"The Aviator"

My wife and I went to see "The Aviator" yesterday.

Comments:

The planes and some of the flying sequences were great -- especially the
S-38 and the reproduction of the H-1 and the CGI of some of the other
planes.

Acting: Leonardo DiCaprio should *never* have been cast as a pilot! His
"flying" scenes looked like an airheaded actor playing pilot -- moving
the control wheel all over the place; the head motions and general
demeanor when "flying" were obviously the work of an actor and director
who knew absolutely nothing about flying planes.

Script: Hughes is talking about expanding TWA to international routes
(during the middle of WW-II) and talks about competition from other
airlines and mentions Lufthansa as a competitor. Lufthansa didn't get
resurrected until the 1950s -- 10 years *after* the movie conversation.

Orval Fairbairn wrote:

My wife and I went to see "The Aviator" yesterday.

Comments:

The planes and some of the flying sequences were great -- especially the
S-38 and the reproduction of the H-1 and the CGI of some of the other
planes.

Acting: Leonardo DiCaprio should *never* have been cast as a pilot! His
"flying" scenes looked like an airheaded actor playing pilot -- moving
the control wheel all over the place; the head motions and general
demeanor when "flying" were obviously the work of an actor and director
who knew absolutely nothing about flying planes.

Script: Hughes is talking about expanding TWA to international routes
(during the middle of WW-II) and talks about competition from other
airlines and mentions Lufthansa as a competitor. Lufthansa didn't get
resurrected until the 1950s -- 10 years *after* the movie conversation.

People tell me that this kind of stuff just goes whistling over
the heads of the general public but I can't stand it.

I watched, what the hell was it now, "Falling from the Sky...the
flight of the Gimli Glider" or some equally very bad title about
Air Canada's near disaster when one of their new 757's ran out of
fuel near Winnipeg Canada a few years ago.

I was lucky enough this past summer to meet Mr Bob Pearson who
was the Capt on that flight. He owns a sailboat and puts into our
Silver Fox Yacht Club here occasionally. He told me that they had
hired him to do some bit parts and to act as a technical advisor
but when he saw the script and found that they wouldn't change
some things, one of which was to have him run down the stairs and
kiss the ground after landing, that he refused to be associated
with it and made them take his name off the credits...good
man!...

It was the most sickening piece of trash that I ever saw I
swear...it makes pilots out to be little more than untrained
drivers who know very little about their machine ("Hey...isn't
this the lever that lowers the 'air generator' that gives us
power? - let's try it"). Honest to God, it went like that.

It could have been a great movie, the incident that it tries so
poorly to portray certainly was a heroic effort by Pearson
(although the whole incident was his fault in the first place of
course),

That nobody died in that f*up was no less than a miracle for
sure. Bob agreed with that too, he said that the hardest part was
deciding when to stop 'sideslipping'...he said "Frigging numbers
were whizzing through my brain a mile a minute, until I just knew
I'd screw it up by doing that and went by the seat of my pants",
straightening out 'when it felt right...'

All that said without the slightest hint of braggadocio...

Very well done IMO
--

-Gord.
(use gordon in email)

"Gord Beaman" wrote in message
...
People tell me that this kind of stuff just goes whistling over
the heads of the general public but I can't stand it.

Hahaha! I find anything that's factually dodgy to be partly funny and partly
irritating; I'm sure anyone who's knowledgable in a particular field finds
themself wondering why the people who make these films/programmes didn't
take the time to do a proper job and take advice.

As a pilot, I often find badly-done flying films annoying. As an IT guy, I
also laughed at the "video phone" in Jurassic Park, which was clearly a
QuickTime movie being played (the progress indicator was clearly visible on
the window with the "phone link" in it).

On a more flying-related note, has anyone else spotted the oddity in Elton
John's song "Daniel"? "Daniel is travelling tonight on a plane/I can see the
red tail lights heading for Spain". And there I was thinking Elton would be
able to see a white tail light (visible through an angle of 120 degrees, if
memory serves), though I guess the flashing beacon atop the fin might be
red.

Oh, and then there's Chris de Burgh's "A Spaceman Came Travelling". "It was
light years of time since his mission did start". No it wasn't - the light
year is a measure of distance. (Okay, that's not an aviation one, but it
annoys me).

Can anyone else think of blatant flying-related mistakes in songs, films or
programmes that could have been avoided through some basic research?

D.

In article ,
"David Cartwright" wrote:

"Gord Beaman" wrote in message
...
People tell me that this kind of stuff just goes whistling over
the heads of the general public but I can't stand it.

Hahaha! I find anything that's factually dodgy to be partly funny and partly
irritating; I'm sure anyone who's knowledgable in a particular field finds
themself wondering why the people who make these films/programmes didn't
take the time to do a proper job and take advice.

As a pilot, I often find badly-done flying films annoying. As an IT guy, I
also laughed at the "video phone" in Jurassic Park, which was clearly a
QuickTime movie being played (the progress indicator was clearly visible on
the window with the "phone link" in it).

On a more flying-related note, has anyone else spotted the oddity in Elton
John's song "Daniel"? "Daniel is travelling tonight on a plane/I can see the
red tail lights heading for Spain". And there I was thinking Elton would be
able to see a white tail light (visible through an angle of 120 degrees, if
memory serves), though I guess the flashing beacon atop the fin might be
red.

