Whiskey Romeo Zulu

[Jamair]

Did anyone happen to catch this movie on SBS Two last night? It is a dramatisation of the circumstances leading to the crash of a LAPA 737 in Argentinia in 1999.

From Wiki: The docudrama tells the story of director Enrique Piñeyro, who plays himself as T, a principled pilot at LAPA, an Argentine airline, upset over his company's disregard of basic safety regulations in order to save money.

When T complains, he is labeled a troublemaker by the airline company. Soon he's chastised by his fellow pilots. When things get worse he walks out of the cockpit after multiple navigational instruments are inoperative and refuses to fly. The company simply replaces him and gets another pilot to fly. Increasingly frustrated and worried about a crash, T finally writes an angry letter to his superiors, warning that a crash is inevitable if action is not taken.

I had never heard of it but found it fascinating. The same circumstances can be applied to any number of GA crashes over the years. I recommend it to anyone interested.:ok:

[Jabawocky]

I watched the trailer.....I do suffer from a language barrier though.

Interesting to read this little comment by a movie crtic
Critic Scott Foundas, writing for FIPRESCI (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIPRESCI) believes the film achieved Enrique Piñeyro's exact goal. He wrote, "Whisky Romeo Zulu ...emerges as a stirring, if obvious piece of agitprop that achieves exactly what it sets out to achieve. That is to say it works the audience up into an angry lather, and you emerge from the theater never wanting to set foot on another airplane again — at least, not if you feel you may have paid less than fair market value for the ticket."

[PLovett]

I have watched it before, SBS has run it a couple of times now. It applies equally to several airlines I can think of as well as GA. It is an interesting example of the dangers of peer group pressure at work.