007 - DIE ANOTHER DAY - Switchblade - Press Clips

[quade 4]

Ok, when I saw this in the movie it looked to me like it was a cheezy computer generated special effect and NOT a real device at all (and for all I know, it was done in the film that way). It sure didn't look like they were real when they launched in the movie and they sure didn't look real when they were flying.

Does ANYBODY have any further information about this device?

http://www.kineticaerospace.com/

http://www.naplesnews.com/02/12/business/d822054a.htm

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Company provides high-tech toys for new Bond movie

Sunday, December 1, 2002

By GERALD ENSLEY, Tallahassee Democrat, An AP Member Exchange



TALLAHASSEE — Next time you see Dave Rogers at a track meet, don't be surprised if he affects an English accent and introduces himself as "Rogers, Dave Rogers."

Rogers, a longtime figure on the local running scene, is co-owner of an aviation company that provided one of the high-tech toys in the new James Bond movie "Die Another Day."

In the movie, stars Pierce Brosnan and Halle Berry each fly a "Switchblade," sleek, one-person gliders developed by Rogers and his Oregon partner, Jack McCornack. The Switchblades, which are actually flown in the movie by stunt people, appear in only a couple of shots toward the movie's end. But, hey, Rogers and McCornack have made it to Hollywood.

Their company, Kinetic Aerospace, is listed in the movie's credits. The two men received a fee "in the low six-figures." They were guests of the producers at the movie's Hollywood premiere Nov. 11. And they are developing aircraft for the next Bond movie.

"I was quite impressed when I saw our aircraft in the film," Rogers said. "But I really got excited when (Kinetic Aerospace) came up in the credits. I started dancing; I think I embarrassed my wife."

McCornack, a longtime aviation designer who designed the Switchblades, was more prosaic. "The part I liked best was seeing my name on the check," McCornack said by phone.

The two men, who have known each other for many years, have been partners for four years. They got their foot in the movie door with the previous Bond film, "The World Is Not Enough."

The burly McCornack, 54, is a one-time auto and motorcycle racing body designer who moved into aviation in the mid-1970s. In 1979, he and a partner made the first transcontinental flights in engine-powered gliders, now known as ultralight planes. By the 1980s, the self-taught McCornack was designing planes for defense contractors, and today he is working on several military projects that "frankly, I cannot discuss." McCornack also is a popular writer for aviation magazines.

The tall, ponytailed Rogers, 48, is a former construction company owner who has lived in Tallahassee since 1975. He is best known as a one-time long-distance runner who tramped Tallahassee's streets barefooted and who still supervises a summer track program and officiates at local track meets.

In 1981, he piloted his first ultralight, an experience that led him to abandon construction for aviation in 1989. He has restored planes, operated a rural airport and owned an Internet service that provided the technical documents for airplanes. "I was 35 before I found out what I wanted to do with my life," Rogers said.

In 1998, Rogers and McCornack formed a company, Kinetic Research, to distribute aircraft engines made by a South Carolina manufacturer. In 1999, London-based EON Productions, which makes Bond films, encountered problems on the set of "The World Is Not Enough."

The black parachute-guided, flying snowmobiles — powered by engines from the South Carolina company — that were supposed to chase Pierce Brosnan and co-star Sophie Marceau through the Swiss Alps would not fly. McCornack's reputation and connection with the engine company earned him a call from Bond producers.

McCornack soon had the machines flying and wound up staying on the movie set for eight weeks. Upon returning, he and Rogers formed a new company, Kinetic Aerospace, and decided to try their hand at Bond gadgets. McCornack designed the Switchblade, a 7-foot glider on which the uncovered pilot lies prone and reaches speeds of 200 mph. The pilot and plane, launched from a larger plane, use parachutes to land.

The company tested the Switchblade in a remote part of Arizona, using a test pilot from Britain's top skydiving team, and sent a video of the test to Bond producers. "Within 48 hours, they bought (the Switchblade) and rewrote the script that already existed so they could use it," Rogers said.

