Richard Hammond’s Engineering Connections is a show, wherin the presenter, Richard Hammond, learns how engineers and designers use historic inventions and clues from the natural world in ingenous ways to develop new buildings and machines.
The show involves Richard Hammond looking at several areas of the modern development and learning – often from the designers of the development itself – from where they got the ideas that they use to bring the development to fruition.

AIRBUS A380: BIG BIRD
Nicknamed the Superjumbo, the Airbus A380 passenger airliner is the largest in history. It’s packed with cutting-edge technology but owes its very existence to the most unlikely connections – a Mongolian bow and a 19th century rocket.

TAIPEI 101: SIZE IS IMPORTANT
Heading to Taipei, Richard discovers the secrets of one of the world’s tallest buildings, Taipei 101. How is this tower connected to a birdcage, bamboo, racing yachts, sports cars and seat belts? This journey of discovery takes him from the mines of 18th century England to almost half a kilometre into the sky at some 64 kilometres per hour (that’s around a 37 second trip!)

KECK OBSERVATORY: LOOKING BEYOND THE FINAL FRONTIER
Next, Richard looks at the history embedded in the Keck Observatory. How could a sand-blaster, a Cold War spy gadget and the invention of refrigerators have led to the creation of this super telescope? And using just a satellite dish and some foil is it possible to set fire to a boat? Richard experiments.

TROLL-A PLATFORM: THE LONGEST LEGS IN THE BUSINESS?
Finally, Richard braves the stormy North Sea to visit the incredible Troll-A Platform
– the largest object ever moved across the earth’s surface by man – and learns firsthand how a single musical note could have spelt catastrophe for the Troll-A.