Summary
- Real aircraft are often used in movies, such as Air Force One and Tenet, to add authenticity and save on special effects costs.
- Filming the aircraft scenes in movies like Sully and Tomorrow Never Dies involved a combination of real footage, studio sets, and modified airplanes.
- Interior shots of real aircraft in movies are less common, but can provide a unique marketing opportunity, as seen with British Airways and Virgin Atlantic in Bond films and the fictional airline in Crazy Rich Asians.
Many blockbuster movies feature an aircraft in a prominent role. From hijackings to explosive crashes, film producers often utilize a real aircraft rather than building a replica or shooting in a studio. We take a look at some of the best examples of real aircraft used in movies over the years.
Air Force One
Let’s start with a movie literally named after a plane and with the majority of the action taking place on said plane. The 1997 hit movie Air Force One stars Harrison Ford as the US President involved in a hijack onboard this most famous aircraft.
To re-create the iconic Boeing 747-200 used as Air Force One, producers hired a real Boeing 747-100 from charter cargo airline American International Airways (now Kalitta Airways) under registration N703CK - it was then repainted in Air Force One livery and used for both external and interior filming.
The stunt sequences we see the aircraft performing are real. According to Air & Space Magazine, one of the most dangerous scenes - where the aircraft veers off the runway and almost collides with another aircraft - was filmed at half speed and then made to appear faster than it was. The aircraft was also painted with bullet holes for one of the scenes - this plane is not to be confused with another N703CK, a Boeing 747-400BCF currently flying with Kalitta Air.
Memphis Belle
This World War II movie, released in 1990, tells the story of the crew and final mission of a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bomber. Not one but five B-17s were used during the movie’s filming, out of only eight in airworthy condition at the time.
One of these was unfortunately lost in a crash during filming. The aircraft was modified to resemble the original Memphis Belle, an early B-17 model, with chin turrets removed and older rear gun positions fitted.
Tenet
Looking at a more recent movie, Tenet was one of the biggest releases of 2020 from celebrated director Christopher Nolan. It has one scene where a Boeing 747 crashes into an airport building and explodes. While you may think this is computer-generated special effects, it is, in fact, a real crash. Producers realized it would actually be cheaper to buy an airframe and crash it for real rather than construct miniatures and utilize special effects.
A hired cargo 747 was used for interiors and moving shots, and an old Cathay Pacific airframe was acquired from the aircraft graveyard in Victorville, California, for destruction.
Sully: Miracle On The Hudson
Indeed one of the most interesting aviation-related movies of the past decade, Sully depicts the events and aftermath of the ‘Miracle on the Hudson’ incident in 2009, where an Airbus A320 landed on the Hudson River in New York after hitting a flock of geese during takeoff.
The approach to filming the aircraft scenes was fascinating. Recreating the Hudson landing was clearly never going to happen. Instead, director Clint Eastwood combined footage of the actual incident with studio footage, as described by The Hollywood Reporter. Two retired Airbus A320s were purchased and used as static sets. The crash and rescue scenes were filmed on a lake at Universal Studios and combined with ferry scenes shot on the Hudson.
Tomorrow Never Dies
Many James Bond movies feature aircraft - including scenes of Bond traveling commercial and more action-packed sequences - but a top mention goes to the 1997 film Tomorrow Never Dies.
This features several Aero Vodochody L-39 Albatross aircraft. Bond (Pierce Brosnan in this outing) takes off from a ski jump using one of the type, and many more are featured in chase sequences.
Casino Royale
Sticking with James Bond, Casino Royale makes great use of a real Boeing 747. Part of the storyline features a new prototype aircraft launch of the Skyfleet S570 from the fictional aviation firm Skyfleet Aviation. This was created using a repainted Boeing 747. Some structural modifications were made, including twin inner engines and external fuel tanks instead of the outer two engines.
The aircraft used was an ex-British Airways Boeing 747-200, with registration G-BDXJ. It served for 22 years with British Airways and was sold in 2002 to European Aviation Air Charter and after to Air Atlanta Europe. It retired from flight service in 2005 and was bought by Aces High Limited for film use. The 747 remains at Dunsfold in the UK and has been used for several other productions and television adverts.
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
Moving from James Bond to another spy series, several aircraft are used across the Mission: Impossible film franchise. Rogue Nation features one of the most impressive scenes, where Tom Cruise is seen hanging onto an A400M aircraft in flight. This scene was filmed using an A400M registration F-WWMZ, flying at a low level with plenty of harnesses and safety features. You can see the result in this clip:
Simple Flying explored how Tom Cruise held onto the side of a flying Airbus A400M in greater detail.
Top Gun
We have to mention this movie as one of the top movies ever featuring aircraft in action. Active military F-14 aircraft were used for filming, both at ground locations and onboard the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier. The ‘enemy’ Mig-28 aircraft were depicted using Northrop F-5 aircraft. A Learjet was used for some of the in-air filming.
The sequel - Top Gun: Maverick - featured the F-18 jet, again in active military use. However, in a throwback to the original movie, two characters in the sequel steal an F-14 and make their escape from enemy territory.
Interiors of real aircraft in movies
Although there are plenty of aircraft shots from the outside in movies, interior shots are comparatively unusual. This is because built sets provide a much better filming environment and lighting. However, filming inside a real aircraft does offer a good marketing opportunity. British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have both featured in Bond movies (with Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace switching to Virgin Atlantic).
The 2018 movie Crazy Rich Asians is an interesting example of this as well. The film focuses on Singapore’s luxury lifestyle, and producers were keen to involve Singapore Airlines. However, the airline declined, as it was unsure at the time of the scale and angle of the movie. Instead of using real Singapore Airlines first class and suite interiors, the fictional airline ‘Pacific Asean Airlines’ was created - in the movie, characters fly first class on an Airbus A380, as seen above.
Can you name any other real aircraft that were used in movies? Feel free to share and discuss more examples in the comments.