22-01-2009, 06:33 PM
I figured it was about time to list those movies that inspired those pilots among us all.
For a change I will start off the list with the most thrilling and dramatic films around that have inspired me many years ago and still do. Hopefully
all you young lads and lasses thinking about aviation will enjoy watching these as much as I have. Note that due that these were films captured many
years ago procedures and graphics can be a bit dated and protocol is never followed, still they are fun
- Airport (1970)
Airport is a 1970 film based on the 1968 Arthur Hailey novel of the same name. This film, which earned over $100,000,000[1] at the box office, focuses
on an airport manager trying to keep his airport open during a snowstorm, while a suicidal bomber plots to blow up a Boeing 707 in flight. The film
cost $10 million to produce.
Airport paved the way for the disaster film genre and established some of the conventions of that genre.
The movie was written for the screen and directed by George Seaton. Seaton was assisted by Henry Hathaway, and Ernest Laszlo photographed it in 70 mm
Todd-AO. It was the last film scored by Alfred Newman before his death.
This story takes place at the fictional Chicago-area Lincoln International Airport.
This film was based on the best-selling novel by Arthur Hailey. With considerable attention to the details of day-to-day airport and airline
operations, the plot of the movie concerns the response to both a paralyzing snowstorm and to an attempt to blow up an airliner. Demolition expert
D.O. Guerrero (Van Heflin), down on his luck and with a history of mental illness, purchases a life insurance policy with the intent to commit suicide
by blowing up a Rome-bound Boeing 707 Intercontinental jet from a snowbound Chicago airport. He plans to do this while he is on board using a
self-made bomb hidden inside an attache case, while in flight over the Atlantic Ocean. Guerrero does this in the hope that his wife, Inez (Maureen
Stapleton) will benefit from the insurance money. The explosion causes explosive decompression but only Guerrero is sucked out of the plane. The plane
returns to Chicago where it makes a successful emergency landing – all while the airport is in the midst of a snowstorm with one runway closed from a
stuck-in-the-snow airliner.
In the movie, Dean Martin who plays checkride pilot Vernon Demarest, calls into Cleveland Center on his way to Chicago. Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland
Center is a reference to the ARTCC or Air Route Traffic Control Center in Oberlin, Ohio. This center is the busiest control centers because of air
traffic.
The film is characterized by ensemble acting in which many different personal stories intertwine, and through emphasis on the decisions which must be
made minute-by-minute by the airport staff.
- Airport 75 (1974)
Airport 1975 is a 1974 Disaster film and the first sequel to the successful 1970 hit Airport. Unlike the original film, Airport 1975 was a bona fide
"blockbuster" disaster film, with an "all-star" cast and extensive promotional campaign. The movie is one among many of a class of Disaster films that
became a movie-going craze during the 1970s. Its plot devices and characterizations, including a singing nun (Helen Reddy), a former glamorous star
(Gloria Swanson as herself), an alcoholic (Myrna Loy), a child in need of an organ transplant (Linda Blair) and a chatterbox (Sid Caesar) were
parodied in 1980's Airplane!. The characteristics of Airport 1975 were also used in numerous similar films to come, including the film's sequels
Airport '77 and The Concorde...Airport '79.
Though derided by the critics upon its release, Airport 1975 was ultimately a success. With a budget of US$4 million, the film made over US$47 million
at the box office. Helen Reddy was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer - Female. The film was included, however, in the
popular book The Fifty Worst Films of All Time three years later in 1978.
Columbia Airlines' Flight 409 is a red-eye Boeing 747-100 en route from Washington Dulles to Los Angeles. Scott Freeman is a New Mexico business man
with an urgent sales meeting in Boise. Failure to take this meeting threatens half his sales commissions for the coming year. He is en route in his
private Beechcraft Baron.
However, an occluded front has the entire West Coast socked in, with Los Angeles reporting zero visibility. That not only affects the Columbia flight
but also precludes Freeman making his meeting in Boise. Both flights are diverted to Salt Lake City.
Both the Baron and the 747 enter Salt Lake's entry pattern. Air traffic control assign the jumbo to enter the pattern first, followed by the
Beechcraft. As Columbia 409 is making its final approach, First Officer Urias feels a vibration on one of the adjacent panels and rises to check it
out. Freeman, now rather anxious about his missed sales meeting makes a call to the Salt Lake Tower asking about the delay. The tower confirms that he
is second to land after the big jet. Here, Freeman suffers a massive heart attack. As he grabs his chest the Baron falls out of the pattern and
descends into the approach of Columbia 409.
