Just How Long Was That Runway In Fast And Furious 6?

Before joining this industry two years ago, we covered the mechanical contracting business in one shape or another for many years. And we had a good deal of fun blogging about plumbing at the movies as digital publishing began adding another layer of story-telling possibilities for readers.

Plumbing? At the movies? Sure. As a movie buff, the shower scene in “Psycho” owns the top slot for all time in my book. And does anyone remember where Michael Corleone finds the gun he later uses to get even with a rival gangster who tried to kill his dad in "The Godfather?" Taped behind a toilet tank in a restaurant bathroom.

Discounting the obvious choices of all those airport disaster flicks and the “Airplane!” spoof, there are plenty of aviation-related scenes in movies if only because an airport is such a common place to go in order to get somewhere else.

GSE? At the movies? Sure. Earlier this year, we had the chance to write about the retirement of Michael Doane after a long career building Douglas Equipment into a global powerhouse. He told us how he was able to get his products placed in the first James Bond movie that starred Daniel Craig. Take a look and you’ll not only see plenty of ground support equipment, but a plug for Menzies Aviation, too.

And so over the weekend we came across this interesting post concerning the length of the runway in the last of the “Fast and Furious” movies. The movie’s finale plays out during a 13-minute chase scene among speeding cars and one cargo plane trying its best to take off.

Through a series of calculations, the post’s author figures out that the runway in the movie would be more than 28 miles long in real life. Meanwhile, the longest paved runway in the world is just 3.4 miles long.

Only at the movies.