The best episodes of Airwolf
Ranked by viewer rating, highs first. Lit marks on the season rail place this list across the run. Vote on a placement to back it or contest it.
- 01
An ambitious executive at the Firm makes a subversive play for Archangel's job. A bomb is planted aboard a vintage helicopter owned by Dominic Santini and he's forced to crash land. When Hawke and Archangel go hunting for Dom, Airwolf is ambushed and shot down. The two must convince a group of locals to help them repair their damaged tail rotor. Complicating matters on Dom's end, he must contend with a stowaway aboard his chopper -- a young girl searching for her dad.
- 02
Dr. Robert Winchester is a brilliant researcher and a former test pilot who helped design Airwolf. Now, he's asking for Hawke's help in test flying a simulator that he's designed to enable the Firm to train future test pilots to fly Airwolf. Reluctantly, Hawke agrees, but determines that the simulator's "feel" is a little off.
- 03
String and Dom rescue Dom's niece from her abusive boyfriend and return her to the U.S. Unfortunately, the boyfriend hasn't given up on her yet and sends his goons in search of her. Caitlin O'Shaughnessy re-enters the picture, asking Dom for a job at his hangar. Meanwhile, while trying to assimilate to life in the U.S., Holly begins hanging out on a movie set with String and Dom.
- 04
Marella unofficially asks String and Dom to attempt a rescue mission when Archangel is captured by rival agents and his wing of the Firm is disavowed. Archangel had embarked on a rescue mission for a former lover which he later discovers is a trap to lure him to his capture and subsequent brainwashing. String and Dom must find Archangel and deprogram him before he can assassinate the Firm's top leader, Zeus.
- 05
A movie producer hires Santini Air for a dangerous stunt involving the landing of a helicopter onto the roof of a moving semi. Dom and String nearly come to blows, however, when String tries to convince Dom that his reaction time might not be up to snuff for this particular action sequence. Things get even more dicey when it appears that the production might just be an elaborate cover for a high-stakes gold heist.
- 06
Santini makes an unauthorized flight to Cuba in order to rescue two political prisoners who are being ransomed for $2 million. However, while there, the exchange site is attacked and the ransom money is stolen. While flying back to the mainland, Santini is forced to crash land back on Cuba and Hawke must brave a hurricane in Airwolf to rescue his friend.
- 07
North and South Limbawe are in conflict over oil and a despotic General plans to overthrow his own government in South Limbawe and attacks his neighbors to the North. String and Dom are sent by Archangel to aid North Limbawe and it's leader, Seku Logana, but Logana has his own prejudices about receiving aid for his cause.
- 08
Archangel warns String about a zealous government bureaucrat named D.G. Bogard who will stop at nothing until he finds Airwolf. Dom and Hawke take time out from shooting a military training film to hide Airwolf in a different location before it can be discovered, but Bogard catches on to their ruse and tracks Hawke back to the new hideaway. To complicate things, an eager pilot tails Dom and Hawke in an effort to convince Santini that she deserves a job working for his company.
- 09
The Firm asks String to covertly shuttle a renowned researcher and diplomat, Dr. Roger Burton, to Russia for a secret meeting since Airwolf can get past the Russian defenses without being detected. Unfortunately, before Hawke can go back and recover Dr. Burton, a virus implanted by Airwolf's creator, the late Dr. Moffett, rears its ugly head and threatens not only the destruction of the supercopter but the elimination of the Firm as well unless a computer programmer String knows can undo the damage the evil Dr. Moffett concocted.
- 10
A rich corporate industrialist, Carter Anderson III, hires Santini and Hawke to ensure his safe transportation needs when it becomes evident that he might be targeted for a hit. Anderson is aware of the existence of Airwolf and Hawke agrees to use the supercopter to help protect Anderson if necessary. Caitlin agrees to fly one of the helicopters for the mission, but there's a twist that she's unaware of; her new boyfriend just might be in on the assassination plan.
- 11
Dom and String return to Dom's birthplace when Dom learns that his daughter has died of a drug overdose. After attending the funeral, they return to California where Dom is arrested on suspicion of murdering his ex-wife. String returns to the island to investigate the murder and learns that unsavory elements have begun taking over the seaside community where a casino is being developed. String finds himself pondering a burning question...does the casino's developer have something to do with the deaths of Dom's wife as well as his daughter?
- 12
An Israeli war crimes hunter is killed by a suspected Nazi named Hans Daubert in France. His daughter vows revenge and seeks the help of String and Dom, along with Airwolf, to bring him to justice. Complicating matters is Archangel's involvement with Daubert who is a known arms dealer selling to the powers that he chooses to in order to influence political outcomes in the world -- and Archangel is his supplier!
- 13
When Eddie, a chronically drunk friend of Dom's, spouts off about UFO-type lights he's been seeing near his desert trailer, everyone writes him off as a crackpot until one night while taking Eddie home, Dom spots them, too. He and String investigate and discover a military compound nearby headed by a renegade general who is planning a preemptive nuclear strike against the Soviet Union. Unfortunately, while escaping, Dom is shot and it's up to Eddie to ride shotgun aboard Airwolf with String even though he doesn't believe he can do what may be asked of him.
