When Sky Aces aerobatic pilot Glenn Collins crashed at the Avalon International Airshow in March, everyone feared the worst.

The four-time champion was flying at 300km an hour, making the force of the impact so horrific that it looked impossible to survive.

Within seconds, the atmosphere changed at the country’s biggest airshow.

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WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Cockpit footage of Avalon Airshow crash

The excitement of the crowd, and the noisy roar of the planes, was gone.

Suddenly, the mood was one of shock and reverence.

Thousands of people stood still, in silence, with their eyes fixed on the wreckage of Glenn’s Pitts Special.

Everyone was hoping for a miracle, no one dared to believe it would come.Glenn’s friend, Angela Stevenson, was in the commentary box, utterly devastated by what she’d just witnessed.

Believing there was no way he could have survived, Angela buried her grief.

She steeled herself to turn on her microphone and make the necessary emergency announcements to the crowd.

Just as she’d finished, Angela was told there was one more message to deliver.

The incredible news, Glenn Collins was alive.

Tonight on Sunday, for the first time, we’ll reveal the full story of what happened that day.

With permission from Glenn Collins and Sky Aces leader Paul Bennet, we take you inside the cockpits of all four planes, to experience exactly what they did, as the tragedy unfolded.

Moment by moment, it’s confronting and raw.

To excel at formation aerobatics requires precision skills, honed over years of practice.

Every time they go up, the pilots hold each other’s lives in their hands.

This story takes you inside that world, to understand what it takes to be right up there, with the best in the country.

It demands a certain mindset, and that mindset is what makes Glenn Collins so extraordinary. Doctors agree his survival is a miracle.

He now faces a long recovery and Glenn’s family has set up a fundraiser to help cover his medical expenses.

As you’ll see tonight, making it out of that wreckage alive was the first of many.

His story is the kind that will stay with you, for a long time. It’s high-octane and some moments are difficult to watch.

But in the next heartbeat, there are heroes. It’s also an incredible love story.

Even on the ground, Glenn’s journey is full of twists and turns. It’s inspiring and deeply moving.

A wild ride that, on this rare occasion, ends in triumph.

But you’ll notice Glenn’s courage takes many forms.

You can watch Glenn’s full story on 7NEWS Spotlight this Sunday at 8.20pm on Seven, and 7plus 7NEWS.