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Face/ Off (1997) - in this action movie directed by John Woo, the FBI agents (led by John
Travolta) confront a gang of killers at a Los Angeles airfield, where helicopter use (of Aerospatiale AS355-F2 TwinStar) includes a runway pursuit
of the villains' executive jet. The chopper intercepts the plane, and causes it to crash into an empty hanger.
Later, there is a Bell 205 used as a gunship during the prison breakout scenes.
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Fair Game (1995) - Cindy Crawford is the target of hitmen dropped by chopper onto a moving train in this ludicrously hectic action thriller
(co-starring William Baldwin).
Fair Game (2010) - this docudrama is a US political thriller, about a CIA spy whose identity is wrongly exposed by White House officials.
It features a Black Hawk helicopter which drops leaflets on the streets of Baghdad after a US military bombing raid on the Iraqi capital.
The Fallen Ones (2005) - oddball adventure into fantasy-horror
with a giant 40-foot mummified titan unearthed by US contractors and investigated by archaeologists. Egyptian cultists wake the monstrous mummy, and
it stomps around in the dark of a lunar eclipse. When an airborne marksman (in a Eurocopter 350) shoots at the mummy, the giant snatches the helicopter
in midair, mangles the chopper into scrap metal and then flings it behind a hillside, where a fiery glow from off-screen indicates the rotorcraft has
just exploded.
Family Plot (1976) -
"at the beginning of this last ever Hitchcock thriller, a late-model police helicopter (a Bell
47G) ferries Karen Black around town." - NATHAN DECKER
Fandango (1985) -
"an early Kevin Costner movie, set in the Vietnam era, about some Texas college boys on their
last fling before they become adults. At the end of the film, hippie pilot Truman Sparks (Marvin J. McIntyre), flies a Cessna plane after one
character's girlfriend in Dallas, and is chased by a Hughes 500 police chopper that forces the plane to land." -
STEVE COVINGTON
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Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer (2007) - this
superhero adventure sequel has an out-of-control TV news helicopter (a Eurocopter AS-350, although two different choppers appear in the movie)
which plummets onto a rooftop at the open-air wedding ceremony, where endangered guests run away from whirling rotor blades as the chopper tilts
forward and wrecks furniture. Sue alias Invisible Woman (Jessica Alba) uses her force field powers to stop the helicopter from crashing, and Ben
alias The Thing (Michael Chiklis) uses super-strength to tear off the helicopter's tail boom, and save his blind girlfriend from being hit by the
machine's tail rotor.
In a later scene, villain Dr Doom flies in a Eurocopter EC-130 to Greenland for his encounter with the mysterious Silver Surfer.
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CLICK ON LINK ABOVE FOR DETAILS
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F.A.Q. - Frequently Asked Questions (2004) - Carlos Atanes'
low-budget SF drama features (probably digitally-generated) footage of two European PZL (Mil) Mi-2 Hoplite helicopters.
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Far Cry (2008) - Uwe Boll's comedy-thriller, based on
the action game, features a rotary action scene with a Eurocopter EC-120B (Blackcomb
Aviation), tethered, in a fortuitous accident, by grappling hook to the heroes' getaway car. The helicopter lifts this burning vehicle off a
cliff edge but then soon drops it into sea. When the loose cable tangles up in the rotors, the damaged chopper crashes into the water and explodes.
The German poster artwork is quite misleading, with its prominent images of different helicopters
(Huey and Sea King types), neither of which appear in the film.
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A Far Off Place (1993) -
features two helicopters and one action sequence (well, as big an action sequence as they could afford).
