History Main / AerialCanyonChase

* An aquatic version: In ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'', Indiana and Elsa piloted their speedboat between two large ships while being pursued by the Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword. Somewhat subverted because they both knew [[NoOneCouldSurviveThat it was an insane maneuver]], but Elsa misheard Indy's instructions to go ''around'' the ships, ''not'' between them.

* A variation in the ''Manga/{{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 ''[[Anime/UFORoboGrendizer 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.
* This happens in the first episode of ''[[Literature/SentouYouseiYukikaze Yukikaze]]'', as Fukai and Yukikaze chase Copy Sylph into a canyon. The chase ends when Copy Sylph simply vanishes into thin air... after calling in an antiaircraft [[NukeEm nuclear missile]] to take out Yukikaze.

* ''ComicStrip/DanDare'' actually went and subverted this in at least one of its iterations, during the 'All Treens Must Die' storyline. After being released from his imprisonment for genocide as Earth, now with its defences offline, came under a surprise assault from the Mekon's invasion force, in a last, desperate bid to do ''something'', Dan and his crew were bunged into the Anastasia and told to do whatever they could. When one enemy fighter launched a missile on their tail, Dan tried to use the WronskiFeint with a local canyon to escape it. Unfortunately, the missile was just as good, and his attempts to get back out of the canyon were thwarted by fighter wings at a higher altitude keeping them pinned down. With a mountain looming up ahead, Dan tried pulling straight up anyway, noted the missile was still unfazed, and just turned to his crew and apologised. Annie promptly took the missile up the tailpipe.

* ''FanFic/ThePiecesLieWhereTheyFell'': There’s one during the escape from the Lower East-South Quarter, and it is epic.

* Creator/WillSmith uses this trope to escape the pursuing space invaders in ''Film/IndependenceDay''.

* ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'': Iron Man takes out many of the invading flying charioteers by getting them to chase him through the streets of New York after Hawkeye notes that they aren't as maneuverable as he is.

* ''Film/{{Captain Marvel|2019}}'', Maria Rambeau takes down [[spoiler:[[EvilAllAlong Minn-Erva]]]] in one of these in the final battle.

* ''Series/TheFalconAndTheWinterSoldier'' starts with Falcon persuing Batroc the Leaper and his minions(in wingsuits) and getting chased in turn by attack helicopters.

** ''Series/TheMandalorian''
*** In [[Recap/TheMandalorianS2E2Chapter10ThePassenger "The Passenger"]], Din is running from a pair of New Republic x-wings and flees to a nearby ice planet where he flies into the canyons present to elude pursuit.
*** In [[Recap/TheMandalorianS2E4Chapter12TheSiege "The Siege"]], Greef, Cara, and Mythrol flee several [=TIEs=] through a narrow canyon in a stolen Imperial troop transport. Greef nails one, but the wreck crashes into their gun turret and leaves them a sitting duck for the other three when they run out of canyon.

* Altitude in ''[[TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 Aeronautica Imperialis]]'' is rated on a scale of 1 to 9, with 0 being the ground and 10 being orbit. Seriously tall mountains can reach altitude 6, which allows for the construction of maps designed for this fairly easily.

** 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!"

** 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. Most tellings of the story do indicate that the EF-111 aircrew had the benefit of terrain-following radar that allowed the plane to automatically adjust altitude to avoid the terrain.
*** It should be noted that an F-15C had joined the fight as well, and was in the process of locking up the Mirage, thus breaking the pilots concentration momentarily causing him to smash into the ground. However, since the [="SparkVark"=] was engaged longer, and was actively maneuvering to avoid getting shot down by the Mirage, the credit went to the EF-111 crew.
** 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 were destroyed, but the destroyer was still afloat. While it was commented that he should have been court martialled, the skipper remarked "one has to be alive to be court-martialled."

** Europe has its own version of the canyon run, being the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mach_Loop Mach Loop]] in the Welsh valleys. Here, military aircraft from both the Royal Air Force and the USAF can be seen performing dramatic high speed runs at low altitude through the hills; it is one of the few places where planespotters can get a chance at close photography of military aircraft flying below them.

** ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'': The ''Millennium Falcon'' again, this time piloted by Lando Calrissian, in the attack on the second Death Star. Along with Wedge Antilles' X-wing, they fly directly into a tunnel going through the giant space station, pursued by TIE fighters. The tunnel gets rather narrow in places, costing the ''Falcon'' its radar dish at one point. Complete with OutrunTheFireball in the end for extra Tropey Goodness!

* ''WesternAnimation/IceAgeDawnOfTheDinosaurs'' has Buck, Crash, and Eddie hitch a ride on a pterosaur to recover Sid who's stranded on a lava flow with its own version of an InevitableWaterfall. On the way there, however, they're intercepted by a flock of another [[TerrorDactyl more hostile species of pterosaur]], forcing them to take an alternate route with the predators close behind. The chase takes them through a canyon (including a shot parodying a televised car race) and then past a herd of sauropods before they get rid of their pursuers and rescue Sid at the very last moment.

* ''Film/HighRoadToChina'' has an intense aerial chase between Patrick O'Malley and his rival, a deadly German pilot hired as a mercenary to eliminate him. Patrick managed to out-gun his opponent causing him to crash into a cliff.

* ''Film/MagnificentWarriors'' has an aerial chase between the protagonist, Ming-ming (Michelle Yeoh) and a Japanese Zero plane. Ming's biplane gets badly damaged, but she managed to take out her pursuer by [[SnipingTheCockpit shooting a flare into the cockpit]].

** The battle on the Death Star in the climax of ''Film/ANewHope'' becomes this once Rebel fighters and bombers get into the trench leading to the battle station's weakness.
** Han Solo and the ''Millennium Falcon'' do this in ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' during the famous asteroid chase scene. As Solo noted, [[TryAndFollow "They'd be crazy to follow us."]] Unfortunately, Darth Vader is quite a motivator for his troops and they dive in after him.
** The ''Millennium Falcon'' again, this time piloted by Lando Calrissian, in the attack on the second Death Star in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi''. Along with Wedge Antilles' X-wing, they fly directly into a tunnel going through the giant space station, pursued by TIE fighters. The tunnel gets rather narrow in places, costing the ''Falcon'' its radar dish at one point. Complete with OutrunTheFireball in the end for extra Tropey Goodness!

* ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'' features this a couple times. Once with no chase in a training stage and then with a chase in the climax.

* ''Series/TheMandalorian''
** In [[Recap/TheMandalorianS2E2Chapter10ThePassenger "The Passenger"]], Din is running from a pair of New Republic x-wings and flees to a nearby ice planet where he flies into the canyons present to elude pursuit.
** In [[Recap/TheMandalorianS2E4Chapter12TheSiege "The Siege"]], Greef, Cara, and Mythrol flee several [=TIEs=] through a narrow canyon in a stolen Imperial troop transport. Greef nails one, but the wreck crashes into their gun turret and leaves them a sitting duck for the other three when they run out of canyon.
** A non-chase version happens in ''Series/TheBookOfBobaFett'' spin-off when Din takes his new N-1 Starfighter on a test run through Beggar's Canyon, [[MythologyGag through the very same route]] Anakin Skywalker once passed through during the Boonta Eve Classic Podrace decades ago.

* The TropeCodifier is quite possibly ''633 Squadron'', when the Allies stage bombing runs against a key Axis fuel refinery deep in the Norwegian fjords. It directly inspired the trench run in Film/ANewHope (mentioned below).

* [[VideoGame/AirForceDelta ''Air Force Delta Strike'']] features two missions where the player has to run the length of one very winding canyon.

** In [[Recap/TheMandalorianS2E4Chapter12TheSiege "The Siege"]], Greef, Cara, and Mythrol flee several TIEs through a narrow canyon in a stolen Imperial troop transport. Greef nails one, but the wreck crashes into their gun turret and leaves them a sitting duck for the other three when they run out of canyon.

* In ''Series/TheMandalorian'' episode [[Recap/TheMandalorianS2E2Chapter10ThePassenger The Passenger]], Din is running from a pair of New Republic x-wings and flees to a nearby ice planet where he flies into the canyons present to elude pursuit.

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'': In [[Machinima/RedVsBlueTheProjectFreelancerSaga season 9]] episode 4, Four-Seven-Niner [[https://youtu.be/wRKaEHQbd0k?t=287 flies the Pelican through a canyon]] to try and lose their pursuers.