Airwolf
The Key
TV Flash files “The Key” as hour 72 of 80 in the TV Flash guide — Airwolf (1984–1987) on CBS/USA, season 4, episode 16, aired 1987-05-15, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S04E16: listed hour 72 of 80 in the Airwolf guide, hour 16 of 24 in season 4. It aired 1987-05-15 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Flowers of the Mountain” (S04E15). Next is “On the Double” (S04E17).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
The Airwolf team is sent in to stop a group that has taken control of ten Soviet and ten American nuclear missile silos and threatens to set them off unless everyone agrees to total nuclear disarmament.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Key sit in the Airwolf guide?
S04E16 is listed hour 72 of 80 — hour 16 of 24 in season 4, season 4 episode 16.
When did Airwolf S04E16 air?
The Key aired 1987-05-15 and is listed at 60 minutes.
CBS Airwolf or the later USA seasons?
CBS looks expensive; later USA seasons cheapen fast. If you want Bellisario's flying Knight Rider, start with the network hours and the supercopter as co-star.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Bellisario's flying Knight Rider: a reclusive cello-playing loner, Ernest Borgnine as hangar dad, and a black supercopter that is the actual co-star. Come for Cold War hardware spectacle — rotor wash, missile racks, Archangel's white suit — and stay for the melancholy leaking around Jan-Michael Vincent. CBS hours look expensive; later USA seasons cheapen fast.
The machine is the actual co-star, and the night dressed it in black. CBS then USA's *Airwolf* (1984–1987) is Donald P. Bellisario's flying Knight Rider: Jan-Michael Vincent's Stringfellow Hawke as cello-playing loner, Ernest Borgnine as hangar dad Dominic Santini, Alex Cord's Archangel in the white suit. Rotor wash, missile racks, Cold War hardware spectacle. Part of the 1980s high-tech vehicle-hero trend, merch-ready chopper included. **CBS hours look expensive; later USA seasons cheapen fast.** Max's vending…
Filed against
- Jan-Michael Vincent as Stringfellow Hawke
Jan-Michael Vincent’s Stringfellow Hawke flew Airwolf like a cello with missiles — Bellisario’s flying Knight Rider, Ernest Borgnine as hangar dad, a black supercopter as the actual co-star. 1980s Cold War hardware with melancholy in the…
- Ernest Borgnine as Dominic Santini
Ernest Borgnine’s Lt. Cmdr. Quinton McHale made McHale’s Navy a PT-boat farce with a movie star’s grin — 1960s catalog WWII as sitcom, then Airwolf stretching the hangar-dad warmth around a black supercopter. TV Flash files him as the…
- Alex Cord as Michael Coldsmith Briggs III
Alex Cord’s Michael Coldsmith Briggs III — Archangel in a white suit — handled Airwolf as Bellisario’s flying Knight Rider: a reclusive cello-playing loner, Ernest Borgnine as hangar dad, a black supercopter as the actual co-star. Cold…