Airliners in the Movies and TV . . .

[Brussels Airlines]

It looks like nobody saw "the flight".
The movie is not that bad but the crash is a little bit too fictional.

(Image from wikipedia)

[Graham2001]

Watched a copy of Turbulence I found in a second hand shop.

Definitely an offshoot of the Zero Hour/Airport '75 stable.

The entry in the op needs to be amended slightly, there appear to have been two 747s shown in the film, both of which were supplied by the now defunct Tower Air.

The first is the 'star' of the film, wearing a modifed JAL colour scheme as 'Trans Continental 47'. The other appears briefly and is in the standard Tower Air scheme (I thought it was meant to be a fictitious pseudo-British Airways scheme at first.) as 'Tower 91'.

[3WE]

Sorry if this has already been mentioned here: In the 1960's TV show The Beverly Hillbillies, the Clampetts flew to England aboard a Pan Am 707.

Various shots of Pan Am 707(s) taking off, in cruise flight, and landing during the episode. Also some funny segments inside the cabin with the Clampetts and stewardesses.

Rick G.

"Jed, if this bus gets to goin' any faster, it's gonna take off and fly!"

"Don't look now Granny, IT IS!"

[Graham2001]

Got my hands on a made-for-tv disaster miniseries called Pandemic (2005).

The plot involves a deadly 'flu like' disease being carried from Australia to the United States aboard a 747, the flight is shown with a mixture of stock shots (Including some of a twinjet.), but once the plane is on the ground it is represented by a 747 belonging to Air Atalanta Iclandic (AAI) (Wikipedia) not in the colours of a made-up airline, but in AAI's real life colour scheme!

[Jingogunner]

Flight

Can someone please help by identifying the aircraft flown by Hero Captain Washington in this movie? Looks like an MD88 to me but I'm no expert. Apparently it had 'tail flaps' accoring to Phillip French, the Guardian reviewer, if that's any help.

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/feb/03/flight-denzel-washington-zemeckis-review

Are the shots of the plane before he boards it and later after the crash taken from real planes or are they mockups? My aunty Mabs cried at the end but I didn't.

[Gabriel]

Can someone please help by identifying the aircraft flown by Hero Captain Washington in this movie? Looks like an MD88 to me but I'm no expert. Apparently it had 'tail flaps' accoring to Phillip French, the Guardian reviewer, if that's any help.

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/feb/03/flight-denzel-washington-zemeckis-review

Are the shots of the plane before he boards it and later after the crash taken from real planes or are they mockups? My aunty Mabs cried at the end but I didn't.

It's an imaginary airplane.
It resembles MD-8X, but this family never had winglets, and also the instrument panel doesn't match.
The accident sequence is loosely based on an Alaska Air accident, which involved and MD-80 too.

[brianw999]

Can someone please help by identifying the aircraft flown by Hero Captain Washington in this movie? Looks like an MD88 to me but I'm no expert. Apparently it had 'tail flaps' accoring to Phillip French, the Guardian reviewer, if that's any help.

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/feb/03/flight-denzel-washington-zemeckis-review

Are the shots of the plane before he boards it and later after the crash taken from real planes or are they mockups? My aunty Mabs cried at the end but I didn't.

According to producers Steve Starkey and Jack Rapke (during a Q&A session with the Producers' Guild on October 18th, 2012), the primary airplane in the film is a pastiche of several existing commercial airliners so as to not ID a particular plane or airline in the film.

[Graham2001]

According to producers Steve Starkey and Jack Rapke (during a Q&A session with the Producers' Guild on October 18th, 2012), the primary airplane in the film is a pastiche of several existing commercial airliners so as to not ID a particular plane or airline in the film.

Which makes the use of a charter companies aircraft in unaltered markings by the makers of Pandemic (IMDB) doubly puzzling.

The other piece of made-for-TV nonsense I've been watching over the weekend is Final Approach (IMDB) a Die Hard rip off which features for most of the film a CGI Lockheed Tristar marked for 'Infinity Air' but which switches in a real plane for the landing sequence.

CGI

http://s113.photobucket.com/user/Bloodwyche/media/Fictional%20Airline%20Markings/Final_Approach_005_zpsd40082ed.png.html

Real

http://s113.photobucket.com/user/Bloodwyche/media/Fictional%20Airline%20Markings/Final_Approach_007_zps18cd628d.png.html

As a small challenge, identify the real plane.

[Jingogunner]

Tail Flaps?

According to producers Steve Starkey and Jack Rapke (during a Q&A session with the Producers' Guild on October 18th, 2012), the primary airplane in the film is a pastiche of several existing commercial airliners so as to not ID a particular plane or airline in the film.

Thanks for that information MR Brian999, its cleared up some puzzlement but not all. What do you make of these tail flaps Mr French was talking about? I never heard of such things but, if its an imaginary plane, why not, it could have nose flaps, engine flaps and wheel flaps, it could have more lift than a wonderbra. Do real planes have tail flaps?

[Graham2001]

Spotted this obscure Eurothriller on youtube.

Concorde Affair'79

Plot has a US(?) airline sabotaging Concords because they are loosing passengers to them.

Opening of film has footage of real Concords landing in addition to a not too bad crash sequence using a model.

IMDB

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078989/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Youtube clip of the opening

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZqycA-Y1dk

[Graham2001]

I know that the Convair 880 from the Close Encounters Special Edition is already on the list, but I've found the clip on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNG2FDKaZoQ

The airliner is shown as belonging to Air East which was the name of a charter airline based in Pennsylvania that still exists as of 2013. I wonder if they gave permission for their name to be taken in vain...?

[IberiaMD-87]

In the movie "Grounding: The Last Days of Swissair" you can see a number of aircraft. Some are computer-generated. Here is the entire movie (German/Swiss German/ English subtitles):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzAaXTU-rGA

[Graham2001]

Found another case of footage re-use.

Nowhere to Land (2000)

Divorced husband puts a gas bomb on a plane carrying his ex-wife across the Pacific.

Footage used to depict the threatened flight includes a British Airways 747, night shots from Airport'75 and footage from Executive Decision

IMDB:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0221442/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

[Graham2001]

Found two more cases of re-use of footage from earlier films by the makers of really low budget action films.

Sonic Impact (2000)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0188205/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Plot is loosely inspired by Con-Air/Executive Decision (& possibly Turbulence/Passenger 57), inflight footage appears to be taken almost entirely (There are also several shots of an F-16 taking off, source unknown.) from Airport'75 with the addition of the minimum amount of special effects necessary to convey the new plot as can be seen in the trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IUYsjKM_Uo

Submerged (2000)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0218641/?ref_=fn_al_tt_3

Plot involves the hijacking and crashing of a private jet into the Pacific to allow the theft of the control system of an orbital lazer cannon.

Footage comes from Airport'77, there is also footage of a 'Huey' in US Navy markings that seems to have been used in many low budget action films over the late 80's/early 2000's time period.

[Rick G]

I don't know if this has ever been discussed here before, but perhaps it is semi-related to the topic.

Have any of you noticed that in various vintage movies showing airliners, some times they show / portray a jetliner coming in for a landing, and they show the landing gear as viewed from the belly of the plane? Trouble is, it is the unmistakeable landing gear of a B-52 bomber?