As regards to aviation, Hollywood certainly is not known for its realism, especially in action movies. It may look exciting and cause an adrenaline rush to the average moviegoer with scenes of aerial combat, high speed chases and maneuvers that were just not possible in real life. Hollywood knows how to exaggerate and anyone who knows anything about aviation will sigh in disbelief. What are the top 10 unrealistic things we see about aviation in the movies?
10 Flying on one engine is not a disaster
Engine failure is often used to create drama and gives the impression that the aircraft will just fall out of the sky. However, even a single-engine aircraft can survive engine failure by gliding into a landing. Commercial aircraft are designed to fly on just one engine. In the case of multi-engine aircraft, a single engine should have enough power to get to its destination safely. It can also take off and land safely on one engine. An engine failing in flight is not a serious issue and pilots are well-trained in dealing with this scenario.
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Commercial aircraft can travel for up to 60 miles without their engines before an emergency landing. In real life, there have been various accidents where there were no engines available and they have still landed safely. U.S. Airways flight 1549 struck birds on takeoff and had both engines fail. The Airbus 320 still landed safely, albeit on the Hudson River. British Airways flight 009 flew into volcanic ash causing the Boeing 747 to lose all four engines, but they glided for a while before managing to restart three of the engines and landing safely.
Photo: Jim Lambert I Shutterstock
9 Turbulence is very dangerous
Turbulence is often used for dramatic effect with fearful passengers, flickering cabin lights and oxygen masks dropping down. Turbulence is a pretty normal occurrence without all the dramatic effects. The Earth’s atmosphere is not uniform and there are variations in density, direction and airspeed. Sometimes, the aircraft hits pockets of air just like when moving a boat through rough water.
An aircraft will be directed above the weather. It won’t break up and drop from the sky, as some movies like to predict. An aircraft can handle 150% of the maximum amount of stress in the air, the same as it would on the earth. Of course, following the crew’s instructions and keeping your seat belt tightly fastened is extremely important, in case of clear air turbulence which might not be predicted but the aircraft is perfectly safe.
8 Decompression at speed
In many movies, we see guns on the aircraft and shots fired and it is suggested that if there is a hole in the cabin, for example from a gunshot, the air in the pressurized cabin forces everything to be sucked out of the aircraft at speed. It is true that pressure outside of the aircraft is lower than inside the aircraft cabin, but it does not cause the same effect we see in movies. This would be a slow decompression and after the initial rush of air, the pressure in the cabin will equalize.
However, if a window or door is lost or there is damage to the fuselage, this would cause an explosive decompression and anyone not sitting with a seat belt on, firmly fastened, risks being sucked outside. In this case, the oxygen masks drop and it is important to get on oxygen straight away. Meanwhile, the pilots will descend the aircraft to a lower level, where it is easier to breathe and there is no further risk of being sucked outside.
7 Opening a door mid-flight
Opening a cabin door in flight at 30,000 feet cannot happen. It is impossible to open an aircraft door because of the pressure difference between the inside and outside of the aircraft. For a person to be able to open a door in flight, they would have to exert a force of more than 24,000 lbs of pressure on the door.
In commercial aviation, aircraft have ‘plug’ doors that are armed by the crew and automatically seal before take off. Even at lower altitudes, the pressure would still be too great to open the door. You would still need to exert 1,100 lbs of pressure against every square foot of the door.
Photo: Muratart | Shutterstock
6 A lightning strike doesn’t bring down an aircraft
A lightning strike cannot bring down an aircraft. In fact, aircraft that fly commercially are hit at least once a year. In 1962, there was an accident where a Pan Am Boeing 707 received a lightning strike that caused the fuel tank to explode. Since that time, all aircraft have been designed to withstand a lightning strike.
On board the aircraft, you might see a flash or hear a boom sound, but not much else. A bolt might hit the nose or a wing tip but the aircraft becomes part of an electrical circuit and the current travels through the aircraft skin before leaving the aircraft. Of course, once on the ground, the aircraft will undergo checks to ensure there is no damage, before flying again as a precautionary measure.
5 Igniting jet fuel
Jet fuel does not ignite as easily as one might think and has a flash point above 38 degrees Celsius. It is flame resistant and throwing a lit match into jet fuel will put it out. Whereas standard gasoline will immediately ignite. Liquid fuels don’t burn but fuel vapors do. Once jet fuel is warmed up and evaporates, that’s when it can ignite. It might be the favorite ploy in the movies to blow up the baddie’s aircraft by ripping the fuel line and using a lighter to set it on fire, but that is not reality.
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4 Can the autopilot be hacked?
In some movies, they suggest that the autopilot can be hacked and pilots can lose control of an aircraft. With incidents of GPS spoofing and jamming in recent years, this may allow for instruments to not function correctly or be given the wrong information. However, pilots are being made aware of this and the common signs and reporting such incidents.
The reliance on automation is potentially a worse factor. The FAA stated that 90% of the time pilots rely on autopilot systems, but at the same time, there were fears that pilots were losing the ability to fly manually. In July 2013, Asiana Airlines flight 214 made this a further concern. Since 2019, the FAA has changed rulings, and it is unlikely that autopilot failure would now lead to an accident.
Photo: Collins Aerospace
3 Hiding in the landing gear
You may see in a movie, the hero hiding in the landing gear. It is not possible to hide in the landing gear compartment and then climb into the aircraft. You’re more likely to be crushed to death by the landing gear, if not exactly in the right place. It is also a fact that most stowaways in real life, freeze or fall to their death.
2 Can you steal a fighter jet?
It is unlikely that you would find a fighter jet, fully fueled and ready to go without security around. It would not be left just hanging around waiting for a potential hijacker. An inexperienced pilot would never be able to fly a fighter jet, just like that. Security is tight around such aircraft, so it’s unlikely one could just climb over a fence and steal the fighter jet and fly away, without ever flying an aircraft previously.
1 Mismatched aircraft
In the movies, it is often the case that aircraft interior and exterior are totally mismatched. This is one of the most annoying things that anyone in aviation immediately spots and that they so obviously get wrong. Sometimes, you will see an outside shot of a twin-aisle Boeing 747 and then the interior is a single-aisle Boeing 757, for example.
Or sometimes, what is even worse is that it is a fake set that does not resemble an aircraft at all, especially if they are showing the cockpit. In the same train of thought, the crew are often misrepresented too, in that, in true life, a pilot or a cabin crew member (who is bound by safety procedures) would not act in the way we often see on the big (and small) screen.
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Of course, Hollywood rarely employs aviation consultants for fact checking and just hopes that non-aviation people won’t notice and they can get away with that. But wouldn’t that also make movies more boring and less attractive to watch, if they were true to life? It’s one thing that will never change in the name of drama and entertainment. Although aviation people will notice the finer details, most people will not and in the meantime, the general public will still believe all the aviation myths fed to us by Hollywood.
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