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Finder of things, Doer of stuff
Has anyone heard of the new imax movie called "fighter pilots"? I Hear that it's really good and I really want to see it in an Imax theater!
Aparently twice a year 6 countries get together in the nevada desert with about 120 planes (f15 f18 etc) and have war games. They get up there and really dogfight and more.. So the millitary lets Imax in and they put cameras in the cockpits, on the ground in chase planes etc. Apparently they even use live ammo to destroy some mock convoys... of course with cameras right in the middle of everything....
Can't wait.... except the nearest Imax is atleast a 1400k drive... a 1 1/2 hour plane ride plus 3 hours to and from airport (including security) makes for an expensive movie ticket.
Funny note, I keep seeing running times listed at anywhere from 40 min to 51min.
Here's one description I found:
Fighter Pilot: Operation Red Flag is a film about a two-week, realistic combat training exercise involving the aerial forces of the United States and its allies, and the training they receive that saves pilots' lives in the combat aviation arena.
Established in 1975, Red Flag is conducted on the vast bombing and gunnery ranges at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, as one of a series of advanced training programs administered by the Air Warfare Center and Nellis AFB through the 414th Combat Training Squadron.
And here's pat of a review:
Five minutes into "Fighter Pilot" -- which costs $8 for adults, $6.50 for kids and seniors -- your stomach will be doing the rumba when an F-15 Eagle zooms straight up into the sky (the land beneath going, going, gone) and then . . . starts . . . spinning.
Full disclosure: I actually said, "Wheee!"
Written and directed by Imax vet Stephen Low, the 40-minute film follows Capt. John Stratton -- the grandson of a World War II flying ace -- as he heads to Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada to take part in Operation Red Flag, a combat-readiness program for the United States and allies such as Germany, England, Italy and Canada. Red Flag is the final training preparation for pilots and ground crews before they are sent into actual combat.
The squadrons are briefed on the day's mission, there are mock unnamed "bad guys" lurking in the skies and soon enough --
Dogfight!
-- and Stratton's F-15 Eagle is zooming around with attack planes, fighter planes, bomber planes, F-16s, A-1os, B-52s, oh my! Although no one's getting killed at Red Flag -- this is only a test, and the planes fire flares instead of rockets -- it's all taken very seriously, as well it should be. "My grandfather said that going to war is worse than I could possibly imagine," says Stratton. "And now I agree with him."
Okay, good point, but let's be honest: There's a reason "Fighter Pilot" is an Imax movie and not some sobering PBS documentary, and that's because pitching and rolling in a jet and the "chaos" of simulated battle between monstrous instruments of war looks spectacular on a screen that's six stories high and, according to a museum spokesman, "the width of a wingspan of the Concorde -- 82 feet, 10 inches."
The movie's most chilling moment happens not in the air but on the ground: a tank's-eye view of an oncoming onslaught of planes, each one dropping very real bombs. The planes fly closer, the explosions get closer -- and those Imax speakers get LOUDER -- until finally the tank and the camera (and you) are engulfed in roaring flames. (On second thought, the movie is a great recruiter for the Air Force but maybe not so much for the Army.)
For queasy folks, a scene of soldiers parachuting out of the rear of a cargo plane -- oh, and a sequence of Stratton zipping through mountains -- is high on the puke meter, and a subtly unnerving scene involving a midair refueling is gonna be a killer for anyone afraid of heights.
>end of quote
Aparently twice a year 6 countries get together in the nevada desert with about 120 planes (f15 f18 etc) and have war games. They get up there and really dogfight and more.. So the millitary lets Imax in and they put cameras in the cockpits, on the ground in chase planes etc. Apparently they even use live ammo to destroy some mock convoys... of course with cameras right in the middle of everything....
Can't wait.... except the nearest Imax is atleast a 1400k drive... a 1 1/2 hour plane ride plus 3 hours to and from airport (including security) makes for an expensive movie ticket.
Funny note, I keep seeing running times listed at anywhere from 40 min to 51min.
Here's one description I found:
Fighter Pilot: Operation Red Flag is a film about a two-week, realistic combat training exercise involving the aerial forces of the United States and its allies, and the training they receive that saves pilots' lives in the combat aviation arena.
Established in 1975, Red Flag is conducted on the vast bombing and gunnery ranges at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, as one of a series of advanced training programs administered by the Air Warfare Center and Nellis AFB through the 414th Combat Training Squadron.
And here's pat of a review:
Five minutes into "Fighter Pilot" -- which costs $8 for adults, $6.50 for kids and seniors -- your stomach will be doing the rumba when an F-15 Eagle zooms straight up into the sky (the land beneath going, going, gone) and then . . . starts . . . spinning.
Full disclosure: I actually said, "Wheee!"
Written and directed by Imax vet Stephen Low, the 40-minute film follows Capt. John Stratton -- the grandson of a World War II flying ace -- as he heads to Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada to take part in Operation Red Flag, a combat-readiness program for the United States and allies such as Germany, England, Italy and Canada. Red Flag is the final training preparation for pilots and ground crews before they are sent into actual combat.
The squadrons are briefed on the day's mission, there are mock unnamed "bad guys" lurking in the skies and soon enough --
Dogfight!
-- and Stratton's F-15 Eagle is zooming around with attack planes, fighter planes, bomber planes, F-16s, A-1os, B-52s, oh my! Although no one's getting killed at Red Flag -- this is only a test, and the planes fire flares instead of rockets -- it's all taken very seriously, as well it should be. "My grandfather said that going to war is worse than I could possibly imagine," says Stratton. "And now I agree with him."
Okay, good point, but let's be honest: There's a reason "Fighter Pilot" is an Imax movie and not some sobering PBS documentary, and that's because pitching and rolling in a jet and the "chaos" of simulated battle between monstrous instruments of war looks spectacular on a screen that's six stories high and, according to a museum spokesman, "the width of a wingspan of the Concorde -- 82 feet, 10 inches."
The movie's most chilling moment happens not in the air but on the ground: a tank's-eye view of an oncoming onslaught of planes, each one dropping very real bombs. The planes fly closer, the explosions get closer -- and those Imax speakers get LOUDER -- until finally the tank and the camera (and you) are engulfed in roaring flames. (On second thought, the movie is a great recruiter for the Air Force but maybe not so much for the Army.)
For queasy folks, a scene of soldiers parachuting out of the rear of a cargo plane -- oh, and a sequence of Stratton zipping through mountains -- is high on the puke meter, and a subtly unnerving scene involving a midair refueling is gonna be a killer for anyone afraid of heights.
>end of quote
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