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Before the damaged plane is dismantled, in some shots the three propeller blades of the port side engine are a mixture of clockwise and anticlockwise type. (The twist along the length of the blade goes the opposite direction depending on the type). See more...

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The Flight of the Phoenix (1965) - 3 corrections

Directed by Robert Aldrich, starring Ernest Borgnine, Hardy Krüger, James Stewart, Peter Finch, Richard Attenborough (add more)

Genres: Adventure, Drama

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When attempting to start the engine of the rebuilt plane, the propeller simply rolls to a lazy stop instead of a "lumpy" kind of stop then rocking back and forth a little like in a real aeroplance engine. [A real aeroplane engine was used thoughout the film.]

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In the scene where the Phoenix is finally taking off you can see wheels mounted in the skis, even though it was established earlier in the film that the only way to build take-off and landing gear for the plane was with sand skis. [Not really a goof.True it is mentioned in the film that the "Phoenix" will be able to take off from the ground with skis, but it was meant that a "skit cradle" would have to be built around the wheels. If you observe the scene during where the men are pulling the left boom apart from the main fuselage, the undercarriage seems to be already designed with integrated tire within the ski itself. Sort of a "snowshoe" invention to help glide in deep sand and at the same time hard ground.]

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Unfortunately the whole premise of this film is flawed. You can't cut a twin engined aeroplane up and make a single-engined one out of the pieces. The torque from the second engine prevents the first from flipping the whole aircraft over, as there is no 'axis' through which to rotate. (If one engine fails, the torque from the first can become a big problem.) Without this compensating effect the Phoenix would simply flip upside down and crash as soon as the undercarriage left the ground. [This doesn't really work otherwise the Spitfire, Mustang and others wouldn't fly either. Twin engined aircraft only cancel out torque if the engines contra-rotate (turn in opposite directions). The torque effect of a Spitfire could be quite easily counteracted by application of a little opposite rudder.]

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