I know, you tell me “it’s just a movie”. But I don’t care, it’s a lazy excuse for bad writing. Die Hard 2 has it in spades. The 1990 sequel to Die Hard starring Bruce Willis as Detective John McLane, the plot is some terrorists are plotting to break a drug lord out from the plane transporting him to the US and to make sure Dulles Airport cooperates, they shut down communication between ATC and all the planes trying to land and it happens to be a snowstorm making it impossible for the planes to land without ATC. So all those planes, including one carrying John’s ex-wife Holly, are stuck helplessly circling overhead. Unfortunately, the movie is full of plot holes so massive, you could fly a plane through them.
The Bad Guys’ Plot:
-There is a radio channel that is specifically opened for emergencies that all planes and airports have to be tuned into at all times. All that is needed is to go to a payphone, call National Airport (wasn’t Reagan National until 1998) and tell them to broadcast
-National Airport is only 27 miles from Dulles, they are so close together that the circling patterns force any plane over Dulles to enter National’s airspace to radio in. There’s also BWI and dozens of air bases, including Andrews which handles Air Force One, where they could land
-The FAA requires that all planes have enough fuel to get to their destination, divert, and keep circling for an extra 2 hours
-Even if runways are shut down by snow, pilots would land in such a situation no matter what. It’s way less risky to make an emergency landing in the snow than to keep the plane in the air while running low on fuel
-There is no way the government would land a prisoner at a major civilian airport on Christmas Eve. It would be a security and traffic nightmare
-The plot is entirely dependent on the weather, over which they have no control
The Exploding British Plane
-That beacon cannot be hacked, it is simply a beeping marker. The only way to make it read false data is to dig a 200 foot hole an drop it in
-If the plane was coming in too hot, onboard sensors would start beeping
-If planes exploded everytime they hit the runway without landing gear, flying would not be the safest means of travel
Ejector Seat
-Grenades have 6 second, not 30 second fuses
-Cargo Planes do not have ejector seats
Ending
-Jet fuel is extremely difficult to ignite, a zippo lighter would not do it
-The plane could easily outrun that burning trail
-There was no need to stop the plane as it took off, it would’ve quickly been intercepted by a pair of F-16s
-2 planes have now exploded on the runway. If a little snow was enough to shut down other airports, certainly debris being strewn all over would do that here.
Factual Errors
-There are no Pacific Bell payphones in Washington
-Dulles is way the hell out in Virginia, it would not be patrolled by the DC Police and contrary to what Fred Thompson says, those planes would not be dropping onto the White House’s lawn.
Ok, rant over