I realise that "you can too" is ignoring things like health and wealth, and I did worry about that; as ever, the need to make the title clickable, but short and honest, is a bit of a battle. And also, to be clear, this isn't an advert: I paid for my flight and my camera operator's flight!

The passion that Frenchman has for his birds is admirable. His dedication is amazing

How in the world do you manage to make such consistently compelling videos with massively different themes and experiences each time? It's insane.

As someone who took 4 years of U.S. Highschool French, but is still getting familiar with the language, his French was so easy to follow and understand, super articulate. Very awesome video also!

Tom, thank you for keeping the original French with subtitles rather than dubbing - I find it preferable to listen or read to the original language!

This is in France?! *books tickets immediately* Incredible video Tom. What an experience, and what spectacular footage! p.s. congratulations on the 5m subscribers that you're about to hit as I type this

Until now I never realized how little flapping is needed to keep a bird in the air. In human terms, it's like imagining that one would need to run in order to cover distances when in reality you can simply walk from point A to point B. That gets the job done. I thought this because from the ground we can only watch birds take off and in order to get to flight, that's where the big flaps come in. But the minute you are settled in the sky, you don't need to give off that much power. I guess this is why some birds can cover hundreds of miles in a day.

I really like it when interviews are done in the interviewee's native language. Please keep doing that, Tom

Came for microlight flying, stayed for conservation and animal husbandry. What a nice surprise!

Wow. As a glider pilot I'm used to flying with birds from time to time, but, wow. This is just a whole other level of intimacy with these amazing animals. Amazing.

This video brought back strong memories of a movie from my childhood, "Fly Away Home", which was inspired by the life of Bill Lishman, a Canadian sculptor who did something similar.

As a former hang glider pilot, ultralight pilot, microlight pilot and paraglider pilot, this video really strikes home. I've never had the luck to fly with a bird, but perhaps as close as one can get to fly like a bird, especially the unpowered versions. This video brings tears to my eyes.

I remember hearing about this guy decades ago-- I'm really glad he's still around and still doing this!

As a kid and obsessed with all things aviation, I loved the movie “Fly Away Home”. This guy is the real deal of that movie.

Being able to pet the birds mid flight must be a magical feeling..

I remember watching a film about a family who raised geese and taught them to fly using a glider when I was young. I think it was called fly away home. I wonder if this guy was part of the inspiration.

3:00 One takes for granted that flying is "just what birds do." Watching them in flight up close, from an as-literal-as-possible bird's-eye view, renews one's appreciation of both the mechanics of flight, and of the long and meticulous path that evolution has taken and continues to take. Thanks, Tom! :D

This is amazing it’s incredible how people can dedicate there lives to helping animals that most wouldn’t even bat an eye to.

Started listening to this while doing something else, didn't even realize it was in two languages until I looked and saw subtitles (fluent in both). Funny how the mind works sometimes.

Watching Tom reach out to gently pet the birds brings me so much joy (:

I love when you cover people who speaks languages I've tried learning, as I can choose not to look at the subtitles mostly but as I am learning a fully new topic, I end up learning new words like "gosling" and "micro light aircraft" . Hope to see more from France, Italy, Czechia or one day China or Japan

Actually, the relationship with birds in the air goes even deeper than that this very special, very close relationship with the birds in this video. I am a paraglider pilot and when we fly in thermals with birds, we follow the same traffic rules. We see the birds - usually birds of prey, but also sea gulls and the like - as pilots, and they see us a pilots. Sometimes you can come up a litttle to close to a wild bird and they will let you know that you are too close. Or they will just fly away. But birds don't normally see us a threat in the air. If you can fly, then you are a bird. I don't believe most birds like to be touched the way you do, though. That's probably just because these particular geese are somewhat domesticated.

That moment when those birds were redirected from a pilot to another was amaazing - it shows an amazing feat of trust and intimacy of the birds with the pilots. It's just amazing how they could do that automatically, without much 'orders' and with an animal not usually being a pet!

