Factual error: When the alien ship arrives in Washington DC, its shadow goes over the Lincoln Memorial from the bottom of the Lincoln statue to the top. Since the saucer is heading over the National Mall and the Lincoln Memorial faces the Mall, the shadow should have gone from the top to the bottom. (00:21:40)
Continuity mistake: Steve and Jasmine are asleep and the house starts to shake. There are 3 pictures on a night stand. Two of the three fall. When they wake up the 2 pictures are back up. (00:22:20)
Continuity mistake: When the alien aircraft settles over New York, there is a taxi cab driver that stops to look, and the truck behind actually hits it twice. Also, there is a parked yellow school bus which the front half of the taxi passes in the wideshot, but in the close-up, when the driver gets out, the taxi is actually much farther back, the bus is gone, just take note of the gate in the background. (00:22:25)
Continuity mistake: When the aliens arrive in New York City and start to come over the city we see a man selling candy who turns around to see the spacecraft overhead. When the scene changes we see the another man turning around and colliding with a women, and the background sky has no spacecraft in it. (00:22:40)
Continuity mistake: Given the direction that the spaceship is traveling as it passes over the Mall in Washington, D.C., the White House should be completely in shadow by the time the Capitol is covered. This is not the case. Also, the shadow should spread over the White House from the left to the right, but instead it goes from the front to the back. (00:22:45)
Continuity mistake: When the alien aircraft at the beginning of the film first breach the skies over New York, when the camera cuts to peoples reactions, in all shots behind them the sky is filled with clouds, and when it cuts to the alien aircraft, the sky is blue. (00:22:55)
Continuity mistake: During one of the big building explosions we see a police officer on a horse. He turns on the horse, and then the camera cuts to the next shot and we see him turning on his horse again. (00:23:45)
Continuity mistake: When the spaceship is flying over New York, a police car stops. A cop steps outside and pedestrians walk past the car. A mere frame later, the people have vanished. (00:24:21)
Continuity mistake: When Steven Hiller goes out to get the paper, the paper has a string around it to keep it closed, yet he opens it up as if it was only folded. (00:25:15)
Continuity mistake: When Steven walks across the lawn to get the newspaper, a few feet away from the window there is a tall rosebush behind a white bench seat with a high back. Later, when Steven packs up to head back to the base, Jasmine pulls open the curtains and right outside the window is a tall flowerless bush. (00:25:20 - 00:29:10)
Continuity mistake: On the television screen that has a map of where all the ships have landed in the Eastern Hemisphere, every city is identified by name, except for Berlin, which is just identified as "Germany." (00:26:50)
Audio problem: At the White House, when Connie hangs up on David, as the President stands at the podium behind her, his mouth and the words we hear are not in sync. We are seeing and hearing him live, not on a delayed news feed. (00:28:15)
Continuity mistake: In the kitchen, when Steven is packing up before leaving for El Toro, the blue dolphin figurine faces the TV and is about six inches away. In the following shots it faces the opposite way and is about three feet away. (00:28:50)
Continuity mistake: When Captain Hiller is in his dress uniform in the house and then outside beside the car, before he heads back to El Toro, the epaulette on his shoulder is out above the collar, in the next shot it is under the collar (where it belongs), but in the very next shot, it is out again. (00:29:35)
Continuity mistake: When Steve is leaving to go to El Toro, Jasmine comes outside to talk to Steve. In the background there is a couple packing up. A lady comes out from the house with a suitcase, goes toward a car and a man goes toward the house, and they pass each other. The next time they show a close up of Jasmine, the couple are passing each other again, for a split second. (00:30:00)
Continuity mistake: When Steven is about to head back to El Toro, he tells Jasmine that she and Dylan can come stay with him at the base. Then when they kiss, Steve's head leans to his right - in shadow, then left - with lots of sunlight, and back to right - in shadow again, between shots. (00:30:30)
Continuity mistake: In the old Plymouth on the way to DC, when David comments, "Can't this thing go any faster?" the lock on his door is down as the shot fades in on him, but when it cuts to his close-ups the lock is up, unlocked. (00:33:20)
Continuity mistake: Close to the beginning of the film when we see the Casse kids leaving the trailer park, and Russell Casse rushes up and says, "You read my mind," the shot of the motorhome we can see a map or something, and in the following shot it's vanished. (00:33:55)
Continuity mistake: When Steven returns to the base, some of the other guys are watching the news on TV. In the TV's close-up there is a towel right beside it and newspapers lying on top, but in the next shot the newspapers change and the towel is about two feet away. (00:34:20)
Visible crew/equipment: On bended knee, when Jimmy opens Steven's gift box with the ring, in the close-up an oblong metallic object is pushing up against Jimmy's left hand, between his thumb and index finger. Likely used to keep his hand steady in the tight close-up. (Only visible on fullscreen DVD.) (00:35:20)
Answer: In the book of the same name, this man is called "Pig". He was a test pilot during the Vietnam War. He played a crucial role in training the new pilots.