Factual error: A Marine Corps general is visiting Project Phoenix. His ribbons are mostly not USMC authorized and those that are are pretty much out of order. Second, his four star insignias on the collar are way too high. They should be midway on the collar. (00:03:55)
Factual error: They're in Malaysia where cars are right-hand drive, and they drive on the left side of the road. The traffic and in-car shots are all US/European.
Continuity mistake: When Jack and MacGyver jump out of the window, after they land the fire extinguisher by MacGyver keeps changing position from in his arm to on the ground.
Factual error: All the information regarding Germany and there train system are wrong. All the fast trains (InterCity Express) in Germany are electrified and therefore no-one could land on the top of the train with a helicopter. Also the trains have a completely different design and the train station in Berlin and Frankfurt have a completely different look.
Continuity mistake: When they get to the warehouse the door to the van closes, the shot changes it closes again.
Packing Peanuts + Fire - S2-E8
Continuity mistake: In the opening scene, Bozer and Leanna are running and come to a locked gate. Bozer finds a hole in the fence and they go through. As they continue running the gate is now open.
Factual error: Scenes are in Puerto Rico, but the little girl looks Mexican and speaks with a Mexican accent. The guitarist was playing Cuban songs. And building codes in PR require concrete and concrete block structures for new construction, not wood, tar paper, and shingles. Wrong patrol cars, too. Real ones actually say "San Juan Police Department", not San Juan Policia. And they only use blue lights, never red. SWAT teams are part of the State Police, not SJPD, and legitimate trucks say "Special Weapons and Tactics" across the top and then POLICIA below.
Dia de Muertos + Sicarios + Family - S3-E5
Other mistake: A caption is misspelled towards the end - it says "cementario" when it should be "cementerio". (00:36:20)
Fence + Suitcase + Americium-241 - S3-E12
Continuity mistake: In the first scene a pot on the stove has boiled over, spilling down the sides. In the next scene, the pot is about 3/4 inches from the top with no spillage. In the succeeding scene, it is once again overflowed and spilling down the sides. (00:03:05)
Fence + Suitcase + Americium-241 - S3-E12
Revealing mistake: When MacGyver cuts the green wire under the bomb, the wire is not tied up at both ends. (00:25:45)
Lidar + Rogues + Duty - S3-E16
Other mistake: MacGyver arrives at an airplane crash site. It is smoking. Yet this is supposedly days after the crash. And there is no evidence of fire anywhere. (00:11:25)
Lidar + Rogues + Duty - S3-E16
Factual error: MacGyver attaches a hose from a car gasoline filler port to the jet engine from a crashed plane. He uses a makeshift lever and the engine ignites. 1. A crashed jet engine has an astronomically low chance of working. 2. A jet engine runs on essentially refined kerosene with some additives. Automotive fuel would be useless. 3. The hose used to "provide fuel to the engine" is not siphoned to provide a usable flow of gasoline. 4. The braided wire hose is quite a long piece. It just happened to be lying there completely free of any holding clamps or terminations? How would just one piece of a long hose become free of the airplane? 5. The engine is not attached to anything, but the thrust of the lit engine does not move it one inch. 6. Even after being lit, it does not set fire to anything in spite of being in the middle of a lot of combustible material. (00:13:15)
Lidar + Rogues + Duty - S3-E16
Factual error: The pilot of the downed plane was flying a covert mission. If so, he should not have been wearing identifying patches, rank insignia, or an American flag. Especially ones that were not subdued. (00:18:00)
Lidar + Rogues + Duty - S3-E16
Factual error: Lieutenant Commander Reese is wearing flight wings on the left chest of his flight suit. They are not US Navy Naval Aviator wings. (00:21:35)
Lidar + Rogues + Duty - S3-E16
Plot hole: Riley's father Ellwood shows up unannounced at Phoenix headquarters. The address for the Phoenix Foundation Headquarters is classified, as is Riley's job. How did he know where to go? (00:22:10)
Seeds + Permafrost + Feather - S3-E17
Plot hole: The team is trying to recreate the movements of a murdered seed vault employee by using his phone's geolocation attributes (compass, accelerometer, altimeter, etc). They are trying to backtrack from the place they found the murdered employee to where he first surprised his killer. They backtrack using the data from the employee's phone, and there is another set of data shown on the computer. But they only have one phone's data to work with. Where did the data presumably from the killer's phone come from? (00:12:50)
Seeds + Permafrost + Feather - S3-E17
Factual error: Bozer and for that matter I would assume all of the team went to a spycraft academy. A basic subject in any of such academies is surveillance, including proper techniques to follow and stake out someone. Bozer being so inept at tracking MacGyver's father is inconceivable given their training.
Fire + Ashes + Legacy = Phoenix - S4-E1
Character mistake: A shipping invoice is shown on screen. It shows 5000 kilograms of kerosene delivered. Riley says the shipment was for 5 kilometers. (00:25:40)
Kid + Plane + Cable + Truck - S4-E3
Factual error: A US Pilot's License is shown. It is pretty much all wrong. Salient among the errors is that US Pilot's Licenses do not have a picture. The nationality should be USA not America. They are green fading to white, and not blue. It does not have a hologram of the FAA seal. The signature on the front is that of the pilot and not the FAA Administrator. I realise that it would be improper to show an actual license on a TV show, but this is so far off as to be ludicrous. (00:02:20)
Kid + Plane + Cable + Truck - S4-E3
Character mistake: Desi states that the stall speed of an F-16 is 250 knots. Not true. The F-16 stall speed in level flight is around 120 knots. (00:02:40)
