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I recall the book Unfriendly Skies by Captain X in the 1980s.
I read on a few a/c forums that the roll as featured in the film is possible but the recovery at low altitude as shown is not feasible with that type of a/c.
After seeing the movie, I feel it was a good depiction of the consequences of substance abuse. It could have been an airline pilot, a doctor, a politician or any professional you expect to have their life in order. Making the lead character an airline pilot involved in a dramatic crash is the hook for audiences...especially those who fear flying.
Overall, the movie seemed like the airline version of Thunderheart-the movie that gave Jeff
Bridges his best actor award.
Sure everyone wants Denzel to get an Oscar someday, but I dont think his performance in this film was anything other than ordinary. At the very least, my fears of the general public seeing this as a realistic portrayal of the airline pilots lifestyle were put to rest.
I felt like the director/script/story were following the 1970s playboy-flying god-captain iimage that audiences can easily see as inaccurate.
Haven't seen the movie yet (but am looking foward to it) but as a truck driver with the same medical restrictions & requirements as airline pilots, I believe that substance abuse is pretty much over-rated. Sure, abuse exists in both trucking and aviation. But my experience is that it is a lot less frequent than the general population.
Haven't seen the movie yet (but am looking foward to it) but as a truck driver with the same medical restrictions & requirements as airline pilots, I believe that substance abuse is pretty much over-rated. Sure, abuse exists in both trucking and aviation. But my experience is that it is a lot less frequent than the general population.
Save your money!
I just went to see it and walked out....finally....having had more than enough at about an hour and 15 minutes. The mistake I made was not walking out at John Goodman's appearance much earlier when I first wanted to.
Pure Hollywood trash....and I went in with high hopes that it would be different. Bruce Greenwood was dignified - and is always good - but that's the only positive I took away.
The real question that people should ask themselves after seeing this is whether they will ever again waste their time and money on a Hollywood production, as the high quality exceptions are infinitesimally rare and have been for years.
Denzel Washington has done some great stuff and that's a big reason why I went, but this....
Whatever you do, don't watch the trailer!!!!! One sickening 'Good Tyme Oldie' after another. I mean, if you're 64 and your brain atrophied from smoking 'Mary Jane'.... and you're forever stuck in 1972, then it won't be too painful to have Rolling Stones addling your brain. But yeccccccccccch! My Husband hit the 'stop' button when the second Oldie started playing, but it was too late. I'll be tossing and turning all night, trying to drive that garbage out of my head.
Oh, and in any event, I won't be worried about the possibility of an alcoholic pilot: always too busy worrying about snakes on the plane.
I read on a few a/c forums that the roll as featured in the film is possible but the recovery at low altitude as shown is not feasible with that type of a/c.
Rolls are very possible with passenger airliners. I've only rolled the Embraer in the sim, but it seemed very poised inverted, and once trimmed out, would fly in that orientation without issue.
The A/C in the film is some type of modified (aka doesn't exist) MD-80. The accident is taken partially from a couple real accident situations, one involving an Alaska Airlines flight that lost all souls in the Pacific.
A couple notes from a flyer.
Accelerating in a thunderstorm is just plain stupid! Slow down to Manuevering speed and request a turn as required to get out of the weather...and climb like a banshee, you'll exit it the weather at some point, but overstressing the airframe so the storm appears "shorter" would go against everything ANY pilot would do.
The jackscrew seizing or stripping is possible, depending on what position it froze in, recovery may have been difficult. But it should have been identified a tad sooner than they ID'd the problem...I can remember this from training, and if caught quickly, it's more of an inconvience than the emergency experienced.
The pitch attitude that the aircraft was in would have resulted in a significantly greater rate of descent than what was depicted in the film. With the power pulled out, and less than 10 degrees nose down you can achieve well over a 6,000 Foot per minute descent. In that attitude, the descent rate would have likely been 10,000 feet/minute or greater...litterally coming out of the sky like a rock.
Rolls are very possible with passenger airliners. I've only rolled the Embraer in the sim, but it seemed very poised inverted, and once trimmed out, would fly in that orientation without issue.
The A/C in the film is some type of modified (aka doesn't exist) MD-80. The accident is taken partially from a couple real accident situations, one involving an Alaska Airlines flight that lost all souls in the Pacific.
A couple notes from a flyer.
Accelerating in a thunderstorm is just plain stupid! Slow down to Manuevering speed and request a turn as required to get out of the weather...and climb like a banshee, you'll exit it the weather at some point, but overstressing the airframe so the storm appears "shorter" would go against everything ANY pilot would do.
The jackscrew seizing or stripping is possible, depending on what position it froze in, recovery may have been difficult. But it should have been identified a tad sooner than they ID'd the problem...I can remember this from training, and if caught quickly, it's more of an inconvience than the emergency experienced.
The pitch attitude that the aircraft was in would have resulted in a significantly greater rate of descent than what was depicted in the film. With the power pulled out, and less than 10 degrees nose down you can achieve well over a 6,000 Foot per minute descent. In that attitude, the descent rate would have likely been 10,000 feet/minute or greater...litterally coming out of the sky like a rock.
Theoretically just about any airplane can be rolled (a 1-g maneuver), but prolonged inverted flight could be a problem due to fuel starvation (depending on the fuel system).
Fwiw I have not seen this movie, and probably never will. From the above comments it sounds like it is full of stereotypes and inaccuracies. I worked in atc for 25 years and I never saw "Pushing Tin" for similar reasons.
I lived in Atlanta for 30 years with pilots from Eastern, Delta and every major airline. Personally they were not too bright and it scared me a great deal to put my life in their hands.
Most pilots (from my experience) are of about average intelligence. I've met a few that seemed to be lacking considerably, and a few that really stood out as being particularlly bright. The typcial pilot is technical, enjoys mechanics and engineering, and has a real appreciation for practical mathematics/physics.
Most that I've met tend to get bored with philosophical conversations, and what-if scenarios. And often, the folks drawn to the profession would be considered "Good ole' boys" and would rather be hunting or fishing as opposed to any other form of civilized life.
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