Your favourite airplane movie?

moons · Post by **moons** » 02 Sep 2004, 11:06

Which airplane movie or movie where planes play a great part in it did you like the most?
There are many movies but in my opinion "Memphis Belle" is still the best!

This Sunday they play Top Gun, also good but not as good as my favourite.

greetz

Comet · Post by **Comet** » 02 Sep 2004, 11:14

I like the old British aircraft films - "The Dambusters", "Battle of Britain", "The Sound Barrier" and "Airplane" because it is so damned funny

levent · Post by **levent** » 02 Sep 2004, 12:49

I think Top Gun is very good, with some very nice shots, and also Crash of Flight 401, based on the real story of an Eastern Airlines L1011 crash in the Everglades. The pitty with lots of movies is that they show totally different aircraft types through each other, which is ridiculous. One moment you see a 747 taking off, and suddenly the plane changed into a DC-10!

Comet · Post by **Comet** » 02 Sep 2004, 13:48

I have just remembered a film I taped on video a few weeks ago, the book of which I am currently reading. This is "Sole Survivor", and I suppose it is aviation-related in that it is about the crash of a 747, which someone survives and is on the run from the FBI or CIA or something (the aircraft was brought down with the intention of killing them but it didn't). A man whose wife and daughter died in the crash decides to look further into the accident and uncovers a weird scientific research place which has genetically-modified children with telepathic powers and things like that.

moons · Post by **moons** » 02 Sep 2004, 14:14

Levent,

I know what you are talking about...it's indeed rediculous, I mentioned this "problems" already before on the forum.

I don't remember the title anymore but it's about that DC 10 which flew on 1.5/3 engines and chrashed at Sioux city I think (could be somewhere else). That one was also nice to watch.

greetz

levent · Post by **levent** » 02 Sep 2004, 19:46

moons,
Yes that was the story about the DC-10 that lost all hydraulic power and thus didn´t have any ailerons to turn, flaps to land, etc. The crew managed to steer the plane by playing with the throttles, but it crashed horribly at Sioux City. I believe it was an American Airlines flight. The movie was quite good, but here again it had very bad shots looking out of the cockpit (very fake). The landing in the film was real footage, so that can´t be more realistic!

Comet,
I have a book called ´Their longest day´ which tells the story of PanAm 103, the 747 which was blown out of the air above Lockerbie. Very good book, I can recommend it.

O yeah, another movie with really good shots was Passenger 57. Very nice views of an L1011 on the ground and in the air, no fake shots at all and always the same plane (no mix-ups). Just the airline´s name was fake.

Comet · Post by **Comet** » 02 Sep 2004, 19:51

Levent - I will keep my eyes open for that book, Lockerbie books are not easy to come by round here so I will need to order it. It does sound very interesting, and I can remember the Lockerbie disaster very well. A truly horrid time, all day television coverage from the crash site and Heathrow and JFK airports. I remember the television programme we were watching was interrupted by the breaking news that an airliner "had crash landed" in the Scottish borders. I will never forget that night.

levent · Post by **levent** » 02 Sep 2004, 19:56

I´ll get you the ISBN number later this evening, so you can check at your local bookstore whether they can order it for you. I really recommend it to everyone who likes reading, it´s very deep-going and includes some photos too.

Zorba · Post by **Zorba** » 02 Sep 2004, 19:57

Well, Top Gun is my N1, fantastic! I think the other movies are quite unreal. Probably around 90% of the airplane movies are with a 747, where one person (most of all the stewardess) lands the airplane

Not very realistic realy

But as I said, Top Gun rocks!

Great balls of fire

EBAW_flyer · Post by **EBAW_flyer** » 02 Sep 2004, 20:09

I believe it was an American Airlines flight

I thought it was a united flight.
Anyway, mine is Memphis Belle too. I saw it the first time in school when I was 8 or 10 or something, and many times since then.

levent · Post by **levent** » 02 Sep 2004, 20:18

EBAW_flyer wrote:
I thought it was a united flight.

Yep, you´re right, it was United.

On video I also have the film ´Enola Gay´, about the B29 that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Quite good movie. I believe by the way that the commander of that flight died recently. I wonder how that must be, going through life as someone who participated in such a massive slaughter. But then again that bomb ended WWII.

Sabena320 · Post by **Sabena320** » 02 Sep 2004, 20:32

My favourite airplane film is "Air Force One"

levent · Post by **levent** » 02 Sep 2004, 22:49

Hi Comet and others interested in the book about the crash of Pan Am flight 103:
The book is called ´Their Darkest Day´, written by Matthew Cox and Tom Foster, published by Arrow Books Ltd in 1992, ISBN 0 09 920651 X.

Comet · Post by **Comet** » 03 Sep 2004, 09:38

Thanks for that extra info Levent, I will look for that book when I get back from holiday.

moons · Post by **moons** » 03 Sep 2004, 11:28

Levent,

The pilot of "Enola gay" died not so long ago and he said he didn't feel sorry about it. It was his duty.

Ozzie1969 · Post by **Ozzie1969** » 03 Sep 2004, 22:16

"Airplane" is my favourite, because it's more realistic than most movies involving aircraft.

Snoopy · Post by **Snoopy** » 04 Sep 2004, 10:31

My favourite is an old british movie : "Those magnificent men in their flying machines" ....