On her third day with William, Dana starts up the aircraft's engine while still in the hangar. This is never done, because the prop wash would blow anything not nailed down all over the hangar, and possibly damage the hangar itself. One always tows the airplane out onto the tarmac before starting the engine.
When making the emergency landing, the altimeter hands were moving together,
They work like a clock, the big hand has to go all the way around to make the small hand move.
Dana initiates her take off from the water, then advances the throttle to full as the plane becomes airborne. In all piston-engined aircraft, the throttle is advanced to full power at the start of the takeoff roll, not as the plane becomes airborne.
The aircraft exterior shots are of a Cessna T206H Turbo Stationair, while the cockpit shots are from a GippsAero GA8 Airvan.
During the dolphin scene, the dolphins are visibly moving quicker than the airplane. The stall speed of the Cessna is higher than the top speed of a dolphin, so the airplane would promptly stall.
Dana advances her throttle for takeoff several times while the red mixture control lever is at the "Idle Cutoff" position. In actual fact, this mixture position is used to shut down the engine, indicating that this aircraft is parked and not running.
While flying Dana has both hands on the yoke. Pilots need to fly with one hand on the yoke and one on the throttle to be prepared for unexpected problems.
Dana, while flying, keeps playing with the radio transmit button. This would block the frequency for all other communication, and make all aircraft in the vicinity hear her private dialogues.