Author Topic: Best and Worst Movie Pilots  (Read 2400 times)

Offline Saxman

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Best and Worst Movie Pilots
« on: August 02, 2014, 09:10:54 PM »
Just as in real life, in the movies everybody loves the fighter pilots. However not all fighter jocks are created equal. Who do YOU think are the best and worst fighter pilots out of any film you've seen?

This can include historical and modern films, SciFi, hell, even fantasy if you can argue it as being a fighter pilot.

Best: Wedge Antilles, the Star Wars Original Trilogy. Only one man in film survived attacking TWO Death Stars AND managed to take down an Imperial Walker. And in a series where some pilots get a little supernatural help, he did it completely on his own.

Worst: Trudy Chacón, Avatar. I'm ignoring the fact that Avatar was a godawful film that tossed Pocahontas and Fern Gully into a blender and strained out the best parts of both, and focusing on one particular character: Besides the fact that with all its special effects budget Michelle Rodriguez was STILL more lifeless than the CGI characters, she's probably hands down THE dumbest fighter pilot in the history of film. Despite having a faster and more maneuverable ship than the bad guys, she decides to spend the entire fight hovering her fighter RIGHT IN THE FORWARD KILLZONE OF THE GIANT GUNSHIP. Just like anyone dumb enough to HO a Mosquito or 110 in the Mains, she DESERVED to die. The aliens riding the giant space pterodactyls showed a better understanding of air combat tactics!
Ron White says you can't fix stupid. I beg to differ. Stupid will usually sort itself out, it's just a matter of making sure you're not close enough to become collateral damage.

Offline NatCigg

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Re: Best and Worst Movie Pilots
« Reply #1 on: August 02, 2014, 09:17:33 PM »
captain lone star

Maverick

Offline Scherf

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Re: Best and Worst Movie Pilots
« Reply #2 on: August 02, 2014, 09:21:01 PM »
Denise Richards, Starship Troopers.

(What a steaming pile of toejam that flick was.)
... missions were to be met by the commitment of alerted swarms of fighters, composed of Me 109's and Fw 190's, that were strategically based to protect industrial installations. The inferior capabilities of these fighters against the Mosquitoes made this a hopeless and uneconomical effort. 1.JD KTB

Offline DaveBB

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Re: Best and Worst Movie Pilots
« Reply #3 on: August 02, 2014, 09:22:18 PM »
Lt. Pete Mitchel (Maverick), for not applying opposite rudder when his right engine flamed out.  Instead, he panicked and applied aileron.  The result?   His extremely talented RIO was killed in the ejection after saving Maverick by initiating the ejection sequence.  After entering a pilot error induced flat spin, there was not enough forward airspeed for the canopy to clear the ejection path.

Btw, a few RIOs did die from this.  A stop-gap measure of a delayed ejection sequence was initiated on the F-14 after these deaths resulted.  A tether was attached to the canopy.  Until the canopy cleared the ejection path, the seats would not fire.
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Offline mbailey

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Re: Best and Worst Movie Pilots
« Reply #4 on: August 02, 2014, 09:36:36 PM »
Worst.....Darth Vaders wingmen

Best  Jimmy Stewart as Lindburgh

Mbailey
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Offline Meatwad

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Re: Best and Worst Movie Pilots
« Reply #5 on: August 02, 2014, 09:57:24 PM »
Worst....Twilight. Period.
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Offline ridley1

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Re: Best and Worst Movie Pilots
« Reply #6 on: August 02, 2014, 09:59:49 PM »
Most superhuman pilot of all time:  Dude in redtails being hit in a HO with the 262 and not getting his cockpit repainted red

Offline Saxman

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Re: Best and Worst Movie Pilots
« Reply #7 on: August 02, 2014, 10:40:16 PM »
Most superhuman pilot of all time:  Dude in redtails being hit in a HO with the 262 and not getting his cockpit repainted red

Best explanation I can think of for that is maybe the shell itself missed and he got hit by the shrapnel instead.

I'm not saying it's a GOOD explanation, but it's AN explanation.
Ron White says you can't fix stupid. I beg to differ. Stupid will usually sort itself out, it's just a matter of making sure you're not close enough to become collateral damage.

Offline Vudu15

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Re: Best and Worst Movie Pilots
« Reply #8 on: August 02, 2014, 11:24:26 PM »
Redtails sucked all the way round so no explanation needed there anyhow.....
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Offline FLOOB

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Re: Best and Worst Movie Pilots
« Reply #9 on: August 02, 2014, 11:58:43 PM »
Worst? Maybe that cobra pilot on the top gear episode. So many helicopters have crashed while filming movies, there's got to be a list somewhere. I know chuck norris movies have had a lot of bad pilots.

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Offline Golfer

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Re: Best and Worst Movie Pilots
« Reply #10 on: August 03, 2014, 12:34:34 AM »
Best:  Doug Masters.  Flew the snake better than Jimmy Branson could have ever wished and took down a whole country's oil export supply just to get his dad back.

Worst isn't actually in the movies. I've flown with a few folks in the running for it though.

Offline Zimme83

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Re: Best and Worst Movie Pilots
« Reply #11 on: August 03, 2014, 06:17:01 AM »
Ah Iron Eagle, they fired a ton of SAM:s and AAM:s and the only thing capable of hitting the F-16 was an old 40mm bofors...  :cheers: to the gunner of that gun.
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Offline MrRiplEy[H]

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Re: Best and Worst Movie Pilots
« Reply #12 on: August 03, 2014, 08:25:07 AM »
This goes for the best AND the worst category: Flight of the Intruder Lt. Cmdr. Virgil 'Tiger' Cole/Lt. Jake 'Cool Hand' Grafton , flew over SAM city TWICE. 'Nobody would expect us to be crazy enough to go back'
« Last Edit: August 03, 2014, 08:41:09 AM by MrRiplEy[H] »
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Offline Shifty

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Re: Best and Worst Movie Pilots
« Reply #13 on: August 03, 2014, 08:30:43 AM »
Best: Bruno Stachel- Blue Max

Worst: Rafe "Hammer Down" McCawley- Pearl Harbor

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Offline artik

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Re: Best and Worst Movie Pilots
« Reply #14 on: August 03, 2014, 09:05:47 AM »
One of the plots I really liked is the British "Piece of Cake"... Good and solid plot with very few "errors", great videos and no US "superman" style production.

One of the movies I think are really bad is probably Perl Harbor (2011) - too many superheros - one man doing it all from BoB to Doolittle raid. IMHO horrible movie with nice graphics.

BTW: I prefer "Hot Shots!" over "Top Gun"
Artik, 101 "Red" Squadron, Israel