Helicopter Movie Cliches

[KBayDog]

MOVIE CLICHES FOR HELICOPTERS:

• In movieland, there's an abundance of corrupt helicopter pilots. Villains have no problem renting a helicopter complete with pilot who doesn't mind shooting total strangers, or being shot at.

• When a helicopter is hit by a bullet or rocket, it'll explode immediately if it contains a villain, but if the hero is on board, it will lose power, smoke will come out of the doors, and it'll just reach the ground in time for the hero to get clear then duck just at the moment it explodes.

• People standing outside a running helicopter can always talk in normal or just slightly louder than normal voices.

• A pursued hero, with the bad guys just yards behind him, can jump into a shutdown helicopter, run through the twenty-five item startup checklist, engage and spin up the rotors, take off and be out of pistol range before the bad guys catch up.

• Bullets shot at a helicopter bounce off the fiberglass and aluminum "fuselage" components but make neat little holes through the plexiglas bubble.

• When a helicopter's engine dies, the main rotor immediately stops and the helicopter drops straight to the ground. If a bad guy is flying, the helicopter disappears in a ball of flame, but good-guy pilots just get out, dust themselves off, and walk away.

• When a turbine-powered Bell Jet Ranger helicopter is shot at, it's engine coughs and sputters, chugs along for a little while as the helo staggers through the air uncertainly, and then crashes using the good/bad pilot algorithm noted above.

• Every helicopter shutting down emits the chirp-chirp-chirp sound of the rubber drive belts disengaging, in spite of the fact that only the famous Bell 47G (the Mash chopper) actually makes this sound.

• Piston helicopters always start up with screaming turbine engine sounds.

• Rambo-style pilots can fly with one hand on the cyclic stick while the other fires an automatic weapon out the door. The helicopter automatically knows when to change altititude to fly over obstacles without the pilot worrying about that pesky collective pitch control.

 

[Lawman]

- Helicopters can remain aloft, unrefueled for an indeffinate amount of time so long as they are flown by the Hero. Unless of course the Chopper was hit, in which case it will run out of fuel just 500 yards short of where he needs to be to be safe.

- Highspeed jets must close to short range in which the helicopter can shoot at them with its cannon. Jets are not allowed to engage Helicopters with Missiles unless they are attacking the Hero in a jet movie.

 

[rare21]

I was watching the old movie UHF the other day and the way Weird Al Yankovic started up a helo was switching the Searchlight switch from Stow to On. And then he adjusted the rearview mirror. man i love that movie!

 

[A4sForever]

MOVIE CLICHES FOR HELICOPTERS:

VERY CLEVER stuff, KBay ... rep points if the Nazi-system would let me .... it says I must spread some more "reputation" around. Where's Steve Wilkins when I need him ??? He's always good for spreading some more around ...

And you're a Marine ??? You used the word: "algorithm" ??? I am stunned ... stunned and amazed. You're obviously not related to one of my STUDs --- way, back when -- in bi-planes ... he was USMC, Polish, and an Aggie --- a triple threat.

BTW .... just wanted to warn you --- on the system spell-check --- "KBayDog" comes up as "lapdog". Just a head's up ....

 

[Schnugg]

Helicopters can go Supersonic, too.

 

[rare21]

Not a Cliche

Kbay be sure to do this while flying over P'Cola beach for me!

 

[KBayDog]

And you're a Marine ??? You used the word: "algorithm" ??? I am stunned ... stunned and amazed.

You give me too much credit, Master A4s. It is true that I am a Marine, but to make matters worse, I am also a product of the New Jersey public education system. All I did was learn a few basic "copy" and "paste" functions, which required enlisting the help of a few IT bubbas.

"Algorithm" - thats something having to do with the 2000 presidential election, right?

BTW .... just wanted to warn you --- on the system spell-check --- "KBayDog" comes up as "lapdog". Just a head's up ....

Bow wow...

 

[Lawman]

Helicopters can go Supersonic, too.

- Helicopters are capable of firing multiple types of warheads out of the same 3 tubes with unlimited inflight reloading.

 

[Fly Navy]

All helicopter movies try to become Top Gun... and fail.

Firebirds anyone?

 

[Schnugg]

Chuck Norris can fly any helicopter.

 

[rare21]

All helicopter movies try to become Top Gun... and fail.

Firebirds anyone?

yeah i wouldnt be proud of a movie that yells: "I want some butts!" might be confused with Brokeback Mountain

 

[KBayDog]

All helicopter movies try to become Top Gun... and fail.

Thank goodness.

 

[Fly Navy]

yeah i wouldnt be proud of a movie that yells: "I want some butts!" might be confused with Brokeback Mountain

Hey, Top Gun definitely has its gay moments, but that movie was a smash hit with... everyone. Firebirds? Come on, it's the Iron Eagle of the helicopter world. Now, We Were Soldiers had some nice helo action, landings in hot LZs and such. Good stuff.

 

[phrogdriver]

Helicopters can chop anything with their rotor blades. Eg "The Last Boy Scout," where the bad guy falls through a main rotor, chopping him to bits, while the helo was okay. Also, "Tommorrow Never Dies," where a helo chases James Bond's motorcycle around city streets, and eventually does a slow air taxi, chopping things to bits with the nose about 45-deg down. I think 007 killed it by throwing something in the tailrotor--yet another cliche.

 

[Lawman]

Helicopters can chop anything with their rotor blades. Eg "The Last Boy Scout," where the bad guy falls through a main rotor, chopping him to bits, while the helo was okay. Also, "Tommorrow Never Dies," where a helo chases James Bond's motorcycle around city streets, and eventually does a slow air taxi, chopping things to bits with the nose about 45-deg down. I think 007 killed it by throwing something in the tailrotor--yet another cliche.

Broken Arrow. Where instead of using the door gun to shoot the bad guys they instead opt to "Give these guys a haircut" and dismember half the guys on top of the train. However it must have been a highly intricate and involved move, since right after that the pilot flew into the side of a mountain next to a tunnel.