Opening airplane scene from Goldeneye

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Silly question but I'm in quarantine from COVID and not much work to be done. Watching Bond films. OK the opening scene from Goldeneye has an airplane (with engine running) falling off a cliff. Bond knows that is his only chance of escape, so he is riding a motorcycle off the cliff. He dives through the air, manages to land in the plane, and then takes control of the plane just before it crashes (of course).

I do not expect Bond films to be very realistic. I get that. But I started thinking--wouldn't a heavier object, especially one that was aerodynamically shaped like a plane, fall to the earth faster than Bond would?

Here is the scene--this clip starts when Bond chases after the plane.
 
Umm, weight has nothing to do with the rate an object falls to the ground. All objects, regardless of weight and exclusive of outside forces, fall at the rate of 10m/s²
True, but only up to a speed where wind resistance matches the force of gravity. Skydivers without a parachute reach a terminal speed of about 160 MPH if I remember correctly. The airplane could have had a slower terminal speed because of its size and because of the propeller acting as an air brake instead of propelling.

Now if we want to debate the improbable physics in James Bond films, how about a complete 1964 Lincoln Continental with a trunk full of gold and a dead body in the back seat being crushed into a little cube and being dropped into a little Ford Ranchero, which barely sags? Or shooting out the window of a Lockheed Jetstar and having a portly villain swept off his feet and flying out through that little window?
 
Various effects are used in filmmaking to achieve the desired effects on the screen. Reverse motion photography, or reverse action is a frequently used cinematography effect that can be produced in a variety of ways like if you want to place a pilot back inside a falling aircraft first have the pilot bail from the aircraft and then reverse the action...

 
A tucked human can probably fall faster due to less CdA. Perigrine falcons can dive at 200+ MPH when they tuck in tight.
 
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Umm, weight has nothing to do with the rate an object falls to the ground. All objects, regardless of weight and exclusive of outside forces, fall at the rate of 10m/s²
The acceleration is 9.8 m/sec^2 ... and then acceleration stops when terminal velocity is reached, which is dependant on the objects aerodynamic CdA.
 
Says here that stunt was real.

 
Falling from an airplane is easy stuff. I like the 4-stroke motorcycles that have the sound of a 2-stroke engine dubbed in for effect. You just don't get a bbraaaaap sound from a thumper.

The original Rambo movie was great when John J. was riding the 4-stroke Yamaha XT-250 but they made it sound like a 2-stroke. Here's the best 3 minutes in the history of cinema :)

 
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I have no idea how astronomical the odds are of this, but it is theoretically possible then? For a human to have caught up with a falling plane?
Interesting....

I guess the next question would be, can a human direct his line of flight to hit a target like Bond did in this scene? I mean, falling faster than a plane doesn't do much unless you can land in the cockpit and take control of the craft. If you can't do that, you're gonna go splat....just before the plane does.

A tucked human can probably fall faster due to less CdA. Perigrine falcons can dive at 200+ MPH when they tuck in tight.
 
Falling from an airplane is easy stuff. I like the 4-stroke motorcycles that have the sound of a 2-stroke engine dubbed in for effect. You just don't get a bbraaaaap sound from a thumper.

The original Rambo movie was great when John J. was riding the 4-stroke Yamaha XT-250 but they made it sound like a 2-stroke. Here's the best 3 minutes in the history of cinema :)


When you consider it was filmed in 1968, this is pretty doggone good too.

And having grown up in the San Francisco Bay Area, I'm amazed how small town SF looks. Looks like the days from the same era I was lowering my IQ at rock concerts at Winterland and Filmore West.

Don't even ask about the all night long New Year's Eve concert that lasted until New Year's Day morning. I'm surprised I was able to remember my own name! But that was life in the SF Bay Area in the late '60s.

Scott

 
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This is James Bond where the unbelievable becomes believable. How can anyone get shot while fighting on top of a train and fall hundreds of feet into a shallow river only to wake up next to a beautiful woman who has been tending to his recovery?
 
Most airplanes are inherently stable. If they fall off a cliff in any orientation, they will gradually assume straight & level flight, more or less. Without the engine running it will be a glide with a descent rate. A falling person reaches terminal velocity (around 100 - 120 mph depending on body position) in a few seconds which is much faster than the descent rate of the airplane. So yes, Bond could easily catch up to the airplane vertically. However, the airplane (due to its inherent stability) would not be falling, but flying (gliding forward) where Bond would be free-falling more or less straight down. He might not be able to alter his own freefall path enough to catch the airplane. Also if he did catch the airplane, he'd be descending so much faster than it, he would find it hard to stop himself at the airplane.

By comparison, in the recent (illegal) Red Bull stunt where pilots attempted to swap airplanes in flight, they had to modify the airplanes to maintain a steep dive without anyone at the controls. That would mitigate both of the issues above. But the modification is a huge drag plate installed beneath the airplane - not just adjusting the controls or trim to a certain position. The stunt is impossible without that modification.

There's a similar stunt you can find on Youtube where wing-suit flyers fly right into an airplane in flight. The wing-suit enables the person falling to slow his descent rate a bit and achieve some horizontal velocity. That makes the stunt possible.
 
I have no idea how astronomical the odds are of this, but it is theoretically possible then? For a human to have caught up with a falling plane?
Interesting....

I guess the next question would be, can a human direct his line of flight to hit a target like Bond did in this scene? I mean, falling faster than a plane doesn't do much unless you can land in the cockpit and take control of the craft. If you can't do that, you're gonna go splat....just before the plane does.
The article I linked in post #9 said it was really done by a person. Did you see the thread in this forum about the Red Bull plane swap stunt?
 
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No, I'll look for it later.

I read up on the Bond stunt. Evidently one guy rode the motorcycle over the cliff, and another stunt man actually went through the air. Found a website or two dedicated to Bond stunts.

The article I linked in post #9 said it was really done by a person. Did you see the thread in this forum about the Red Bull plane swap stunt?
 
Silly question but I'm in quarantine from COVID and not much work to be done. Watching Bond films. OK the opening scene from Goldeneye has an airplane (with engine running) falling off a cliff. Bond knows that is his only chance of escape, so he is riding a motorcycle off the cliff. He dives through the air, manages to land in the plane, and then takes control of the plane just before it crashes (of course).

I do not expect Bond films to be very realistic. I get that. But I started thinking--wouldn't a heavier object, especially one that was aerodynamically shaped like a plane, fall to the earth faster than Bond would?

Here is the scene--this clip starts when Bond chases after the plane.
IIRC that scene (person skydiving towards and entering the aircraft) was an actual stunt.
 
Watch the 74 gear on YouTube. The host Kelsey is a 747 pilot and just covered this scene.
 
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