"Columbia four-oh-niner heavy, the Baron is at twelve-thirty." Those are the last words before Captain Stacey looks up and sees the Baron just feet
from the windshield. The Beechcraft impacts the flight deck just above the co-pilot seat. First Officer Urias, still standing, is instantly blown from
the cockpit. Flight Engineer Julio receives massive cranial trauma. Captain Stacey receives debris in the face and is blinded.
The decompression is extreme and knocks one of the stewards from the upper lounge down to the cabin below. Nancy Pryor, the head flight attendant
rushes up to the flight deck to find Urias gone, Julio dead, and Stacey badly maimed. Fortunately the captain is able to engage the autopilot and the
altitude hold switch to keep the airplane in the air before losing consciousness.
A call from the Salt Lake control tower as to what happened to the flight Nancy Pryor, in a panicky voice, informs the tower that the crew is dead or
badly injured and that there is no one to fly the plane. The Salt Lake tower tells Pryor to stay on the same frequency. Pryor gives the assessment of
the damage as a large hole on the starboard side of the flight deck that wiped out most of the instrument gauges over the engineer station.
Columbia vice president of operations Joe Patroni, recently a head mechanic for Trans World Airlines, is apprised of 409's situation. He seeks the
advice of Captain Al Murdoch, Columbia's chief instructor on 747's for the previous four years. Patroni and Murdoch take Columbia's executive jet to
Salt Lake. En route, they also communicate with Pryor who is still in the cockpit. While the autopilot is keeping the aircraft in level flight, it is
inoperable for turns. Something has to be done, as the jet is heading into the Wasatch Mountains. After successfully guiding Pryor by radio on how to
perform the turn, radio communications are interrupted and the Salt Lake tower is unable to restore contact.
Unable to turn, leaking fuel, and dodging the peaks of the Wasatch Mountains, an air to air rescue attempt is undertaken from a jet-powered HH-53
Super Jolly Green Giant helicopter flown by the USAF Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service. While the pilot is prepairing to be released on a tether
it become apparent that 409 is heading straight into the side of a mountain. With radio communications still out Pryor fly unaided. Captain Stacey is
able to give a cryptic clue regarding the decrease in airspeed during a climb in altitude. Pryor realises that she must accelerate to be able to climb
over the mountain and succesfully does so. After 409 has levelled off the pilot is released towards the stricken airliner. Just as Pryor is helping
him in the release cord from his harness becomes caught in the jagged metal surrounding the hole in the cockpit and as he climbs in his harness is
released from the tether and he falls to his death.
The only other person on the helicopter who can land a 747 is Captain Murdock, who is tethered to the rear of the helicopter and lowered to the jet
and successfully enters it through the hole in the cockpit. He then lands the plane safely at Salt Lake City Airport.
- Airport 77 (1977)
A privately owned luxury Boeing 747, Stevens' Flight 23 (call sign two-three sierra heavy) complete with piano bar, office, and bedroom, is used to
ferry invited guests to an estate owned by wealthy philanthropist Philip Stevens (James Stewart). Valuable artwork of the Stevens' private collection
is also onboard the jetliner, to be eventually displayed in his new museum. Such a collection motivates a group of thieves led by co-pilot Bob
Chambers (Robert Foxworth) to hijack the aircraft in the hopes of landing it on an abandoned airfield on St. George Island.
Once pilot Don Gallagher leaves the cockpit, the hijackers' plans go into motion. A sleeping gas is released into the cabin and the passengers lose
consciousness. Knocking out the flight engineer, Chambers puts the plan in motion, and Stevens' Flight 23 "disappears" into the Bermuda Triangle.
Descending to virtual wave-top altitude, Flight 23 heads into a fog bank, reducing visibility to less than a mile. Minutes later, a large offshore
drilling platform emerges from the haze, Flight 23 heading straight for it at close to 600 knots.
Raising the plane.
Chambers pulls back on the stick in a banking left turn but the Number 4 engine clips the derrick, causing the engine to catch fire. Chambers
immediately hits the fire extinguishing button and flames are momentarily extinguished. However, because the aircraft is at such a low altitude, the
sudden loss of airspeed threatens to stall the airplane. As the engine reignites, Chambers is forced to use another fire-suppression bottle. But by
this time, the aircraft stall alarm goes off and the aircraft is not recoverable. The aircraft impacts the water, ripping off all four engines from
their pylons, and eventually comes to a halt, then beginning to slip beneath the waves.
