Ep. 249 — Deadly Mile High Club

[Greg T 48]

4 hours ago, Cameron H. said:

What cracked me up the most about Margaret handing her daughter 2k in a filthy, crumpled wad, was when she whispered, "I know you need it." The only reason she would know that they need that money is because she pays Jake's salary! If she was truly concerned about her daughter's financial situation, she could always just pay Jake more. She has full control of her daughter's economic stability, and while I get she doesn't like Jake, paying him more would at least ensure her daughter's lasting comfort better than intermittent hand outs beneath the kitchen table. Hell, if Jake was making decent money, it might make him feel more ownership over his work , and inspire him to be a better employee overall. 

The investors in Santa Barbara would never accept her paying Jake more money.  

[Greg T 48]

With the exception of some high performance military jets, planes are designed to be inherently stable.  Turning off the autopilot wouldn't send the plane into a sudden roll or make it pitch back and forth like a fishing boat in a rough sea.  It would just mean it wouldn't adjust course for wind gusts.  Granted on one of the passes of Tanya's head, the plane's jet engine noise transforms into the sound of a World War 1 biplane's piston engine, so it's almost like they actively tried to be inaccurate.

[Cameron H. 23786]

My favorite moment in the movie of a character getting tragic news in the least empathetic way possible has got to be when the coroner segues from telling Pink Fedora that her mother just committed suicide to asking if she'll be swinging by to pick up her mother's car. I mean, yeah, you literally just told me that my mother hurled herself bodily from a building in downtown Los Angeles, but please, let me rush right on down there and pick up my mother's Chevy Suburban. I don't need time to process any of this information at all.

[Catfish 72]

There are so many things to discuss about this movie!!!

In the beginning I thought we were entering a 2:22 scenario.  When Tonya was flipping back and forth between photos of “The Two Jakes”, I was thinking, uh-oh..we have a young man, involved in aviation, getting mixed up in some kind of soul-switching scenario. But of course that’s something only a crazy person would think…a la Tanya.

Also the guy that Jake buys the plane from at the end of the movie says, “we moved around a lot when we were kids, so its kinda  like a family home”.   Are we to believe that his family was flying around from town to to town in a WWII era aircraft, picking up odd jobs, getting into adventures, and sleeping in the cockpit.  THIS NEEDS TO BE THE MOVIE.

Lastly the guy from the coroner’s office tells hard-pink that, “Apparently, a lot of people jump off that building.”  What?!?!  How many?!?! What does it take before some security measures are put in place?

[AlmostAGhost 2718]

here's an article that answers the burning question that literally nobody ever wondered: was Deadly Mile High Club based on a true story?

 

https://www.bustle.com/p/is-deadly-mile-high-club-based-on-a-true-story-its-a-common-fantasy-22859951

[gigi-tastic 2322]

So I'm no business woman which was why I was curious  as to how big a business has to be to have a board  directors. Margaret kept talking about how she had to sell her box of  burnt hair son in law on. 

According to a Forbes article I found: 

"The general thesis is that as the businesses grow in size and complexity their board should grow with them.  A group of professors across multiple universities concluded in a 2005 study that corporations increasing the complexity of their operations by introducing new product lines or expanding into new territories had a tendency to increase the number of directors on their board.

The conclusion seems logical.  If you are a company that has 10 gas stations and you are looking to add an 11th – you probably shouldn’t implement a board of directors.  But if you are a small precision motor manufacturing company and you are expanding from automobiles to healthcare equipment a board can be extremely valuable."

 So now I wonder is her company diverse? What do they sell? How many votes would she need to get Jake as her successor? 

I want to know more!!! ( Also I should probably stop thinking and researching when on my migraine meds because this is the hot take no one asked for). 

[gigi-tastic 2322]

2 hours ago, Catfish said:

There are so many things to discuss about this movie!!!

In the beginning I thought we were entering a 2:22 scenario.  When Tonya was flipping back and forth between photos of “The Two Jakes”, I was thinking, uh-oh..we have a young man, involved in aviation, getting mixed up in some kind of soul-switching scenario. But of course that’s something only a crazy person would think…a la Tanya.

Also the guy that Jake buys the plane from at the end of the movie says, “we moved around a lot when we were kids, so its kinda  like a family home”.   Are we to believe that his family was flying around from town to to town in a WWII era aircraft, picking up odd jobs, getting into adventures, and sleeping in the cockpit.  THIS NEEDS TO BE THE MOVIE.

