History Main / AlwaysKnowAPilot

* Zinda Blackhawk has served as this for numerous DC teams and heroes, including the Suicide Squad and the Birds of Prey.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* ''Film/TwoThousandTwelve'': When John Cusack and his family force the reluctant Gordon to pilot a small plane and later a much bigger plane.
* ''Film/IndependenceDay'': The military is so devastated that there is literally a call for anyone with prior piloting experience. Randy Quaid's doofy dad character has experience with.... crop dusting? As a bonus, the President, who was established as an Air Force veteran early in the film, reveals that he too will be joining the fight.
* ''Film/MarsAttacks''. Byron Williams rescues [[AsHimself Tom Jones]] from Martians. He needs a pilot to fly him to Washington D.C., and it turns out that Tom Jones knows how to fly a plane!

* ''Film/LaraCroftTombRaider''. In the first movie, Lara Croft has to get to Cambodia fast. She smiles at a framed photo of herself with a team of British special forces. Cut to her being parachuted out of an RAF transport aircraft over the Cambodian jungle. In [[Film/LaraCroftTombRaiderTheCradleOfLife the sequel]] Lara is ferried around by British Intelligence like a quasi-James Bond, but it's subverted when someone is needed to fly a helicopter and the only person is her VoiceWithAnInternetConnection who's [[IKnowMortalKombat done it in flight simulation games]].
* ''Film/Seven1979'': Among her other skills, Alexa is a helicopter pilot: a fact the audience doesn't learn until she rents a chopper so she can get to the private estate of her target, the Hermit. It comes in handy later in the film when Drew is stranded on the beach while the Kahuna is escaping in his yacht. Alexa stll has the rented chopper and is able to pick Drew up so he can continue his pursuit.
* In ''Film/DeathRing'', Matt's best friend is 'Skylord' Harris: a chopper pilot who saved his life in Guatemala. When Matt and Lauren are kidnapped, Skylord goes searching for them. He borrows a helicopter for the charter company he works at and arrives at the island just in time to provide a much needed extraction.

** In ''Able Team #13: Scorched Earth'', the obligatory DisposablePilot is averted when the DEA aircraft carrying Able Team is shot down by Mexican army units working in league with the BigBad. This means they have a pilot handy when they capture a Mexican army helicopter and have to use it in the sequel novel.

* ''VideoGame/JustShapesAndBeats'': One of the companions you meet over the course of the story is a sentient helicopter who guides you through the non-level parts of one segment of the story.

* In the ''[[VideoGame/PAYDAYTheHeist Payday]]'' [[VideoGame/PAYDAY2 series]], you're frequently going to require extraction by air, so Bain has two pilots, Alex and Bile, always at the ready.

* ''Film/Aquaman2018''. When Arthur Curry and Mera has to leave the ocean to enter the Sahara Desert, they conveniently come ashore at a desert airfield. The pilot of the cargo plane flying them into the interior says he doesn't normally take charters, but it's not every man who pays in [[PirateBooty pirate gold]].

* ''Film/LaraCroftTombRaider''. In the first movie, Lara Croft has to get to Cambodia fast. She smiles at a framed photo of herself with a team of British special forces. Cut to her being parachuted out of an RAF transport aircraft over the Cambodian jungle.

* Literature/TheAdversaryCycle. In ''Nightworld'', the heroes have to go on a FetchQuest to assemble SwordOfPlotAdvancement. Unfortunately TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt is happening with {{Eldritch Abomination}}s roaming the Earth gobbling up people, ships and aircraft. Fortunately one of them has been preparing for this moment for a ''[[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld long]]'' time, and has a couple of pilots on tap for just this purpose.

* The hero in ''Literature/SiberianLight'' knows a pilot, which turns out to be very useful. (This may be because [[AuthorAppeal the author is obsessed with Russian Airplanes]]).

