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It has been a decade since the terrorist attacks in America.

That decade wrought changes, including a new meaning of what it means to be an airline.

Perhaps surprisingly to anyone who recently went through airport security, its essence is a heightening of many of the same themes that gave aviation its attraction in the first place.

Ten years ago American Airlines made this clip of what it meant to be a post-9/11 airline.

Today, it is just as relevant.

We've heard a lot about US Airways flight 1549 that crashed into the Hudson River two years ago. Captain Chesley Sullenberger has received many accolades, including being named our "aviator of the year" in 2009, passengers recounted what they experienced on that chilly January day, and the Airbus A320 in question is planned to be exhibited in North Carolina.

But what were some of the long-term affects?

In this video from TED, Ric Elias, who is the CEO of a marketing services company, recounts what he has learned and how his outlook on life has changed since sitting in seat 1B on US1549.

Redbull skydiver Paul Steiner has pulled off this amazing feat, captured on video, in which at 2100m he climbs out of his glider's cockpit (don't worry: the pilot stays), climbs to the outer edge of the wing, hangs down underneath it, transfers to a second glider, and then stands up as the first glider makes an upside down rendezvous, enabling him to stand up and grab the first glider's rudder as the two aircraft fly at 100mph. He then parachutes to the ground. And oh, this is all captured against stunning Austrian mountains.

It is one heck of a connecting flight.

People are suddenly getting very interested in the views outside of their aircraft window. (Personally, I blame Boeing for dropping eye-catching winglets for "blended" winglets.)

Buzz Feed has selected 100 incredible views from aircraft windows. A passenger on an Air France flight from San Fransisco to Paris snapped 2,459 photos during the flight and put them together in a two minute video, below.

The views from both are great, but have you ever found yourself on a flight wondering what's below you? Well if you happen to be on a wifi-enabled flight, MondoWindow will tell you what you are overflying.

The system uses tracking information to calculate where you are and then display your aircraft on a Google map with pins indicating Wikipedia entries on nearby sights or geo-tagged Flickr photos. Try it out here on your next flight.

Rex Pemberton's forthcoming documentary 'The Calling' (screenshot above) features Medicine on the Move, a non-profit organisation based in Ghana that uses aviation as a vehicle to provide medical assistance in Ghana and soon, it hopes, in neighboring countries. In that regards it is much like a royal flying doctors service, but Medicine on the Move goes further.

It also aims to teach rural communities about health care, such as by flying in or dropping medical supplies and information.

Although started by Westerners, Medicine on the Move is working towards creating a local aviation industry in Ghana. It has partnered with WAASPS and Aviation Technology Academy to train Ghanaians, and females in particular, how to fly aircraft and perform maintenance.

One young female undergoing flight training says, "I want to fly the plane so that one day I can go to villages and tell them how to use medicine."

It is that sentiment that manifests Medicine on the Move's statement that with aviation they can "change the future of an entire generation".

The trailer is below.

British Airways has set a Guinness World Record for hosting last Saturday's smile high gig, the highest stand-up comedy event in the world.

Aviation these days begs for jokes, be it TSA security or Ryanair wanting to charge to use the loo.

The comic relief has been funny, but I've yet to see anyone go the length Little Britain and the BBC has with its new mockumentary (fake film in documentary-style) TV series, Come Fly with Me.

The show is akin to a fictitious version of real documentary series Airport about London Heathrow. Come Fly with Me follows fictional low-cost airline FlyLo from its pilots to owner to check-in agents. Like Airport, it also focuses on airport employees from immigration officers to paparazzi.

The BBC is kind enough to let us non-Brits watch the entire first episode (below), but you only need to see the first 45 seconds to get a flavour of what's to come--both in the TV show and in the real skies, although I suspect some of you have already experienced the latter.

There's a Michael O'Leary type who whinges about why people need to use the loo in-flight, a passenger who asks what the vegetarian option is and receives the flight attendant's response of "chicken", and general crew shenanigans. I won't spoil it anymore. See it for yourself.

Passengers may dread the wait for their checked luggage, but that was not the case for passengers coming off Spanair flight JK5208 from Barcelona to Las Palmas last Christmas Eve.

190 passengers arrived shortly before midnight, effectively spending their entire Christmas Ever traveling when normally in Spain Christmas Ever is celebrated with dinners, parties, and presents.

"We had to do something to make it a special night for them," Spanair says.

So the carrier wrapped every passenger a present--selecting different presents for men and women, adults and children--placed the passenger's name on the box, and then unloaded the presents on the luggage belt as the passengers gathered to wait for the bags.

Watch the reaction of the passengers in the video, below, the airline made of the event.