History Main / MidairRepair

* Iron Man gets to repair [[AirborneAircraftCarrier the Hellicarrier]] in ''Film/TheAvengers2012'' film: restarting a damaged turbine, which becomes increasingly important once another (of the four) is taken out, and increasingly dangerous as he as to bring it up to speed ''inside it.''

* Happens in an episode of ''Series/FatherTed'' where Ted patches up the fuel line of the plane he and Dougal are flying on.

Our heroes are in an aircraft, falling. Perhaps they've been shot down, or maybe their vehicle didn't work in the first place. No need to worry, though. Someone (usually the GadgeteerGenius or MadScientist of the cast) will get everything back into working order. In mid-air. Before hitting the ground.

-->-- '''Scrooge [=McDuck=]''', ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'', [[Recap/DuckTalesS1E57TheUncrashableHindentanic "The Uncrashable Hindentanic"]]

This can be as simple as flipping some switches (Anakin pulled this one off with his podracer) or climbing out and cranking the engine until it restarts. Of course, there's also the option of [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20030625 rebuilding the engine in midair]].

Strangely, this can be TruthInTelevision- the pilots and crew of early cargo planes learned that certain maintenance operations could be conducted without landing if you had SuicidalOverconfidence in your grip and no fear of heights. Long-distance bombers in WWII damaged during bombing runs also had a choice between attempting this trope, or one of [[POWCamp two]] [[ShortLivedAerialEscape other]] options.

** The trope name is basically the job description for R2 units.

'''Kururu:''' [[OhCrap Three seconds]]?! (thinking during two-page spread of her spilling tools from her backpack) [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome In that case... I've got more than enough time!]]\\

* In ''Manga/AirGear'', tuner(read: WrenchWench) Kururu Sumeragi rebuilds main character Ikki's titular Cool Rollerblades. Rather than being with him when starting the fall, she ''jumps off a building to tackle him as he falls'', and proceeds to dismantle and rebuild the mass of tiny parts.

*** Related to this requirement is a requirement for airliners that intend to fly transoceanic routes: Essentially, they have to be airworthy with an engine out (which is why many older airliners had four engines). The requirement allowing ''twin'' engined airliners to fly such routes is called '''ETOPS''', '''E'''xtended-range '''T'''win-engine '''O'''perational '''P'''erformance '''S'''tandards. [[FunWithAcronyms Also known as]] '''[[FunWithAcronyms E]]'''[[FunWithAcronyms ngine]] '''[[FunWithAcronyms T]]'''[[FunWithAcronyms urns]] '''[[FunWithAcronyms O]]'''[[FunWithAcronyms r]] '''[[FunWithAcronyms P]]'''[[FunWithAcronyms assengers]] '''[[FunWithAcronyms S]]'''[[FunWithAcronyms wim]]

* This is core game mechanic in ''VideoGame/BomberCrew'' is choosing which of your various brave, foolhardy crew will have to climb out onto the wing of your damaged bomber to repair a damaged engine or rush to extinguish a fire in the ammunition locker before you're all blown up. On top of that, there is a very real risk of your crewman saving the plane but dying from exposure, enemy gunfire, exploding equipment/ammo, or simply being swept off the wing and into the night.

* In a first season episode of ''Series/MacGyver'', Mac uses a map to patch his hot air balloon when it springs a leak after being shot.

* In line with the real life example below, ''Film/Flyboys'' has a scene featuring a German bomber crewman walking out on the wing to conduct some maintenance on one of the bomber's engines. Not that it helps much in the end, as the bomber is shot down not moments later.

* There's a hilarious example of this in ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'', when Gilgamesh and Agatha are first testing Gilgamesh's ThoseMagnificentFlyingMachines FlyingMachine (or rather, as Agatha sourly points out, "[[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20030623 It's a falling machine. I'm so impressed.]]") by starting from Baron Wulfenbach's airship. As they both slip into Spark-mode, their growing excitement about repairing and upgrading the ship in mid-flight almost fatally distracts them from the approaching doom.

* There's a hilarious example of this in ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'', when Gilgamesh and Agatha are first testing Gilgamesh's FlyingMachine (or rather, as Agatha sourly points out, "[[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20030623 It's a falling machine. I'm so impressed.]]") by starting from Baron Wulfenbach's airship. As they both slip into Spark-mode, their growing excitement about repairing and upgrading the ship in mid-flight almost fatally distracts them from the approaching doom.

* ''Franchise/StarWars'': The Millenium Falcon is the TropeNamer for WhatAPieceOfJunk for a reason, especially in the ExpandedUniverse.

** The crew of Apollo 13 effected a successful repair of their craft and safely returned to Earth after one of their Oxygen tanks exploded (as seen in [[Film/{{Apollo 13}} the film]]).

** Additionaly, many older multi-engine airplanes (mostly made during/before the 1950s) were actually ''designed'' so a mechanic could access the engines mid-flight through a cramped tunnel burried in the wing. Even earlier airplanes (First World War vintage) considered it a matter of routine for the mechanic to do a wing-walk to maintain the notably finicky engines while the plane was underway. These days engines are so reliable that a breakdown is considered truely exceptional rather than uncommon.

** Three years before Jackson, a Sergeant James Allen Ward did the exact same thing in his Wellington bomber: when the starboard engine caught fire, he tied a rope to himself, and punched holes in the Wellington's fabric wings for handholds, and managed to climb out to the engine and smother the fire with a blanket-and then he ''climbed back in'' and flew the plane home.

-->-- '''Scrooge [=McDuck=]''', ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales'', [[Recap/DuckTalesS1E57TheUncrashableHindentanic "The Uncrashable Hindentanic"]]

[[quoteright:350:[[Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/r2d2_fixing.jpg]]]]

* In an episode of ''CodeGeass R2'', not only was Kallen's HumongousMecha repaired as it was falling into the ocean, it was ''upgraded''. By [[MundaneMadeAwesome shooting the necessary parts at it]] from a submarine. [[RuleOfCool In Missiles]].

* In the WorldWarII novel ''Hornet Flight'', the hero has to refuel his plane in mid-air.

* Happens in an episode of ''FatherTed'' where Ted patches up the fuel line of the plane he and Dougal are flying on.

* ''Anime/ReadOrDie'' has two examples - once in [[Anime/ReadOrDie the original OVA]], where Yomiko's paper airplane takes a nosedive off of a skyscraper because she forgot the tail, and once in [[RODTheTV the TV series]], where a crashing jumbo jet is saved by wrapping it in paper and turning it into a giant bird.

* Played with in ''[[UltimateXMen Ultimate X-Men]]'' where Jean rather sarcastically mentions to Beast that he doesn't have to do mid-air repairs when the plane is functioning fine.
* In ''[[JusticeSocietyOfAmerica JSA Secret Files]]'' #1, Speed Saunders does a mid-air patch job on his hot air balloon after it springs a leak while aloft.

* ''[[LegoAdaptationGame LEGO Star Wars]]: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgFCQoHvNgk Revenge Of The Brick]]'' has a lot of this. Considering it's LEGO. Anakin even manages to make an entire biplane, then a starfighter, '''while floating in space!'''
* ''BlazingAngels'' incorporates a teammate who can "heal" your craft during missions. The game tries to HandWave it by having your character perform the actual repair, while being talked through it by your teammate.
* A large part of the gameplay in ''GunsOfIcarus'', which features Steampunk airships fighting each others in the sky, revolves around repairing various guns and sub-systems and putting out fires (during battles).