Final Descent: Channel 5

[FL390]

Well, I just watched 'Fianl Descent' on Channle 5. I turned on and thought that it would be some tacky drama about aircraft accidents and how bad they were and how often they occurred or something. However, I decided to stick with it for a while and then realised that I had actually read the book behind the story!

Well, they managed to get the detail right to a certain extent, except that major flaw; the tailplane was supposed to break away from the fuselage because of the heavy landing! The nose wheel shouldn't have collapsed. Mind you, I suppose it is a little too much to expect Channel 5 to get it right, but there we are!

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

I just KNEW it was a documentary, especially when the controller who'd arranged the accident was put back in ("It was my blip, Jack"... all his years of experience were needed to say the magic words "cleared straight in". Wow, what a hero..

Of course, for the pilots it was all a doddle as they practice that sort of thing daily on simulators. Q: How long does it take to dry out the sim after filling it with 10,000 gallons of water?

Thought the dame did very well - recovering from rigor mortis in time to fly that hairy approach! 4,800 ft at 4 miles, eh? Could be a good view from the Tower! And if the crew needed "arctic suits" to survive how come the pax didn't?

Back to the real world...

[FL390]

Well, it was based around a book, so you can't expect the aviation detail to be perfet.

The bit they happened to miss out is that Lucky was supposed to be made President of the airline after this 'lucky' ( :)) escape.

Well, I thought that book was quite interesting, but the film made it look rather poor. But don't expect to see perfect aviation detail! :)

[dingducky]

so whats the book?

and how many of you guys check your aircrafts oil with a pencil? :)

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A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

[FL390]

I can't remember te name of the book, but fear not, I am going to find it, however long it takes! http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/tongue.gif

[This message has been edited by FL390 (edited 24 June 2001).]

[Ennie]

That has to be the !!!!test film I ever saw, I thought Airport 77 was bad when the jumbo lands in the sea after hitting an oil rig at 300 kts or so!!!

[hassel]

It was the level of CRM that got me. How come the training Captain ended up by looking like a SO?

[Professor TailSpin]

Here's a variation on this theme...

What real-life aviation incidents, well-known or hardly known about, would make a good film if portrayed accurately?

Surely, there must be a good 'real' story line out rather than this tripe that Hollywood continuously puts out.

[This message has been edited by Professor TailSpin (edited 25 June 2001).]

[dingducky]

would the real incidents have enough drama to fill a whole movie? http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/confused.gif

i saw a doco the other night and it had the story of the fedex pilot that went crazy and tried to kill the crew so he could crash the dc10 into fedex hq.
was quite interesting!

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A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.