Fort Worth Flyover

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Fort Worth Flyover is the name of a short IMAX film created for the Omni Theater at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, the first one commissioned by a specific museum. Designed to simulate flying over Fort Worth, Texas in a helicopter, the movie (and later, a 1992 update) is traditionally shown before each Omni Theater feature, in part to acclimatize new viewers to the IMAX format.

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[edit] History

The original Fort Worth Flyover debuted in 1983 as part of The Legend of the Sleeping Panther, a multimedia presentation on the city's history that accompanied the Omni Theater's first IMAX feature, Hail Columbia! Sleeping Panther was retired at the end of Omni's Hail Columbia! engagement, but the helicopter ride feature was returned due to popular demand.

In 1992, the museum produced an updated version, Fort Worth Flyover II, directed by Ben Shedd; this version continues to be shown before Omni features. This version was shot with the assistance of the CareFlite air ambulance service, using Bell helicopters.

The Omni was temporarily closed in September 2007 for renovation and facilities upgrades as the museum began construction on new museum facility. The flyover will return when the Omni reopens in summer 2008.

[edit] Content

Both Fort Worth Flyovers are shot by helicopter and feature aerial views of the city, primarily the downtown area. Fort Worth Flyover II begins with a leisurely daytime view of the city, as well as a CareFlite air ambulance helicopter flying below. The audience is then zoomed around Fort Worth at night, followed by a similarly speedy daytime view.

Flyover II, like its predecessor, ends with a shot hovering over the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History itself, where a crowd waves and cheers from the roof near the Noble Planetarium's dome (in the later film, decorated as a volcano to promote for the theater's 1992 engagement of Ring of Fire).

The building pictured in the flyover was demolished in late 2007 to make room for a new museum facility, to be built on its existing site. An updated version of the flyover will likely be produced when the Museum opens its new building in fall 2009.

[edit] Landmarks

In addition to the museum, Fort Worth buildings that can be recognized in Flyover II include:

  • Tandy Center (now City Place), lit with "TANDY" on one tower and "CENTER" on the other
  • Bank One Tower, a downtown skyscraper, now renovated and reopened as The Tower after extensive damage from the March 28, 2000 tornado
  • Cook Children's Medical Center, the blue roof of which is lit up in the nighttime sequence

[edit] External links