Roll the fire trucks... "On a Wing and a Prayer" comes crashing in with a thoroughly mediocre portrayal of a real incident that occurred in 2009 when Doug White, a Louisiana pharmacist, found himself unexpectedly at the helm of a twin turbo prop Beechcraft King Air after the pilot died ten minutes after takeoff.
Doug got on the radio, having had three months of private pilot training, and raised help at ATC who would direct the flight and recovery efforts, including some rather creative "remote work" by a King Air pilot hundreds of miles away in Connecticut via cell phone relay.
Several changes could have been adopted by the film's creators to make a more enjoyable experience: a. Drop the side plot with the children on the ground b. Portray the real Doug White. "He was like the coolest cucumber," controller Lisa Grimm said. (via CNN) c. "Doug learned to fly that plane in 20 minutes," Sorensen said. "I don't think you could have made the plane more complex or the pilot less experienced and have had a successful landing." d. The weather was apocryphal e. I can't put my finger on this, but the religious aspect seemed ham-fisted in it's delivery. They over-played it, and I say this as a believer.
In summary, it could have been a decent aerial incident flick with a happy ending, but it falls well short of the threshold set by the "Capt. Sully" historical drama and the pure fiction "Flight" movie. Only the most dedicated aviation enthusiasts will want to catch this one to fill in the cracks.
Doug got on the radio, having had three months of private pilot training, and raised help at ATC who would direct the flight and recovery efforts, including some rather creative "remote work" by a King Air pilot hundreds of miles away in Connecticut via cell phone relay.
Several changes could have been adopted by the film's creators to make a more enjoyable experience: a. Drop the side plot with the children on the ground b. Portray the real Doug White. "He was like the coolest cucumber," controller Lisa Grimm said. (via CNN) c. "Doug learned to fly that plane in 20 minutes," Sorensen said. "I don't think you could have made the plane more complex or the pilot less experienced and have had a successful landing." d. The weather was apocryphal e. I can't put my finger on this, but the religious aspect seemed ham-fisted in it's delivery. They over-played it, and I say this as a believer.
In summary, it could have been a decent aerial incident flick with a happy ending, but it falls well short of the threshold set by the "Capt. Sully" historical drama and the pure fiction "Flight" movie. Only the most dedicated aviation enthusiasts will want to catch this one to fill in the cracks.
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