- 14
Caitlin plans to fly home to attend her sister's wedding but her plane is hijacked and crashed into the sea and a ransom demand is issued to the airline. Meanwhile, String and Dom mount their own search and rescue plan while Caitlin and the airline owner, who's also aboard the plane, attempt to keep the passengers calm. Complicating rescue efforts, the terrorists are nearby and they attempt to shoot down anything that comes even remotely close to the downed plane.
- 15
When String and Dom agree to shoot some incidental film footage for a friendly rival, they accidentally stumble across a reputed mobster hiding out in the desert with plans for a secret rendezvous with his compatriots. The mobster sends his goons out to recover the film, but when their friend ends up being killed over the footage they shot, String and Dom work even harder to try to find out what's behind their friend's murder, even though a local detective isn't convinced about their findings.
- 16
String and Caitlin travel to a deserted island where a cure is being researched for a biological plague that was developed in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, the plague has already gotten out of control and the researchers are all dead. Complicating matters, the Russians have also dispatched a submarine to the island to attempt to recover the cure first. When String, Caitlin and the sub's crew all get exposed to the virus, they must work together to find the cure before they all go mad and either kill one another or die.
- 17
A former Vietnamese warlord, Tranh Van Zung (James Shigeta), terrorizes a small community of Southeast Asian immigrants by requiring them to pay a tithe like they would in their own country. A group of dissidents, however, stand up to the greed and refuse to pay. Subsequently, they are targeted for extermination by Tranh, who is an accomplished pilot. His men murder several of the members of the dissident faction -- that is, until String and Airwolf make a stand against Tranh's corruption and give the other immigrants a taste of what freedom is all about.
- 18
Hawke meets a mercenary who claims to have information regarding his missing brother. When they part company, Hawke loses consciousness in his helicopter and crashes. When he comes to, he finds himself in a hospital. The medical staff inform him that he has been in a coma for the better part of a year. His friends, Archangel and Dom, were killed on a POW camp raid, but in the process, their heroism helped rescue Hawke's brother Saint John. Believing that his "mission" is over, Hawke reveals the location of Airwolf to his captors, then discovers that it has all been an elaborate ruse and he has inadvertantly turned over the super copter to a group of foreign conspirators.
- 19
String and Dom investigate a small town where a friend of theirs has disappeared. What they discover there is a little fiefdom controlled by an unfriendly sheriff named Bogan who doesn't like outsiders in his domain. When String starts poking around for his friend, Bogan arrests him and sets him loose on an 80,000 acre wildlife enclosure just outside the town. There, he becomes the game in a little hunt that just may cost him his life. As if that isn't enough, an attractive highway patrol deputy has also run afoul of the Sheriff and String and Dom must intervene
- 20
A helicopter prototype that may rival Airwolf is stolen. String thinks his brother St. John is involved.
- 21
A group of terrorists steals a prototype in-flight computer that can turn any commercial aircraft into a fighting unit. While escaping, one of the terrorists is wounded and the group holes up in a small mountain community where they shanghai the services of a combat medic and lock his friends up in a meat locker. When the terrorists discover that the medic has flight skills as well, they get him to aid in their escape, but Doc manages to get away and finds String, who's out looking for the prototype with Airwolf.
- 22
Dom uses Airwolf to transport a heart to Chicago and responds to a mayday along the way for a downed private plane. The plane belongs to billionaire Carl Barron who was on his way to a board meeting when his plane developed engine difficulties. Barron attempts to bribe Santini into dropping him off first, then the heart. Dom refuses and gives Barron a piece of his mind, instead. Shortly thereafter, Barron is killed in a mysterious explosion at his company and everyone at the funeral is shocked to learn that he altered his will just before he died.
- 23
A revolutionary breaks her father, former dictator Marios Guzman, out of a military prison. Because her father received no medical treatment in prison, she has her followers kidnap Doc who is on a fishing trip with String. String vows to follow Doc, but is advised not to get himself or Airwolf involved in anything political. As it turns out, a former comrade-in-arms of Guzman's learns that he is dying and plans to use his final address to the people as a rallying point to retake the government.
- 24
String and Dom are hired to fly a helicopter rigged with a prop spaceship during a live concert performance by singing sensation Roxy Marvel (Misty Rowe). Complications develop, however, when a fight with her ex-husband Nick DeSoto (Mayf Nutter), who's also her manager, results in Nick having her kidnapped and replaced by a look-alike lip-syncer. Nick needs the money he can raise from his ex-wife's death to cover some old gambling debts. String and Dom must find Roxy and save her look-alike before DeSoto can carry out his plans.
- 25
A European terrorist cell takes refuge in a spiritualist community in the U.S. that shuns all exposure to technology. Using the community as a front, they plan to destroy a new southwestern U.S. hydro-electric facility and for exposure, they invite a prominent TV journalist, Kelly Dayton, to witness the event. When Kelly and her escort pilot, String, are captured by the terrorists, some quick thinking on the part of the ace pilot results in their escaping their captors, but String and Airwolf must stop the terrorists before they complete their plan of destruction.
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