The ocean bottom is fortunately above the crush-depth of the fuselage. Many of the passengers are injured with some seriously. Two of the would-be
thieves are killed in the initial crash. (Monte Markham) is killed in the hold securing the art for the transfer when a cargo container causes a
breach of the outer skin, for the compartment floods and (Markham) is drowned. The second fatality is (Michael Pataki) who is on the flight deck with
Chambers who is killed when he is slammed into the flight panel on impact.
Since the aircraft was off course, search and rescue efforts are focused in the wrong area. Involved in these efforts is Phillip Stevens and Joe
Patroni (George Kennedy, who is in all Airport movies). The only way to signal rescue efforts to the proper region is to get a signal buoy to the
surface in a small dinghy. Captain Gallagher and diver Martin Wallace (Christopher Lee) enter the main cargo in the attempt, but an unexpected
triggering of the hatch crushes Wallace. Gallagher, out of oxygen provided by the dive gear, makes it to the surface, and activates the beacon after
he climbs into the dinghy. Getting a fix on the new signal, an S-3 Viking overflies the crash site, confirming the location of Flight 23.
The navy then dispatches a sub-recovery ship, the USS Cayuga (LST-1186) with a flotilla of other vessels. The aircraft is ringed with balloons and
once inflated, the aircraft rises from the bottom of the seafloor. Once on the surface, the passengers are evacuated. First Officer Chambers is killed
on the way up when he is pinned under a sofa. With the survivors on their way to waiting ships, Captain Gallagher and the head stewardess (Brenda
Vaccaro) are the last to evacuate from the aircraft as it slips under the waves for the last time.
- Airport 79 (1979)
Kevin Harrison (Robert Wagner), an arms dealer, attempts to destroy an American-owned Concorde supersonic transport on its maiden flight after one of
the passengers Maggie Whelan (Susan Blakely) learns of his weapons sales to communist countries during the Cold War. After the Concorde manages to
escape destruction by remotely-controlled missiles and rogue fighter aircraft, Harrison attempts to de-pressurize the aircraft at altitude, forcing it
to crash in the Alps.
For a change I will start off the list with the most thrilling and dramatic films around that have inspired me many years ago and still do. Hopefully
all you young lads and lasses thinking about aviation will enjoy watching these as much as I have. Note that due that these were films captured many
years ago procedures and graphics can be a bit dated and protocol is never followed, still they are fun
- Airport (1970)
Airport is a 1970 film based on the 1968 Arthur Hailey novel of the same name. This film, which earned over $100,000,000[1] at the box office, focuses
on an airport manager trying to keep his airport open during a snowstorm, while a suicidal bomber plots to blow up a Boeing 707 in flight. The film
cost $10 million to produce.
Airport paved the way for the disaster film genre and established some of the conventions of that genre.
The movie was written for the screen and directed by George Seaton. Seaton was assisted by Henry Hathaway, and Ernest Laszlo photographed it in 70 mm
Todd-AO. It was the last film scored by Alfred Newman before his death.
This story takes place at the fictional Chicago-area Lincoln International Airport.
This film was based on the best-selling novel by Arthur Hailey. With considerable attention to the details of day-to-day airport and airline
operations, the plot of the movie concerns the response to both a paralyzing snowstorm and to an attempt to blow up an airliner. Demolition expert
D.O. Guerrero (Van Heflin), down on his luck and with a history of mental illness, purchases a life insurance policy with the intent to commit suicide
by blowing up a Rome-bound Boeing 707 Intercontinental jet from a snowbound Chicago airport. He plans to do this while he is on board using a
self-made bomb hidden inside an attache case, while in flight over the Atlantic Ocean. Guerrero does this in the hope that his wife, Inez (Maureen
Stapleton) will benefit from the insurance money. The explosion causes explosive decompression but only Guerrero is sucked out of the plane. The plane
returns to Chicago where it makes a successful emergency landing – all while the airport is in the midst of a snowstorm with one runway closed from a
stuck-in-the-snow airliner.
In the movie, Dean Martin who plays checkride pilot Vernon Demarest, calls into Cleveland Center on his way to Chicago. Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland
Center is a reference to the ARTCC or Air Route Traffic Control Center in Oberlin, Ohio. This center is the busiest control centers because of air
traffic.