Lastly the guy from the coroner’s office tells hard-pink that, “Apparently, a lot of people jump off that building.”  What?!?!  How many?!?! What does it take before some security measures are put in place?

I said to myself "Sir are you telling me you were a homeless in a plane? Are we just not going to discuss that?"

[gigi-tastic 2322]

I legit thought Tanya was going to  try to fight the plane when she was fleeing . I thought that for way to long. It looked like she was squaring up. 

[ErinRene 50]

Did anyone notice when Jake was in the guest room at his friends house he was reading “The Rickenbacker Biography.” Ed Rickenbacker was, according to Wikipedia, an American World War 1 Flying Ace. Reading up on him, his dad told him not to waste his time trying to be a pilot - THEY HAVE SO MUCH IN COMMON.

This scene comes right after he meets Gonzo at the party, and I can’t decide what I like to imagine more - that he’s been reading this book for weeks because he’s so dedicated and obsessed with becoming a pilot, or that he just bought the book after being inspired by Gonzo. He’s not very far into the book so I assume the latter. I mean, nothing says non-fiction book choice like meeting a guy named after the phallic-nosed muppet. 

[Peter F 4]

15 hours ago, gigi-tastic said:

The mom says at the very start that "decaf coffee is her only luxury" when she accuses an employee of stealing it. That made me so sad. Not even regular coffee. Decaf. 

I thought that was very odd when I heard it. I'm not a coffee drinker, I can't stand it. But I've never heard anyone say "oOohh, that decaf, can't wait for that relaxing time with my decaf coffee, my one luxury... decaf..." and this employee must be thinking "ooooh, someone has decaf in this place? I am definitely stealing some of that!"

 

[Peter F 4]

15 hours ago, gigi-tastic said:

Ok so was I just on a bunch of migraine meds or did they say they hadn't had sex in 3 YEARS? When did they get married? How long have they been together? Sex isn't everything but like if you aren't together in 3 YEARS and you are a relatively young couple and not asexual.. perhaps you should go tot therapy? Talk? Not be married to a bag of mayo?

I believe it's established that they've been married for 6 years. The dude looks like he's 23.

[Peter F 4]

8 hours ago, Cameron H. said:

My favorite moment in the movie of a character getting tragic news in the least empathetic way possible has got to be when the coroner segues from telling Pink Fedora that her mother just committed suicide to asking if she'll be swinging by to pick up her mother's car. I mean, yeah, you literally just told me that my mother hurled herself bodily from a building in downtown Los Angeles, but please, let me rush right on down there and pick up my mother's Chevy Suburban. I don't need time to process any of this information at all.

I was hoping that Paul, June and Jason would have mentioned the car.... So the mother and the Tanya go up in the plane, and it appears that they are flying for some time because she is giving a mini-lesson about how planes fly. So even if this lesson is the briefest of brief, it's at least a 10 minute conversation. Depending on the type of plane, it could be travelling at speeds of 140km/h - 200km/h. So if we choose 150km/h as a rough estimate. They would have travelled 25km (15.5miles) in that conversation (at that means talking from the moment they lifted off the ground). 

She decides then to eject the mother-in law and pushes her out of the seat to her death.

When the daughter gets the call from the Coroner (wouldn't the police call her?), he says that she committed suicide, and that her car was found nearby.

Wait, what? How did her car get there? Her car was parked at a small airport somewhere, a bare minimum of 25km away, more than likely 50km away. 
Also that building just happened to be "the" suicide building of downtown? Also falling from the plane, wouldn't you reach terminal velocity and smack that ground with so much force that you would explode. You could get the same effect from a building, but it would have to be a very high building... so ok, maybe... 

But still, i want to know.. did Tanya quickly fly back, get Margaret's car, drive like crazy to the place where she went splat (if she could even figure out that exact location from the air and translate that to driving). Get the car there, wipe down all her prints on the car, leave it, and hitch hike home or something. All before the body was found and police came to investigate.

[Peter F 4]

4 hours ago, AlmostAGhost said:

here's an article that answers the burning question that literally nobody ever wondered: was Deadly Mile High Club based on a true story?

 

https://www.bustle.com/p/is-deadly-mile-high-club-based-on-a-true-story-its-a-common-fantasy-22859951

After watching it, and seeing that it said "Based on a true story". I googled that as well and came up with the same article that essentially says "no it's not." 

That's just blatantly misrepresentation... 