The first is an Aérospatiale Alouette III which is used in two brief scenes. The second is a Bell 206 JetRanger which is flown by the villains
as they hunt for escaped kids. It appears out of a mirage to attack them and the main villain attempts to shoot the children with a machine gun, but
the Bushman (somehow) calls forth a sandstorm which makes the pilot lose control. Defying convention, it doesn't crash and explode, but instead, the
pilot manages to regain control, disobeys his boss, and flies out of the storm to safety, saving their lives. This sequence is interesting because
it shows the skill of the pilot as he keeps them from crashing, and also he has the guts to stand up to the angry villain who insists that they remain
on the scene so he can snipe at the kids. - BILL HIERS
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Father Hood (1993) -
"I saw this Patrick Swayze film (not his best!), a comedy drama that's really brightened up by
a helicopter scene toward the end, involving a Bell LongRanger chasing a speedboat probably doing 25 knots, or so. The LongRanger is flying sideways
with the aft door off and a couple of cops with guns are hanging out of it. As a helicopter pilot (from Kent, where I'm currently flying the Bell
206 series), I was drawn to this because I admired the control of the helicopter flying sideways at that speed with doors off!" -
TONY LOWRY
Fathom (1967) - in this campy spy caper, the roguish hero (Tony Franciosa) and his sidekick use a little Hughes 300 to overfly the scene
of a speedboat 'duel' on the Spanish coast. Later, the helicopter lands on a hillside and Franciosa uses a powerful searchlight to blind the driver
of heroine Raquel Welch's jeep, forcing the vehicle to swerve off the road.
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Figures In A Landscape  (1971) - in Joseph Losey's atmospheric
thriller, Robert Shaw and Malcolm McDowell are pursued by a black helicopter (an Aerospatiale SA315 Lama), relentlessly, across a barren landscape.
There's some fine aerial stunt work in this mysterious drama.
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The Final Countdown (1980) - Don Taylor's botched time-travel adventure sees a nuclear aircraft carrier (from present day Pearl Harbour)
transported back to 6th December 1941, where a US senator is rescued from his damaged yacht (after being attacked by Japanese warplanes) by a
Sea King helicopter.
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Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (2005) - this Japanese sci-fi adventure features a Black Hawk type helicopter, on a rescue mission, that
descends into but soon emerges from a smoking volcano. Later, the Black Hawk attacks bad guys during the highway chase, until a bike jumps into the
machine, knocking it down to crash and explode on the empty road. A second helicopter arrives to pickup survivors. The film also boasts a large
futuristic aircraft (pictured left), seemingly held aloft by a triple rotor system that seems inadequate for the job. And yet, amusingly, the digital
visuals of airborne hardware in this entirely computer-animated film look more convincingly realistic as flying machines than CGI work that's supposed
to 'real' footage in other live-action cinema and TV shows!
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The Final Programme (1973) - the new messiah arrives via helicopter in Robert Fuest's campy sci-fi satire, based upon
Michael Moorcock's Jerry Cornelius stories.
Final Run (1999) -
"in this TV movie about a runaway train, there's a Eurocopter AS 355 Squirrel following the
train's progress, and a Sikorsky CH54 Tarhe sky crane (the pilot is played by Drew Taylor) used to slow the separated coaches on the end of a
rope!" - DEREK BLAKE
CLICK ON LINK ABOVE FOR DETAILS
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Firefox (1982) - this spy drama and aerial thriller is based on a novel by Craig Thomas.
"In the opening sequence of this great movie,
there's a Sikorsky HH-53 Super Stallion flying over Alaskan terrain in search of hero Clint
Eastwood's hideaway. Fantastic photography and helicopter action!" - DAN DEMETER
After our hero (Eastwood, both star and director) steals the Russian jet fighter (a fictional version of the MiG-31 plane), Firefox shakes off
a missile attack before encountering a Soviet warship, and destroying a pair of Mil Mi-24 gunships (top quality miniature effects work, based
upon the original 1974 design of the Hind, with its 'glasshouse' cockpit instead of the usual tandem format).
Later, when the Firefox has landed on the Arctic icepack for refuelling, another couple of Hinds recon the US submarine's surface camp and its
makeshift runway site. Close-up shots of the Hind cockpits appear to use the same 'set' as created for the hi-tech chopper in
Blue Thunder.
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Firestorm (1997) - in Dean Semler's action thriller, heroic fire-fighters (Scott Glenn, Howie Long) called 'smoke-jumpers' parachute
out of a helicopter to tackle a forest blaze.
Firetrap (2000) - when a hi-tech robbery goes awry and starts a blaze in an office towerblock, a helicopter is used to airlift the corporate
execs to safety from the bulding's rooftop.