EON Productions insisted on total secrecy. Rogers and McCornack had to shut down their Web site until the movie was released. They were asked not to talk to the press until last week. They were not even assured their plane was in the film until they were invited to the premiere of the $140 million movie.

"Oh, their plane is definitely in the movie," EON publicist Katherine McCormack said from London. "But I can't tell you much more than that."

Despite secrecy, word of the Switchblade spread through aviation circles, and Kinetic Aerospace was contacted by U.S. military officials about building engine-powered Switchblades. McCornack is working on three types of Switchblades that could have military applications — while also designing two "nontraditional" aircraft for the Bond films.

Though a defense contract could be very lucrative, the company prefers the "shaken not stirred" business, Rogers said.

"Kinetic Aerospace is driven more by the excitement of adventure than the bottom dollar," he said. "Movies are the direction we'd like to go."

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[AggieDave 6]

Do you have any pictures of this 'plane'? Or could you post a URL of a site that has some? You've peaked my curiosity.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[jdhill 0]

Their website www.kineticaerospace.com only has a general note that public access to their site will resume 11/22 (opening day for the movie I think)... but it is not back up yet.

Josh

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. - Edmund Burke

[BikerBabe 0]

I was more impressed by the fact that Halle and Pierce wore FactoryDivers!

My husband thinks I'm the biggest geek in the world because I loudly whispered (very excitedly), "Hey! FactoryDivers! I have one of those! Cool!"

Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

[quade 4]

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Do you have any pictures of this 'plane'?

I've browsed some of the 007 web sites and can't find any photos of the "Switchblade" but to give you an idea of what it looks like -- imagine a person laying down on top of a cruise missle. Not exactly that, but pretty close.

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The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[AggieDave 6]

I just watched the trailer video off of the movie's site and saw one, although it was very very quick and only from one angle. If you or anyone else gets their hands on some better pics, that would be great.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[kevin922 0]

Tada! I know i'm good, I admit it :)

Another shot

[quade 4]

VERY interesting, because that's not exactly what they looked like in the movie! (I'm still think that the ones in the movie -were- computer generated.)

Still -- fuckin' cool huh?!?

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[kevin922 0]

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VERY interesting, because that's not exactly what they looked like in the movie! (I'm still think that the ones in the movie -were- computer generated.)

Still -- fuckin' cool huh?!?

Yeah it is cool but everything in the movies has been moviefied. (Take the Jag & Aston Martin forinstance.. ) those weren't computer generated :)

I bet the actual blades were not computer generated but I also bet they were also not filmed on a real jump either. Probably some snazzy mock up.

[wlie 0]

I thought the military has something like that - Tomahawk cruise missile.

Ain't that similar to Troy Hartman "MTV's Acts of Insanity" riding a bomb?

My other ride is the relative wind.

[billvon 3,070]

Odd; we're developing something very much like that.

[kallend 2,106]

I hope everyone noticed that while James Bond is a Cambridge alumnus, the bad guy went to Oxford (and Harvard, but that doesn't count, being a new place).

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[Zenister 0]

wow! i was wondering if those were real or movie creations...

i wonder if the differences are movie changes or design improvements..the ones in the movie looked lots more like Tomahawks...

btw i really really want one...

____________________________________
Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

[beavdog 0]

My girlfriend said the samething when I pointed that detail out....

Here's to the Breezes that blows through the Trezzez.....

[aneblett 0]

Ok.. this is embarrassing..

somebody tell me exactly where in the movie these were used as I have no recollection of them at all. I hope that there isn't a Canadian edit of this movie..

oh and by the way here is a shot from the trailer for those of you wondering what they looked like in the movie.

Adrian

S.E.X. party #2

..It is far worse to live with fear, than to die confronting it.

[bobsoutar 0]

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I'm still think that the ones in the movie -were- computer generated

Pretty sure that the stunt was real and done with Alan Hewitt standing in for Piers Brosnan and Ian Marshall standing in (at the last moment) for Halle Berry. Switchblades were rigged up with AADs.

[quade 4]

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Pretty sure that the stunt was real and done with Alan Hewitt standing in for Piers Brosnan and Ian Marshall standing in (at the last moment) for Halle Berry. Switchblades were rigged up with AADs.

