 Helen gets the jet from Snug, her old sidekick and pilot when she  was Elastigirl. Originally, Snug would have also flown the plane and  gotten killed when it was shot down, thus raising the stakes for the  characters. The animators convinced Brad Bird (I) (qv) to have  Helen fly the plane herself, rather than spending money on a minor  character for only a few minutes of screen time. The shot of Helen  watching the destroyed plane sink into the ocean was apparently  filmed when the script still called for Snugs death, explaining her  overlong look as the wreckage sinks because, as filmed, it contained  the corpse of her friend.