STORIES AND ANECDOTES ABOUT PILOTS

ART SCHOLL, THE PILOT WHO DID CAMERA WORK

FOR TOP GUN DIED WHILE FILMING WHEN HIS

PLANE COULDN'T RECOVER FROM A FLAT SPIN

IN 1994, THE PILOT OF AN AEROFLOT FLIGHT (593)

LET HIS SON SIT AT THE CONTROLS WHILE IT WAS

FLYING FROM MOSCOW TO HONG KONG. THE BOY

TURNED OFF AUTOPILOT AND SENT THE PLANE

CRASHING INTO THE SIDE OF A MOUNTAIN

IN 1958, A PILOT EJECTED FROM HIS F-106 WHEN

IT ENTERED A FLAT SPIN. HE WAS SURPRISED TO

SEE IT COME OUT OF THE SPIN AND LAND ITSELF

IN A CORNFIELD. TODAY, THE PLANE IS KNOWN

AS THE "CORNFIELD BOMBER"

SCOTT O'GRADY, THE REAL PILOT ON WHICH THE

MOVIE BEHIND ENEMY LINES WAS BASED ENDED

UP SUING FOX BECAUSE THEY DEPICTED HIM AS

A SOLDIER WHO "DISOBEYS ORDERS AND SWEARS"

12 CYANIDE PILLS WERE LOCATED IN THE COCKPIT

OF THE ENOLA GAY. THE CREW WAS INSTRUCTED

TO TAKE THESE PILLS IN CASE THE BOMBING OF

HIROSHIMA WENT WRONG

IN 2001, ROWAN ATKINSON (MR BEAN) WAS IN A

PLANE WITH HIS FAMILY WHEN THE PILOT PASSED

OUT. ROWAN TOOK THE CONTROLS AND SLAPPED

THE PILOT UNTIL THE PILOT WOKE UP

IN 2009, TWO NORTHWEST PILOTS LOST THEIR

LICENCES WHEN THEY OVERSHOT THEIR

DESTINATION BY NEARLY 200 MILES. THEY

ONLY REALIZED THEIR MISTAKE WHEN THE

FLIGHT ATTENDANT ASKED THEM ABOUT

LANDING. APPARENTLY THEY WERE BOTH

ON THEIR LAPTOPS

TEX JOHNSON, A PILOT WHO WAS DEMONSTRATING

A BOEING 707 OVER WASHINGTON DURING THE

1955 AIRSHOW, DID A BARREL ROLL. WHEN THE

BOEING EXECUTIVE ASKED HIM "WHAT THE HECK

HE WAS DOING", HE REPLIED THAT HE WAS

"SELLING AIRPLANES". HE WENT ON TO DO

ANOTHER BARREL ROLL