Goofs for
Executive Decision (1996)

photos

board

trailer

details

• Factual errors: The plane departs from Athens just before sunset (it's daytime in the boarding lounge), when London would still be in full daylight. But the London bombing scene, supposedly at about the same time, is at night.
  
  
• Continuity: In the next London scene, at the U.S. Embassy, we see a sky that is not yet fully dark, and only a few lights are on.
  
  
• Factual errors: The hijacking begins soon after the Fasten Seat Belts sign is turned off after takeoff. The flying time to Washington is about 8 hours. (This is confirmed by dialogue a little later.) Yet not only during the hijacking but at every time we see the plane's exterior from then until just before reaching the US coast, the sky shows that it's still sunset. The time for a sunset to progress from Athens to Washington is about 6.5 hours; only a supersonic plane could keep up with it.
  
  

• Continuity: If it's sunset in some part of Europe it should be early afternoon in Washington, but we now see a clock labeled "WASHINGTON, DC" and showing 6:38. This is followed by a scene at Andrews Air Force Base where the short shadows are correct for early afternoon. All the action described so far in relation to the hijacking is supposed to occur within a couple of hours.
  
  
• Errors in geography: Andrews Air Force Base is not surrounded by high mountains and palm trees.
  
  
• Factual errors: In some shots the sunset light on the plane is coming directly from its right, which is impossible on a westward flight in the northern mid-latitudes.
  
  
• Continuity: The sunset light on the plane is not consistent.
  
  
• Miscellaneous: The computer navigation display on the Hail Mary plane shows its route doubling back by about 1,000 miles, requiring it to catch up with the 747 over that distance. This would waste a great deal of precious time and no reason is given for doing it.
  
  
• Continuity: That display and the Pentagon's both have grid lines at latitude 45 north. On one display they're north of the line, and on the other, south.
  
  
• Continuity: 747s don't have their flaps down and engines idling while at cruising altitude/speed.
  
  
• Continuity: Supposedly flying at 38,500 feet, the plane encounters weather not seen above 25,000 feet.
  
  
• Factual errors: The script calls for assistance from the Eisenhower battle group. USS Dwight D. Eisenhower is CVN-69. The scenes from the carrier were actually filmed on the USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74). The 74 hull number is clearly visible in the film. The Eisenhower was in the yards at Newport News during the time of filming.
  
  
• Continuity: The needle in the ohmmeter connected to the bomb doesn't match its reflection in the mirror.
  
  
• Factual errors: At the indicated time of year, the nights in London are over 10 hours long and twilight lasts about 35 minutes. A scene set at Gatwick Airport about 2 hours before the hijacked plane arrives in Washington takes place in darkness, which is correct if it was about sunset at the time of hijacking. But the takeoff time from Gatwick referred to is about 6:30 am, long after sunrise, and indeed we see this plane flying in daylight, still before the hijacked plane reaches Washington.
  
  
• Plot holes: Nagi's hand-drawn target map shows no ground features but rivers, is labeled in Arabic, and is only for his own use, yet for no reason it also shows "WASHINGTON, D.C." in English... enabling Jean to understand its significance.
  
  
• Factual errors: A fraction of a second after the window is shot out, there is a bright flash outside it for no reason.
  
  
• Continuity: The lights surrounding the runway at Dulles change.
  
  
• Errors in geography: The Dulles International Airport fire trucks are labeled "DULLES MUNICIPAL AIRPORT." Other vehicles are listed as Mobile Regional Airport or Municipal Airport, and the police cars are of the Mobile, Ala. Police Department and are not painted to match the Metro PD's cars. The movie was shot in Mobile.
  
  
• Audio/visual unsynchronized: Grant does not use reverse thrust after landing, but just pulls the throttles back to cut the engines. When he does so, the engine sound rises as if he was applying power (presumably reverse thrust).
  
  
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: It has been claimed that a barometric trigger would not work, because the trigger was in the pressurized section of the hold. The pressure inside an aircraft's cabin does decrease as the plane increases in altitude, although at a slower rate than the pressure outside the plane decreases.
  
  
• Continuity: During the crash landing at Frederick airport there is a shot where the left side inboard engine comes off as the wing crashes into some parked planes. However, in the next shot the wing still has both of its engines intact. Finally, at the end of the scene, the engine is missing again.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When the Special Forces team is setting up the cameras and Grant is plotting the locations of the terrorists on the computer, the first terrorist (in 1st Class) is labeled as carrying a Skorpion machine-pistol (9mm). When we see him chatting with a second terrorist, he is carrying a AK47 or AKM assault rifle (7.62mm).
  
  
• Plot holes: The Posse Comitatus act forbids the military from being used in a civilian law enforcement setting without expressed orders from the President of the United States. This order was never given.
  
  
• Continuity: When the tail lights of the aircraft were to be used for Morse Code, a manual is referred to. The movie takes place on a 747-200 model aircraft. The manual is for a 747-400 aircraft.
  
  
• Factual errors: The type of airplane used in the hijacking is a Boeing 747-200. The digital cockpit shots and absence of a Flight Engineer indicate a 747-400.
  
  
• Factual errors: The lower level galley is an optional feature for DC-10 and TriStar aircraft and would not be found on a Boeing 747.
  
  
• Factual errors: Armed federal air marshals aren't listed as such on passenger manifests, since their modus operandi (and the extent to which they are used on commercial airplanes) is classified.
  
  
• Miscellaneous: When Grant enters the cockpit to find both pilots dead, the first officer isn't wearing his safety belt, which is extremely unlikely.
  
  
• Factual errors: In the scene where the airport crash trucks are responding from their station, city fire trucks (the red ones) are responding through the station - in the back doors and out the front - to make the shot look like a lot of rigs are responding. If city rigs were responding to the airport, they would be called a significant time after the air-side rigs were sent, and would report to a holding point somewhere other than the air-side fire station.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: Shortly after the pilot discovers the American soldiers, he goes back to the cockpit. A section of blue screen can briefly be seen at one point.
  
  
• Factual errors: When the Remora aircraft is revealed in it's hangar, the red anticollision beacon on top of the fuselage is flashing. An airplane's anticollision beacon is only activated when the engine is running.
  
  
• Continuity: The interior views of the Remora aircraft show the passenger cabin immediately behind the cockpit. The computer schematic of the aircraft shows the passenger cabin at the rear of the aircraft separated from the cockpit by the transfer tube.
  
  
• Factual errors: When the lower avionics hatch of the 747 is opened, it is covered with frost. Frost would not accumulate on the exterior of an airplane unless it was flying through clouds or precipitation when the temperature is below freezing.
  
  
• Errors in geography: During the flight training scenes, he is supposed to be at a small airport near Washington, DC. However, we can see mountains and palm trees in the background.
  
  
• Factual errors: The AN/PVS-7 night vision goggles used by Cahill to see the lasers guarding the bomb detonator do offer extremely limited depth perception due to it's two-into-one design. While experience with the system can help overcome this deficiency, it is doubtful that Cahill would have had the experience necessary. Without depth perception, it would have been nearly impossible to defuse the bomb.
  
  

Related Links