"The Aviator"

"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.