Factual error: When the bus is driving over the gap in the freeway, it jumps off at an angle. And when it lands, it lands close to perfection. If the bus landed at the same angle it jumped off on, the bus would either tip over or the 2 tyres would burst.
Factual error: If you look at the loop Keanu hooks the crane onto on top of the lift you can see that it and its bracket have been recently welded on (by the black residue it leaves), obviously because the lift itself didn't have such a loop. Even if such a feature existed, it wouldn't be simply spot welded on the top as this one is, it would need to be part of the lift's structure if it were to serve any purpose in supporting it in an emergency. (00:13:05)
Factual error: At the airport, Jack attempts to disarm the bus bomb from underneath, on a dolly towed by another vehicle. Meanwhile, Annie must continue driving the bus in circles on the runway at a speed above 50 mph. This scene takes 8 minutes, meaning Annie makes at least 2 laps of the entire 2-mile-long runway, complete with turns at the ends. There is no way that the towed dolly could remain positioned directly underneath the bus through the turns, as Jack would have swung out under centrifugal force.
Factual error: In the scene where Keanu Reeves attempts to stop the subway train, he accelerates the train by pushing the handle forward. In the LA Transit System, the train is stopped by pushing the handle forward.
Factual error: When Sam opens the door for Jack to get on he pulls the handle the wrong way. On GMC buses if you pull the handle back it opens the back door which activates the rear-interlock and that makes the bus come to a complete stop.
Factual error: When the bus jumps the gap in the freeway, the front wheels rise into the air while the rear wheels are still in contact with the roadway (that has a very slight upward slope). Since its trajectory is fairly flat in the movie (unlike the ramp used to actually film the stunt), the front of the bus would fall well short of the other side. Further, the impact of landing would render the bus unable to move (which is exactly what happened to the bus used to film the stunt). (01:03:40)
Factual error: The bomber demanded his money by 11 a.m., so the sun should be high in the sky toward the end of the bus situation. However, in many shots at the airport, there are long shadows, indicating either sunrise or sunset.
Factual error: According to the TV announcer, the bus went from the Santa Monica Freeway to Western Avenue to the 105 freeway. Two problems would have occurred. First, the Western Avenue exit from the SM freeway is way too narrow to safely make a turn at such high speed. Second, there is no onramp from Western Avenue to the 105 in any direction.
Factual error: When the terrorist's first target, the elevator, first has its cables blown, it goes into free-fall for about 7 floors before the brakes kick in. That is about a 100 foot free fall, and not one person even falls down afterward. Are we to believe that around 5 seconds of negative G does not even result in a single person ending up on their rear? (00:05:00)
Factual error: Near the end of the movie, the villain shoots the operator of the subway car. In all rail transportation situations I am aware of, an operator falling from his seat would immediately cause the train to slow to a controlled stop. It's called the "dead man's switch." Obviously does not happen in this movie.
Factual error: When Payne blows the safety catch on the elevator it shows a shot of the floor level indicator going down from 29 to 25 in about 3 seconds. The camera cuts to inside for 5 seconds then the cable stopping the lift. This has taken approximately 8-10 seconds in total, but they are only on the 22 floor now. By the rate of which they were falling they should be on at least the 13th floor. Not taking into account that it would be accelerating as it goes down. (00:13:45)
Factual error: When Jack is under the bus, he manages to puncture the gas tank by sticking his screwdriver into it. There is no way a simple screwdriver could punch a hole in the solid metal tank, even if Jack took a forceful swing at it like he had when he lost his balance on the trolley.
Factual error: Harry is a LAPD SWAT team member. SWAT trains and trains and trains, then exercises and trains some more. Harry would not be investigating the case as shown when he asked to see the files for the last 10 years. If he was on desk duty for his injury, yes, he could be working the investigation. But soon after, he was on the entry team at Payne's house. That would have required more prep work by the SWAT team that Harry would have had to be doing instead of looking through the files.
Factual error: In the bus freeway gap jump, a second after driving off the freeway edge, the bus has fallen beneath that edge level of the freeway. It would be impossible for it to have regained altitude to be above the freeway on the other side. It would have hit at best halfway between the wheels of the bus, if at all.
Factual error: As long as gravity is a constant, there is no physical way that the bus (traveling at 68 mph) could possibly jump the level, 50-foot horizontal gap in the freeway. Even at triple or quadruple that speed, the bus would invariably drop vertically by as much as a meter, with catastrophic results.
Factual error: The bomber wants his money by 11 am. The sun should be almost directly overhead. Why then are there late afternoon-early evening shadows at the end of the film?
Factual error: When the bus is forced to exit the freeway due to the stopped traffic up ahead, the exit taken is a curved exit and stays level. The storyline mentions this was the Western Ave exit from the Santa Monica freeway. The real exits for Western Ave (from each direction) head straight uphill to the street above and with no curves at all.
Answer: He's taller now because he has his head while the villain does not!
Grumpy Scot