When you think of aviation and movies mixed together, you think of one of two things: sitting back, relaxing, and watching that next best action thrill onboard your flight to some exotic destination, or heading to the movies to watch the latest aviation-themed movie. Over the years, many feature films have focussed on aviation and have been met with critical acclaim.
Why are aviation films popular?
There can be several reasons why most of us enjoy a good aviation film; a simple reason is that it can cater to such a wide audience. Some reasons are:
It captures the spirit, challenges, and thrill of travel. Pilots, cabin crew, and others in the aviation or travel industry find it relatable. Realistic military aviation scenes can give us a thrill. We can let our imagination run wild about what it could be like to become a fighter pilot or have another job within the airline industry.
Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock
Some of the most popular aviation-themed movies of all time, as analysed by Travel and Leisure, included:
Turbulence, Non-Stop, View from the Top, Con Air, Final Destination, Passenger 57, Flightplan, The Terminal, Alive, United 93, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Air Force One, Executive Decision, 7500, Die Hard 2… the list goes on, so Simple Flying decided to pick four of the best (in our opinion) aviation-themed movies of all time and looked at what made them so good to watch. Fasten your seat belts, and read on.
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1 “Top Gun” (1986)
Directed by Tony Scott
Starring Tom Cruise, Top Gun is an undisputed classic of aviation cinema. Its sequel, released in 2022, may be even better – “Top Gun: Maverick” included plenty of acting in real jets and received a 96% “Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes, compared to the original’s 58%.
The original movie follows the journey of Maverick, a young naval aviator, as he navigates the challenges of the elite Fighter Weapons School known as Top Gun. Known for its thrilling aerial combat sequences and iconic soundtrack, “Top Gun” was not only met with commercial success, but it also inspired a new generation of aspiring pilots and may have even led to a boost in applicants to the US Navy.
Memorable cast members included:
Tom Cruise (LT Pete “Maverick”)
Kelly McGillis (Charlie)
Val Kilmer (LT Tom “Iceman”)
Anthony Edwards (LTJG Nick “Goose”)
Tom Skerrit (CDR Mike “Viper”)
Related Step By Step: Training Top Gun’s Actors To Perform In F-18s A lot of preparation went into getting the actors ready to sit inside a Navy F-18.
2 Flightplan (2005)
Directed by Robert Schwentke
A mystery psychological thriller directed into a film from a screenplay written by Peter A. Dowling and Billy Ray, Fligplan starred Jodie Foster as Kyle Pratt, who was a recently widowed American aircraft engineer. Living in Berlin, she flew back to the United States accompanied by her daughter and her husband’s body. Losing her daughter onboard, she struggles to simultaneously prove her sanity to others onboard.
The captain (Sean Bean) and Air Marshall (Peter Sarsgaard) claimed that her daughter was never on the flight and had confirmation her daughter also died in Germany; however, Kyle was desperate to find her and eventually climbed into the overhead crawlspace and sabotaged the aircraft electronics. Kyle eventually makes her way into the lower freight deck and opens her husbands casket, expecting to find both her daughter (Julia), and husband, but only her husbands body is found.
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3 Con Air (1997)
Directed by Simon West
Con Air, Starring Nicolas Cage, John Cusack, and John Malkovich, was released in 1997 and was immediately successful at the box office. It grossed over $224 million against a production budget of just $75 million.
The film was based around discharged Army Ranger Cameron Poe (Nicholas Cage), who returned from Desert Storm to Alabama. However, on arrival, three intoxicated men attacked Poe, and in retaliation, Poe accidentally killed one of them, which ended up in a seven to ten-year prison sentence. Eight years later, Poe got parole and returned by flight to Alamaba on ‘Jailbird,’ a converted JPATS prison transport plane.
Others onboard included genius serial killer Cyrus ‘The Virus’ Grissom (John Malkovich), who planned a violent escape plot mid-air.
4 View from the Top (2003)
Directed by Bruno Barreto
Starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Christina Applegate, Candice Bergen, Joshua Malina, Mark Ruffalo, Rob Lowe, Mike Myers, and Kelly Preston, ‘View from the Top’ was based on Donna Jenson (Gwyneth Paltrow), who desperately wants to escape her upbringing in Nevada.
After leaving her then-boyfriend, Donna spots a TV commercial with Sally Weston (Candice Bergen), who has written a memoir about her ‘life in the sky’. Donna decides that flying could be her career and gets a role with a regional airline called Sierra Airlines.
During her role at Sierra, she meets Ted (Mark Ruffalo), but want’s to apply for Royalty Airlines. Donna studied hard and was determined to get to the top position, which was deemed to be a flight attendant in first class on flights to Paris. However, after training, she is shocked to be placed on a domestic route to Cleveland. It turns out, that her final exams were switched by Christine (Christina Applegate), who gets a lucrative on flights to and from New York.
Unhappy in her role, Donna eventually does some digging and exposes Christine’s misconduct. However, once flying to Paris and reaching her goal, she misses Ted and eventually returns home and begins her new role as a pilot.