First Blood (1982) - Stallone's disgruntled Vietnam war veteran, Rambo, is cornered by a sheriff's Bell 206 JetRanger helicopter on
the side of a cliff during one of this film's many chase sequences. There's also a Boeing (MD) 500 arriving at the manhunt camp, and a yellow
JetRanger used in one scene.
Sequels to this film include... Rambo: First Blood II and Rambo III .
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First Kid (1996) -
"this Disney comedy, starring Sinbad, features a Sikorsky S-62A Seaguard transport helicopter
posing as the Presidential transport." - NATHAN DECKER
Jackie Chan's First Strike (1996) - directed by Stanley Tong, this fast-paced comedy-thriller finds Asian superstar Chan on good form
throughout the production's international scope, as a Hong Kong cop saving the world from nuclear terrorism. In the Ukraine sequence, two Bell
206 JetRanger helicopters (with Russian markings) bring local police to a mountainside lodge in search of bad guys. The villains use a Hughes 500
gunship to blow up one of the Bell choppers in midair, and hitmen skiers drop from other 500s to chase our hero (Chan), who flees on a snowboard.
Chan has to jump off a cliff and grab onto the skids of the second JetRanger, and he only just escapes to safety before it also gets destroyed
by rocket-fire from the enemy's Hughes. Later, our hero takes a trip out to sea in a Mil Mi-14 Haze ASW to board a submarine on the way to Australia.
In the final scene, more Bell 206s circle around the submarine for Chan's return journey home.
1st To Die (2003) - this TV movie, directed by Russell Mulcahy, is a crime drama about a serial killer who targets newlyweds. It's based
on a novel by James Patterson, and it launched TV series Women's Murder Club (2007-8). There's an A-star rescue fly-by over the second crime
scene, and another AS-350 helicopter brings a SWAT team to the museum for a showdown with the killer.
Fit To Kill (1993) - this Andy Sidaris film has lethal remote-control model helicopters, credited to Mark Ewart and David Zimmerman,
alongside all the usual girls-with-guns mayhem. In the first aerial sequence, the heroes use one mini-copter during hi-tech war games. Next, the
villains deploy their own lite chopper, armed with rockets, to kill a lone biker, and then for transporting a stolen diamond to a yacht. The film's
big climax has a nifty dogfight between these RC gunships, ending with one getting blown up in mid-air, quickly followed by the duel-winner's air
strike to destroy the bad guy's yacht.
CLICK ON LINK ABOVE FOR DETAILS
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FlashForward (2009-10) - this sci-fi mystery TV series lasted for just one season. The first episode No More Good Days features an
AS-350 helicopter which has crashed into the side of a building and a subsequent explosion that causes the chopper wreckage to fall to the ground.
Two Sea Knight transports fly over a street in Los Angeles. Later, we see another Sea Knight hovering above a skyscraper rooftop. Episode two begins
with obvious CGI shots of Apache gunships and Sea Knights over the city and suburbia. The FBI use a Eurocopter AS-350 A-Star to fly agents to a small
town in Utah. Episode Revelation Zero has a flashback to the day of the blackout and features that helicopter crashing into a building, but
shown from a closer aerial POV angle (see animated picture). There is also an LAPD A-Star Aerospatiale AS350 B2 Ecureuil providing air support for
the FBI raid, and a police Bell 206 JetRanger hovers over the subsequent crime scene. Better Angels has a Bell 214 Huey type which flies
undercover US agents to a deserted village in Somalia.
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Flight Line: The Army Helicopter Pilots Of Vietnam (2000) - a P.B.S. documentary, executive produced by
Robert Mason (author of the bestselling war memoir, Chickenhawk), hosted and
narrated by Harrison Ford, this features interviews with 16 veteran pilots. The film was released on video in USA, but it's currently not available.
If you have seen this TV programme, or have a copy of the VHS, send your comments to Rotary Action website for inclusion on this page.
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Flight Of The Intruder (1991) - this war movie by John Milius, about American bomber pilots in Vietnam, was filmed with much US military
participation. It features Sikorsky H-3 and SH-2 helicopters in several scenes.
