This one’s for my aviation/cinema nerds…
Left Seat takes place entirely on a
@beechcraft King Air. In looking for a suitable plane to shoot we scoured all of North America and Europe. The problem is these King Airs are highly sought after and are not found lying around aviation graveyards. Additionally I wanted one with the original “steam gauges.” No glass panel. I can’t tell you how rare these are. Everyone updates the avionics on these workhorses to keep them going.
An enterprising young pilot/A&P out of Switzerland,
@liothepilotperson told me he would find me one. We are both Beech Bonanza owners/airplane fanatics.
Lio located one in an aviation academy in Copenhagen. A 1968 King Air B-90. We bought it, then had to ship it to Munich, where we are currently shooting the film.
I could make a movie just on this process alone. Full on #fitzcaralldo Bavarian authorities would not allow us to transit the oversized load on their roadways without months of permits and permissions. We had to make cuts. Not editorial. Sawzall. Old Milwaukee. The inner wings were cut off. The tail was severed. A student at the school cried.
We finally did get her to Munich and carefully put her back together, which included Lio re-attaching the severed wings using rivets and new sheet metal with the help of my production designer,
@oliver_hoese who, along with his supremely talented art director, Tillman, brought the interior back to life. Blood was spilled. A welding mishap. A stray hammer strike.
We kept tabs on where the pitot-static system lines were so we could control all the instruments on the panel during shooting. Same for the flight control cables which
@bookingyourcockpit then connected to servo motors that could be manipulated remotely to simulate the yoke movements when the autopilot is on. We even recreated the positively ancient Rockwell Collins radar with a screen that simulated the old tube, down to its green hue. New “props” were fabricated using aluminum blades that, when spun up, give the same visual cue of a real propellor disc at speed.
…continued in comments
