Flight - with Denzel Washington

From the trailer this movie looks like a must see for the entertainment value anyway. Due out in November...

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/paramount/flight/

 

Probably crashed because they put winglets on a plane that was never designed for it.

Do a barrel roll!

 

My airline pilot friends are all worked up because of the drunk pilot angle. I think that's a reasonable concern, but I haven't heard any alternate suggestions for plot devices to take the captain from hero to goat after the accident.

As for the story, it looks to be partially based on Alaska 261. In that unfortunate case, the crew did everything right, and then some, and still couldn't pull it out after the airplane (or, more accurately, their maintenance department) let them down.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Airlines_Flight_261

I think it might end up being a pretty good movie.

 

Yeah, that was really sad how they cut corners and didn't replace the jackscrew as recommended. All souls lost. Many of them were somehow connected to Alaska Airlines too.

Movie looks great! Don't really understand why anyone would get worked up about it. It's not about them, duh!

 

They get worked up because they feel that the "drunk airline pilot" is turning into a stereotype. Particularly with the TSA, who love to smell their breath in the hopes of catching one someday...

 

Yeah, this isn't Russia after all... where it's a given, it seems like sometimes...

 

How many planes in the past 30 years were designed for winglets? Boeing never offered (and still doesn't) on the 767, nor the 757, or even the 737 classics (ah hell add the 727 too), but many of those aircraft have all been retrofitted with winglets. Granted the 73/75/767 have the Aviation Blended Wings, but the 727s in their final years saw those Valsan (sp?) winglets added to them.

FYI

 

The Aviation Partners company for the Boeing winglets is Aviation Partners-Boeing. Although the underlying design is Aviation Partners even Boeing realized how much improvement there was so got a partnership for the Boeing only portion.

That the winglets performed so well caused a lot of issues inside Boeing with the not-invented-here crowd.

Jeff

 

My understanding is that they save about 3% of the fuel. If you have any questions about them ask Bob Callahan here on site, he is a airline consultant who deals with them.

Art

 

That's the correct spelling... Valsan... added the winglets (fuel economy) put a hush kit on the center engine and used different engines on 1 and 3. Called it the 'Super 27'.

 

And quite a few are still flying. I see the Amerijet 727 still flying, a few VIP aircraft, etc.

I remember when I first saw these experimental winglets on a Delta 727 at LAX airport. I believe they were on very briefly.

 

Anyway, I've never seen or heard of a DC-9 (or MD-80, MD-90, MD-95 or Boeing 717) with winglets...

That's the plane in the movie it looks like.

Anyone know?



I did find a Chinese derivitive (copy) a COMAC ARJ21 that's not quite ready for prime time that does have winglets. I think there's only one flying at this point... lots of problems.

 

Was this the flight or another one in similar location that was thought the pilot intentionally flew plane in ocean? Pilot said," god/Allah is great" just before impact. Anybody remember this incident?
Ed

 

Egypt Air 990, a 767, off Nantucket. Maybe 10 years ago? Is that what you're thinking?

According to NTSB, a suicide - First Officer, I think?

According to the Egyptian equivalent of the NTSB, a mechanical failure. Denied that it could have been a suicide.


However, almost immediately after the FO? took the yoke, the autopilot was switched off, engines chopped to idle and the plane nosed over in a dive. After that, the engines were shut off entirely. And the FO's voice said 'Allah is Great' or similar over and over.

NTSB proved that the supposed mechanical failure would not have resulted in the actual flight pattern prior to the crash. NTSB also proved that with redundant systems on the 767, that mechanical failure would have been almost impossible.

I remember it fairly well, friend of a friend was involved in the investigation...