The film is characterized by ensemble acting in which many different personal stories intertwine, and through emphasis on the decisions which must be
made minute-by-minute by the airport staff.
- Airport 75 (1974)
Airport 1975 is a 1974 Disaster film and the first sequel to the successful 1970 hit Airport. Unlike the original film, Airport 1975 was a bona fide
"blockbuster" disaster film, with an "all-star" cast and extensive promotional campaign. The movie is one among many of a class of Disaster films that
became a movie-going craze during the 1970s. Its plot devices and characterizations, including a singing nun (Helen Reddy), a former glamorous star
(Gloria Swanson as herself), an alcoholic (Myrna Loy), a child in need of an organ transplant (Linda Blair) and a chatterbox (Sid Caesar) were
parodied in 1980's Airplane!. The characteristics of Airport 1975 were also used in numerous similar films to come, including the film's sequels
Airport '77 and The Concorde...Airport '79.
Though derided by the critics upon its release, Airport 1975 was ultimately a success. With a budget of US$4 million, the film made over US$47 million
at the box office. Helen Reddy was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer - Female. The film was included, however, in the
popular book The Fifty Worst Films of All Time three years later in 1978.
Columbia Airlines' Flight 409 is a red-eye Boeing 747-100 en route from Washington Dulles to Los Angeles. Scott Freeman is a New Mexico business man
with an urgent sales meeting in Boise. Failure to take this meeting threatens half his sales commissions for the coming year. He is en route in his
private Beechcraft Baron.
However, an occluded front has the entire West Coast socked in, with Los Angeles reporting zero visibility. That not only affects the Columbia flight
but also precludes Freeman making his meeting in Boise. Both flights are diverted to Salt Lake City.
Both the Baron and the 747 enter Salt Lake's entry pattern. Air traffic control assign the jumbo to enter the pattern first, followed by the
Beechcraft. As Columbia 409 is making its final approach, First Officer Urias feels a vibration on one of the adjacent panels and rises to check it
out. Freeman, now rather anxious about his missed sales meeting makes a call to the Salt Lake Tower asking about the delay. The tower confirms that he
is second to land after the big jet. Here, Freeman suffers a massive heart attack. As he grabs his chest the Baron falls out of the pattern and
descends into the approach of Columbia 409.
"Columbia four-oh-niner heavy, the Baron is at twelve-thirty." Those are the last words before Captain Stacey looks up and sees the Baron just feet
from the windshield. The Beechcraft impacts the flight deck just above the co-pilot seat. First Officer Urias, still standing, is instantly blown from
the cockpit. Flight Engineer Julio receives massive cranial trauma. Captain Stacey receives debris in the face and is blinded.
The decompression is extreme and knocks one of the stewards from the upper lounge down to the cabin below. Nancy Pryor, the head flight attendant
rushes up to the flight deck to find Urias gone, Julio dead, and Stacey badly maimed. Fortunately the captain is able to engage the autopilot and the
altitude hold switch to keep the airplane in the air before losing consciousness.
A call from the Salt Lake control tower as to what happened to the flight Nancy Pryor, in a panicky voice, informs the tower that the crew is dead or
badly injured and that there is no one to fly the plane. The Salt Lake tower tells Pryor to stay on the same frequency. Pryor gives the assessment of
the damage as a large hole on the starboard side of the flight deck that wiped out most of the instrument gauges over the engineer station.
Columbia vice president of operations Joe Patroni, recently a head mechanic for Trans World Airlines, is apprised of 409's situation. He seeks the
advice of Captain Al Murdoch, Columbia's chief instructor on 747's for the previous four years. Patroni and Murdoch take Columbia's executive jet to
Salt Lake. En route, they also communicate with Pryor who is still in the cockpit. While the autopilot is keeping the aircraft in level flight, it is
inoperable for turns. Something has to be done, as the jet is heading into the Wasatch Mountains. After successfully guiding Pryor by radio on how to
perform the turn, radio communications are interrupted and the Salt Lake tower is unable to restore contact.
