History Main / AerialCanyonChase

* The film version of ''TheHuntForRedOctober'' has the titular submarine using the cliffs of an undersea canyon system to scrape off a torpedo dropped on them by a "[[ReportingNames Bear]]" that was part of the Soviet group tasked to prevent the ''Red October'' from making it to the US.

* In the original novel ''TheHuntForRedOctober'', the canyon used for the dodge noted in the Film section was discussed in greater detail, and it was mentioned that the canyon systems the Soviet subs were using to elude NATO anti-sub operations were extensively mapped by Soviet oceanographers during TheSeventies for that very purpose.

Expect to see lots of fast pans and quick camera changes, as well as tense music and close calls. This also has the benefit of missed shots from the pursuer to strike the surroundings and showcase how dangerous they really are, lending more urgency to the fight.

Expect to see lots of fast pans and quick camera changes, as well as tense music and close calls.

* During the 1971 war between Pakistan and India, a Pakistani destroyer was caught in a MacrossMissileMassacre. Because he had zero effective air defense, he attempted to pull this ''with his destroyer'' by hiding among merchant vessels and using the much larger vessels as targets for the incoming missiles. After running out of merchant vessels, he proceeded to do the same thing with dockyard facilities. By the time the Indians were finished shooting at him, the port and all of the merchant vessels are destroyed, but the destroyer was still afloat. While it was commented that he should have been court marshaled, the skipper [[AwesomeMoments remarked "one has to be alive to be court-martialled."]]

** A similar event happened in Desert Storm, when an unarmed EF-111 radar jamming aircraft was attacked by an Iraqi Mirage fighter and led it on a low-altitude chase which ended in the Mirage crashing into a ridge. Descriptions make it unclear whether the incident fit this trope or the WronskiFeint.

Sometimes, just fighting head to head in the air isn't enough. When a creator ''really'' wants to showcase the AcePilot's skills, ''and'' keep the audience on the edge of their seat, he'll have the character lead the bad guys on a high speed chase through a very narrow area.

As the name might suggest, these usually occur in canyons, although {{Asteroid Thicket}}s are the go-to replacement for ScienceFiction. Modern setting may substitute skyscrapers for the canyon walls, as well. Caves or tunnels can also be substituted. Note that if the pursuers crash ''before'' entering the canyon/asteroid thicket/alley/tunnel, it's just TryAndFollow, not this trope.

* A Variation in the ''Manga/{{Area 88}}'' OAV, where several pilots fly through a canyon to avoid SAM batteries. Many don't make it.

* This happens in the first episode of {{Yukikaze}}', as Fukai and Yukikaze chase Copy Sylph into a canyon. The chase ends when Copy Sylph simple vanishes into this air.. After calling in an antiaircraft nuclear missile to take out Yukikaze.

** Charlie Sheen's character lures enemies into a canyon and [[DodgeByBraking Top Gunning]] them by ''stepping on the brakes''. Yes, he's piloting an ''airplane''. No, that's [[RuleOfFunny not because it's cool]].

** Han Solo and the Millennium Falcon do this in ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' during the famous asteroid chase scene. As Solo was noting, [[TryAndFollow "They'd be crazy to follow us."]] Unfortunately, Darth Vader is quite a motivator for his troops and they dive in after him.
** And then again in the prequels, several occasions.

** Though subverted by ''Solo Command'', where the good guys hop through a dangerous asteroid field from large asteroid to large asteroid, and then the enemy battleship ''targeted the large, stationary asteroids'', destroying the good guys due to their use of the feint. [[spoiler:Or it would have, except that one pilot remembered that particular enemy had used that counter-tactic before, and managed to get the attack called off just in time.]]
* In the original ''Film/{{Terminator}}'', Sarah and Reese are driving flat-out in a parking garage with Ah-nult just behind them. Sarah spots the wall but Reese is too distracted to listen to her (with the gunfire and all). Sarah slams her car into park, but Ah-nult doesn't react in time to avoid hitting the wall at top speed. Of course, him being a cyborg, this is just a minor inconvenience.
* The winged flyers in ''Film/TransformersDarkOfTheMoon'' were able to outmaneuver the Decepticon patrol ships by flying through damaged buildings. Due to their size, they would be more than capable into fitting in places those ships couldn't.

* In the original novel ''Literature/TheHuntForRedOctober'', the canyon used for the dodge noted in the Film section was discussed in greater detail, and mentions that the canyon systems the Soviet subs were using to elude NATO anti-sub operations were extensively mapped by Soviet oceanographers during TheSeventies for that very purpose.

