The rank insignia change regularly on Reigart's uniform, despite
his not having been obviously promoted.
As always, there are many minor errors in military procedure
and in the technical details of the military equipment.
When the three helicopters are returning to the carrier, there is a
scene showing two of them veering off to the left. Both helicopters
in the scene have one engine. Then the view changes, showing all
three helicopters from rear. Two of the three have two engines and
only one has a single engine.
The level of the Coke that Chris Burnett drinks in the back of the
pick-up truck increases as the ride progresses.
When Reigart hands a paper to Burnett, it is partially crumpled.
After Burnett takes it from him it is no longer crumpled.
In some of the overhead shots of the jets, studio lights are
reflected on the cockpit glass.
When Stackhouse and Burnett decide to fly off-course during their
recon flight, the fighter turns to the left, but when the crew of the
aircraft carrier are tracking their flight on the computer map, it appears
that the fighter turns to the right.
An ejection seat disappears near bottom left corner of the screen
after the pilots pull their chutes - the seat falls, then disappears
before leaving the frame.
When the plane takes off from the carrier there are no missiles
on the tips of the wings. When we next see the plane flying over
Bosnia there are missiles on the tips of the wings.
When Burnett and Stackhouse are flying on their mission, they
get a hit "over there in the forest to the left." However, when the
camera pans to show where the pilots are looking, the direction
of travel would have them looking out and to the right.
Admiral Reigart's tie is alternately neatly tied/loosened between
shots when he is interviewing Lt. Chris Burnett on the aircraft carrier.
As Burnett is being chased through the forest towards the mass
grave, he is running full speed (with a decent head start), while the
Serbian soldiers are walking at a slow pace. Yet, when he reaches
the mass grave the soldiers arrive a very short time later.
The movie is set in 1996, but a pilot mentions John Denver as being
a famous person to have died in a plane crash. John Denver died
on 12 October 1997.
The wingtip missiles on the F/A-18 disappear and reappear several times.
When Sasha is looking for Burnett near the statue, the cap for his
scope disappears in head on close-up shots and reappears later.
Riegart's helicopter keeps changing from a Bell Huey (2 rotor
blades and one engine exhaust port) to a Bell 412 (4 blades
and two exhaust ports).
Some of the machine guns on the backs of the Serbian jeeps
have no ammo boxes, but still fire.
When Burnett sits in the back of the pick-up truck you can see
yellow road marking lines. In Yugoslavia, where the story takes
place, these lines are white, not yellow.
The enlisted uniforms in 1996 were the traditional dungaree
uniform (denim bellbottom trouser, flat-lying collar). The utility
style uniforms (straight-leg trousers, stand up collars) worn by
the Vinson's enlisted personnel weren't phased in until 1999.
When the fighter is shot down the entire front end is clearly
separated. Later on when the Serbians are examining the crash
site you can see the remains of a complete fighter in the background.
When the football is launched from the runway there's a glimpse
of buildings in the background as it goes up in the air.
The F/A-18-E/F Super Hornets didn't begin sea trials until January
1997 onboard the USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74).
Just before Chris Burnett gets on the helicopter, he has blood stains
on his face. On the chopper, the blood is gone. When he gets off the
chopper onto the carrier deck, the blood is back.
Towards the end, Chris gets shot in the left shoulder. On the plane,
Glenn pats him on where that wound should be. Chris should be in
extreme pain but he smiles.
In the scene when Burnett fell in the mass grave, after Serbian soldiers
retreat, he has memory flashes about the killing of civilians. There is a
Croatian badge on one of the soldiers. However, it is obvious in the movie
that the Serbian army killed those civilians, so there can't be a Croatian
badge on their uniform.
Burnett is sent to a rendezvous point for evacuation. He radios in when
he reaches it and informs Reigart of this fact. However, when the radio
contact goes down, Reigart orders his staff to "find out where he is" and
triangulate his position, even though they know where he is: at the rendezvous
point they told him to go to!
Admiral Reigart references a letter Burnett received dated "September 23rd."
The Admiral then says Burnett received another letter "a month later for
something involving Chinese New Year." This would place the Chinese
New Year in late October. In reality, the Chinese New Year falls in either
January or February.
At minute 40: Serbian soldiers are chasing Burnett. They come from right
to left. All of them appear to be left handed and all the guns have ejection
ports on the left side showing that the whole scene has been inverted.
On an F-18, the survival radio and beacon are located inside a seat pan
underneath the pilot. After clearing the cockpit canopy, the ejection seat
separates, but the seat pan falls 26' where a life raft is actuated and survival
items are revealed, all of it attached to the pilot via lanyard. The beacon,
having gone off at ejection, would still be attached to the pilot. He would
have not needed to get to the beacon at the end because it would still
be in his hands.
When Burnett is waving down the truck to stop you can see the skid
marks already on the ground from previous takes.
Three 'Huey' type helicopters take part in the rescue at the end of the film.
However, the helicopters continually switch between varying combinations
of the earlier single-engined Huey, and a later more advanced two-engine
variant. The main difference is the number of exhausts behind the cabin.
After ejecting from the aircraft, both pilots are seen floating down past the
statue on Ram type parachutes. When Burnett hits the trees and the
camera is looking up at him coming down through the branches, he is
under a round parachute.
Early in the movie Adm. Leslie Reigart asks Lt. Chris Burnett if he would
be happy "flying a bus", meaning would he be fulfilled flying a commercial
airliner. However, since Burnett is a Naval Flight Officer and not a Naval
Aviator it is highly unlikely that he would have the needed flying experience
to be hired at any airline. Naval Flight Officers are the men and women who
operate the advanced systems on board naval aircraft, and some may also
act as the overall tactical coordinators of multiple air assets during a mission.
They differ from Naval Aviators in that they do not pilot the aircraft in
which they serve.
When Stackhouse ejects, the spring apparently cuts through his left leg.
However, when he's on the ground, the field dressings are applied to his right leg.
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