TelevisionWeek is trawling video-sharing Web sites to find the hottest clips spreading on the Internet.



Video: Plane Blows Beach Away



The setup: Even a choice word from the president couldn’t upstage a resurrected clip of the blast from a jumbo jet takeoff that blew bystanders into the Atlantic Ocean. In this short clip, an Air France plane prepares to leave the island of St. Maarten, creating quite a powerful wind gust.



The source: Apparently, on the Internet you do get a second chance to make a first impression. Break.com said it first posted the video last year. Users resubmitted the video this month, and Break added it to the site July 13. The video made its way to YouTube.com and Google Video as well.



The hits: The reincarnation of the jumbo jet takeoff beat the video of President Bush caught swearing at the G8 Summit by the sort of narrow margins that can get a president elected (or not).



In any case, the plane clip squeaked ahead of the Bush video which corralled about 1 million views on MSN, YouTube, Break and iFilm combined by July 19. By contrast, the jet blast generated more than 550,000 views on Break and more than 580,000 on YouTube.

-DAISY WHITNEY