History YMMV / Airport

* SoOkayItsAverage ''Airport '75'' tends to be the least-remembered entry in the series, not being as legitimately good as the first film, or as hilariously stupid as the the two that follow.

** Helen Hayes' UsefulNotes/AcademyAward would also cement this status.

** F-BTSC, the Concorde that was used for ''Airport '79'' (and is seen exploding in the end), crashed as Air France Flight 4590 on July 25, 2000 in Paris, killing 113 people.

** The Concorde that was used for Airport '79 (and is seen exploding in the end) crashed as Air France Flight 4590 on July 25, 2000 in Paris, killing 113 people.

** In ''Concorde'', much is made of American athletes attending and participating in the 1980 Moscow Olympics with one subplot involving a budding romance between a Soviet athlete and an American reporter. The United States and 65 other nations ended up not taking part as part of a boycott due to the Soviet-Afghan War.

* TheWoobie: Inez, and arguably Sarah Demerest.

** In ''Concorde'', much is made of American athletes attending and participating in the 1980 Moscow Olympics with one subplot involving a budding romance between a Soviet athlete and an American reporter. The United States and many other nations ended up not aking part as part of a boycott.

** In ''Airport '75'', there is a collision between a Boeing 747 and a private propeller plane after the pilot of the latter plane has a heart attack while both are on approach to Salt Lake City International Airport. Just 3 years later in September 1978 a PSA Boeing 727 on final approach collided with a private Cessna 172 over San Diego. Both aircraft crashed into a suburb, killing all 137 people on both aircraft and 7 people on the ground in houses. Despite the resultant tightened ATC clearance and separation rules, a similar accident happened in 1986 when Aeromexico Flight 498 crashed into Cerritos while on approach to LAX after colliding with a Piper Cherokee, killing all 67 people on both aircraft and 15 people on the ground. In another similarity to the film, it was suspected that the pilot of the Piper Cherokee had a heart attack while flying after an autopsy revealed that some of the arteries in his heart were blocked, but this was later ruled out. Fortunately, after the Cerritos crash, the FAA required all airliners entering U.S. airspace to be fitted with Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS). Another accident like this has never happened in the U.S. since.

** Actor Van Heflin, who played suicidal bomber D.O. Guerrero in ''Airport'', died of a heart attack in 1971, the year after the film's release.

** Helen Hayes' Oscar would also cement this status.

** Actor Van Heflin, who played suicidal bomber D.O. Guerrero in “Airport”, died of a heart attack in 1971, the year after the film’s release.

* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome: The landing in the first movie.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: A woman by the last name of Livingston appears in both the original ''Airport'' and ''Airport '77'' - with all respect due to Creator/OliviaDeHavilland playing Emily Livingston, Universal missed a golden opportunity to have Creator/JeanSeberg reprise her role as Tanya Livingston as a veteran of the first film alongside Creator/GeorgeKennedy as Joe Patroni.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Music/AlfredNewman's score, not least the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nceslk5Ubfw main title]]. This would be his final score.

* TearJerker: [[spoiler:The death of Dorothy, right before the others are rescued.]]

* HilariousInHindsight: In a TV news report in ''The Concorde...Airport '79'', the reporter's voiceover was done by Creator/HarryShearer, using more-or-less what would become his [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Kent Brockman]] voice.

* ProductPlacement: Despite being over twenty years since its first flight, Boeing couldn't have written a finer commercial for the 707.

* HilariousInHindsight: In a TV news report in ''The Concorde...Airport '79'', the reporter's voiceover was done by Creator/HarryShearer, using more-or-less the voice he'd use for [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Kent Brockman]] later in his career.

* TheWoobie: Inez, and arguably Sarah Demerest.

** Joe Patroni became a RecurringCharacter in each of the sequels, though not with the same job. He was always played by George Kennedy.

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: The landing in the first movie.

** In ''Airport '75'', there is a collision between a Boeing 747 and a private propeller plane after the pilot of the latter plane has a heart attack while both are on approach to Salt Lake City International Airport. Just 3 years later in September 1978 a PSA Boeing 727 on final approach collided with a private Cessna 172 over San Diego. Both aircraft crashed into a suburb, killing all 137 people on both aircraft and 7 people on the ground in houses. Despite the resultant tightened ATC clearance and separation rules, a similar accident happened in 1986 when Aeromexico Flight 498 crashed into Cerritos while on approach to LAX after colliding with a Piper Cherokee, killing all 67 people on both aircraft and 15 people on the ground. In another similarity to the film, it was also suspected that the pilot of the Piper Cherokee had a heart attack while flying after an autopsy revealed that some of the arteries in his heart were blocked, but this was later ruled out. Fortunately, after the Cerritos crash, the FAA required all airliners entering U.S. airspace to be fitted with Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS). Another accident like this has never happened in the U.S. since.