Movies Like Primary Flight Training: Taxiing and Take-offs

If you liked Primary Flight Training: Taxiing and Take-offs (1945), a movie directed by Robert Taylor, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.

1
Air Force Elite: Thunderbirds (2025)
★ 6.9/10
The elite pilots of the Air Force Thunderbirds display exceptional skill, trust and courage during a high-stakes training season.
2
Propeller One-Way Night Coach (2026)
★ 6.2/10
During the golden age of aviation, a young airplane enthusiast and his mother embark on a cross-country journey to Hollywood—and their simple flight transforms into the trip of a lifetime.
3
On a Wing and a Prayer (2023)
★ 5.9/10
After their pilot dies unexpectedly mid-flight, passenger Doug White must safely land a plane and save his entire family from insurmountable danger.
4
Hot Shots! (1991)
★ 6.6/10
The gang that created Airplane! and The Naked Gun sets its sights on Top Gun in this spoof. Topper Harley is a talented but unstable fighter pilot with an axe to grind: clearing the family name. His mission is to…
5
The Aviator (2004)
★ 7.2/10
A biopic depicting the life of filmmaker and aviation pioneer Howard Hughes from 1927 to 1947, during which time he became a successful film producer and an aviation magnate, while simultaneously growing more unstable…
6
The Deepest Breath (2023)
★ 7.6/10
Bonded by their love of freediving, a record-setting champion and a heroic safety diver try to make history with a remarkable feat, ready to risk it all.
7
Airplane! (1980)
★ 7.3/10
An ex-fighter pilot is forced to take over the controls of an airliner when the flight crew succumbs to food poisoning.
8
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
★ 8.2/10
After more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell finds himself training a detachment of TOP GUN graduates…
9
Flight Risk (2025)
★ 5.9/10
A pilot transports a U.S. Marshal accompanying a government witness to a trial in New York. As they cross the Alaskan wilderness, tensions soar and trust is tested, as not everyone on board is who they seem.
10
Sunday in New York (1963)
★ 6.8/10
An innocent upstarter visits her airline pilot brother and meets a stranger she tries to seduce.
11
An Officer and a Gentleman (1982)
★ 7/10
Zack Mayo is an aloof, taciturn man who aspires to be a navy pilot. Once he arrives at training camp for his 13-week officer's course, Mayo runs afoul of abrasive, no-nonsense drill Sergeant Emil Foley. Mayo is an…
12
Air Mater (2011)
★ 6.1/10
Mater's decision to fly lands him accidentally at a big airshow.
13
Top Gun (1986)
★ 7.1/10
For Lieutenant Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell and his friend and co-pilot Nick 'Goose' Bradshaw, being accepted into an elite training school for fighter pilots is a dream come true. But a tragedy, as well as personal…
14
The Spirit of St. Louis (1957)
★ 6.7/10
In 1927, Charles Lindbergh struggles to finance and design an airplane that will make his New York to Paris flight the first solo transatlantic crossing.
15
Mayday (2026)
★ 7.8/10
When a U.S. Navy pilot on a top-secret mission during the Cold War gets trapped behind enemy lines, his only chance at survival is to form an alliance with an eccentric ex-KGB agent.
16
Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1973)
★ 6.1/10
Jonathan is sick and tired of the boring life in his seagull clan. He rather experiments with new, always more daring flying techniques. Since he doesn't fit in, the elders expel him from the clan. So he sets out to…
17
The Right Stuff (1983)
★ 7.4/10
At the dawn of the Space Race, seven test pilots set out to become the first American astronauts to enter space. However, the road to making history brings momentous challenges.
18
The High and the Mighty (1954)
★ 5.9/10
Dan Roman is a veteran pilot haunted by a tragic past. Now relegated to second-in-command cockpit assignments he finds himself on a routine Honolulu-to-San Francisco flight that takes a terrifying turn when disaster…
19
The Tuskegee Airmen (1995)
★ 7.1/10
During the Second World War, a special project is begun by the US Army Air Corps to integrate African American pilots into the Fighter Pilot Program. Known as the "Tuskegee Airman" for the name of the airbase at which…
20
Don't Bother to Knock (1952)
★ 6.6/10
An airline pilot pursues a live-in babysitter at his hotel and gradually realizes she is not as stable as perhaps she should be.