References to Airplane! in other media:
Fanfiction
- Lillie in Boldores And Boomsticks uses the "What is it?" joke on Blake when they visit a library.
- Pixar paid homage to the movie a few times:
- In Toy Story, when Woody and Buzz are at Pizza Planet, an announcer says: "The white zone is for consumption of pizza only."
- In Toy Story 2, when the toys arrive at the airport, they park their commandeered Pizza Planet Truck right outside the terminal building, just as Ted Striker did with his commandeered taxi. An announcer says: "The white zone is for loading and unloading of passengers only." And Rex even says, "Hey, we can't park here! It's a white zone!"
- Sharknado 2: The Second One puts Ted Stryker (Robert Hays) back in the pilot seat as an Actor Allusion, complete with a reference to eating steak or fish for dinner.
- In one scene of Ted, John's flashback of how he met Lori is a parody of the flashback of how Striker met Elaine.
- Mile High Club, the in-flight Brutal Bonus Level, opens thus.SAS: Surely you can't be serious.Gaz: I'm serious, and don't call me Shirley.
- The Halo 3 multiplayer map 'The Pit' has the 'white zone/red zone' argument audible in the background.
- When sailing to the island in Animal Crossing (2001), Kapp'n will sometimes ask you if you've ever spend the night in a Hylian prison.
Webcomic
- In Knights of Buena Vista, when Mary's Player Character falls in Love at First Sight with a guy, she describes it as seeing Bishie Sparkle and hearing the love theme from Airplane!.
- This is one of Seth MacFarlane's all-time favorite movies, referencing it in many of his works. Family Guy is no exception:
- "Airport '07" is mainly a take-off on the film, and includes a scene with Playboy founder Hugh Hefner giving Quagmire a similar speech that Leslie Nielsen did in the film, complete with the same accompaniment of the Notre Dame Fight Song.
- In "Blue Harvest", Leslie Nielsen makes a cameo saying, "I just want to wish you both good luck. We're all counting on you." (Side note: They wanted Nielsen to guest star and record this iconic line, but he was unavailable, so they ended up using sound footage from the film). It also has Quagmire emulating Johnny by saying, "And Leia's getting laaaaaarger!"
- When Stewie finds out about the Tooth Fairy, he becomes panicked at the thought of an intruder in the house. What follows is an almost exact remake of the "Calm down" scenenote , complete with an escalating series of weapons as the camera pans over the line up of people.
- Brian extensively lying about how desirable Cleveland's wife Loretta is has his nose growing just like Nielsen's Dr. Rumack when he lied about the pilots being fine. It's complete with a cut to everyone watching it grow as he talks.
- Peter at one point has a Potty Emergency at work and painstakingly makes his way to the bathroom. He's held up by coworkers constantly coming up to proposition for favors and events, to which he responds with violence. Also set to the same music as Captain Max Kramer beating his way through airport canvassers.
- In an episode of Fireman Sam a schoolteacher finds herself behind the wheel of a runaway bus and attempts to keep the passengers calm by saying "There's no need to panic. By the way, does anyone know how to drive a bus?"
- In the U.S. Acres segment of Garfield and Friends "Swine Trek" (which, of course, is already a take-off of Star Trek), Roy, playing an Expy of Spock, keeps starting sentences with "Surely...", to which Orson, portraying the Kirk part, keeps repeating "...and don't call me 'Shirley'."
- The Magic School Bus: In "The Magic School Bus Spins a Web", Ms. Frizzle's class is watching a drive-in monster film of a giant praying mantis attacking the city, and Phoebe remarks that the Army general can surely catch the mantis instead of killing it. The film's general then says "There is no other way, and don't call me Shirley".
