Iron Eagle

Character mistake: When Doug Masters approaches his aircraft at the airfield before racing 'The Snake', Col Sinclair has a right hand access panel open on Doug's Cessna 150 upper engine cowling and is allegedly working on the fuel system saying "As lean as you were runnin', if it went into a stall, you woulda lost your engine, and would never been able to pull it out." The carburetor, gascolator, throttle linkage and carburetor control lines are on the bottom of the engine (Continental O-200). The panel he closes after sticking bubble gum on accesses the battery, the right hand magneto and the oil dipstick. Not only did Col Sinclair not do what he said he said he did without a sign-off in the aircraft's logbook, it would be totally unnecessary, as aviation updraft carburetors use a cockpit or engine controlled fuel mixture control that would have simply been left in 'full rich' position after engine start for the altitudes the aircraft would have been flying. And stalling is an aerodynamic condition of angle of attack being exceeded or insufficient airflow over flight surfaces, not fuel starvation, which is the condition being addressed. (00:11:30 - 00:12:30)

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: "Full rich at that altitude." Doubt it. It's a hot desert and almost certainly has altitude above sea level. The "lean for best power" rule would apply. The engine might not actually give any performance or even run at full rich.

Factual error: Doug Masters and his friend Reggie would be grounded on the spot and have their pilot's licences suspended (and in all likelihood cancelled) after buzzing the motorcyclist. Their flying is grossly unsafe. They would be visible for miles flying well below a safe altitude, but even if they were not seen their radio traffic and radar tracking would tell the authorities everything they needed to know.

More mistakes in Iron Eagle

Col. Nakesh: Give the American his final meal. After tomorrow, he will not have much of an appetite.

More quotes from Iron Eagle