Based on the 1993 non-fiction book Howard Hughes: The Secret Life by Charles Higham, the film portrays the life of Howard Hughes, an aeronautics pioneer and supervisor of the movie Hell's Angels The film represents his life from 1927 to 1947 throughout which time Hughes ended up being a successful film producer and an aeronautics magnate while simultaneously expanding much more unpredictable because of serious obsessive-compulsive problem (OCD).

The brief but much proclaimed flight of Hughes' HK-1 Hercules on November 2, 1947, was realistically recreated in the Port of Long Coastline The motion control Spruce Goose and Hughes Hangar miniatures built by New Offer Studios are on display screen at the Evergreen Air Travel Gallery in McMinnville, Oregon, with the initial Hughes H-1 Spruce Goose.

Besides, Hughes is hardly averse at risking his life in other means, ending up being a record-smashing flying ace and Bookmarks later getting TWA off the ground much to the discouragement of competing Juan Trippe (Alec Baldwin), the head of Pan Am. The Pilot with Cate Blanchett as Katharine Hepburn and Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes.

Appearing at 169 minutes, The Aviator tries to stay up, however like Howard Hughes' much-too-big and much-too-heavy Spruce Goose (a.k.a. The Hercules), this cinematic big can keep itself airborne only a few mins at a time. Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes and Cate Blanchett as Katharine Hepburn The Pilot images: Miramax Detector Bros