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Flight Of The Navigator (1986) - this Disney sci-fi movie about a young boy who encounters an alien spacecraft features three Bell 206B
helicopters arriving at a location where they find the 'flying saucer' hovering above cows grazing in a field. The JetRangers circle the ship until
it changes its shape and zooms away too fast for any pursuit.
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Flightplan (2005) - this airborne thriller, about a plot
by terrorists to hi-jack a passenger jet, features a couple of Eurocopter AS-350 helicopters during night scenes at the airport.
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Flood! (1976) - this made-for-TV disaster movie by Irwin Allen (undoubtedly the king of disaster movies), features a heroic chopper pilot
(played by Robert Culp) who helps the folks in a small town hit by waters from a local dam burst. The helicopter is an Aerospatiale Gazelle.
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Flood (2007) - based on a sci-fi novel by Richard Doyle, this British TV mini-series, directed by Tony Mitchell, has an Agusta A-119 Koala,
supposedly hovering at Wick in Scotland (but actually shot on location in South Africa!), followed by some 'newsreel' footage inter-cut with dodgy
CGI choppers when the disaster strikes coastal towns. There are five Westland Sea Kings (Sikorsky S-61) on a rescue flight to the London Dome, plus
a TV news chopper at a Canary Wharf rooftop, and our heroes' suicidal mission to save the Thames Barrier uses a Eurocopter AS355-F1 Ecureuil 2
(operated by Atlas Helicopters) for emergency transport across London.
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The Flood: Who Will Save Our Children? (1987) - filmed in Australia, this disaster movie is based on the true story of tragedy at a kids'
summer camp in Texas. It features both rescue and TV-news choppers in action.
The Flying Gardener (2001-3) - this BBC series presented by Chris Beardsaw goes soaring above the natural landscapes of Britain using an
Agusta 109-II helicopter.
Flying Virus (2001) - this derivative nonsense
about mutant killer bees, international terrorism and an endangered plane, features a likeable bad guy (Rutger Hauer) leading his gang of mercenaries
with helicopter gunships to shoot up a Brazilian village - where the natives are rebelling against exploitation by a secret US government project's
use of the region for testing bio-weapons.
The Fly II (1989) - in the first scene of this horror movie sequel,
a buzzing sound like a fly segues into the clatter of rotor blades as a helicopter (an Aerospatiale SA 341 Gazelle) arrives at the mad scientist's
laboratory complex.
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The Forbin Project (aka: Colossus: The Forbin Project,
1970) - "in this sci-fi adventure, a USAF Bell 47G is vaporised by a nuclear blast. Earlier in the
film, there are quick shots of a Hughes 269A, and an Aerospatiale Alouette II, as scientists fight to overcome the tryanny of Colossus, a world-dominating
computer they have created." - NATHAN DECKER
"The helicopter... had become a very standard tool in the film business. But, oh, did it open up all kinds of vistas, all kinds of production
values, all kinds of expanded horizons." - JOSEPH SARGENT (from director's commentary on DVD)
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For Your Eyes Only (1981) - after figuring out how to unlock the joystick of his remotely controlled 'Universal Exports' helicopter (an
Agusta-Bell 206B JetRanger II), James Bond (Roger Moore) chases his wheelchair-bound enemy Blofeld in the chopper, hooks the wheelchair on one
of its landing skids and drops the disabled villain down an industrial chimney. This funny pre-credits sequence is, unaccountably, never mentioned
in the rest of this film!
The sequence where a helicopter flies through the aircraft hanger is priceless. At the end of the
film, General Gogol (Walter Gotell) arrives at the peak of St Cyril's in a Polish PZL-Swidnik W-3A, which is a licence-built version of the Russian
Mil Mi-2 Sokol. - NATHAN DECKER
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The Fourth Protocol (1987) - based upon a novel by Frederick Forsyth, this British thriller directed by John MacKenzie is a solid Cold War
espionage drama, about Russian spies planning a nuclear attack on a military target in UK. There are two Sikorsky S-76 helicopters used by special
commando forces to catch up with the fleeing terrorists.
