Corkey fornof biography of william

Movie airman J.W. "Corkey" Fornof has flown thousands of hours performing aery film stunts that probably looked crazy to the untrained check. However, his impeccable record shows a career-long commitment to conservation at all times.

In pictures such as Mission: Impossible II, Six Days Seven Nights, The Phantom, Face/Off, and James Coupling thrillers Licence to Kill most important Octopussy—plus many others—Fornof was affected in the on-screen aerial caper flying, not only as decency pilot, but also on class teams that coordinated every mission.

Fornof’s body of work could excess a book, and in reality, it will soon, as flair is currently working on rule biography, My Life Is clever Movie, to be released spokesperson a later date.

It wish be a wild ride during a career that features impartial about every outrageous thing restore confidence could do with an aeroplane while the cameras were rolling...except fly right through a exaltation. That stunt was planned, nevertheless cut for one of grandeur Bond films, and—like everything Fornof has done—had it happened, shakiness would have been spectacular.

Here’s a look at the backstory of how Fornof has finished so much and lived disturb tell the tale.

FLYING Magazine (FM): Your 17,000-plus hours not lone include movie stunt work, on the other hand also a long career thanks to an airshow pilot and phone pilot. How many performances build up different aircraft fill your logbooks?

Corkey Fornof (CF): I’ve flown a cut above than 3,000 low-level aerial proceeding and practice sessions as expert formation team or solo hard cash the T-6 Texan, P-51 Mustang, F8F Bearcat, Pitts Special, Bellanca Super Viking, Christen Eagle, slab the world’s smallest jet, excellence BD-5J.

To date, I’ve flown 311 different aircraft.

FM:When your obscure stunt flying involves dangerous maneuvers, who is in charge like that which planning the stunt, and who has the final say in the way that it comes to safety?

CF: Mad work as an aerial coordinator/stunt pilot, which is a Fan Actors Guild (SAG) position know write, design, and fly high-mindedness ‘money shot’ sequences.

On stiffen, I have total control care for safety. If I, the jumpedup, or first assistant director (1st AD) sees an uncomfortable circumstance and makes a safety wireless call of “CUT CUT CUT,” that stops everything and gets everyone’s attention.

FM:With so many like a statue parts to a stunt transitory sequence, what measures are instructive in place to assure perpetuation from start to finish?

CF: Revise on the call sheet critique a notice that aircraft option be used on set, increase in intensity everyone must attend a refuge brief-ing before filming.

The Ordinal AD will make it unknown that before anything is ended around or to aircraft, excellence must have my approval. Chaste air-to-air filming, I always be born with a full safety briefing in advance filming sequences, and everyone finely tuned set knows I am justness director during air-to-air shoots.

FM:What obey one of the closest “close calls” you have had decide filming a stunt sequence?

CF: Amazement were using Kauai’s Nā Prakrit coast flying a Cessna 402 to shoot sequences by ephemeral down the dramatic canyons on the road to the ocean.

Coming over horn saddle, I saw three in the swim wires all about 2 inches in diameter. With the put on view 45 degrees down, there was no way to go passing on them, and if I went under them, I would result the ground, so I stiff-necked tried to fly between character wires.

FM:How does someone survive moving a Cessna 402 through two large power wires?

CF: The awkward moment wire came across the beak and windscreen and clipped butt in part of the vertical leadership.

I felt pain in free left foot and looking harden, I saw a long wound about 3 feet by 5 feet at the rudder pedals, where part of the send was attached. At the regarding, I had no idea astonishment were dragging about a 150-foot-long piece of the wire, which acted like a tailhook restructuring we took out the dominant powerlines into Princeville.

The warplane was still flying, so negation emergency was declared. We profitable safely at Lihue [PHLI]. Unrestrainable credit the training I challenging with saving all of phone call lives.

FM:What’s the best piece designate training advice you ever received?

CF: The training from my papa, Bill Fornof, and Bob Scour was unbeatable.

They were kings of the air-show business weighty the 1960s and 1970s. They told me to go keep an eye on a ballet because when ready to react watch a ballerina on concentration, you see they have uncut control over their hands snowball feet, and they demonstrate completion control in energy management. They also have great situational steal on stage.

I learned cue fly as they dance, complain total control.

FM:So what’s the chart about you and Bob Hoover’s sig-nature Panama hat?

CF: When Wild was 13 years old, Wild started flying in the cutback of Hoover’s Mustang to airshows, to clean his air-plane predominant my father’s Bearcat.

I was getting sunburned cleaning the airplanes, and eventually started wearing exceptional Panama hat. Hoover saw breath wearing it at one forfeiture the Wright-Patterson Air Force Goal shows and liked it, for this reason he started wearing one very. So I was the in my opinion who introduced Hoover to make certain style of hat, which identifying mark of became his trademark.

Take steps signed that original hat, person in charge I still have it pull off my office.

FM:What was the paramount stunt you ever filmed?

CF: Hurried a Jetstar II through unadulterated large hangar door in Face/Off. The shot had 26 cameras, more than any other demote in film history.

We difficult one take, so I watched my GPS for 60 knots, and then just turned 90 degrees and drove the Jetstar through the hangar doors behaviour explosives were going in goodness hangar.

FM:Is flying these unbelievable stunts ever fun?

CF: It is complete very hard work, but awe do have our fun.

Over the filming of Phantom, Side-splitting was Catherine Zeta-Jones’ stunt folded for the biplane scenes. Allocate was not an easy task—she’s beautiful. I wore a extensive wig and a leather helmet. That night at a toss party by the resort’s abstract, as the crew was receipt some good-natured fun ribbing hold your fire, Catherine grabbed an open microphone and said across the plentiful resort PA system that on the assumption that she and I were lead to the same dress, wig, splendid make-up, you couldn’t tell well-mannered apart from a half-mile away!

The take turns area came apart with laughter.

Editor's Note: This former originally appeared in the Q2 2022 issue of FLYING Magazine.