Does anybody else look up N#s when watching TV?

Matthew

Matthew

Touchdown! Greaser!
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  • I google n numbers from tv sometimes. It's fun when it's an older show - there is a Columbo I just ran across from the 70's(?) where Johnny Cash is flying and then crashing a 172. Despite Hollywood's crash, it's still alive and flying today. Surprisingly, the Columbo episode was fairly accurate about flying. They had a few mistakes, like a heater "on" switch and Johnny opened the door effortlessly in flight, but otherwise it wasn't as bad as they usually portray flying.
 
I do that too, no worries. Sometimes to see what the plane model is and sometimes to prove to the wife that I was right. ;)
It comes with our piloting obsession. Sorry, it can't be cured. :D
 
Here's the plane from the episode:
latest


latest
 
I do from time to time, especially if it's a plane I think is interesting. Periodically, Navions show up in movies. In addition to Family Flight where it is the main aircraft, there are some others. There was a Columbo episode where Johnny Cash plays a singer-pilot and Columbo is scene getting into a "police" Navion (just step on the seat, sir). They show up in the background of some other shows like Emergency.
 
How do you look up something other than an N number? The FAA registry only has/allows those beginning with N and that's the only place I've seen to look up tail numbers.
 
I did not get the tail number, but I was watching a movie made probably in the late 70s or early 80s. The scene showed an outside shot of the two main characters climbing into a 172. The next shot was from inside. As they squeezed into the front seats, the pilot reached over his shoulder and closed the door between the cockpit and passenger seats....:rolleyes:

And yes, sometimes I will look up N numbers.
 
Yes I do. Usually when the wife asks me what plane it is and I don't know. Which, hannging my head in shame, I usually don't. I'm terrible at identifying planes.
 
I'll do it sometimes. Mostly helicopters, like Magnum P.I. Just out of curiosity more than anything.
 
Every time. Last I checked Aunt Bee's 182 was still flying. If you get a chance to see the episode you will see a few recognizable landmarks near Whiteman airport where it was filmed. The most obvious one is the "four stacks".
 
All the time. Usually pen the number on paper since I can't remember the 30 seconds to spin up the tablet and go to the faa site. Last was a Sikorsky S92 in HM Coastguard Livery N248N. I'm sure it's headed to England or Scotland and Bristow who snatched the contract from CNC.
 
Three of the five Cherokees in Goldfinger are still registered:

N6056W, a PA-28-140 now registered in Idaho;
N5781W, a PA-28-150 'B' now registered in Tennessee;
N7489W, a PA-28-180 'B' now registered in Arizona;
N7641W, a PA-28-180 'B' de-registered in 1974;
N8729W, a PA-28-235 last registered in Nevada, de-registered in 2013.​
 
I do it all the time.

Interestingly, 2 episodes of the TV show Prison Break were filmed at my airport Galt Field (10C). And even more surprisingly they brought in a Citation II. I believe it is one of the only times a jet has come in to our small little slice of heaven
 
It's fun watching the old shows, like the Andy Griffith episode where Aunt Bee learns to fly.
 
I have the N Numbers app on my iPhone. I look up airplanes all the time. Sometimes to identify a detail like year or model and sometimes to find out who owns it. The app does not require an internet connection, by the way, so I can use it out in the boonies as easily as in town. Way faster and more convenient than the FAA registry search site.
 
Pilot episode of Leverage had a jet at the end...look up the N number....belongs to Dean Devlin, the show's producer. No need to pay a royalty or lease when it's yours.
 
I almost always look them up if I have my iPad with me! I remember looking up the 340 from a Chris Farley movie, I can't remember the name of it, but the gets his tie caught it the door and takes off with the plane at the end of the movie. :)
 
Not always, but I have done it. I'm always interested in where the show is supposedly taking place, and where it is really being filmed. We live in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, and they are always filming here. Then later I'll be watching a movie or tv show that is supposed to be in Cuba, or Costa Rica, or even Mexico, and I'll recognize my neighborhood. But back to N numbers. There was a movie with Ben Affleck in it that takes place in Costa Rica, and one of the characters lands in a helicopter. I see that same helicopter flying tours every time I am near the airport that is by the marina.
 
I often look up registration on the airliners I get on to fly as a passenger.. Just want to see what there is to know about it (besides the typical available info). Pretty interesting when boarding the AA md-80s in DFW how long ago they were commissioned.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Stewartb said:
I have the N Numbers app on my iPhone. I look up airplanes all the time. Sometimes to identify a detail like year or model and sometimes to find out who owns it. The app does not require an internet connection, by the way, so I can use it out in the boonies as easily as in town. Way faster and more convenient than the FAA registry search site.
Click to expand...

Which app stores the registry database so that you can use it airborne? I ain't able to locate it in the App Store...

Thanks in advance!

Paul
 
No but I laugh when a tv show or low budget movie shows a 767 on takeoff but a 747 landing ( usually VERY old stock footage)

Or good old "Oceanic Airways". They always seem to be having issues on that airline.
 
Scrabo said:
No but I laugh when a tv show or low budget movie shows a 767 on takeoff but a 747 landing ( usually VERY old stock footage)

Or good old "Oceanic Airways". They always seem to be having issues on that airline.
Click to expand...
Some older TV shows were really bad about that. As a kid I gew up around AF bases and could ID jets by ear. So I was pretty sensitive to those kind of continuity problems

Here's your 767/747, "The Usual Suspects ":

http://www.moviemistakes.com/picture13897
 
PaulMillner said:
Which app stores the registry database so that you can use it airborne? I ain't able to locate it in the App Store...

Thanks in advance!

Paul
Click to expand...
N Numbers by Post River Software in the iTunes app store. Once you load the app the file is accessible offline.
 
Stewartb said:
N Numbers by Post River Software in the iTunes app store. Once you load the app the file is accessible offline.
Click to expand...

Thanks... It was invisible on my iPad until I selected show iPhone-only apps... Of course, it works on the iPad in emulation mode just fine...

Appreciate the help!

Paul
 
Sunday, 20 Mar. Colombo getting a ride in a straight tail throw over yoke Bonanza - doing aerobatics. N7835R still on a Beechcraft but not one that old.
 
I do it all the time. So I can send out threatening letters to bad pilots. :cool:

Funny how you can get an aircraft owner's address from the registry but you can't look up the license plate of a car.
 
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