Continuity mistake: Burt Lancaster is sitting in his car at the end, and he asks the tower if he can listen to the radio traffic for the incoming plane that's landing. The tower replies "Sure, it's on frequency 117.1". Burt then tunes the dial on his receiver to 171, not 117. 170 is blatantly written under the dial in bold type.
Airport (1970)
1 review
Directed by: Henry Hathaway, George Seaton
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, George Kennedy, Jacqueline Bisset, Jean Seberg
Your rating
Average rating
(7 votes)
The dialogue seems hopelesslyoutdated. It was probably outdated even in 1970. But the attention to aircraft and airport operations give the film both authenticity and nostalgia appeal. Subsequent disaster films never really duplicated this. Arthur Hailey also deserves credit for raising the topic of mental illness among combat veterans. This had also been a theme in Zero Hour! in which the traumatized veteran became the hero.
More mistakes in Airport
Ada Quonsett: My late husband taught me to be thorough. He was a teacher of geometry. He always said: "You must consider every angle."
Tanya Livingston: My late husband was a lawyer, and he always said: "Watch out for sweet-looking innocent, little old ladies." I'm beginning to understand what he meant.
Question: First there's a scene showing the "Golden Argosy" flight crew taking a mini-bus out to the plane (which, I assume, is already at the gate). The next scene shows Vernin Demerest and Gwen Meighen alone on the plane talking about her being pregnant, etc. Later in that same scene we see the rest of the crew getting onto the plane while Demerest and Meighen are all-of-a-sudden pretending there's a problem with a light. My question is this: If they all went out to the plane together on the bus where were the rest of the crew while Demerest and Meighen were talking on the plane? Wouldn't the whole crew have arrived together and got onto the plane together?
Answer: For that matter, why would the crew take a bus to a plane that's already at the gate? Wouldn't they just board via the jetbridge?
Now, yes, they go through security with the passengers. Prior to 2001, crew on my airline often took a private bus from the sign-on building to the aircraft.
Join the mailing list
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.
Answer: You are right. I have seen the film 100 times and never questioned that. There is no reason for only some of the crew to be on the plane, but it was needed for the scene to work.