Cruise Amps Up Aviation To Bolster Next Mission Impossible Movie

News Discussion
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Tom Cruise has revived an old trick to try to restore the Mission Impossible franchise to its former bottom line glory: he's adding a bunch of airplane stunts. The two-minute trailer for Mission Impossible-Final Reckoning features a parade of aviation scenes and it looks like Cruise is co-starring with a Stearman which he spends some time hanging from. There's also a glimpse of a DC-3, FA-18s, some kind of CG tiltrotor and a futuristic jet transport.

This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/cruise-amps-up-aviation-to-bolster-next-mission-impossible-movie
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How much more ridiculous can these stunts become? Here’s a suggestion: Base jump from the motorcycle into a pilotless Stearman and then bail out of that with a paragliding chute before it (the Stearman) crashes into a wayward Goodyear blimp. Then free fall 20,000 feet through the rotating blades of several fireflighting helicopters before being cushioned by the water in a 5 gallon Home Depot bucket. Now THAT would be entertaining!

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The aviation stunts are entertaining for pilots and non-pilots but sooner or later someone is going to get killed as they get too extreme.

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And of course Tom would perform the stunt himself.

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Hey, at least they have an honest movie title: “impossible”.

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Mildly entertaining, but leaves too much unanswered: where does that 5 gallon bucket come from? Sure, it may have bounced off a truck or something - but that would mean another exposition scene, when all you want is action.

Fortunately, the answer is right in front of us. Remember, these are fire fighting helicopters! Which means that after dodging the rotor blades, Tom manages to land in the water bucket hanging 50 feet below the 'copter. Dazed, it is all he can do to grab on to the rim of the bucket as the pilot starts his water drop . . .

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These stunts are not so far-fetched. During my skydiving days one of my favorite jumps was exiting a biplane while inverted during a half-Cuban-8. Slowly drifting away while watching the pilot watching me, then seeing the biplane half-roll as he pulled out of the maneuver while the wind noise increased as I transitioned from parabola to freefall. It was as sublime and peaceful as pushing off the side of a swimming pool and drifting away.

Worth every penny of the $50.

My other favorite was bailing out of the back of a Boeing 727 (a la DB Cooper) during the 1999 World Freefall Convention (think Oshkosh for skydivers).

I’m not some skygod - these jumps were available to any reasonably competent skydivers.