If so, it sure as heck looked like a combination of CGI and blue screen. The Switchblades in the movie exited in a way that to me just didn't look like they would in real life. Immediately (like in less than one second) after exit they went nose high and made hard banks to their left. Perhaps that is in fact the way it's done, but somehow I doubt it because of the stress and instability involved. I also doubt that in real life you'd be able to compose the kind of skydiver separation shot that ended up in the film. Again, it just look like it was faked in too many ways. When I saw it in the theatre I just moaned over how phoney it all looked and dreamt of how cool it -could- have been if done as a real stunt instead of CGI & blue screen.

On the other hand, if you have contacts with Alan -- PLEASE convince him to come over here and explain how all this was done!

It's going to make for a hell of a neat story either way.

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The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[kevin922 0]

You know what REALLY peeved me about that movie ?? The whole parachute wrapped around bond's hands scene where he is surfing.. UGH!! I mean c'mon.. even to the biggest wuffo in the world that had to look about as fake as pamela anderson's boobs (before she had the silicone removed)

[aneblett 0]

agreed..

S.E.X. party #2

..It is far worse to live with fear, than to die confronting it.

[quade 4]

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The whole parachute wrapped around bond's hands scene where he is surfing.

That was simply grotesque. Even the whuffos in the office laughed at that scene.

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The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[bobsoutar 0]

Alan is a friend of mine but I haven't seen him since September as he was off to Kenya to help out with Tomb Raider 2. He has done quite a few arial stunts on Bond movies in the past and he told me that the double for Halle did 3 takes before she was dropped and replaced by Ian Marshall (of Team X).

Trouble is that Alan would not necessarily know when I spoke to him how much of the film was used and how much was either "blue screened" or CGI in the final screen version.

Although I enjoyed the film I was quite disappointed with the skydiving sequences. Especially as I know that there was some good footage, taken from a helicopter, of the switchblade stunt and the freefall that followed.

[Deuce 1]

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VERY interesting, because that's not exactly what they looked like in the movie! (I'm still think that the ones in the movie -were- computer generated.)

Still -- fuckin' cool huh?!?

Yes. Yes indeed, Q-bie Wan.

I must have one. There's a neat little turbojet engine out there....But even though the weight has got to be less than 250 pounds, the horsepower would necessitate having a private pilot license even with a piston motor....

If it had gear, do you think it would be landable? What is it's stall speed?

Ooh. It's just cooladelic. Totally.

[quade 4]

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If it had gear, do you think it would be landable? What is it's stall speed?

Wait, I'm doing some research about this right now. I just remembered something I saw in a Museum once . . . something from the late 1950s or possibly early 1960s. Very similar in design, but without the variable geometry wings and with a piston prop.

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The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[quade 4]

Ok, here's what I have so far . . .


From Alan Renga at the San Diego Aerospace Museum

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The airplane which you are referring to is the Wee Bee an experimental aircraft built in 1949. We have a reproduction made by the planes original builders (one is still involved in the museum). The original was destroyed in a fire in 1978.

And then from http://www.aerofiles.com/_ba.html

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Wee Bee 1948 = 1pOlwM; 30hp Kiekhaefer; span: 18'0" length: 14'2" load: 200# v: 82/72/45 range: 50. William Chana, Ken Coward. Early all-metal ultralight with tricycle gear. Pilot flew in a prone position riding atop the fuselage. POP: 1 [NX90840]; destroyed in San Diego Museum fire.

Anybody got a camera and willing to hop on down to the SD Aerospace Museum for a quick shot of this?

I'm telling ya, it looks a LOT like the Switchblade, but with a post-WWII piston thing going on.

Yeah, it flew. Yeah, it landed. No, I don't know at what speeds though.

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The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[blewaway5 0]

oh yes, details would be awesome. I heard a while ago that this thing was for real, but I couldn't find any info on what the hell the specs are If anyone finds out post it soonest. All this curiosity I think I know how cats feel.

Truman Sparks for President