A pilot friend invited me to see American Made. There is a lot to love in this movie about, um, informal transportation networks from Colombia up through Central America and into the U.S. One of the stars is the Piper Aerostar, a fast piston twin. There is also a beautiful AStar helicopter. Progress in aviation is so sluggish that the filmmakers probably worked much harder to find 40-year-old cars than they did to find 40-year-old aircraft. All of the types being flown in the late 1970s and early 1980s are still flying today and some are even still being made!
The movie is realistic when it comes to single-engine procedures in a piston twin, short-field takeoffs, airline crew checklist procedures, etc. Barry Seal refers to a sectional chart and uses an E6B. The attention to detail and accuracy is better than in Sully, for example.
Non-pilots may appreciate the family scenes; what would it be like to be married to someone involved in some dangerous and plainly illegal activities? Also you’ll learn that you should bring in Colombian drug lords to plan your next party. If the movie is realistic (and why wouldn’t it be?), those guys really knew how to have a good time! (not using their own product, of course)
Readers: Did you see this movie? What did you think?
Related:
- Wikipedia page on Barry Seal, on whose life the movie is (somewhat loosely) based; see also Slate on what’s fact and what’s fiction
- Journal of Popular Studies (a.k.a. People) on a fatal Aerostar crash during filming (Tom Cruise apparently did some of the Aerostar flying for the movie, but was not involved with the accident)
I believe Mr. Cruise actually possesses a Rotorcraft rating here in the U.S.A.
I.e. he can fly helicopters.
Barry Seal used to take my friends up for parachute drops in his C120.
I think the movie mostly glossed over how the CIA and DEA developed amnesia when it came time for them to testify on his behalf.
I couldn’t reconcile the movie and the Wikipedia page info. I suppose it’s another example of entertainment glossing over the facts. On the other hand it was entertaining.
No spoilers please – going Wednesday night.
Barry Seal owned and operated a C123 maybe that is what Joe jumped out of.
Do you think the Aerostar could have actually made into the air, grinding through the top branches of the trees at the end of the landing strip? Pretty exciting even if its not plausible. Reminded me of the scene in Robert Masons ‘Chickenhawk’ where he makes his own LZ by mowing down bamboo saplings with his Huey’s rotor blades.
Joe: No. Maybe scraping the tree tops with the bottom of the fuselage, but not mowing through them as shown (artistic license!). Here’s a tree-trimming episode on landing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Airlines_Flight_1572