Tweet
Arrrrrgh... :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: This is a decent movie, that centers on a major event of a plane crash, but is really all about the lead character played by Denzel Washington and the massive demons he carries of addictions. No spoiler there--Robert Zimeckis puts that blatantly right into the opening scene.
As a pilot myself, as usual there were many aviation things in the movie that weren't accurate, such as during the crash, somehow inexplicably both engines catch on fire, and Denzel tells the co-pilot to put the fires out. He pulls the T-handles (which is correct) which in reality automatically shuts down the engines, but in the movie they keep going, and they keep using them with thrust until they finally explode or die on their own. I can live with most things like that, for the sake of a fictional movie, and often do in aviation-related films. The one thing that drew me to the movie to begin with was the idea that Denzel somehow rolls the airliner upside down to save the day. and I had thought he landed it inverted as well. I thought I had to see the movie to see if there's any possible way they could come up with that as being the CORRECT maneuver for a situation, in any way close to being realistic. Surprisingly, they actually did.
But here's what really bugged me--from scene #1, Denzel is demonstrated to not only be a play-it-loose kind of person, with personal troubles, he is WAYYYY off the deep end as a severe alcoholic and cokehead. In the aviation community, I've absolutely met my share of troubled people. We're all human. And in the BD extras, the writer talks about that being his original premise for the story--what if your pilot wasn't a polished Johnny-B-Goode, but was a total mess. But my problem comes in that the professional flying community, multiple standards are set, and strictly enforced, to ensure that each pilot is up to the task. As not just a job, but a PROFESSION, it is highly self-regulated and enforced. The only reason that over the years you've heard about a pilot here or there that has been grossly negligent like showing to fly after drinking, is that when those bad apples are identified, and those gross events occur, they are immediately removed from the profession. There's no second chances there.
Bottom line, there is NO WAY IN HELL that a person like Denzel's character would be allowed to not only fly, but rise through the ranks while he continues to spiral downwards. I don't give a hoot how good a pilot he is, or how good of friends he is with other aircrew. The INSTANT that any crew member suspected him of drinking before flying, much less EVER doing drugs or such, he'd be yanked out of the cockpit. The later scenes where the pilot union rep covers up Denzel's massive sins, even feeding him cocaine so he can testify, is beyond ridiculous.
I honestly think that setting up a story like this is grossly irresponsibly negligent towards the public. There's so many people out there that get hare-brained ideas and paranoias. And they do NOT need to be fed the thought of, "oh my gosh... my pilot today could be a crack addict... we're all going to die!!!" when there is NO chance of that happening.
Oh, another aviation-bit that bothered me is the story kept saying that as messed up as Denzel's character was, as a PILOT he "did everything more than right" and saved the day, that it was only mechanical failure. But right after takeoff, when they flew into significant weather, (which, BTW, Denzel called "Severe" to Air Traffic Control, but was clearly only moderate) Denzel clearly exceeded both procedures and aircraft limitations in how he chose to handle it, including overspeeding the aircraft. Such actions are both unnecessary and reckless, and as a safety investigator, if I saw and heard all that on the data recorders post-mishap, I'd have all sorts of red flags. There is a VERY real possibility that Denzel's actions during the weather damaged the aircraft to cause or at least contribute to the mishap at the end of the flight, but this is never even mentioned. Actually, as an experienced accident investigator myself, I really wish I could have worked on this movie, as I could have made it even better and more realistic.
I liked the redhead female lead--she was hot. As a film buff, I loved the character portrayal and exploration. As an aviation enthusiast, I very much appreciated the flying scenes and the thought and detail put into crafting them. As a professional pilot, I was disgusted with the aforementioned aspect.
Overall, I'm conflicted, but :35: stars out of :5:.
As a pilot myself, as usual there were many aviation things in the movie that weren't accurate, such as during the crash, somehow inexplicably both engines catch on fire, and Denzel tells the co-pilot to put the fires out. He pulls the T-handles (which is correct) which in reality automatically shuts down the engines, but in the movie they keep going, and they keep using them with thrust until they finally explode or die on their own. I can live with most things like that, for the sake of a fictional movie, and often do in aviation-related films. The one thing that drew me to the movie to begin with was the idea that Denzel somehow rolls the airliner upside down to save the day. and I had thought he landed it inverted as well. I thought I had to see the movie to see if there's any possible way they could come up with that as being the CORRECT maneuver for a situation, in any way close to being realistic. Surprisingly, they actually did.
But here's what really bugged me--from scene #1, Denzel is demonstrated to not only be a play-it-loose kind of person, with personal troubles, he is WAYYYY off the deep end as a severe alcoholic and cokehead. In the aviation community, I've absolutely met my share of troubled people. We're all human. And in the BD extras, the writer talks about that being his original premise for the story--what if your pilot wasn't a polished Johnny-B-Goode, but was a total mess. But my problem comes in that the professional flying community, multiple standards are set, and strictly enforced, to ensure that each pilot is up to the task. As not just a job, but a PROFESSION, it is highly self-regulated and enforced. The only reason that over the years you've heard about a pilot here or there that has been grossly negligent like showing to fly after drinking, is that when those bad apples are identified, and those gross events occur, they are immediately removed from the profession. There's no second chances there.
Bottom line, there is NO WAY IN HELL that a person like Denzel's character would be allowed to not only fly, but rise through the ranks while he continues to spiral downwards. I don't give a hoot how good a pilot he is, or how good of friends he is with other aircrew. The INSTANT that any crew member suspected him of drinking before flying, much less EVER doing drugs or such, he'd be yanked out of the cockpit. The later scenes where the pilot union rep covers up Denzel's massive sins, even feeding him cocaine so he can testify, is beyond ridiculous.
I honestly think that setting up a story like this is grossly irresponsibly negligent towards the public. There's so many people out there that get hare-brained ideas and paranoias. And they do NOT need to be fed the thought of, "oh my gosh... my pilot today could be a crack addict... we're all going to die!!!" when there is NO chance of that happening.
Oh, another aviation-bit that bothered me is the story kept saying that as messed up as Denzel's character was, as a PILOT he "did everything more than right" and saved the day, that it was only mechanical failure. But right after takeoff, when they flew into significant weather, (which, BTW, Denzel called "Severe" to Air Traffic Control, but was clearly only moderate) Denzel clearly exceeded both procedures and aircraft limitations in how he chose to handle it, including overspeeding the aircraft. Such actions are both unnecessary and reckless, and as a safety investigator, if I saw and heard all that on the data recorders post-mishap, I'd have all sorts of red flags. There is a VERY real possibility that Denzel's actions during the weather damaged the aircraft to cause or at least contribute to the mishap at the end of the flight, but this is never even mentioned. Actually, as an experienced accident investigator myself, I really wish I could have worked on this movie, as I could have made it even better and more realistic.
I liked the redhead female lead--she was hot. As a film buff, I loved the character portrayal and exploration. As an aviation enthusiast, I very much appreciated the flying scenes and the thought and detail put into crafting them. As a professional pilot, I was disgusted with the aforementioned aspect.
Overall, I'm conflicted, but :35: stars out of :5:.
Comment