Respect for Tom Cruise. These visuals are amazing too.

https://youtu.be/Um0aZKbpe1Y

My friend built the camera mounts for the helicopter. He said there was a reasonable amount of nervousness regarding that stunt. You can only wonder what the insurance premium from Lloyds was...

Extremely cool. I had read that he suffers from dyslexia and was functionally illiterate as a young man. Very driven individual.

Now where's that new Top Gun movie damnit!

I understand somebody like Jackie Chan or Chuck Norris doing their own (physical) stunts.
But why take the risk of having a big-money celebrity do something he is admittedly only marginally qualified for,
instead of a professional helicopter stunt pilot (who may have done this shit dozens of times)?
Publicity gimmick or ego, can't decide which.

Respect! Why would I every fly my plane myself as I am marginally qualified to do so.

Apparently it's his thing, and I'm told he does all his painful physical stunts, too. I'm sure the studio would LOVE it if it wasn't his thing, but at this point they have to accept it. I never really liked him as an actor, though he was brilliant in Burn After Reading.

Some actors are fine pilots, like doctors and lawyers; some of them can be good, not many, but some. My personal favorite was Cliff Robertson. He did all the flying in the 633 Squadron, the one with the Mosquito bombers flying down the fiord to bomb a Nazi holiday camp or something. Star Wars Death Star attack is a direct rip off of this movie, a shameless total rip off. Well the flying was real and the Mosquito is a fabulous plane, but not exactly the easiest to fly. He did all his stunts and flying. Personally I am envious, a twin Merlin powered 400+ kt tiny twin engine fighter/bomber, what's not to like.

Of all the aerial stunts, the one I personally like the best is the Beech 18 flying through the billboard in its "A Mad, Mad World." Frank Tallman did that one. He also flew the frankenplane in "Flight of the Phoenix." He died on that one, apparently liked to get a bit lit on booze before stunts. Then there is one of the more interesting stunt pilots, Harrison Ford, he did that cool Husky landing at Orange County and the par 3 landing in Santa Monica.

Litle blurb about the billboard:
The plane flying thru a billboard in "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World" was done in Irvine, California, on Dec. 19, 1962. An invoice from Tallmantz -- the company that owned and flew the plane -- shows that the Beechcraft D-18 aircraft took off from what is now John Wayne airport in Orange County, Calif., and was returned to that airport, damaged, less than one hour later. The production log lists the location as Laguna Canyon Road. And there is now have a statement from a former Tallmantz employee who says he erected the sign in Irvine, just east of the John Wayne Airport, near no-longer-there Lion Country Safari. In the forward to Frank Tallman's book, "Flying The Old Planes," Joe Brown wrote:
"In one scene, he was to fly a twin-engined Beechcraft through a billboard. A practice sign, using cloth tapes, was set up in an Orange County pasture and Tallman flew through it several times a day for three weeks. Then he switched to a real billboard in which the usual wood or metal base was replaced with Styrofoam and balsa wood strips.... Smashing through the sign at 160 mph before the cameras, the right engine sputtered dead. Paper, wood, and other debris splattered around Tallman in the cockpit. The front windscreen was shattered.... Tallman radioed the nearby Orange County Airport for an O.K. to make an emergency landing and got in without injury."

The vid won't play directly, go watch it here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlC1Fboq5vI

Damn, Cruise has my respect, all the more because he did it despite his overall lack of experience, insurance, blah blah. I kinda thought he was a poser of a pilot, guess not.

dogpilot wrote:Some actors are fine pilots, like doctors and lawyers; some of them can be good, not many, but some. My personal favorite was Cliff Robertson. He did all the flying in the 633 Squadron, the one with the Mosquito bombers flying down the fiord to bomb a Nazi holiday camp or something. Star Wars Death Star attack is a direct rip off of this movie, a shameless total rip off. Well the flying was real and the Mosquito is a fabulous plane, but not exactly the easiest to fly. He did all his stunts and flying. Personally I am envious, a twin Merlin powered 400+ kt tiny twin engine fighter/bomber, what's not to like.

Of all the aerial stunts, the one I personally like the best is the Beech 18 flying through the billboard in its "A Mad, Mad World." Frank Tallman did that one. He also flew the frankenplane in "Flight of the Phoenix." He died on that one, apparently liked to get a bit lit on booze before stunts. Then there is one of the more interesting stunt pilots, Harrison Ford, he did that cool Husky landing at Orange County and the par 3 landing in Santa Monica.

This is great, I never heard of either of these movies, watched 633 Squadron last night, just awesome, thanks!

Was never into Tom Cruise movies much but that is also very impressive, not nearly as cool as those old bombers in 633 though!

A multi-billion $$$ company, produced a YouTube clip to tease a movie.

Gents, you've been had.

Nothing he did in the clip was exceedingly-extraordinary.
Now this of course is coming from a guy who flies UH60, and has practiced "maneuvers."

I don't care for the guy, but anyone who goes out and furthers their skill by adding ratings, is okay in my books.

Nark wrote:A multi-billion $$$ company, produced a YouTube clip to tease a movie.

Gents, you've been had.

Nothing he did in the clip was exceedingly-extraordinary.
Now this of course is coming from a guy who flies UH60, and has practiced "maneuvers."

I don't care for the guy, but anyone who goes out and furthers their skill by adding ratings, is okay in my books.

Nark you are dead on, it's part of the marketing campaign.

But if liking a professionally produced video of somebody flying a cool helicopter covered with badass cameras through a narrow canyon and dropping spiral into a bowl is being had... I'll admit I'd been had. More please.

Sometimes I think the "making-of" documentaries about films are more interesting than the actual films.

Now let me show you my Cub covered with GoPros, piloted by ME, doing some shit...prepare to lift your tongue off the floor. Someone should forward it to Cruise too.

Let’s see it Zzz.....
We’re waiting. I’m sure it will be better than TC in helio....

SquareHead wrote:Let’s see it Zzz.....
We’re waiting. I’m sure it will be better than TC in helio....

Keep on waiting... it will take him a year to edit.

SquareHead wrote:Let’s see it Zzz.....
We’re waiting. I’m sure it will be better than TC in helio....

Haaaaaaa...I was just kidding. I got nothing that cool. If I did it would take 5 years to edit.