Factual error: A Marine Corps general is visiting Project Phoenix. His ribbons are mostly not USMC authorized and those that are are pretty much out of order. Second, his four star insignias on the collar are way too high. They should be midway on the collar. (00:03:55)
Factual error: They're in Malaysia where cars are right-hand drive, and they drive on the left side of the road. The traffic and in-car shots are all US/European.
Factual error: All the information regarding Germany and there train system are wrong. All the fast trains (InterCity Express) in Germany are electrified and therefore no-one could land on the top of the train with a helicopter. Also the trains have a completely different design and the train station in Berlin and Frankfurt have a completely different look.
Factual error: Scenes are in Puerto Rico, but the little girl looks Mexican and speaks with a Mexican accent. The guitarist was playing Cuban songs. And building codes in PR require concrete and concrete block structures for new construction, not wood, tar paper, and shingles. Wrong patrol cars, too. Real ones actually say "San Juan Police Department", not San Juan Policia. And they only use blue lights, never red. SWAT teams are part of the State Police, not SJPD, and legitimate trucks say "Special Weapons and Tactics" across the top and then POLICIA below.
Lidar + Rogues + Duty - S3-E16
Factual error: MacGyver attaches a hose from a car gasoline filler port to the jet engine from a crashed plane. He uses a makeshift lever and the engine ignites. 1. A crashed jet engine has an astronomically low chance of working. 2. A jet engine runs on essentially refined kerosene with some additives. Automotive fuel would be useless. 3. The hose used to "provide fuel to the engine" is not siphoned to provide a usable flow of gasoline. 4. The braided wire hose is quite a long piece. It just happened to be lying there completely free of any holding clamps or terminations? How would just one piece of a long hose become free of the airplane? 5. The engine is not attached to anything, but the thrust of the lit engine does not move it one inch. 6. Even after being lit, it does not set fire to anything in spite of being in the middle of a lot of combustible material. (00:13:15)
Lidar + Rogues + Duty - S3-E16
Factual error: The pilot of the downed plane was flying a covert mission. If so, he should not have been wearing identifying patches, rank insignia, or an American flag. Especially ones that were not subdued. (00:18:00)
Lidar + Rogues + Duty - S3-E16
Factual error: Lieutenant Commander Reese is wearing flight wings on the left chest of his flight suit. They are not US Navy Naval Aviator wings. (00:21:35)
Seeds + Permafrost + Feather - S3-E17
Factual error: Bozer and for that matter I would assume all of the team went to a spycraft academy. A basic subject in any of such academies is surveillance, including proper techniques to follow and stake out someone. Bozer being so inept at tracking MacGyver's father is inconceivable given their training.
Kid + Plane + Cable + Truck - S4-E3
Factual error: A US Pilot's License is shown. It is pretty much all wrong. Salient among the errors is that US Pilot's Licenses do not have a picture. The nationality should be USA not America. They are green fading to white, and not blue. It does not have a hologram of the FAA seal. The signature on the front is that of the pilot and not the FAA Administrator. I realise that it would be improper to show an actual license on a TV show, but this is so far off as to be ludicrous. (00:02:20)
Windmill + Acetone + Celluloid + Firing Pin - S4-E4
Factual error: While the collapsed building is described by Matty to be located in Karlsruhe, it's actually in Heidelberg (as seen by the famous castle on the left and the river Neckar with its bridges). (00:05:15)
Father + Son + Father + Matriarch - S4-E8
Factual error: Mac and Desi have been invited to a "pop-up" restaurant. There aren't many limitations on pop-up restaurants when it comes to choosing a location. You could host a pop-up in another restaurant's kitchen during off hours. Or you could set up shop on a city rooftop, at an apartment complex, or in an unconventional space. What is NOT a location is a place with swanky double entrance doors with the name of the pop-up restaurant in custom etched or frosted glass on them. Really? (00:06:10)
Resort + Desi + Riley + Window Cleaner + Witness - S5-E1
Factual error: MacGyver and Russ are locked in a hotel room. They cannot use their comms. MacGyver says it is because the room is secure with reinforced walls to keep comms blocked. But there is a big glass window with only bars on it. If the room were indeed secure to comms there would be a screen to complete a Faraday Cage and prevent radio frequencies from passing through. (00:26:45)
Resort + Desi + Riley + Window Cleaner + Witness - S5-E1
Factual error: Riley and Desi pick the locks on a safe deposit box and extract a hard drive. They then are going down some stairs with Jane when Jane menaces them with a gun and asks for the hard drive. Riley tells Desi not to worry and shows her the actual disk in her hand. We're later shown she opened the casing with her bare hands and the disk dropped out - not at all possible. (00:29:30 - 00:32:00)
Resort + Desi + Riley + Window Cleaner + Witness - S5-E1
Factual error: MacGyver and Russ are bringing two large oxygen cylinders into a room. From the way they handle them to get them off the cart and onto the floor, you can tell they are empty. To make matters even funnier, MacGyver manages to break off the valves on both tanks at the same time with just one stomp of his foot. That is physically impossible. Continuing the farce, the tanks pretty leisurely rocket away, lifting all present slowly to the skylight. I have seen a video of just one small air tank break a valve. It shot across the room, through the wall, flew through the air, and embedded itself three feet in the ground over 40 feet away. Believe me, not at all how depicted here. (00:35:20 - 00:36:20)
Banh Bao + Sterno + Drill + Burner + Mason - S5-E4
Factual error: The whiz kid is attempting to remote control a car. He asks Mattie for her cell phone, and then opens it with his hands. That is impossible. It takes a lot of effort and tools to do so. (00:12:44)
Banh Bao + Sterno + Drill + Burner + Mason - S5-E4
Factual error: A tracker is found in the engine compartment of a government car. To disable it, it is stomped on. And sparks fly. Inert electronics do not emit sparks when crushed. It was powered by the car battery. (00:16:20)
Rails + Pitons + Pulley + Pipe + Salt - S5-E9
Factual error: Mac's "cutting torch" was supposed to weaken the lock, and the pressure difference would do the rest, since there was "no air in the room." However, the door swings outward. If there is no air in the room, the higher pressure outside the room would keep the door closed, working against him, rather than for him. Besides this, the arc from a 12v car battery is unlikely to considerably weaken a steel lock. (00:01:15)
Rails + Pitons + Pulley + Pipe + Salt - S5-E9
Factual error: Every time the Phoenix Foundation airplane is shown, it has absolutely no markings. Every aircraft has to be registered somewhere and display its registration prominently, and no aircraft can fly in a country's airspace without a registration number at the very least. (00:01:55)
Rails + Pitons + Pulley + Pipe + Salt - S5-E9
Factual error: MacGyver is using an improvised cutting torch to weaken a lock on a door. When he thinks he has cut enough he drops the torch and immediately holds on to the lock to open it. If It has been subject to a cutting torch long enough to weaken it, he would not be able to grasp the lock with his bare hands without seriously burning them. (00:15:00)
Barn Find + Engine Oil + La Punzonatura + Lab Rats + Tachometer - S5-E13
Factual error: MacGyver is wearing what is supposed to be a US Navy uniform. But he has the shoulder epaulets of a Lieutenant Commander, and is wearing a Chief Petty Officer service cap. (00:00:30)