* When ''Film/JurassicPark'' was in production, Hurricane Iniki pummeled Hawaii, and in trying to get the cast and crew out, one of the producers bumped into [[Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk the pilot who told Indy not be scared of his pet snake Reggie.]]
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* This is the main reason why ''Franchise/DuckTales'' has Launchpad McQuack; since Scrooge's adventures take them all around the world (and beyond), having a dedicated pilot around was just common sense. Launchpad is also a natural at operating most other vehicles that may be called into use (rocket ships, submarines, cars, time machines), so they wouldn't need additional specialists. Of course, the fact that his ''true'' talent lies not in operating vehicles but ''crashing'' them is a bit of an issue...

* ZigZagged in ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'', when Helen Parr a.k.a. Elastigirl needs a plane ride to a tropical island in the middle of nowhere. She calls her pilot friend who used to fly her around during her days as a superhero. The surprise comes when it turns out it's just to borrow the plane, because she pilots it herself.[[note]]It was originally scripted that the friend would be their DisposablePilot, but this was changed because they didn't want to spend the time to establish him as a SacrificialLion.[[/note]]

* ''Series/SomethingIsOutThere''. Jack Breslin and [[TelepathicSpacewoman Ta'Ra]] have to locate the MonsterOfTheWeek, so Jack tries to convince a friend who flies a police helicopter to give his 'cousin' a joyride. Naturally he refuses as he's accountable for fuel and such, until Ta'Ra reads his mind and finds out he's looking for someone to go to a particular concert with him. She pretends to be a fan and suddenly he's a lot more eager to do FavorsForTheSexy when he can get a date out of it.

* ''Series/SomethingIsOutThere''. Jack Breslin and [[TelepathicSpacewoman Ta'Ra]] have to locate the MonsterOfTheWeek, so Jack tries to convince a friend who flies a police helicopter to give his 'cousin' a joyride. Naturally he refuses as he's accountable for fuel and such, until Ta'Ra reads his mind and finds out he's looking for someone to go to a particular concert with him. She pretends to be a fan and suddenly he's a lot more eager to do FavoursForTheSexy.

[[caption-width-right:350:Being an old army buddy is a good way to know a pilot]]

* ''Series/MacGyver1985'' has recurring character Jack Dalton, a pilot and con man with a good heart underneath it all. Ironically, MacGyver is also a pilot (though he doesn't use that skill often), and most of their adventures start with Jack needing a copilot. In fact, on the one occasion where MacGyver comes to him, he's extremely excited to have a chance to return all the favors MacGyver does for him.

* ''Film/IndependenceDay'': The military is so devastated that there is literally a call for anyone with prior piloting experience. Randy Quaid's doofy dad character has experience with.... crop dusting? As a bonus, the President reveals that he too was once a pilot and will be joining the fight.

* In ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'', whenever a airplane is needed, someone coincidentally knows/has a way to drive it (although Joseph has the misfortune of crashing every plane he gets in, whether he's driving or not). In ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureVentoAureo Vento Aureo]]'', Abbacchio flies an airplane with Moody Blues by replaying the actions of the last pilot in that plane.

* In ''Film/{{The Mummy|1999}}'', when they need to get to Hamunaptra in a hurry, Rick recruits the services of Winston, a pilot he happened to meet earlier in the movie.

* In ''WesternAnimation/ChipAndDaleRescueRangers'', Chip and Dale have a pilot as part of the team, Gadget Hackwrench. As suggested by her name, she doubles as an inventor.
* ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'': Darkwing encounters Launchpad by accident when he crashes through his ceiling during an opening chase with Taurus Bulba. This comes in handy a few days later when Darkwing needs a plane and a pilot to get to Bulba's floating fortress.
* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'': Scrooge keeps Launchpad around because he will fly him anywhere, whether on a treasure hunt or a business trip, for the insanely low price of one cent per mile. Launchpad also has ImprobablePilotingSkills -- he can fly anything, from a live bird to a spacecraft. The inconvenient thing is that, per RuleOfFunny, [[CaptainCrash Launchpad seldom lands without crashing.]]

* ZigZagged in ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'', when Helen Parr a.k.a. Elastigirl needs a plane ride to a tropical island in the middle of nowhere. She calls her pilot friend who used to fly her around during her days as a superhero. The surprise comes when it turns out it's just to borrow the plane, because she pilots it herself.[[note]]It was originally scripted that the pilot friend would fly the plane, but this was changed for reasons better explained elsewhere.[[/note]]