Harrison Ford Tells Jimmy Kimmel Everything He Can Remember About His Plane Crash

Well, that’s one way to cope. On Thursday, Harrison Ford dropped by Jimmy Kimmel Live and opened up to the host about his plane crash earlier this year — his third major crash
since he first entered the cockpit more than 15 years ago. The Star Wars icon came dressed for Halloween… as a dog in a hot dog suit. (Hey, you have to give the guy points for creativity.)
Kimmel jumped right in, telling the 73-year-old actor, “I’m so glad you’re alive,” before asking Ford if he remembered the near-fatal accident that caused critical injuries — including a lacerated scalp and broken bones — and kept him hospitalized for nearly a month.

“Yeah, I remember — not all of it. I remember some of it,” he revealed. “I remember the engine stopping; I remember that part very well,” he added with a chuckle. “And then I remember telling the tower what I was going to do and then I remember their suggestion. Their suggestion was that I take the normal route to land and I knew I wasn’t going to do that, so I said no. And that’s the last thing that I remember until five days afterwards actually.”


For the record, in air traffic control audio from the March crash Ford says, “Engine failure, requesting immediate return,” to which air traffic controllers respond, “Clear to land.” Later on, a controller notes, “It looked like it was short of the runway.” In other words, for at least part of the time, Ford was actively working on landing the World War II-era Ryan Aeronautical ST3KR.
Kimmel interjected, asking specifically if Ford remembered the plane going down. Ford said he didn’t. “Were you unconscious?” the late-night host inquired.
“I would hope so!” Ford replied with a laugh before explaining that his lack of memory was probably due to heavy doses of anesthesia after the fact rather than being out cold during the plane’s descent. Side note: Apparently heavy doses of general anesthetic can induce something called “retrograde amnesia,” which, technically speaking, is a loss of memory-access to events that occurred before an injury. Sounds like a movie plot to us — and to Kimmel.


“Was it like being in a movie?” the funnyman asked.
“This was not a movie,” Ford quipped.

The star did make a full recovery and was back in the pilot seat just a few months after the accident — but that didn’t mean he was done with plane-related injuries. While discussing Ford admitted that he injured himself on the door of the Millennium Falcon on the set.
That’s pretty much all the thesp would reveal about the new franchise installment, however. When Kimmel pressed for more details on the upcoming guaranteed blockbuster, Ford said, “What is there to say? I want the audience to experience it. I don’t want them to hear anything.”
While information about the film remains under wraps, Ford was happy to reveal one last detail about his crash.
“You landed on a golf course. Did you yell fore as you came down?” Kimmel asked.
The actor smiled and corrected the host shouting, “Ford!”