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Anachronisms (19) |
Continuity (6) |
Errors in geography (1) |
Factual errors (11) |
Revealing mistakes (1) |
Spoilers (1)
Anachronisms
In one early scene of the movie, a shot of a New York City street shows a taxi cab which features an advertisement for the film The Revenant. The Revenant was released in 2015; Sully takes place in 2009.
Tom Hanks running through Times Square passes numerous "Aladdin" posters/flags (on lampposts). "Aladdin" opened on Broadway in 2014.
In some aerial shots of LaGuardia, planes painted in the current liveries of United Airlines and American Airlines can be seen. However, those liveries weren't introduced until 2010 and 2013, respectively.
In an early scene showing LaGuardia airport, a Continental Airlines Boeing 737 is shown with Split Scimitar Winglets that were not introduced on commercial aircraft until 2014. The "Miracle on the Hudson" took placed in 2009.
During the film a Toyota Prius V taxi was featured in the streets the 'Sully' was walking around in. The film was set 2009-2010, the Toyota Prius V was launched in 2011.
There's a scene with the Airbus at the gate in New York- LaGuardia. Next to the Airbus, there is another aircraft in American Airlines's new livery. The new livery for American was rolled out in 2013; the film takes place in 2009.
In an overhead shot of LGA an American Airline CRJ is shown parked next to the UsAirways A320. This is correct today, but in 2009 the two Un-merged airlines were at different terminals at LGA.
Sully is seen in Times Square, jogging past people sitting at outdoor tables in the pedestrian plaza. The pedestrian plaza in Times Square was first opened in late May 2009, several months after the events of this film (which takes place in January 2009). The metal tables and chairs seen in the film didn't appear in Times Square until August 2009.
During the hearing when the simulation was run, right before touchdown, you could see the departure end markings (single white line on either side, then double white line, indicating the aircraft was almost out of runway, but when the camera cut back to a forward looking shot, they had plenty of runway ahead of them.
Several scenes show a Manhattan skyline that is different than what it looked like in 2009.
Particularly, the skyscraper known as 432 Park Avenue is easily noticeable in a few different shots. Its construction began in 2012.
While riding through NYC, a marquee displays an upcoming Cole Swindell event. Swindell wasn't on the music scene until around 2013.
When Sully is jogging through Times Square, An advertisement is shown for Party City's Halloween display. However, this film took place in January, nine months prior to Halloween (or two months too late).
An American Airlines Boeing 737-800, seen on the ramp, is painted in the livery of "The New American" introduced in 2013, about four years after the "Miracle on the Hudson".
In the aircraft pushback scene, the aircraft is powered by IAE V2500 engines and in most other shots, particularly the ones involving the birdstrike and glide before ditching, the aircraft is shown having CFM 56 engines.
In a scene of 2009 NYC there is a Ford C-Max cab. The US C Max not introduced until 2012 as a 2013 model.
When Sully is jogging at night in Times Square he stops at West 44th Street and you can clearly see the marquee of The Shubert Theater with Matilda playing, Matilda didn't open until 4/11/13.
A United Airlines Boeing 737-800, seen parked at a gate, is equipped with retrofitted Split Scimitar Winglets produced by Aviation Partners Boeing. These would not appear on a United 737 or any other airliner until 2014, about five years after the "Miracle on the Hudson".
Views of Weehawken, NJ waterfront show Lennar's "The Avenue", a newly opened condominium. Construction on that building hadn't begun at the time of the landing in the Hudson.
The USS Intrepid Air Sea and Space Museum is depicted as having a large pavilion on the aft portion of its flight deck. This pavilion was built to house the Space Shuttle Enterprise between 2012 and 2013, long after the Miracle on the Hudson in 2009.
Continuity
In the flashback to Sully's Air Force days , and during the straight-in approach to runway "22" he states to be at a heading of "020" after clearly having the runway in sight .This is inaccurate, as the numbers "22" for a runway indicate its magnetic heading, which means "220" is the correct final approach heading . "020" is 200 degrees to the left of the actual course or 160 degrees to its right, which renders the runway approximately behind the aircraft and thus unseen in the frame.
When the Airbus is pushing back from the Jetway, we see the flight attendants giving the safety demo, you can clearly see that the forward left boarding door is disarmed (arming lever is up). This needs to be armed in order for plane to push back. Also, the slides would not deploy at that door when opened after the landing.
when the ferry team heads out into the Hudson to rescue the passengers, as the passengers get to the boat, Barry Leonard Jeffrey Nordling is given a hat to warm up, the hat disappears for a scene and appears back immediately afterwards.