Oh, and then there's Chris de Burgh's "A Spaceman Came Travelling". "It was
light years of time since his mission did start". No it wasn't - the light
year is a measure of distance. (Okay, that's not an aviation one, but it
annoys me).

Can anyone else think of blatant flying-related mistakes in songs, films or
programmes that could have been avoided through some basic research?

D.

1. Whistling "flying wires" whenever the engine quits.
1. Corralary: Controls freeze and the plane goes into a steep dive when
engine stops.

2. Actor makes huge control deflections without corresponding aircraft
response.

3. Actor looks around aimlessly when flying.

4. Mission starts with one type taking off, shows another (or more) in
cruise, yet another (crash) landing.

5. Carrier pics invariably show clips of Hellcats and Corsairs crashing
on the carrier, even though the movie is about jets in Vietnam.

The list is endless ......

Orval Fairbairn wrote:

In article ,
"David Cartwright" wrote:

"Gord Beaman" wrote in message
...
People tell me that this kind of stuff just goes whistling over
the heads of the general public but I can't stand it.

Hahaha! I find anything that's factually dodgy to be partly funny and partly
irritating; I'm sure anyone who's knowledgable in a particular field finds
themself wondering why the people who make these films/programmes didn't
take the time to do a proper job and take advice.

As a pilot, I often find badly-done flying films annoying. As an IT guy, I
also laughed at the "video phone" in Jurassic Park, which was clearly a
QuickTime movie being played (the progress indicator was clearly visible on
the window with the "phone link" in it).

On a more flying-related note, has anyone else spotted the oddity in Elton
John's song "Daniel"? "Daniel is travelling tonight on a plane/I can see the
red tail lights heading for Spain". And there I was thinking Elton would be
able to see a white tail light (visible through an angle of 120 degrees, if
memory serves), though I guess the flashing beacon atop the fin might be
red.

Oh, and then there's Chris de Burgh's "A Spaceman Came Travelling". "It was
light years of time since his mission did start". No it wasn't - the light
year is a measure of distance. (Okay, that's not an aviation one, but it
annoys me).

Can anyone else think of blatant flying-related mistakes in songs, films or
programmes that could have been avoided through some basic research?

D.

1. Whistling "flying wires" whenever the engine quits.
1. Corralary: Controls freeze and the plane goes into a steep dive when
engine stops.

2. Actor makes huge control deflections without corresponding aircraft
response.

3. Actor looks around aimlessly when flying.

4. Mission starts with one type taking off, shows another (or more) in
cruise, yet another (crash) landing.

5. Carrier pics invariably show clips of Hellcats and Corsairs crashing
on the carrier, even though the movie is about jets in Vietnam.

The list is endless ......

....and endlessly annoying because it's so easily fixed, just
looks careless and sloppy...I hate sloppy...HATE it I say!!...YOU
HEAR?!? I FREAKIN H A T E I T!!!....NASH NASH!!!
--

-Gord.
(use gordon in email)

Two words. Iron Eagle. I feel more stupid for having sat through it,
even though I was a teenager.

I think the worse one I have seen to date was "Stealth" or something
along those lines. To make it even worse they took almost the whole
seen from "Cliff Hangar" and put it in the movie and the quality was
horrible to top it all off. My wife pretty much refuses to watch
flying, diving, and military movies with me. She gets tired of me
picking them apart. The funny part though is that she has even
started doing it now too!


On 27 Dec 2004 18:32:45 -0800, "569" wrote:

Two words. Iron Eagle. I feel more stupid for having sat through it,
even though I was a teenager.

The other thing that drives me nuts is the use of the word "TARMAC". Nobody
that I know in the aviation world uses this word when describing the ramp.
Only know nothing reporters use this silly tarmac word.

unkno (CASK829) wrote:

The other thing that drives me nuts is the use of the word "TARMAC". Nobody
that I know in the aviation world uses this word when describing the ramp.
Only know nothing reporters use this silly tarmac word.


I have to wonder how long you've been associated with things
aviation?

I've spent some 26 years working directly on airports with
aircraft almost all over the world and I've heard the term
'tarmac' used at least as much as 'ramp' if not more...I ended my
direct association some 30 years ago too so tarmac has been
around for some time I'd say.

So there you go, *I* prefer tarmac to ramp myself...
--

-Gord.
(use gordon in email)

"Gord Beaman" wrote in message
...
unkno (CASK829) wrote:

The other thing that drives me nuts is the use of the word "TARMAC".
Nobody
that I know in the aviation world uses this word when describing the ramp.
Only know nothing reporters use this silly tarmac word.


I have to wonder how long you've been associated with things
aviation?

I've spent some 26 years working directly on airports with
aircraft almost all over the world and I've heard the term
'tarmac' used at least as much as 'ramp' if not more...I ended my
direct association some 30 years ago too so tarmac has been
around for some time I'd say.

So there you go, *I* prefer tarmac to ramp myself...
--

-Gord.
(use gordon in email)

Here in Oz it's unusual to hear ramp used, Tarmac is the common term used.

Ric