Synopsis

After her mother's death, 13-year-old Amy moves from New Zealand to Canada to live with her estranged father, Thomas. She soon discovers a nest of abandoned Canada goose eggs and raises the goslings herself. When autumn approaches, Amy and Thomas must teach the birds to fly south by following their ultralight aircraft, leading to an extraordinary journey to a protected winter sanctuary.

Factoids & Trivia

• The film was inspired by Canadian inventor and artist Bill Lishman's experiments teaching Canada geese to follow an ultralight aircraft. The real-life migration work also involved naturalist Joe Duff.

• Lishman participated directly in the production. He served as Jeff Daniels' flying double and helped create the sculptures seen at Thomas and Amy's home.

• Actual imprinted geese were used for the production. After filming, Lishman led approximately 60 of the birds on their migration to a wintering site in South Carolina.

• Two distinctive ultralight designs appear in the film: the UFM Easy Riser and the Cosmos Trike. The aircraft were modified with goose-like features, including a head and neck mounted on the front of Amy's aircraft.

• Although the story travels from Ontario to the American South, the film was shot almost entirely in Canada. Ontario locations doubled for several American settings.

• The production originally used the title "Flying Wild." It was changed to "Fly Away Home" only a few weeks before the theatrical release.

• The film's cinematography received an Academy Award nomination, recognizing its extensive aerial imagery of the geese flying alongside the ultralights.

• The movie's release was delayed after the 1996 death of Jessica Dubroff, a seven-year-old pilot who was killed during a highly publicized cross-country flight attempt.