When passengers are being rescued one man is wearing the shirt of one of the pilots, yet later a few moments later, both the pilot and co-pilot are wearing their jackets, shirts and ties.
In the flashback to Sully's Air Force days, he is instructed to land the F-4E at Nellis AFB on "Runway 2-1." But when the aircraft is actually touching down, it is clearly happening on Runway 22.
In the sit-down interview with Katie Couric, her left hand is shown without a ring on her ring finger. The second time she is shown, she has a ring on her ring finger of her left hand.
Errors in geography
When Sully looked out of the room window, In Manhattan, at the street below where reporters and news vans were gathered at least two of the news vans were from San Francisco television affiliates (KRON 4 and KTVU 2) instead of New York affiliates.
Factual errors
In the scene in the air traffic control facility, the flight is shown on a radar scope as "USA1549". US Airways and America West Airlines merged in 2005, and they received a single operator certificate from the FAA in October of 2008. Since this accident occurred in 2009, the ICAO identification (which is what is displayed on radar scopes) would have been "AWE", which is a throwback to America West. So the radar scope should have shown "AWE1549" instead of "USA1549".
When Sully is ditching the aircraft on the Hudson, he is shown to be looking out the front cockpit window and seeing the river approaching. In reality, he had the aircraft at quite a steep pitch, so though he could have seen the river approaching out his side window, out the front window he would have only seen sky.
No slide is visible when the forward boarding door is opened, forcing a passenger to jump into the river. While this is a factual moment that actually happened (the forward slide did not inflate immediately and a passenger was directed by a flight attendant to jump into the river), that slide would still have been visible, albeit not inflated. Evacuation slides are stored in "slide packs" that are attached to the inside of the aircraft door. When the door is armed, part of the slide that is attached to what is called a "girt bar" is hooked into the floor of the aircraft. As a result, if the door is opened when armed, the slide falls from the slide pack in the door while still connected to the girt bar and the aircraft, and would normally automatically inflate. In this case, the slide fell out, but malfunctioned and did not inflate. In real life, it was inflated manually by the flight attendant. In this scene, no slide is visible at all until it appears between shots and starts inflating.
On each of the successful simulator landings in LGA and TEB the Airbus would have had an aural alert saying "retard, retard" in a French accent. This is a cue for the pilots to retard or close the thrust levers while flaring for the landing.
When Sully is shown bringing an F-4 "straight in" to runway 21 (which would run from 30 degrees to 210 degrees), radio communications have his heading as "020" and "021," almost exactly the opposite direction.
In a scene where the A320 is waiting at the gate at LaGuardia, it is seen next to a Continental 737 that features split scimitar winglets. The movie takes place in 2009, but the split scimitar winglets did not appear on variations of the 737 until 2014.
When Sully is having a medical checkup after the crash, he is examined by a doctor using an ophthalmoscope. The instrument is not turned on and is not close enough to enable an examination of the internal eye..
On the A320's ECAM a gauge for EPR was shown, however at the time US Airways A320s were solely CFM engines, which rely on N1 primarily, not EPR.
During the flashback to Sully's Air Force days, he is shown landing an F-4E at Nellis AFB after an inflight emergency. The Phantom displays the tail markings for the 474th Tactical Fighter Wing (NA). However, the 474th flew "D" model F-4's that had been transferred from RAF Lakenheath around 1977. Unlike the "E" model, the "D" model did not have the pitot tube on its nose nor the internal Vulcan cannon under the radome.
When Sully is looking at the USS Intrepid, a USAF F-4 Phantom is shown on the deck. In reality, the Phantom aboard the Intrepid is in a completely different position and is in USMC markings, specifically those of VMFA-323, the Death Rattlers.
In the final simulation, the Airbus is clearly in a stall before impact. However, there is no stall horn (in the A320, this is accompanied by a male voice calling "Stall! Stall!")
Revealing mistakes
During scenes showing the plane landing in the Hudson River there are several buildings visible on the Manhattan skyline that did not exist in 2009 - most notably 432 Park Avenue - a new residential tower that is now the second tallest building in the City.
Spoilers
Factual errors
For the first simulated landing at LaGuardia, the plane approaches from the southwest, landing on runway 4, which is the most direct route back to the airport and the only one that makes sense. But for the second simulation (with the 35 second delay), the craft approaches from the northeast, attempting to land on runway 22--the same runway, but in the opposite direction. This makes no sense, because they would have had to fly past the airport, turn around and then come back.