Factual error: In the whole episode, Romania is depicted as a monarchy with the king in a position that allows him to make political decisions. However, Romania ceased to be a monarchy in 1947. By the time depicted in the episode (circa 1997), Romania was a republic and its head of state was the president. Members of the ex-royal family did not hold any positions in the Romanian government and were certainly not authorized to represent Romania in international events.
To Russia with Love (1) - S3-E24
Character mistake: While talking with Falcon, Harm mentions the "green book" Falcon stole that listed all of the American POWs transferred to Russia after the Vietnam War. But when Harm originally found the book in "Ghost Ship", its cover was yellow.
Continuity mistake: When Rabb lands at Norfolk the number of the chopper is 426, there he meets Commander Turner who says that he takes the same chopper as transport to the submarine. The Sea Knight is the last transport to leave the base before lock-down. When the same chopper approaches the USS Crawford it suddenly has the number 62.
Plot hole: When the radar man of the USS Cayuga describes a radar reading to likely be "One of the Russian cruisers", the commanding officer of the USS decides not to pursue it saying, "We are after bigger fish today - I want the Vasilyev". In the film, the Vasilyev is depicted as a destroyer, which is a smaller and lighter ship than a cruiser. In this context, the cruiser would be a "bigger fish" than the Vasilyev and the CO should pursue it instead if he was after the larger, more dangerous vessels as he seems to declare.
Continuity mistake: Just as the F-14's are coming under fire from the ship, we are shown the pilots. One of the pilots, "Pendry" was killed when his F-14 crashed due to a malfunction in the earlier episode 'Pilot Error'. As such, "Pendry" could not have been fired on in this episode since he was already deceased.
Continuity mistake: When Captain Boone descends to engage the Hind, they are in forested mountains. It then cuts to the Hind, and there are no trees, then after the tomcat crew punch out, the RIO is hanging in the trees. The scenes that showed the Hind were cut from the movie Red Dawn.
Factual error: At the beginning of the episode Rabb evades two heat seeking missiles while flying a Mig-29. When Sarah asks him how he did it, he explains that he got them between the missiles and the sun which made the missiles target the sun instead since "it is a bigger target." While the sun is indeed a far larger source of infrared radiation than a fighter jet, all anti air missiles since the 1950s come equipped with navigation systems in their nose that contain an optical filter. This filters out unwanted data, including the specific infrared radiation coming from the sun. Hence it is impossible for modern anti-air heat seeking missiles to target the sun.
Other mistake: Throughout the whole show there are several shots of submarines, aircraft carrier landings, chopper flights that are exactly the same in different episodes.
Rendezvous - S2-E15
Visible crew/equipment: In the scene where Bud is shredding the satelite photograph, when he turns around to talk to Harriet, a microphone dips into the scene for a quick second.
Continuity mistake: When they try to land the C130 on the aircraft carrier, the co-pilot says that they don't have the right landing gear down, so she goes to the back to instruct one of the passengers how to lower the gear manually. The problem is that they lower the left gear, which was already down.
Continuity mistake: Throughout the episode, Harm is referred to as "Lieutenant Commander", and wears the respective insignia. But he's still a lieutenant at this point; he isn't promoted for another three episodes. This occurred due to several season 1 episodes being aired in the wrong order, with the DVDs going by the same broadcast order.
Ghosts of Christmas Past - S5-E11
Factual error: There would never be a show on the deck of a carrier while there are missions being flown.
Continuity mistake: The hull number shown for the USS Seahawk shown in this episode was "74" (in real life, the USS John C. Stennis), however, JAG has always used that hull number to refer to the show's 'other carrier', the USS Patrick Henry.
Continuity mistake: As Harm & Mac are taking off, Mac reminds Harm how much she hates flying, especially since the last time they went up, they crashed & she was stabbed in the leg ("Full Engagement"). In that episode though, Mac is shot, not stabbed. The comment is also in error as the last time the two went flying was when they flew a MIG-29 & ejected after being fired upon in "To Russia With Love".
Factual error: Season 9 Episode 5, "Touchdown": When they approach the aircraft carrier, the copilot says that the number two engine is flaming out. This means there is no more fuel to run that engine. That supposedly also means that there is not enough fuel for a fire alarm lighting up in the cockpit, which is what happens in the show. (Verified by a USMC Staff Sergeant who flew 8 years on a C130).
Continuity mistake: The scenes that appeared on the television that the Sheriff was watching at the beginning was from the 1970's movie, "Smokey & The Bandit". Several of the clips were out of order, not to mention jumping from the beginning of the movie, then close to the end.
Mr. Rabb Goes to Washington - S4-E8
Continuity mistake: The lone shark's thugs break down Mac's door trying to get to her husband, Chris Ragle, who is hiding in her apartment. Although the door is splintered to pieces, later that night, the same door is back in perfect condition, including the custom paint job that matches the interior decor of the apartment.
Other mistake: I was so bugged by protocol errors in early episodes that I stopped watching. For example, there were at least 2 episodes where Navy or Marine officers in utility uniforms were wearing Army brass on their collars. In one episode, "Harm" is walking with his female partner through a garage. He returns the salute of an enlisted man who walks by, but she doesn't. In any event, the garage was indoors, where Naval Service protocol says you don't salute.
Continuity mistake: The hull number on the ballcaps of the sailors on the USS Daniel Boone doesn't match the hull number of the ship used to portray it. The hull number on the caps, DDG-72, is currently assigned to the Arleigh Burke-class Destroyer, USS Mahan.
Head to Toe - S7-E15
Factual error: Lt.Col. Sarah Coffey wears the USAF uniform, but an Army insignia on her left collar (the MI "splatted bug"). An Air Force officer wears identical insignia on right and left collars (a dark oak leaf, in this case).
Chosen answer: When landing on an aircraft carrier, a pilot "calls the ball" by confirming to the landing signal officer (LSO) that they have the carrier, and more specifically its landing guidance systems in sight. Carriers use a Fresnel lens system which is a light only visible at a certain angle, so if a pilot sees the "ball" they are at the correct altitude and glide slope for landing.
Sierra1 ★