After plane crash, Harrison Ford to narrate aviation documentary

Well, this is slightly awkward timing. Just two weeks after Harrison Ford was injured in a plane crash, National Geographic Studios announced Thursday that the actor will narrate an upcoming documentary ... about aviation.

Ford -- who is still in the hospital recovering from injuries he sustained on March 5 when he was forced to make an emergency landing of his vintage plane on a Los Angeles golf course -- will provide the narration for the film “Living in the Age of Airplanes.”

Utilizing aerial photography and shot in 18 countries on all seven continents, the film will take audiences through the history of flight, highlighting the ways in which aviation has changed the world over the last century.

“Since we were all born into a world with airplanes, it’s hard to imagine that jet travel itself is only 60 years old, just a tick on the timeline of human history,” said the film’s director, Brian J. Terwilliger, in a statement. “With this film, we want to reignite people’s wonder for one of the most extraordinary aspects of the modern world.”

“Living in the Age of Airplanes” will have its premiere on April 8 at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., and then open in IMAX and other giant-screen locations on April 10.

A longtime aviation enthusiast, Ford, 72, has said he spends hundreds of hours a year flying, though his recent plane crash wasn’t his first scare. In 1999, he crash-landed his Bell 206 helicopter, but was not hurt, and a year later, he was forced to make an emergency landing of his Beechcraft Bonanza after encountering windy weather.

Still, he told Playboy in 2002 that he cherished the “combination of freedom and responsibility” that flying afforded him.

“It’s anonymity,” he said. “I’m not Harrison Ford, I’m November 1128 Sierra.”

In November, the actor wrapped work on director J.J. Abrams’ much-anticipated “Star Wars: Episode VII,” in which he reprises his Han Solo role for the first time since 1983’s “Return of the Jedi.” The film is slated to hit theaters Dec. 18.

Ford will next be seen on screen in the romance fantasy “The Age of Adaline,” opening April 24. The film centers on a woman (Blake Lively) who mysteriously stops aging after a freak accident.

Twitter: @joshrottenberg