John Amos' character is listed in the credits as "Marine Corporal", and the reporter Damon, when surprised at how little security is at the desert military compound, refers to "one lousy corporal" guarding the gate. In fact the stripes on John Amos' uniform are clearly visible and show him to be a 3-stripe sergeant.
In the 65th minute, there is reference made to the 'Canadian Mounted Police.' They are the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or RCMP, and would not properly be referred to any other way.
In a teletext early in the movie, part of the body reads "Fuel exhaustion time was re-ached." Correctly, the word would be 'reached,' not hyphenated. Even though it is separated at the end of one line and the beginning of the next, it would not be hyphenated because it is one syllable.
While the President is not aboard Air Force One when it crashes, the plane uses the call sign Air Force One instead of the correct call sign SAM 26001. This is because the flight is a cover for the President's actual, top secret, destination on another aircraft.
The airport that is used to depict Andrews Air Force Base in Prince George's County, Maryland, is clearly located in Southern California as a row of Washingtonia robusta palm trees (also known as Mexican fan palms) is visible in the distance at the end of the film.
The title is misleading because the plane was discovered after about one third of the movie. 'The President is Missing' would have been a more appropriate title.
As the bodies from the crash are being recovered, Mark Jones walks up to General Dunbar and addresses him as Colonel Dunbar.