Revealing mistake: During the fight scene in the belly dancer's room, Bond spins the bald guy around to avoid being hit by a chair. When the bald guy gets hit in the back with the chair, you can see a large rectangle of padding under his jacket.
Revealing mistake: In scene at the brothel, with the senator and the dead prostitute, the supposedly dead body is breathing in the last shot of her, just after Tom Hagen says "it'll be as if she never existed". (01:15:30)
Factual error: The scene in which the Beechcraft Baron hits the Boeing 747 in flight plumbs new depths in cinematic absurdity. Assuming both aircraft are at their normal cruising speeds - they appear to be - and the Beechcraft has half a fuel load left, it will hit with the same energy as 7,700 kgs of TNT. The Beechcraft Baron weighed 3,200 kg and the two aircraft would have a closing speed of something like 700 kmh. Even a glancing blow would tear the entire front half of the 747 to bits - there would be virtually nothing of the fuselage left intact all the way back to the wings, and the film shows the two aircraft on course for a head on collision.
Revealing mistake: Watch carefully as the statue falls on the bartender. It barely touches his chest and rests on his left thigh. As the bartender slumps dead you can see a wide open gap between his whole upper body and the statue. Even if it crushed his thigh it would not have killed him so quickly. When the bartender slumps down the statue rocks freely as he brushes against it; obviously a styrofoam replica.
Factual error: In the Bosphorus scenes, as the ferry crosses from the Asian to the European side of Istanbul, in the distance large trucks can be seen speeding along the coastal road opposite. Well before their time.
Revealing mistake: After the crazy man cuts his own hand, he laughs and waves the knife. Watch carefully and you can see the hose behind the blade the blood came through. (00:13:40)
Factual error: In the scene right after pinback shoots the beach-ball alien, we see the Dark Star space craft cruising past a planet with a sun in the background. You can see a reflection on the planet which is coming from the space craft. I'm sorry, but usually ships in space are not large enough to reflect off a planet, especially to the degree this one does. (00:48:20)
Revealing mistake: When Mr. Green pulls out of 28th Street, we see him disengage the "Dead Man's Feature" (by pressing down on the throttle with his hand). However, he does not actually move the control lever to make the train move. In that position, the train is at "idle" and will not accelerate.
Continuity mistake: After Mr. Palmer walks over and tries to pick up Claude Mulvihill's gun (which Jack kicks away) we see Jack's hat on his left. In the next shot as Jake picks it up it's now on his right. (01:19:40)
Revealing mistake: In the office tower after the quake there is a panic and workers rush down the stairs only to find them fallen away. After two women fall to their death a man is left hanging on a girder, but falls onto a giant piece of glass. Look at the top of the frame and you will see the airbag shooting our from under it.
Visible crew/equipment: In the scene where Herb Edelman is explaining to Richard Jordan exactly whom Robert Mitchum is going to see, a microphone can be seen at the bottom of the screen, just under the low coffee table.
Continuity mistake: When evil Swan hands the contract to the Swan who's about to kill himself, Swan grabs the contract out of E.S hands, yet in the next shot, E.S is still holding it.
Other mistake: When Sir Anthony Hopkins (playing Johnny McLeod) is awaiting the arrival of the suspected bomber O'Neill (played by Cyril Cusack), a funny mistake occurs. Cusack sees Hopkins, smiles and greets him with a cheerful "Hello, Tony!" instead of "Hello, Johnny!" Being a pro, Hopkins doesn't blink an eye!
Continuity mistake: Blore is reluctant to admit his guilt. He stands up but the Judge bangs his cane angrily on the floor and Blore sits down again. The candles in front of the Judge have a different length between shots. (01:07:40)
Continuity mistake: During the fight with Breck, Butt falls inside the ladies' room with both feet inside the place. A shot later, they're outside.
Continuity mistake: Gene Hackman returns a second cookie to Harrison Ford's dish that he hadn't taken - or perhaps it's the same cookie he picked up and returned a moment earlier. Either way, the cookie had suddenly appeared in Hackman's hands going from one shot to another. (00:30:35)
Suggested correction: What matters is how much of the small plane's kinetic energy was deposited in the 747's structure. A glancing blow would deliver less energy than a head-on collision, because it lessens the total time interval of the impact. Another important thing is if the small plane shattered or stayed largely in one piece during the collision. If it promptly shredded on impact, then each little fragment carried away its portion of the total energy. Smaller pieces of something as light as that plane would immediately get caught in the powerful airflow and be diverted around the 747.
Absolute rubbish. Airliners do not survive mid air collisions.