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The Fourth War (1990) - John Frankenheimer's "Cold War" drama pits American and Russian colonels (Roy Scheider and Jurgen Prochnow)
against each other in a personal feud with dire political consequences. In an early scene, a Soviet chopper hovers symbolically over the body of
a slain defector.
"This chopper is actually a Westland Wessex with mock gunship paraphernalia and a snazzy Soviet
paintjob. Impressive though!" - BERND BIEGE
Fragile (aka: Frágiles, 2005) - Jaume Balagueró's supernatural thriller, about a haunted hospital on the Isle of Wight,
features an air-ambulance (Aerospatiale AS-355F Ecureuil 2) used to fly a young patient to London.
Frankenstein (2007) - this TV movie by Jed Mercurio features an Agusta A109E, which lands on the biotech lab's rooftop and rescues the monster
from cops.
Freefall (1993) - John Irvin's spy thriller features a Red Cross helicopter flying just above the ground during the shootout on a cricket
pitch. Later, a police chopper rescues the heroine from a mountain chalet.
Fringe (2008) - the final episode of season four, Brave
New World - part 2 has three A-Stars flying out to sea, where they search for and find an invisible vessel. Our heroes jump down from one of
the helicopters onto this 'Ark'. When it re-appears, the choppers hover around the cargo ship. Most of this sequence looks like it is CGI work.
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From Russia With Love (1962)
- "early in this OO7 adventure, SPECTRE agent 'Number 3' arrives at SPECTRE Island in a Hiller
UH-12. Later in the film, another SPECTRE Hiller UH-12 buzzes James Bond (Sean Connery) out in the open. Bond shoots it down [a model helicopter
is used, of course] with his sniper rifle." - NATHAN DECKER
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The Frozen Ground (2013) - this crime thriller shot in Alaska is about a state trooper hunting for a serial killer. The movie features a
Bell 212 helicopter.
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Full Alert (aka: Go do gaai bei, 1997) - Ringo Lam's police thriller features a Eurocopter AS355-N
(from Heliservices), that's hijacked for a convict's escape from prison. The stolen
chopper is later found abandoned on a Hong Kong beach.
Full Eclipse (1994) - after the unconvincing stunt of three dead thugs being dropped from a helicopter through the skylight of a mobster's
house, a group of vigilante cops steal a police chopper from the L.A.P.D. heli-pad for their mission at the docks.
Full Metal Jacket (1987) - Stanley Kubrick's drama about US Marine recruits in Vietnam has civilians being machine-gunned at random from
an American helicopter (a Sikorsky S-58) in flight. Sound effects of air support can often be heard in the war zone scenes, though helicopters
are not seen very often - perhaps because the film's director always refused to fly, even for location shooting overseas. This film production
had only three S-58s available, and there's not a single Huey in sight, despite the Bell UH-1 being so ubiquitous in other Vietnam war movies.
"The big helicopters dropping GIs in Vietnam are actually British Westland Wessex troop carriers.
The movie was filmed in England and they used the Wessex because it is very similar to the American H-34 that was used in Vietnam during the time-frame
of the movie." - NATHAN DECKER
Fun With Dick And Jane (2005) - a bland remake (with Jim Carrey and Téa Leoni) of George Segal and Jane Fonda's 1977 caper, this
comedy adventure sees a corporate CEO (Alec Baldwin) quitting before the company goes bankrupt, and leaving his office tower block's rooftop helipad
in a Eurocopter AS350-B2 Ecureuil.
Future Fear (1997) - badly acted sci-fi nonsense with a muddled plot, and a pointlessly fragmented narrative (that does it no favours), this
features a helicopter dogfight in the desert between 'gunship' versions of Hughes 500 and a newer Boeing (MD) 500E - both furnished by Executive
Helicopters - which ends with the clumsily faked pyrotechnics of an unconvincing crash 'n' burn sequence.
Future Hunters (1986) -
"in this low-budget Indiana Jones ripoff, a Bell 47G-4A helicopter is destroyed by a
hidden bomb." - NATHAN DECKER
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