Character mistake: In the scene towards the end, when there has been a bomb threat in the building, Billy Bob Thornton uses a pay phone to call the operator. He asks for the airline's base operations in "Greensboro, South Carolina". Greensboro is in North Carolina.
Pushing Tin (1999)
1 character mistake
Directed by: Mike Newell
Starring: John Cusack, Cate Blanchett, Angelina Jolie, Billy Bob Thornton
Character mistake: In the scene towards the end, when there has been a bomb threat in the building, Billy Bob Thornton uses a pay phone to call the operator. He asks for the airline's base operations in "Greensboro, South Carolina". Greensboro is in North Carolina.
Nick Falzone: To hold on to sanity too tight is insane.





Answer: In the film, it's a phrase used to describe the job of an air traffic controller. They're responsible for maneuvering the airplanes around in the skies. "Tin" refers to the airplanes and they're moving, or "pushing", them around. I tried to find if this was a real reference or phrase used in air traffic controllers prior to 1999, or just made up for the movie. It seems it's a phrase made up for the movie (but I can't say for certain as I have no experience in that field).
Bishop73