While in the glider, Cannon recites in its entirety the sonnet "High Flight" by John Magee (1922-41).
In this episode and the Mannix episode, "Portrait of a Hero" that originally aired four days later (Oct 15, 1972), there is a flight scene where the lead character is given a ten-second "flight lesson" by the pilot, then takes the controls, and the pilot observes, "You've flown before." There are no writing credits in common between the episodes but the scenes are identical. Dabney Coleman plays the pilot in the Mannix episode, so it's relatively believable to see Mike Connors take this instruction with a straight face. Connors served in the Army AIr Forces in WWII. But 1950-born Belinda Montgomery giving former WWII fighter pilot William Conrad, who also served in the Army Air Forces, the same lesson defied credulity. Conrad was certainly a good sport and consummate professional to tolerate that scene.
The helicopter seen during the first act is an early version of the Aerospatiale Gazelle. The one seen is the SA340 which is the predecessor to the SA341G. The difference is that the early version uses a standard tail rotor and the 341G was the introduction of the Fenestron enclosed tail rotor.
There are some subtle differences, but the helicopter may in fact be a Fairchild FH-1100 instead of a SA340.