Flying in The Face of Pain - The Story of an Alcoholic Pilot

The Real Dangers of Flying, According to a Pilot

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This is the most realistic flying movie I have seen for pilots, experienced veterans or future aviators alike. The airliners used in the movie may be outdated like me but the movie still captures the essence and intensity of airline pilots daily life. The many melodramatic movies that tried to cash-in on the success of the original "Airport " ridiculed the seriousness and the professionalism expected from Airline Rated Pilots.

The story follows the life of a senior airline pilot, member of a rare breed of aviators, the "born-to-fly" type. Captain Hagan Cliff Robertson has been flying all his life, he was born to fly. He flew at every "flight levels": In his time off, he flies his own airplane whereas most professionals go on to enjoy other activities. Captain Hagan has developed a sixth sense for flying as he forms a single entity with the aircraft. He feels the air flowing over the airfoil surfaces and communicates with the jetliner through the controls. Despite his safety record and his professionalism, Captain Hagan has a terrible secret, he is an alcoholic.

Like a few former military fliers, he has learned to deal with the stresses of flying, the pain of loosing fellow pilots, the hardship of long war patrols with alcohol. Now he must deal with his disease and the movie follows his journey through recovery with the help of a controversial physician, Dr.

Back on his "castle", Diane Baker plays the role of Pat Simpson, his supportive, sensitive, and affectionate sweetheart; in a sense, not an unusual scenario for some professional pilots. Under her tender eyes, he taxis out his acrobatic airplane and takes-off in the blue yonder where he finds peace and serenity. The end of the movie is plausible and I will let the viewer make their own critique. Overall, I highly recommend this movie for anyone who wants a realistic non-Hollywood look at the rigors of airline flying along with the book "Tips to Fly by" by Richard Collins.

Enjoy and fly safe! I'm not a pilot so the fact that so many reviewers appreciated the cockpit scenes is an added plus. I liked the movie because of its accurate depiction of an alcoholic and his recovery. The insidiousness of alcoholism is shown well. The relationships of people close to the alcoholic, to those who want to help and how the alcoholic hides or believes that he hides his problem are also very true to life.

Not only is the movie uplifting because it shows that recovery is possible but also there is a strong "follow your heart and your passion" message. Finally, is it just me or is the new movie, Flight, by Zemekis with Denzel a total ripoff of this movie?? Seriously, saw the new movie yesterday which is a good movie but during the movie, I was going, "Wait, I saw this movie already about thirty years ago. Warren Dickman 12 January Gordon MacRae who'll be remembered by most for his fluffy roles in musical comedies, always wanted to try his hand at drama and finally got the opportunity with the role of Captain Joe Barnes, the chief of flight operations for Northern American Airlines, who finds out that one of his pilots is an alcoholic and he doesn't want to believe it.

They are good friends who share a love for old-fashioned seat-of-the-pants flying, both having been crop dusting pilots in the good old days. It's a problem that can't be swept under the rug, however, and Dana Andrews, as the airline president, must deal with it. Cliff Robertson stars as that pilot who gets away with flying under the influence until he get caught and is forced to face up to his problem. It actually turned out better than anyone ever expected, however, considering its plethora of early problems.

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The screenplay was co-written between Cliff Robertson and Robert P. Davis who authored the novel on which it was based. Davis started out as the director and found it wasn't as easy as he'd thought it would be.

Robertson jumped in to bail him out and save what was left of the project. I found it interesting that many of the stars I interviewed over the several weeks of hopping from airport to airport openly discussed their own bout with alcoholism.

Cheesy socks (literally)

Robertson, the main star, also directed. Tony Rogers replaced Frank Converse as the co-pilot about halfway into the filming. Rogers is probably best remembered as Sir Dinadan in "Camelot. One of its most exciting scenes was the aborted take-off, which was also one of the toughest to set up due to the logistics involved. While apologizing to us for all the delays Robertson told us at his press conference, "Now you can sit down and write that the engine erupts in a ball of flames, followed by billowing black smoke, followed by people screaming, followed by people jumping out of an airplane and that may take you a couple of hours to write and maybe another thirty minutes to type up, but when you try to execute all that it involves many, many, people and many, many man-hours.

