The Connie lifted off the Kansas City Airport, on time, at 10:00 am. At the controls were Skip Gatschet, Joe Orr, and Tery McMaster. The other three crew members were enjoying the view from the cabin. It was a beautiful day for a cross country flight. The sky was clear and the visibility was great for the entire 5 hours and 48 minutes from MKC to SBD. The Connie cruised at 10,000 feet above Wichita and Albuquerque, and over the continental divide. Then it was on to Prescott and Winslow. Shortly thereafter, the descent was made into the always busy Los Angeles basin. The crew reported amazing visibility and excellent sight-seeing for the entire trip. The Connie arrived at SBD a full 10 minutes ahead of the planned arrival time.

The San Bernardino airport was very busy, as the spreading fires in southern California were still burning out of control at this time. Fire bomber aircraft were using the airport as their staging area. There were numerous takeoffs and landings of various types of equipment including S1, P2, DC-4, DC-6, and DC-7 aircraft that had been modified for their firefighting duties. The sounds of all these round engines on takeoff had to be taken into consideration by the filming crews, especially during scenes with the actors speaking. The words "cut" and "action" were heard often.

Production company technicians "painted out" some of the lettering on the Connie. This was in keeping with their research on the way things were circa 1946. They sprayed on a water soluble white paint then coated it with wax to make it shiny. Among other changes, they painted out the "Super G" logo and took the "s" from the end of Trans World Airlines. A huge sunlight diffuser was constructed and hung over the Connie by a large crane during filming.

One scene involves a conversation between Noah Dietrich, Jack Frye, and Howard Hughes. In ailing health, Hughes is trying to secure financing because a recent accident has the potential of grounding the entire Constellation fleet. Scenes like this require hours of preparation and are sometimes shot from several different angles. After editing, this scene will be about one minute long, but required five hours to film. The huge former military hangar was painted white and the old TWA logo, complete with the "arrow", was applied adjacent to the main doors. There were several vintage automobiles, a period fuel truck, 1946 costumes, and much attention to detail.