Corrected entry: After crashing in the jungle, while hanging "upside down," Mel Gibson's medallion hangs in the wrong direction. This shows that the actors were actually right side up, and the camera was inverted in order to create this scene.
Corrected entry: When Gene and Billy arrive at the air base Gene is now shown in R H seat and Billy is no longer dangling from a rope but is in the helicopter.
Correction: As both characters have on different clothes on arrival at the base, obviously they stopped off on the way in to change.
Corrected entry: On a cargo drop in a single engine airplane Billy is shown in co-pilots (right side)seat . As he was the only pilot on board he should have been flying in the command position (left side seat).
Correction: You can fly a single engine plane from whichever seat you like. The controls on a single engine plane are redundant on both sides, making it no easier or harder to fly in either seat. Sometimes the right side seat is more comfortable if it has not been used as much as the left, and the padding may not be as crushed, making the right side seat more appealing to sit in.
Corrected entry: As Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr. dangle within their downed helicopter in the Laotian jungle, it is clear that the canopy glass is broken and missing yet when each actor bails free from the craft, they both crash through the suddenly intact canopy glass.
Correction: I bought the DVD, and played it it slo-mo, and when they crash through, half of the glass is missing, it just doesn't look like it. You can tell because hardly any glass falls down around them.
Corrected entry: Billy has his cancelled licence returned to him, and he leafs through the contents of the envelope. He held one licence, and one only - a helicopter pilot's licence. Yet he is hired by the CIA to fly fixed wing aircraft in Cambodia for Air America. Flying a fixed wing aircraft is nothing like flying a helicopter. It is a totally different skill set and has a different licencing system. He would have to learn to fly the C123s and Norsemen cargo aircraft almost from scratch. In that case, why would he have been of any interest to an organisation seeking skilled pilots?
Correction: He could very well have been trained on both types of aircraft. While attending flight school, I had two pilots who took their initial training in fixed wing, then after they had their fixed wing licence, they began training on helicopters. They graduated with an endorsement for helicopters, but still had training in fixed wing first. It is very common to take initial training in fixed wing, and be endorsed for rotary later. The ground school is essentially the same, with only supplemental course material for helicopter.
Correction: Wrong, while hanging in the chopper (pointing vertically downwards) the medallion hangs forward (in front of Mel) showing that while seated they were looking at the floor of the jungle.