Talaat Captan and Air Hollywood appear in a new feature from the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. The article, How to Make an Airplane Crash Look Real on Film by Preston Lerner, was published on the museum’s Smithsonian Voices blog on September 26, 2026. It first ran in the Spring 2026 issue of Air & Space Quarterly under the title “Lights, Camera, Aviation.” It is a wide-ranging history of how filmmakers have put aircraft on screen, and it opens inside Air Hollywood.
What the article covers
Lerner traces aviation on film from the earliest days of cinema to the present. He describes how studios in the silent and early sound eras relied on cheap surplus aircraft and dangerous stunt flying, and how the industry gradually developed safer techniques: models hung on wires, rigid boom mounts, forced perspective, oversized miniatures, motion-control photography and, later, radio-controlled models.
The piece profiles several craftspeople who keep practical effects alive, including a builder of large flyable models, a shop that makes full-size mockups for productions and for clients such as NASA, and a visual effects veteran who has worked from miniatures through to computer-generated imagery. Its conclusion is that CGI has changed the business, but there is still a place for shops that build real, physical things a camera can point at.
Air Hollywood as the opening scene
The article begins on a working day at Air Hollywood, where a shortened Boeing 727 fuselage was being used as a set for a luggage commercial. From there, Lerner introduces Captan as a lifelong aviation enthusiast and former movie producer whose frustration with filming in real airports and real aircraft led him to start the company.
That account matches the origin story told on this site in How Talaat Captan Turned a Ground Control Setback into Air Hollywood. The Smithsonian piece adds detail on how the studio grew: Captan began by buying surplus aviation parts and assembling realistic mockups, and later acquired decommissioned airliners and took them apart so their cabins and components could become sets.
Why a real plane is the wrong place to film
The central point Captan makes in the article is practical. A real aircraft is built for flight, and changing anything inside it is slow work that involves technicians, engineers and FAA approval. On a purpose-built set, the same change can be made in minutes. He sums it up in one line quoted by Lerner: “Airplanes are made to fly—they’re not made to film in.”
The article also notes how often airports and airplanes turn up in scripts, which is why a dedicated aviation studio has steady work. It describes the studio’s customizable airport environment, with gate signage and TSA-style full-body scanners. Much of that kind of set dressing is available through Air Hollywood Props, the prop house Captan built from the parts he collected.
The AutoPlane
One of the more striking sets in the article is the AutoPlane. Lerner describes it as a 53-foot section of a disassembled Boeing 777 mounted in a tractor-trailer, so it can be driven to a location anywhere in the country. Inside, it can be set up as a wide-body or narrow-body cabin and fitted with features such as a galley or lavatory. Captan compares its ability to change shape to a Transformer.
For a closer look at how fly-away walls, working cockpits and full-size cabins let crews shoot aviation scenes on a stage, see How Talaat Captan’s Air Hollywood Films Airplane Scenes Without a Real Plane.
A note on the business today
The article is candid about the pressures on Los Angeles production. Captan tells Lerner that the movement of film and television work from California to lower-cost states has affected his business. It is a reminder that a specialized studio depends on a healthy local production industry. Separately, Air Hollywood has announced a move to a new home on Stage 2 in Valencia.
Why this coverage matters
The National Air and Space Museum is one of the most respected voices on aviation history, and its article places Air Hollywood within a century-long tradition of filmmakers finding ways to show flight convincingly without putting people at risk. It treats Captan’s studio not as a novelty, but as part of the craft of practical filmmaking that continues alongside digital effects.
Earlier industry coverage of Captan’s work is collected on the Press page, including Aviation Week’s Fast Five interview. More about the studio is on his founder page at Air Hollywood.