Especially when they try to convince the reader that it is a true story because "While Deadly Mile High Club might not be based on a true story — it's inspired by a sexual fantasy that is very, very real."

So what, because people like to fantasize about having sex in planes, means that this is "almost sort of a true story?" That's like saying "People like dinosaurs... Jurassic Park? True story!"

[Peter F 4]

In regards to Gonzo's stunt flight...

At one point he realizes that there is plane trouble, as the engine sputters... and instead of, you know, landing the plane.. He decides to do more stunts for the crowd. Also, what pilot shouts over the roar of a bi-plane engine to himself "I LOVE MY LIFE!!!"

dude, you're just doing some loop de loops in front of a dozen or two naive students, your wage isn't great, and airplane fuel costs are through the rough.

Also, no one talked about the (day) dream sequence where Tanya forces Jake's wife out the door. The special effects of that shot looked like they cropped a plane out of Microsoft Flight simulator. 

As for the Pink hat. That was purely Chekov's hat... it was so pink and in your face, as to establish that Jake's wife wears this all the time. So that in the middle of the movie, jake can identify the imposter actor/model as his wife, because it's a female with a pink hat on in his backyard.

[Catfish 72]

11 hours ago, Catfish said:

There are so many things to discuss about this movie!!!

In the beginning I thought we were entering a 2:22 scenario.  When Tonya was flipping back and forth between photos of “The Two Jakes”, I was thinking, uh-oh..we have a young man, involved in aviation, getting mixed up in some kind of soul-switching scenario. But of course that’s something only a crazy person would think…a la Tanya.

Also the guy that Jake buys the plane from at the end of the movie says, “we moved around a lot when we were kids, so its kinda  like a family home”.   Are we to believe that his family was flying around from town to to town in a WWII era aircraft, picking up odd jobs, getting into adventures, and sleeping in the cockpit.  THIS NEEDS TO BE THE MOVIE.

Lastly the guy from the coroner’s office tells hard-pink that, “Apparently, a lot of people jump off that building.”  What?!?!  How many?!?! What does it take before some security measures are put in place?

On second thought, maybe no one has ever really jumped off that building and it's just Tanya's go-to dumping ground for loose ends.  

Tanya: "What do you mean I can't return this telescopic lens without a receipt?"
Clerk:  "Sorry m'am, store policy.
Tanya: "Fine.  By the way, I need to make a delivery.  How would you like a free flight to Santa Barbara?"

Who knows how many people she has killed.  Also, "A free trip to Santa Barbara" is a good euphemism for knocking someone off. 

[E.Lerner 111]

16 hours ago, Greg T said:

With the exception of some high performance military jets, planes are designed to be inherently stable.  Turning off the autopilot wouldn't send the plane into a sudden roll or make it pitch back and forth like a fishing boat in a rough sea.  It would just mean it wouldn't adjust course for wind gusts.  Granted on one of the passes of Tanya's head, the plane's jet engine noise transforms into the sound of a World War 1 biplane's piston engine, so it's almost like they actively tried to be inaccurate.

There's also abrupt transition to Jake's POV out of the windshield, where he appears to be flying slightly slower than Tanya is running. 

[E.Lerner 111]

12 hours ago, Catfish said:

Lastly the guy from the coroner’s office tells hard-pink that, “Apparently, a lot of people jump off that building.”  What?!?!  How many?!?! What does it take before some security measures are put in place?

Of all of the ham-fisted explanations that the movie uses to paper over the transparently stupid plot, I liked this one the most. Despite acting extremely suspicious 100% of the time, Tanya has no trouble snowing Jake because he is explicitly very, very dumb. Annie is the smart one, so the writers felt the need to shoehorn an explanation that would make this extremely suspicious death seem more plausible. 

However, saying that the building Mags lands near has had a rash of suicides makes this more suspicious, since it would make it that much more obvious she fell from a greater height.

A skydiver reaches terminal velocity of ~120mph in ~1,500 feet. We don't know the exact altitude Tanya was flying, but that seems like a reasonable estimate. Someone thrown from a plane at that height would land with the velocity of someone who jumped off skyscraper hundreds of feet taller than the tallest building in LA. The area they're flying over is fairly residential, so even with a very generous assumption that the building in question was 20 stories, Mags would only be traveling at around half that speed had she actually jumped off it.   

54 minutes ago, Catfish said:

On second thought, maybe no one has ever really jumped off that building and it's just Tanya's go-to dumping ground for loose ends.  

