Factual error: When Joe Patroni is attempting to move the stuck 707, Bakersfeld is standing beside his car watching, very close to the plane. Without some form of hearing protection, he would have been very quickly deafened by the noise - a 707 at takeoff thrust is incredibly loud. I once watched a 707 take off from about a half mile away and forgot to cover my ears - it was so loud it actually hurt.
Airport (1970)
Directed by: Henry Hathaway, George Seaton
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, George Kennedy, Jacqueline Bisset, Jean Seberg
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.
Other mistake: When the stricken airliner is on final approach for landing, both pilots stare intently out the windscreen, never so much as glancing down at the flight instruments. In an instrument landing the pilot must look continuously at the instruments until the copilot reports that the runway is in sight, as that is the only way he can follow the controller's instructions.
Ada Quonsett: When you get to be older, there isn't a lot left to be frightened of.
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.
Tanya Livingston: There's bound to be a passenger with a fifty-dollar wrenched back. I'd better get out there with some release forms and plenty of sympathy and understanding.
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.
Question: Near the end of the film, the plane stuck on the ground is pressurised before it can move out of the way. Why is it pressurised if it's on the ground and not in the air?
Chosen answer: Patroni isn't referring to the cabin pressure, he says to "pressurize the manifold" - part of the engine start procedure of a Boeing 707, which I believe involves a ground crew pumping gas (nitrogen?) from a cart into the intake manifold.
Pressurize - as in the manifold, to turn on bleed air from the APU - on board Auxiliary Power Unit - a small jet engine that provides electrical and pneumatic air to operate aircraft systems including starting engines.
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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.