Blue Thunder

Factual error: When the F-16s take off to shoot down the Blue Thunder, both planes have the same tail number 068. All military jets have individual tail numbers. (01:30:25)

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Factual error: Cochrane chases Murphy in a Hughes 500 which has a top speed of 147 mph and easily keeps up with him, demonstrating that Blue Thunder's top speed is less than 150 mph. The F-16s sent after Blue Thunder have a stall speed of 175 mph. They would have to slow down to the point of falling out of the sky to have a shot at Murphy. Its utterly impractical and far more likely that the military would have sent AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters after him.

Grumpy Scot
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Suggested correction: Not necessarily. The F16 (and other fast movers) can and do engage slow moving helos all the time. They just engage them by missile from a long distance, where speeds are irrelevant.

stiiggy

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Mistakes

Plot hole: Apart from the impressive pyrotechnics, what is the point of destroying the Blue Thunder helicopter? By far the most expensive, time consuming and technically complex part of producing any aircraft is the design and development phase - once the prototype is in the air production is relatively straightforward. The bad guys can make new Blue Thunders any time they like, and Murphy has destroyed the only evidence he has that there was a criminal conspiracy behind the whole programme - the 'videotape' he has of blurry, false coloured characters will convince nobody. Without the helicopter to back him up that tape is of no value to him.

11
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Suggested correction: The Blue Thunder is caught on camera by a TV helicopter during the aquaduct chase which is evidence it existed.

A helicopter is filmed on CCTV, yes, which gives no detail at all to its use, where it came from, or anything about the conspiracy behind it. The helicopter is proof of the sinister plot and Murphy just destroyed it.

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Quotes

Frank Murphy: That's Cochrane, F.E., US Army.
Lymangood: Cochrane, F.E. What's the "F.E." stand for?
Frank Murphy: "Fuck Everybody."

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Trivia

Trivia: The registration number N77GH is visible on a gold placard on right surveillance camera' but only civilian aircraft are given November numbers. Military helicopters only have a series of numbers like on the tail. You aren't supposed to notice Blue Thunder's real "N" number, but it is there throughout the movie making it known it was truly a civilian helicopter.

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Questions

Question: Just a question and an observation: When does Lymangood find out what JAFO means? He didn't know when he got into Blue Thunder for the first (and last) time: "When are you going to tell me what JAFO means?" 1. They find out about the evil plot. 2. Lymangood gets the tape after they land. 3. He leaves a recording for Frank inside Blue Thunder using "Big Brother", the cabin recorder.4. He drops the tape off at a drive-in movie dumpster. 5. He calls and leave a voice-mail for Murphy. 6. He goes home and is attacked. So when was he told what JAFO means? Also, someone had a sense of humor about naming the Special helicopter. It was to be used in project THOR (Tactical Helicopter Offensive Response, the "proposed use of military helicopters to quell disorder"). Thor is the god of thunder in Norse mythology. Did they name the helicopter Blue "Thunder" because it was going to be used in Project THOR? It would have been nice to connect the two references in the movie.

Excelsior

Chosen answer: There was plenty of time from Lymangood asks what Jafo means to when he gets killed. For all we know it could have been weeks. It was only a simply question really. As for any connection between blue thunder and Thor, it could have been an in-joke, but only the filmmakers really know.

Gavin Jackson
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