Continuity mistake: After David makes a mess in the Area 51 alien attacker's hangar, when he is sitting on the ground facing Julius, the liquor bottle label changes directions in his hand. (01:35:25)
Continuity mistake: During the First Lady's death scene, Connie is on the First Lady's left, when the President asks his daughter to go out in the hallway. But in the very next shot, Connie is on the other side of the bed standing right next to the little girl. (01:39:55)
Continuity mistake: Just before President Whitmore gives his rousing speech, when Major Mitchell is talking into the mic, asking for all flight crews to report to their designated areas, the camouflage pattern on his uniform is entirely different from the uniform he wears in the previous and following scenes that he appears in. (01:51:20 - 01:55:10)
Continuity mistake: When Major Mitchell gives the crash course to all the new pilots, his hair his much shorter than in previous and following shots, and Russell's beard is also much fuzzier than it was in the previous shots, etc. (01:51:30)
Continuity mistake: In the scene with Steven and David in the cockpit of the alien ship, as Steven hands David the cigar his fingers are close together in the shots facing him, but are spread apart in the shots facing David. (01:52:05)
Continuity mistake: After President Whitmore comments to General Grey that the pilots look young and nervous, when Major Mitchell speaks into the mic and asks for all flight crews to report to their designated areas, the President climbs up onto the truck behind Mitchell. Next shot though, he is only just now walking toward the truck and then climbs up. (01:55:10)
Continuity mistake: In the Area 51 hangar, when Steven and David are trying to take off in the alien attacker, we are clearly shown how the ship flies: Pull back on the controls, you go forward, push forward on the controls, you go in reverse. Later, in the mothership, after they have launched the nuke and are released, Steven pulls back on the controls, which should send them flying forward, but the external shot shows them flying backwards. (02:00:25)
Continuity mistake: After the shields of the motherships have been taken out and the fighters fire their missiles, we can see that the inflict a lot of damage to the mothership's front, but when Russell Casse blows the ship up that damage is gone. (02:00:55 - 02:24:45)
Continuity mistake: When General Grey tells the President not to engage until they have visual, in the President's close-up the exterior of this F/A-18 Hornet is quite different than what was shown in the earlier shot, as the canopy closed over him. All the rivets around the canopy have disappeared and the 'danger' triangle is much closer to the name Patrick, the seat differs, etc. Plus the fact that the canopy and hull are actually one unit in the second shot. (02:02:15 - 02:03:15)
Continuity mistake: Several times during the last air battle, the President shoots his missiles, but a view of his plane shows that it still has all four missiles. (02:03:25)
Continuity mistake: When Russell boards the F/A-18, he places the photo of his kids beside the left DDI on the instrument panel, which is to the left of the number key pad, below the HUD. When he says, "Payback's a bitch..." there is an upside-down matchbook cover (with the words, "Amraam armed....is off" scribbled on it) exactly where the photo was - beside the left DDI, but then later the photo reappears. Also note that the yellow/black zebra marker behind the photo becomes a blue marker as well. (02:09:10 - 02:13:30)
Continuity mistake: The airplanes they are flying have 4 missiles, yet at the final air combat the President fires 5 missiles: the first missile hits ship with the shield on, the second and third hit the ship directly, the fourth kills a fighter alien craft, and the fifth shoots at the green light from the main ship. (02:12:15)
Continuity mistake: After the President fights the Aliens in the fighter plane he lands to see a lot of people cheering and happy. If you look at his hair when he is walking through the long white hallway, it is messed up and not perfect. A second later, when he walks into the "Command Centre", Connie and Jasmine ask to see if their husbands are okay, if you look at the President's hair, it is now slicked back and perfect. (02:13:10)
Continuity mistake: In the scene at the end of the movie where David and the President are making amends, as you view the President from David's POV (face on) his head is tilted to his right shoulder, however, as you view the President (from behind) as he is looking at David his head is tilted to his left shoulder. This is noticed each time the perspectives change. (02:14:50)
Continuity mistake: When Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum are in the mothership, Will says that once the missile is fired they have 30 seconds to get out of the ship before it explodes. The sequence of events, portrayed in real-time, from the start of the countdown to the detonation is 93 seconds. By the time 30 seconds has elapsed; they are just barely getting to the inner-triangle opening, with 23 seconds remaining. From here, it takes an additional 40 seconds to traverse 'the triangle' and exit the ship; with another 10 seconds passing after clearing the doors. The timer now shows 10 seconds remaining. Basically (according to the countdown), the first 30 seconds were depicted as being only 7 having elapsed; and the 50 seconds after that being only 13. Everything was in real-time. (02:18:25)
Continuity mistake: When the President holds his frightened daughter, in the shot after the alien craft creates a shadow over the White House, there are photographs and a bust of Lincoln on the table beside the President - the view of the photos is not blocked by anything. In the very next close-up of the photos, things differ, such as a large framed photo of the President with the Dalai Lama that appears out of nowhere, between the photo of the First Lady and the photo of the Pope.
Continuity mistake: When Jasmine grabs Dylan out of the car, his sneakers are white/black with black laces, but when she is kicking the maintenance door, his sneakers are white with white laces, then it switches again in following shots.
Continuity mistake: When Jasmine sees the approaching fireball she grabs Dylan from the car and begins to run. In the shot from behind, there are double-yellow lines on the road at her feet reaching into the distance, but in the shot facing her the lines have vanished, though she did not change lanes.
Continuity mistake: In the briefing scene at El Toro prior to the first counter-offensive, Lt. Colonel Watson, the briefing officer, has silver oak leaves on his collar (Marine Lieutenant Colonel). A few scenes later, when El Toro is under attack, Lt. Colonel Watson is shown again, but has been demoted two grades and has two silver bars on his collars (Marine Captain).
Continuity mistake: At the White House, after the President says good morning to Connie and walks past her, she stands up then places the two folded sections of USA Today in her left hand - with the headline section covered, as she holds her briefcase in her right hand. Next shot from behind, she is now holding a section in her right hand with the briefcase, as she reads from the headline section held in her left hand.
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.