The air drop sequence in Fast and Furious 7 is perhaps the most famous and adrenaline filled scene of the whole franchise and perhaps the most difficult stunt ever to be performed in a fast and furious movie.The air drop sequence was managed by Spiro Razatos who was also the stunt coordinator for the previous two installments of the franchise.The stunt took several months of preparation since the producers wanted more real stunts than CGI so that the whole sequence would feel real.Cameras had to be mounted on the top of the cars in a way that they survived the fall.The scene was shot in the skies over Arizona Desert but the close up shot where the cars make the touch down were shot in Colorado.Two Lockheed C-130 airplane were used for carrying the vehicles to an altitude of 12000 feet and each plane carried two cars a piece.Ballistic recovery parachutes with GPS devices were secured to each car before dropping them from a height of 12000 feet.
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Lockheed C-130 Used for Dropping the Cars
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A car with BRS parachute and all the necessary gear just before being dropped
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Cars just before being dropped from the plane
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The parachutes were deployed at an altitude of 5000 feet.In addition to the cameras on the ground there were remotely operated cameras inside the plane and another three cameras were mounted on the outside of each car.Additional cameras were also mounted on the helicopters.Three skydivers with helmet mounted cameras were also used to help shoot the stunt from every possible angle.When the cars were dropped from the plane they were plummeting down to earth at speeds of 130 -140 miles per hour.The last part of the stunt which shows the cars touching the ground were shot with the help of a pulley.The Cars were raised to a height of 10 feet with the help of a crane pulley system.The stunt men used in place of the actors raced the cars to 35-40 miles per hour before being released from the pulley.The cranes were then removed from the scene with the help of the computer.A total of 340 Cars were used in the film with over 230 cars being destroyed.
