For shooting the scene of the airplane crash, the production leased a real Boeing 727 from a Vegas casino owner, purchased two fuselages for the post-crash scenes and built a 1,000 pound model for the actual moment of impact. The scene of the crash was shot on a miniature road 1,200 feet long, with the 1000-pound model plane moving at 60 miles per hour. Because it was a one shot only situation, it was filmed by 9 cameras. The sequence was primarily directed by visual effects supervisor
Peter Donen, and in total, the entire scene took 75 people 6 months to bring it all together.
more
