a program hidden inside it that nearly caused it to trigger World War III. The creator's been dead for quite a while, yet his revenge wasn't complete. * [[Redemption Equals Death]]: In "Once A Hero", Wallace reveals that he was responsible for betraying his fellow [<nowiki>POWs=</nowiki>] by giving their escape plans to a prison-camp guard during the Vietnam War (albeit under extreme duress). {{spoiler\|When the team is ambushed by Laotian troops manning a hidden machinegun nest, he sacrifices himself by jumping into the machinegun nest with a live grenade while the enemy troops are reloading - and by taking out the enemy machinegunners, he's able to let the rest of the team escape with the prisoners they've rescued.}} * [[Red Scare]]: The main villains. * [[Reds ~~With~~with Rockets]] ** The MiG-23M "Flogger-B" (incorrectly designated as MiG-23S, the first production variant, which never entered operational service. That was Western Intelligence for you) features in a couple of episodes when Airwolf goes to the USSR, reflecting its role in the Voyska PVO. * [[Reporting Names]] * [[Retool]]: Season 4, which changed the entire cast and slashed the budget to sub-''[[Blake's ~~Seven (TV)~~7\|Blakes Seven]]'' levels. Few liked it. ** Season 4 was made for [[USA Network]] and all of the "flying" scenes consisted of either recycled footage from previous seasons, or use of an RC copter. * [[Rule of Cool]]: It is not actually physically possible for a regular chopper to fly that fast. It gets a [[Hand Wave]] via dis-engaging blades and separate jet engines, and it even stays consistent; one episode has the system that handles this function damaged, and Dominic freaks out at the idea of going supersonic because the blades will rip off if they're still spinning. The aerial photography even changes to show which mode is in use, with camera trickery making the helicopter and the main rotor itself ''appear'' to be going appropriately slow or fast. Line 103 ⟶ 104: [[Category:American Series]] [[Category:Airwolf]] [[Category:~~Trope~~TV Series]]