Aviation Mistakes in Toy Story 2

in the words of my physics lecturer, i've spotted some physics mistake when i was watching a movie. this time it's toy story 2. a very nasty ass physics mistake indeed!

the error is near the ending of the movie when woody and that cowgirl jumped off the nose gear (in laymans term: front tire) of the plane. if you watched the movie and recalled, the plane then took off just at the moment they jumped off and both characters somehow managed to stay lying on the runway.

this shouldn't be the case! when the plane is at take off speed, there is wake turbulence created behind the fuselage and the wings, not forgetting the tens of thousands pounds of thrust from the engine. the plane looked like the size of an A330-200 and it definitely doesn't have sissy engines.

what should really happen is that the toys should have been hurled away and be thrown either sideways or backwards by the wake turbulence.

then in the movie, around 10 seconds later another plane is seen landing right in front of them. another mistake! in real life situations, there should have been at least a 3 minute allowance before the next plane can take off or land. even busy airports like London Heathrow (LHR) or New York (JFK) have at least a 2 minute allowance between 2 successive planes. (i may be wrong about the 2 minutes here, i'll need to check)

if the take off and landing schedule was as close as the movie showed, then what the tower should have done is to allow the approaching plane to land first before letting the departing plane take off.

again, the plane landing right in front of them should have blown them away due to the wake turbulence.

and finally, the point where both woody and the cowgirl jumped off is the point of rotation. (laymen's term: take off point) it is very rare that a plane touches down at the point of rotation. the approaching plane should have landed much closer to the start of the runway.

in Singapore, it is not impossible to experience wake turbulences. i know a rather secluded place near the changi airport runway where approaching planes fly barely 10 stories above you! (maybe this is why the factories there are 3 stories max)

what happens when you sit below a landing plane is that after 30 seconds it flies over your head, you will feel a very strong gush of wind. there is a monsoon drain across it and you can see violent ripples created because of the wind. the wind and the noise itself feels very awe-inducing. if the plane flies any lower, you'll really get blown away by the wake turbulence and your ears will burst from the engine noise. i'll remember to take pictures the next time i cycle there. really cool stuff.