![]() ![]() We sometimes descend at rates in excess of 4,000 feet per minute if necessary for ATC, or to make a crossing restriction. Up at altitude we can, and do, descend at rates that would be unacceptable when in the approach phase of flight. You can hear the audio warning “SINK RATE, SINK RATE,” which is a warning that would only occur if the plane is down low and descending too fast. Flying that close to the “barber pole” in that kind of turbulence not only makes for a very uncomfortable ride, but also exposes the plane to potential structural damage.Īfter successfully penetrating the weather and finding smooth air, Whip’s plane is cruising at 30,000 feet when the plane begins an uncontrollable dive. (Much like riding on a bumpy road in your car, the effect of the bumps is amplified if you go faster.) At this low altitude, we would use a speed of 290 knots to get a better ride. After encountering rough air, one of the first things we do is reduce speed to soften the bumps. In the real world, the pilots would have been thinking much farther ahead, trying to avoid the weather displayed on their weather radar. For some reason he decides to stay low and push the speed up until the plane is hitting the max allowable speed, indicated on the airspeed indicator by a “barber pole.” The First Officer (FO) brings the excessive speed to his attention, but Whip isn’t deterred, and applies even more power. Whip decides to penetrate this weather in a very unconventional way. ![]() But then they encounter some rough weather, and things start to go Hollywood. The Air Traffic Control (ATC) chatter is pretty realistic, if not perfect, and the crew coordination on takeoff and climb is also not bad. The cockpit is authentic, and it’s definitely an MD-80 variant. Very few captains perform any walkaround, and virtually no captain will do one in the rain. ![]() That’s when the movie loses all credibility for me. It’s a rainy morning in Orlando, and Captain Whitaker is completing his pre-flight walkaround inspection of the plane. It looks suspiciously like an MD-88, but I suppose when you’re making a movie about an aviation disaster you don’t want the liability of naming an actual type of plane. The plane is a JR-88, a type that exists only in the mind of a screenwriter. So I headed off for a Saturday matinee, fully expecting that this movie, like almost every aviation movie I’ve ever seen, would take some liberties with the technical aspects of the flying scenes. A plane in distress is put down in an open field by a great pilot who uses a very unusual maneuver to save the day: He rolls the plane inverted to arrest an uncontrolled dive, saving 96 of the 102 “souls on board.” Denzel Washington plays the Captain, “Whip” Whitaker, in Flight and that’s enough reason for me to see the movie (big Denzel fan). ![]()
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