Goofs

The first time the hijacked plane is attempting to land in Beruit, there are dozens of vehicles blocking the runway. When clearance to land is finally given, a view from the cockpit shows all the vehicles driving off to the sides of the runway. When the shot switches to an exterior of the plane landing, there are NO vehicles at all on or near the runway.

Norris' footwear switches between combat boots and black sneakers several times during the film.

When McCoy is searching the bedroom, he removes a mattress and a terrorist that is hiding underneath gets a shot off. The terrorist hits the lens of McCoy's wrist-mounted flashlight before being shot. Shortly thereafter, the lens is intact.

During the combat scene in Algeria, two terrorists are shown shootings from the emergency windows after removing them. The next scene shows the emergency windows re-attached to the plane.

When Major Mccoy escapes in the church van, the terrorists shoot the van's door. In the next scene the door is intact.

When the team breaches the room and rescue the hostages, they go underneath the floor for surprise entry. Although blind breaching is a common practice in special teams training. They would never go through the floor knowing that hostages are in the in the room. To do so they would injure or even kill the hostages.

Upon arriving in Algiers, Lee Marvin's character puts an American flag patch on the left shoulder, with the blue field to the rear. That patch would be worn on the right shoulder. The blue field is always towards the front.

The Navy divers are traveling with their military ID's only. US Armed Forces personnel, especially those traveling between countries on official business, are issued a diplomatic passport as a means of identification at ports of entry.

Or a SOFA (status of forces agreement) card.

During the assault on the terrorist compound, the image seen through the Delta Force's night vision goggles is in full color. The goggles they are wearing are an AN/PVS-5 type device, which can only display a green colored image. In fact, there are no night vision devices currently that can give the full color image as displayed in the film.

The Uzis used during the final runway scene after the hostages are rescued fire 3-round bursts - no Uzi produced has a burst selector setting, only semi and full-automatic.

A 3-round burst selector isn't necessary to fire three shots. A trained trigger finger can do it easily.

On the scene where Norris meets the convoy of terrorists (holding the main hostages), he blows up the first car in the convoy and then rides past the convoy and skids to face the end of the convoy. Before he skids you can clearly see tire marks on the roads from when this has been attempted more than once.

As Mustafa is talking to journalists from the cockpit window, he fires several shots into the pavement in front of them to force them back. The angle he was shooting at guarantees ricochets into the crowd, which would have wounded or killed several people.

When the women, children are released they leave the plane with no luggage or personal effects yet when they greet the returning hostages back at Ben Gurion they're all immaculately dressed and made up in perfectly fitted clothing.

After the terrorists fatally shoots one of the three U.S. Navy men who was on board the hijacked plane, he falls from the height of the hatch to the tarmac. As his body was lying on the tarmac, and being examined, he is presumed dead. However, if you look at his lower abdomen, you can see it rise, in response to contraction of his diaphragm muscle (breathing).

When the delta force is waiting on the rib in their scoober gear they duck down to conceal themselves even though they are wearing bright yellow tanks and they searchlight shines directly on to them.

First - the yellow, if seen in the searchlight, could be a natural reflection but a reflection off a face mask would stand out as a flash. Second, crouching down avoids showing a silhouette and throwing a shadow.

When the Delta Force arrives at the airport to leave country, they sneak through a cotton field, Lebanon does not have such fields, Israel does.

When the Delta C-130 is leaving the hangar to fly to the Middle East, supposedly at Fort Bragg, there is a sign behind it that says "...AEL AIRLINES". Perhaps "El Al Israel Airlines"? (Approx. 31:40)

Israeli signs, etc at "Beirut" International Airport. Most noticable: El Al planes, 'Meshteret Israel' or 'Israeli Police' at the gate, and 'Brochim Ha Baim" or "Welcome" at the gate.

On his way to stop the attack, Colonel Alexander calls McCoy by the wrong name, but corrects himself. His exact line is: "Get out of there, Miloy... McCoy!"

When the Greek priest takes McCoy and Pete to the cemetery to show them where the hostages are, when Pete approaches the grave, he makes the sign of the cross, but makes it with his left hand.

Perhaps Pete isn't catholic and is unaware there was a distinction to be made, as are many non-catholics.

Captain Campbell announces over the P.A. that the flight time from Athens to Rome is 55 minutes. While a flight between those cities would land 55 minutes later in Rome due to the time zone difference, the actual flight time would be of 1 hour 55 minutes. (Even at the Boeing 707's maximum speed of 620 miles per hour, an actual flight time of 55 minutes would be impossible because of climb and approach speeds, etc.)

It is repeatedly mentioned, that only three crew members remain on the ATW aircraft after it returns to Beirut, Lebanon and the other hostages are removed. Colonel Alexander verifies this with one of the terrorists shortly before boarding the plane. There are two male flight attendants members sleeping in the first class section who sit up when the Delta Force boards the plane. Alexander then turns and enters the cockpit where there are three flight crew members who are awakened by his entrance, for a total of five remaining crew members.