The real plane crashed on Friday the 13th in October of 1972.
The film's main location was the ski town of Panorama in the Canadian Rockies. To get all 150 cast and crew members to the location every morning took a fleet of five helicopters.
Director Frank Marshall auditioned novice actor Brad Pitt for the Roberto Canessa part, but Pitt's reading was poor, and the part went to Josh Hamilton instead.
Shot in sequence, an unusual practice for a film of this size.