 

 The only plausible explanation is that Tanya is a serial killer with incredible aim. 

[Elektra Boogaloo 3371]

Here is a podcast episode about the “Killer Clowns” and them being in vans. Jason was right. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/killer-clowns/id1380008439?i=1000492080039

[Peter F 4]

6 hours ago, E.Lerner said:

A skydiver reaches terminal velocity of ~120mph in ~1,500 feet. We don't know the exact altitude Tanya was flying, but that seems like a reasonable estimate. Someone thrown from a plane at that height would land with the velocity of someone who jumped off skyscraper hundreds of feet taller than the tallest building in LA. The area they're flying over is fairly residential, so even with a very generous assumption that the building in question was 20 stories, Mags would only be traveling at around half that speed had she actually jumped off it.   

 The only plausible explanation is that Tanya is a serial killer with incredible aim. 

Agreed... i remember hearing about a cop that got to the twin towers at 9/11 early. While he was trying to help people, he kept hearing splats, and was wondering why someone was throwing watermelons from the top floors of the towers. He then realized it was people falling. At terminal velocity, you are essentially a human flesh bag of soft squishy stuff. If those remains of Margaret were found, they would know she didn’t jump from the building, unless, like you said, it was the tallest building ever.

[gigi-tastic 2322]

18 hours ago, Peter F said:

I thought that was very odd when I heard it. I'm not a coffee drinker, I can't stand it. But I've never heard anyone say "oOohh, that decaf, can't wait for that relaxing time with my decaf coffee, my one luxury... decaf..." and this employee must be thinking "ooooh, someone has decaf in this place? I am definitely stealing some of that!"

 

I also do not drink coffee but I know from observing coffee drinkers decaf isn't great?

[Alwyn 4]

As a fan of HTDGM and Bitchsesh, everytime they mentionned the woman in the pink Fedora, ALL I could picture was Lisa Vanderpump and her many pink hats/outfits from Real Housewives of Beverly Hills/Vanderpump Rules. Can't believe June didn't make the association!

 

 

 

 

[Cam Bert 8145]

I'm sorry if this has been mentioned but I'm too lazy to go back and check.

After Annie's mother's funeral her and Jake sit down and have a talk what to do about the business. He first asks her if she wants to make lighting fixtures for the rest of her life? Here's the thing though, if you own the business you don't make the fixatures. You manage the company and have employees do that. What if he was speaking in a more metaphorical sense and meant "you don't want to be running a lighting fixture company for the rest of your life" even then, what kind of argument is that? Sure they can manage the company and increase their profits or maybe they can hire a manager to run it, take the profits and put it into the careers they want. If he wants to be a pilot he can still check in on the company and fly planes! CEOs of companies aren't constantly at their factories and warehouses. They can just use the profits from the place to fund their schooling and piloting and then sell it at a later date. Think of your future guys.

However, the more shocking thing we learn is Jake has only been working there for a year! We know him and his wife have been married for six years and of that he's only been working for her mom for one of them. On top of that Annie's mom was preparing Jake to take over for when she retires which sounds like it was soon. He's only been doing it one year!  He went from entry level employee to future head of the company in a year? The mom is clearly looking out for them and he's just cutting work in the middle of the day for flight school? Who knows what other fuckery Jake has been up to. What was he doing those first five years? Why did he take the job if not for a secure future only to throw that all away the moment he gets it? I'm really siding with Annie's mom on this one, Jake is a a doughnut. 

[Catfish 72]

2 hours ago, Cam Bert said:

I'm sorry if this has been mentioned but I'm too lazy to go back and check.

After Annie's mother's funeral her and Jake sit down and have a talk what to do about the business. He first asks her if she wants to make lighting fixtures for the rest of her life? Here's the thing though, if you own the business you don't make the fixatures. You manage the company and have employees do that. What if he was speaking in a more metaphorical sense and meant "you don't want to be running a lighting fixture company for the rest of your life" even then, what kind of argument is that? Sure they can manage the company and increase their profits or maybe they can hire a manager to run it, take the profits and put it into the careers they want. If he wants to be a pilot he can still check in on the company and fly planes! CEOs of companies aren't constantly at their factories and warehouses. They can just use the profits from the place to fund their schooling and piloting and then sell it at a later date. Think of your future guys.

Yeah, I doubt if Bezos is sulking around saying, "I can't believe I still work in the shipping department."