AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2013 - 72

don’t bend their wings or other components, apart from the eyes and mouth.
Operating within this restriction left animators with the challenge of giving life to
a character who can’t move his arms and
whose face is at any given moment partially
obscured by a propeller. Artists also had to
be wary of airport interactions; the risk of
clipping wing tips was as real as it is for
pilots on the ramp.
In the air, the characters generally
behave like real aircraft. The use of a fullsize computer model of the course and
point-of-view camera “footage” adds an air
of authenticity to Dusty’s run at a Red Bull
Air Race-style qualifier. And you won’t see
Dusty doing pushups to bulk up for the big
race. Aviation adviser Sean Bautista said
the initial idea for Dusty’s preparations
included a Rocky-Balboa-style training
sequence, with the agplane pulling a fuel
truck behind him and working out to get
stronger. “When I first saw it, I didn’t
get it,” he said. He wondered why Dusty
wouldn’t prepare like an actual racer The
resulting sequence shows the crop duster
getting in racing shape with the help of a
mechanic and advice on maneuvering from
Skipper.
Pilots may notice references to trading
altitude for airspeed, vertical wind shear,
and wake turbulence (“swirlies”). Some
also will empathize with small-town Dusty
in his first encounter with New York City
airspace and procedures. Of course, the
filmmakers make some allowances for the
sake of the story. Pilots inclined to root out
inaccuracies will find them, but Hall said
they walked a fine line of being close to the
truth but keeping it entertaining. When
one aviation journalist pointed out to the
director that some symbolically significant
paint would never appear on the back of a
propeller as depicted, he stood his ground.

Pilots inclined to root
out inaccuracies will
find them, but...they
walked a fine line of
being close to the
truth but keeping it
entertaining.
72 | AOPA PILOT August 2013

NOT A GROUND LESSON. Despite the rigorous research that went into making it,
Planes is more invested in entertaining than
educating. Written, directed, and produced
by nonpilots, it is free of the evangelistic
imperative that often characterizes media
from within the aviation industry. For a
general audience, that may be to its advantage: It uses aviation terms without feeling
like a ground-school lesson, and will have
a wider reach than traditional aviation
media. The aviation community has welcomed a movie that can get people excited
about flying, but the long-term effect on the
industry is uncertain. Kids may get excited
about Planes, but will they ever learn to fly
one? The answer has more to do with their
exposure to the real world of airplanes than
the animated one.

SKIPPER, an F4U Corsair (above), is based

on real-world aircraft, while Dusty is a
composite of an Air Tractor AT–502,
Cessna AGwagon, and a PZL-Mielec
Dromader.
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2013

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