Factual error: 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).
The Flight of the Phoenix (1965)
1 factual error
Directed by: Robert Aldrich
Starring: Ernest Borgnine, Hardy Krüger, James Stewart, Peter Finch, Richard Attenborough
Continuity mistake: In the scene near the end when the men are done dragging the plane, one of the men unhooks the dragging strap under the left wing. In the next shot, it shows the pilot standing on top of the wing with the strap still attached. When the men climb the ladder to board the plane, the strap is gone. (02:14:40 - 02:15:15)
'Ratbags' Crow: Don't forget to put it down in your diary, how very, very nice it was at the party here until the booze ran out.
Trivia: The cast includes five Oscar winners: James Stewart, Ernest Borgnine, Peter Finch, George Kennedy, and Sir Richard Attenborough.
Question: Before I claim this as a continuity or factual mistake - a question: When the Arab raiding party shows up over the dune, they camp by a collection of scrub that was not all dead, some was green. There were also a number of plants in that low-lying area around the camp. Wouldn't the survivors had a better chance of surviving more days by digging for underground water in that area? Perhaps deep, but there. If they took 12 days to build the plane, it seems 2 days digging for water would have given them more time.
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Answer: In the desert, the only place you can find water as at an oasis or maybe digging in a dry river bed. Those bushes would be extremely salty, and any meaningful water would be far too deep under the sand.
stiiggy