GPS never ceases to amaze me. Although I’ve never flown an aircraft with an autopilot, I can imagine how great it would be to punch in a waypoint and let the helicopter do the flying for me — especially on the very long cross-country flights I have to do twice a year.

I agree: he is trying to write movie scenes. He’s probably been advised to. All that means is that his misinformation will be propagated visually to movie-goers sometime in the future.

So funny, I just got done reading page 349 (page one of Chapter 93) where Dan Brown wrote “silent altitude”. I’m not a pilot, but I research aviation a lot and when I come into some money I plan on taking classes for a single engine fixed wing license. So that “silent altitude” thing caught me off guard. I’m like… is there something I don’t know!!!!?!?!?! I found your blog very entertaining and it secured some of the various statements that Dan Brown made that I felt were inaccurate.

With that said, I believe he’s trying to create scenes that Hollywood will automatically accept for ther adaptation (should a third Langdon film happen). I would imagine that his descriptions of hardware like that are unimportant to him compared to his true intersts… which he very clearly describes – archtiecture, history and so forth. As a I writer, I can certainly confirm that elements of a story I include that aren’t interesting to me often don’t make it to the research point… at least not as much as other elements.

-E

I just wanted to let you know I found this blog immensely helpful as I am writing a chapter in my book that involves a helicopter ride. I must say that I am striving to find new ways to describe the sound a helicopter makes. It’s rather unmistakable when you actually hear it, but to describe it to a reader is much more difficult. I recently wrote… “the deafening drill of the helicopter’s rotors made conversation impossible…” and one of my proof readers balked at the use of the word “drill.” I’d love to hear your comment on that one!