FLY AWAY HOME WAS MY FAVOURITE MOVIE AS A KID AND YOU'RE TELLING ME I CAN DO THIS FOR REAL????? You are literally living my dream Tom

i fully support this frenchman taking tourists out with these birds to fund his conservation efforts. what a hero

Tom Scott is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.

This was seriously mind-blowing. I expected some goof chasing birds around. This was an entirely different level of experience that I had no idea was even possible. I had a huge smile on my face throughout the whole video and I wasn’t even flying.

This is literally one of the coolest things you’ve covered, Tom.

As a French person, it's really a pleasure to listen to a Tom Scott video with some parts in my mother tongue.

Tom, this was genuinely touching. I honestly wish I could go do something like this, to experience flight in this way and experience the joy of being with the birds. Thank you for highlighting this man's story and the possibilities in the world.

Its people like this that make me realise that humanity still has a change, simply heartwarming.

Honestly im crying. To see such a passionate person spend his life preserving the birds generations

What a legend. If only more people had this level of respect and compassion for animals. Liberté, égalité, fraternité.

To be able to touch a bird that’s in flight? Incredible! Those close ups of them in flight were amazing!

Fascinating as always Tom. Congrats on the imminent 5m subs! Cheers, and here's to many more years of you tubing, I hope.

That is really cool, and it is amazing that a person can become a generational guardian for birds like this.

I have to imagine that you need a big (in relative terms) two-person aircraft like that because the passenger has to be replaced by fuel and supplies for the longer flights. I would wonder about the logistics of supplying en-route, because setting down for gas at even small airfields with a flock of birds in formation would be a recipe for bird strikes.

It started kind of weird with letting birds out on the runway, but turned into such an wholesome story!

Tom you bring us such unique and amazing things that happen in this glorious world of ours. So close to 5 million subscribers too. Well-deserved.

I have always loved watching birds in flight, I can't imagine how incredible this experience must have been!

I didn't expect it to look that cool! I can only imagine how cool it would be in person! I wonder what the birds are thinking when they see that... "What the- what are these humans doing? I didn't know they could fly! This is freaking me out what do I do?"

This may be my favorite video you've done (and that's really saying something, since you make consistently interesting and awesome videos!) You looked so happy being able to fly the birds and and pet them mid-flight!

Another amazing video Tom, you are getting to do and see things we would all love to try. Thanks for sharing these experiences. Touching a bird in flight has to be up there as a unique experience.

Tom Scott is living the life! And that guy's passion to dedicate his life to helping these geese is very inspiring.

This is just so wholesome. He’s committed so much of his life to helping these birds - I’ve never seen anything quite like this. Just so, so cool.

Spectacular display! We're used to thinking of humanity as separate from nature, but this proves how close we really are to animals.

This is something I will have to do some day. I love geese, and I would love to fly with them. Well done, Tom

Watching Tom reach out to gently pet the birds brings me so much joy (:

Watching Tom reach out to gently pet the birds brings me so much joy (:

Watching this made me happier than I thought it could

Sometimes people just stumble into their passions and incredible things happen, I love it!

His passion for what he's doing for those birds is an incredible connection between human an animal, and for the preservation of the species.....i hope someone will carry on his legacy

such a great video, I never knew that this was even possible! this really cheered me up, thanks for the amazing video! and congrats on the 5m, well deserved 💜

That’s one level of trust with animals I wish I’ll be able to have one day, of course not with geese but with my future dog for example

Congratulations Tom, at the end I saw your experience and tears. I have been wanting to do this almost forever. One day I will. I run a duck rescue and these birds are very special. Of course I handle domestics and not wild ones.

I guess we can say from your reaction, this was an experience you will never forget. Amazing.

This is probably one of the coolest things I've seen in a while. Thanks Tom.

Too cool! Its amazing that he’s even able to recognize the birds body language and vocalizations from his experience with them. What a cool connection between human and birds

What an incredible guy.

Tom Scott never disappoints