* ''TheTrumpetoftheSwan'': "DANGEROUS CURVES AHEAD."

* Not necessarily a chase scene, but pretty much every ''AceCombat'' game requires the player to do this for some reason. Sometimes there are enemy planes or helicopters skulking in the canyons or other narrow passageways or tunnels, just waiting to achieve missile lock.

* The canyon level CrimsonSkies: High Road to Revenge is pretty much this trope.
* In the original ''VideoGame/WingCommander'', one of your fellow pilots suggests that asteroid fields are great equalizers when you're outnumbered. Asteroids are great shields, and you only have to concentrate on not hitting them, while your pursuers have to divide their attention between shooting you and not crashing. Sooner or later, they're more likely to screw up than you are. While it actually didn't work out that way in that game, it sometimes does in the later games or the ''FreeSpace'' series.

* The series ''WesternAnimation/TaleSpin'' did this all the time with Baloo being a master pilot. For instance, in the climax of the first story, Baloo leads a merry aerial chase into the bowels of the city, causing all his pursuers to eventually crash and him crowing "If you can't fly, don't mess with the eagles!"
** Another episode had Baloo pull up in front of a wall in a cave. Don Karnage hit it, with the statement "What a ''lousy'' place for a wall!"
* In an Episode of ''WesternAnimation/StormHawks'', Aerrow tries this to defeat the Dark Ace. As demonstrated earlier in the episode, the very end of the canyon is so narrow, one must turn their fliers to motorcycle mode to get through, and then back again as to not plummet to the ground. The trick here is that, earlier in the fight, Aerrow had stuck a wrench into the Dark Ace's wing mechanism, preventing him from retracting them.

** Similar event happened in Desert Storm, when an unarmed EF-111 radar jamming aircraft was attacked by an Iraqi Mirage fighter and led it on a low-altitude chase which ended in the Mirage crashing into a ridge. Descriptions make it unclear whether the incident fit this trope or the WronskiFeint.
* Earlier in that conflict, an Israeli Mirage III chasing a Jordanian Hawker Hunter got gun camera footage of the Hunter crashing instead of his pursuer. The pilot would have been happier had the ejecting Jordanian pilot not smashed into a wall as he ejected (pilots generally prefer their enemies to eject - chivalry, professional courtesy and all that).
* During the 1971 war between Pakistan and India a Pakistani destroyer was caught in a MacrossMissileMassacre Because he had zero effective air defense, he attempted to pull this ''with his destroyer'' by hiding among merchant vessels and using the much larger vessels as targets for the incoming missiles. After running out of merchant vessels, he proceeded to do the same thing with dockyard facilities. By the time the Indians were finished shooting at him, the port and all of the merchant vessels are destroyed but the destroyer was still afloat. While it was commented that he should have been court marshaled, the skipper [[AwesomeMoments remarked "one has to be alive to be court-martialled."]]

* During the 1971 war between Pakistan and India a Pakistani destroyer was caught in a MacrossMissileMassacre Because he had zero effective air defense, he attempted to pull this [[BeyondTheImpossible with his destroyer]] by hiding among merchant vessels and using the much larger vessels as targets for the incoming missiles. After running out of merchant vessels, he proceeded to do the same thing with dockyard facilities. By the time the Indians were finished shooting at him, the port and all of the merchant vessels are destroyed but the destroyer was still afloat. While it was commented that he should have been court marshaled, the skipper [[AwesomeMoments remarked "one has to be alive to be court-martialled."]]

* Will Smith uses this trope to escape the pursuing space invaders in ''IndependenceDay''.

* The film version of ''{{The Hunt for Red October}}'' has the titular submarine using the cliffs of an undersea canyon system to scrape off a torpedo dropped on them by a "[[ReportingNames Bear]]" that was part of the Soviet group tasked to prevent the ''Red October'' from making it to the US.

* In the ''{{CrimsonSkies}}'' wargame, one of the maps supplied is of a canyon, with several hexes marked as impassable. Planning your move wrong so you crash into one of these can be surprisingly easy.

* ''{{Rescue on Fractalus}}!'' was originally going to have this be the ''only way'' to defeat enemies; George Lucas said that was silly.

* The climax of ''Disney/LiloandStitch'' involved Jumba, Pleakley, Nani, and Stitch flying in a giant spaceship to save Lilo from [[TheDragon Gantu]], who accidentally captured her while attempting to capture Stitch (he escaped), by chasing him down a series of volcano-filled canyons located all over Hawaii. Originally, they were going to go after Gantu by chasing him down with a stolen passenger jet into the capital city of Honolulu, but due to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City, the entire scene had to be reanimated into what we see in the final version of the film.

