Dumbest scene of all time


If I remember the scene correctly:

The Concorde is flying over the ocean, cruising at Mach 2 and 60,000 feet. From no where comes an F-4 Phantom (which might not be able to do Mach 2 at that altitude) and starts firing heat seeking missiles at the Concorde.

George Kennedy, in the co-pilot’s seat, pulls out a flare gun, OPENS HIS WINDOW and fires a flare. The missiles ignore the four huge jet engines and go for the flare.

Can you imagine what would have happened the instant he opened that window?

Good God!

reply

[deleted]

No, I can't. I don't know that much about airplanes, but don't pilots use flairs to decoy heat-seaking missles even today? Would the flair have more travaled the body of the plane?

*Forever Cho Chang Fan*
Cho's story continues at: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1552296/1/

reply

When the American captain winds the window down he just pokes his arm out to fire the gun. It would have been ripped off at best, but there's not even a breeze buffeting Alain Delon's immaculate hair next to him.

reply

Ah, thanks for explaning. i wasn't sure of the effect.

*Forever Cho Chang Fan*
Cho's story continues at: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1552296/1/

reply

That scene was the whole reason I showed this film to a pilot friend of mine. He liked the original 3, though he said the later two were on the ridiculous side. He hadn't even heard of the fourth, so I figured he might be interested to see why the franchise kicked the bucket.

I never said a word about that scene, his reaction to it was easily worth being put through the movie. He was already ranting about all the mistakes they were making, but when Patroni flipped the plane over and shoved his hand out the window at Mach 2, he was beside himself.

Never mind what would've happened to Patroni's hand, what would've really happened when an unexpected blast of Mach 2 wind blew through the plane? No matter how bad of a mood I'm in, that movie always manages to make me laugh!

reply

I have to agree that his hand probably would have been ripped off.

But, as for effect on airplane thats something that you'd have to ask a expert on

The way i understand it, he pressurized the cockpit, the same way one would if opening any doors on a plane in flight.

Same thing would be done under sea because if you opened a hatch under water the water would crush the ship.

reply

The way i understand it, he pressurized the cockpit, the same way one would if opening any doors on a plane in flight


Not quite sure what you mean there, are you suggesting he adjusted the cabin pressure to match what was outside the Concorde?

I'm not sure if the Concorde could get to 60,000 ft. Most commercial aircraft cruise at somewhere betwene 30,000 and 35,000 ft. When he opened the window there would have been immediate and sudden de-pressurization of the aircraft cabin with disastrous effects. The air outside is so thin that it can't support human life and the temperature would be about -50 anyway. If the pilot wasn't sucked out he'd have about 2 minutes to get the plane from 35,000 down to about 10,0000 or 12,000 ft.

The whole scene is laughable. I don't mind a suspension of disbelief but the writers must have been pretty lazy or under a tight timeframe not to come up with a better idea than this.

When I said I wanted to be a comedian, they all laughed at me. Well, they're not laughing now!

reply

I don´t think one can even open a cockpit window in flight in the first place.



"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

reply

Yes, and in spite of this lunacy, almost everyone gets back on the plane the next day-including intended target Blakely, Airline Executive Albert and his umpteenth (and most likely last) Trophy Wife Danning who, though she has practically nothing to say,is as beautiful as ever.

reply

I agree that the scene is beyond dumb (as is this whole movie), but let's get the facts straight.

1. The plane is approaching a landing. The altitude is fairly low, and the speed is already well below supersonic speed.

2. The captain orders emergency decompression of the aircraft in anticipation of firing the flare gun.

So, no explosive decompression, and no mach-2 winds whipping into the cockpit.

As I said, it's a dumb part of a dumb movie, but let's not accuse it of being any dumber than it is. ;)

_____________________________________________________
Zaphod's just zis guy, you know?

reply

Next time you're driving down the highway at 80 mph., stick your hand out the sunroof and see if you can keep it steady. Now imagine trying that at 5x the speed.

reply

Charo!

reply

Charo was comic relief with her giant rat.

reply

Although not a pilot, I know a thing or two about aviation. It would definitely have been helpful to spend a few thousand on a consultant to review the script and tell them that things like the flare just would not work and that it insults the mind of anyone who understand aviation at least a little bit :).

Plus I seem to remember that the F-4 did not have a cannon (how could the plane that attacked the Concorde on the European side of the Atlantic shot a guns at them).

Also, anyone who flies over the Atlantic knows (United Airlines, channel 9 on the in-seat entertainment system allows monitoring ATC communications) that when a plane finishes the crossing, they will first talk to an ATC person in Scotland or Ireland, definitely not to the French ATF, and most definitely not to the CDG tower :) Also, if attacked in the UK airspace it think the RAF might have a slight issue with French Air Force Mirages just like that shooting missiles in their airspace :)

reply