Aviation goes to the movies
If you’ve seen James Bond fly a BD-5 jet through a hangar and exit sideways out the other end or watched Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon get sprayed by an aerial applicator in “Odd Couple II,” you’ve seen the work of J.W. “Corkey” Fornof.
Fornof, an airshow performer, movie stunt pilot, and aerial coordinator, has flown in more than 100 movies, TV shows, and commercial productions. He will show footage from some of his most famous flights and talk about the demands of precision movie flying at the AOPA Aviation Summit “Aviation in the Movies” luncheon Nov. 12, from 12:30 to 2 p.m. in the Long Beach Convention Center Grand Ballroom . Attendees also will get a behind-the-scenes look at the making of “Speed and Angels,” the award-winning film from producer Francesco “Paco” Chierici, a former Navy fighter pilot.
Fornof’s movie credits include the James Bond classic “Licence to Kill,” “Six Days Seven Nights,” and “Mission Impossible II.” He’ll discuss the many aerobatic feats he’s committed to film and one stunt he found surprisingly challenging.
Chierici, a modern-day dogfighter, and “Speed and Angels” star Jay Consalvi, an F/A-18 instructor and Iraq war veteran, will share their experience training Navy pilots and show cockpit video from some of their most demanding flights. “Speed and Angels” follows Consalvi and a fellow Naval aviator as they pursue their childhood dream and fly the F-14 Tomcat.
Tickets to the “Aviation in the Movies” luncheon are $50 per person. Register today. AOPA ePublishing staff