Unable to turn, leaking fuel, and dodging the peaks of the Wasatch Mountains, an air to air rescue attempt is undertaken from a jet-powered HH-53
Super Jolly Green Giant helicopter flown by the USAF Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service. While the pilot is prepairing to be released on a tether
it become apparent that 409 is heading straight into the side of a mountain. With radio communications still out Pryor fly unaided. Captain Stacey is
able to give a cryptic clue regarding the decrease in airspeed during a climb in altitude. Pryor realises that she must accelerate to be able to climb
over the mountain and succesfully does so. After 409 has levelled off the pilot is released towards the stricken airliner. Just as Pryor is helping
him in the release cord from his harness becomes caught in the jagged metal surrounding the hole in the cockpit and as he climbs in his harness is
released from the tether and he falls to his death.
The only other person on the helicopter who can land a 747 is Captain Murdock, who is tethered to the rear of the helicopter and lowered to the jet
and successfully enters it through the hole in the cockpit. He then lands the plane safely at Salt Lake City Airport.
- Airport 77 (1977)
A privately owned luxury Boeing 747, Stevens' Flight 23 (call sign two-three sierra heavy) complete with piano bar, office, and bedroom, is used to
ferry invited guests to an estate owned by wealthy philanthropist Philip Stevens (James Stewart). Valuable artwork of the Stevens' private collection
is also onboard the jetliner, to be eventually displayed in his new museum. Such a collection motivates a group of thieves led by co-pilot Bob
Chambers (Robert Foxworth) to hijack the aircraft in the hopes of landing it on an abandoned airfield on St. George Island.
Once pilot Don Gallagher leaves the cockpit, the hijackers' plans go into motion. A sleeping gas is released into the cabin and the passengers lose
consciousness. Knocking out the flight engineer, Chambers puts the plan in motion, and Stevens' Flight 23 "disappears" into the Bermuda Triangle.
Descending to virtual wave-top altitude, Flight 23 heads into a fog bank, reducing visibility to less than a mile. Minutes later, a large offshore
drilling platform emerges from the haze, Flight 23 heading straight for it at close to 600 knots.
Raising the plane.
Chambers pulls back on the stick in a banking left turn but the Number 4 engine clips the derrick, causing the engine to catch fire. Chambers
immediately hits the fire extinguishing button and flames are momentarily extinguished. However, because the aircraft is at such a low altitude, the
sudden loss of airspeed threatens to stall the airplane. As the engine reignites, Chambers is forced to use another fire-suppression bottle. But by
this time, the aircraft stall alarm goes off and the aircraft is not recoverable. The aircraft impacts the water, ripping off all four engines from
their pylons, and eventually comes to a halt, then beginning to slip beneath the waves.
The ocean bottom is fortunately above the crush-depth of the fuselage. Many of the passengers are injured with some seriously. Two of the would-be
thieves are killed in the initial crash. (Monte Markham) is killed in the hold securing the art for the transfer when a cargo container causes a
breach of the outer skin, for the compartment floods and (Markham) is drowned. The second fatality is (Michael Pataki) who is on the flight deck with
Chambers who is killed when he is slammed into the flight panel on impact.
Since the aircraft was off course, search and rescue efforts are focused in the wrong area. Involved in these efforts is Phillip Stevens and Joe
Patroni (George Kennedy, who is in all Airport movies). The only way to signal rescue efforts to the proper region is to get a signal buoy to the
surface in a small dinghy. Captain Gallagher and diver Martin Wallace (Christopher Lee) enter the main cargo in the attempt, but an unexpected
triggering of the hatch crushes Wallace. Gallagher, out of oxygen provided by the dive gear, makes it to the surface, and activates the beacon after
he climbs into the dinghy. Getting a fix on the new signal, an S-3 Viking overflies the crash site, confirming the location of Flight 23.
The navy then dispatches a sub-recovery ship, the USS Cayuga (LST-1186) with a flotilla of other vessels. The aircraft is ringed with balloons and
once inflated, the aircraft rises from the bottom of the seafloor. Once on the surface, the passengers are evacuated. First Officer Chambers is killed
on the way up when he is pinned under a sofa. With the survivors on their way to waiting ships, Captain Gallagher and the head stewardess (Brenda
Vaccaro) are the last to evacuate from the aircraft as it slips under the waves for the last time.
- Airport 79 (1979)
Kevin Harrison (Robert Wagner), an arms dealer, attempts to destroy an American-owned Concorde supersonic transport on its maiden flight after one of
the passengers Maggie Whelan (Susan Blakely) learns of his weapons sales to communist countries during the Cold War. After the Concorde manages to
escape destruction by remotely-controlled missiles and rogue fighter aircraft, Harrison attempts to de-pressurize the aircraft at altitude, forcing it
to crash in the Alps.
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