In the behind-the-scenes feature, “The Making of Transformers,” Duhamel reveals that one Colonel Moore offered him a chance to take a ride in a jet. Specifically, a T-38 Talon — a two-seat jet, meaning that Duhamel wouldn’t be flying solo. Duhamel, who called the flight “one of the most exciting things I’ve ever done,” described a fairly intense prep process.
“I had to go through about four or five hours of training and, you know, they basically tell you, ‘Okay, this is what’s going to happen if you have to eject from the seats.’ I had to change shorts after I left that training… And he let me actually fly it a bit, he’s like, ‘Okay, turn it ten degrees and we’ll go down to 1500 feet.’ I didn’t throw up once.”
Duhamel might have had the time of his life in the air, but it turned out to be training unnecessary for the movie. Throughout “Transformers,” Lennox never flies a jet — after all, he’s an Army Ranger, not an Air Force or Navy pilot. However, his pilot ejection training does reflect a gag in the sequel “Revenge of the Fallen.”
During that film, National Security Advisor Theodore Galloway (John Benjamin Hickey) is a thorn in Lennox’s side — bureaucrats mucking things up for our boys in green is another Bay trademark. To get rid of him, Lennox fakes a crash landing and then gives the panicked Galloway a crash course in parachutes. After urging Galloway to “pull [the chord] really hard” while standing near the open exit ramp, Lennox explains, “Not now, we’re on the plane, you dumbass!” Cue Galloway landing safely in the middle of Giza while the soldiers go into battle.