Flying a helicopter is hard. Diving in one and then righting it is even harder, and requires a lot of skill and training. But Tom Cruise didn’t care. He earned his helicopter license so he could fly his own stunts in Mission: Impossible — Fallout, the latest installment in the action series that hits theaters this week.
In the movie, Cruise’s character Ethan Hunt pulls off a corkscrew dive in a matte black Airbus H125 helicopter, with mountains on all sides. A corkscrew dive consists of a steep vertical drop with a twist, writes Wired. Cruise had to do this himself while avoiding the other helicopters in production.
Cruise has been a certified airplane pilot since 1994, but was new to helicopters. He went to Airbus’ helicopter school in Arlington, Texas, to train for this trick. Wired staff decided to do the same thing and train for the stunt. Check it out in the video below.
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