I'm sure that all who knew and worked with Cliff Robertson will remember him as a fine actor and, perhaps, even a finer gentleman. All about an alcoholic airline pilot. I have no sympathy for this jerk of a pilot who cowers in the airplane toilet to retrieve a flask which he has hidden under the wash basin beforehand so he can have a snort while in flight. When he has completed his groggy ritual, he replaces the flask and strides back to the cockpit to strap himself in and fly his passengers to safety as any excellent pilot would with bravery and a clear head-- wait a minute!

Cliff Robertson is his usual stoic self, Frank Converse takes up space in the chair he sits in, Diane Baker is wasted as the flier's mistress, Gordon MacRae is a fat executive, Dana Andrews is the company bigwig, and Eddie Binns does what he can with the boring dialogue. It's somewhat humorous to hear Captain Drunkard make the following P.

I am of the opinion that the pilot should just fly the plane and get us to where we're going. Of course, the year of this film's release was a different time, in some ways a better one, but in contemporary society, I surely would want to be asked to participate in a vote as to whether or not I wish to be flown LOWER than the recommended safe altitude. The stupid co-pilot suspects he says he knows for sure that the captain is drinking while flying, but he says nothing to the authorities.

Thanks a lot, 'co-pilot'. Not so great a movie, but better than that similar Denzel Washington flick called 'Flight' Aviation and alcoholism; rich movie topics done well. Haven't seen in 20 years. But I remember very well. That's probably due to Cliff Robertson's knowledge of all things with wings. He also ended up directing the second half of the movie. Who with flying in their blood could resist the shots of the old DC-8 in flight? The pilot's resistance to recovery is also on the bullseye.

As well as his high level of functioning while under the influence. Maxwell 31 May Robertson who also directed is a near perfect pilot with North American Airlines or whatever that fictional name is. Never even a question about a fender bender after some thirty years with Global Circumcisional Airlines, nor a whisper of one.

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He seems to have second sight about problems like the weather ahead. But his co-pilot and his flight attendant are uneasy, as is his girl friend, Diane Baker. Robertson has this little problem. He doesn't have a closet full of ladies' shoes or anything but he tipples all the time. He even has a flask "my spooker" hidden away on the airplane, thoughtfully taped to the underside of the wash basin in the head. He's as cool a San Francisco in August.

Pictured: Pilot accused of flying drunk on Florida-to-New York flight | Daily Mail Online

Nothing rattles him and he radiates self confidence. But he needs a few belts during a flight to keep him at the right altitude. At home, off duty, his self-imposed limits relax and though he's still cool his mind drifts and his words begin to run into each other. This is a serious business. I've known pilots who wouldn't drink a glass of beer at lunch because they were going to fly later that afternoon. If National Transgender Airlines ever found out about Robertson's little habit, it would be good-bye wings and four stripes.

The flight attendant suspects something is up because of Robertson's many visits to the loo and Robertson's never having mentioned a problem with Crohn's disease. She's kept a notebook timing his visits to the john. Well, she merely suspects that Robertson is drinking but his first officer, Converse, knows about it.

He's been flying with Robertson a long time and the flight deck is a small community -- in which members don't squeal on one another to the authorities. After one tense flight, when Robertson's flask leaks most of his booze, he decides to gamble on a long flight even though their fuel supply is low. He needs to set down in a city where he can get a drink pronto. According to the American Psychiatric Association, what Robertson suffers from is alcohol dependency.

He doesn't need to get sloppy drunk but he needs alcohol on a regular basis to continue his normal functions. It's not acute alcoholism. That's the diagnosis for people who go on binges and stay drunk until they can't take it any longer.

Excuse me sir, but those aren't your glasses

An example is director John Ford, who would stay bombed for several weeks at a time but allowed no drinking by anyone while shooting a movie. Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, one of Putin's closest allies, was put in charge of the search an investigation into the tragedy.

Tourists in the Black Sea resort of Sochi head the loud noise of engines, but no explosions were reported. Viktor Ozerov, head of the Russian senate's defence committee said: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Christmas Day morning it was too early to say what had caused the crash.

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