* In the {{CrimsonSkies}} wargame, one of the maps supplied is of a canyon, with several hexes marked as impassable. Planning your move wrong so you crash into one of these can be surprisingly easy.

As the name might suggest, these usually occur in canyons, although {{Asteroid Thicket}}s are the go-to replacement for ScienceFiction. Modern setting may substitute skyscrapers for the canyon walls, as well.

* ''BatmanReturns'' gets an odd version. Batman heads directly toward a narrow alley far too small to accommodate the Batmobile, then transforms his vehicle until it will fit. The police following him obliviously maintain acceleration right until they crash into the alley.

* ''{{BatmanReturns}}'' gets an odd version. Batman heads directly toward a narrow alley far too small to accommodate the Batmobile, then transforms his vehicle until it will fit. The police following him obliviously maintain acceleration right until they crash into the alley.

* A Variation in the ''{{Area 88}}'' OAV, where several pilots fly through a canyon to avoid SAM batteries. Many don't make it.
* Used in the last episode of ''{{Grendizer}}'', when General Gandal (Minos) tries to ram his ship into Grendizer in a suicide attack. Duke Freed manages to make him crash into a cliff, since the Spazer (Grendizer's UFO) was still controllable, while Gandal's flagship was a flaming mess.

* ''HotShots'':

* ''StarWars'':
** The Millennium Falcon in the attack on the second Death Star in ''ReturnOfTheJedi''. Complete with OutrunTheFireball for extra Tropey Goodness!
** Han Solo and the Millennium Falcon do this in ''TheEmpireStrikesBack'' during the famous asteroid chase scene. As Solo was noting, [[TryAndFollow "They'd be crazy to follow us."]] Unfortunately, Darth Vader is quite a motivator for his troops and they dive in after him.

* In the original ''{{Terminator}}'', Sarah and Reese are driving flat-out in a parking garage with Ah-nult just behind them. Sarah spots the wall but Reese is too distracted to listen to her (with the gunfire and all). Sarah slams her car into park, but Ah-nult doesn't react in time to avoid hitting the wall at top speed. Of course, him being a cyborg, this is just a minor inconvenience.

* Subverted in the ''{{Firefly}}'' episode "The Message". When this trope is attempted by ''Serenity'', the pursuing ship simply flies above the canyon, keeping the ship in view. And when the heroes try to hide, the pursuers flush them out with saturation bombing.

* ''CalvinAndHobbes'' parodied this. Or explored [[http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1992/01/12 the origin]].

* Appears in the cinematic for a secret project in ''SidMeiersAlphaCentauri''.

* In an Episode of ''StormHawks'', Aerrow tries this to defeat the Dark Ace. As demonstrated earlier in the episode, the very end of the canyon is so narrow, one must turn their fliers to motorcycle mode to get through, and then back again as to not plummet to the ground. The trick here is that, earlier in the fight, Aerrow had stuck a wrench into the Dark Ace's wing mechanism, preventing him from retracting them.

* In ''{{X-Men Evolution}}'', a more unusual form of this is done to evade missiles and fighter pursuit. Instead of bothering to pull out of the dive, Kitty Pryde phases the entire jet through a mountainside. The missiles crash harmlessly into the rock and the pilots who were in pursuit (not knowing about mutants) swear never to speak of it again.

* One ''{{Garfield}}'' comic strip had the titular feline chasing a bird at ground-level, at full speed, only to have the bird pull up sharply (90° angle!) at the base of a tree. Garfield did not dodge.

* ''CalvinAndHobbes'' parodied this. [[YourMileageMayVary Or]] explored [[http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1992/01/12 the origin]].

** The Millennium Falcon in the attack on the second Death Star in ''[[StarWars Return of the Jedi]]''. Complete with OutrunTheFireball for extra Tropey Goodness!
** Han Solo and the Millennium Falcon do this in ''[[StarWars The Empire Strikes Back]]'' during the famous asteroid chase scene. As Solo was noting, [[TryAndFollow "They'd be crazy to follow us."]] Unfortunately, Darth Vader is quite a motivator for his troops and they dive in after him.

Sometimes, just fighting head to head in the air isn't enough. When a creator ''really'' wants to showcase a character's piloting skills, ''and'' keep the audience on the edge of their seat, he'll have the character lead the bad guys on a high speed chase through a very narrow area.