MOVIES

MOVIES Read on for the sequel to our mini-series on how Hollywood portrays aviation As the pandemic rolls on, Im stuck at home taking advantage of streaming services such as Amazon Prime and Netflix. Here are my latest reviews, unpacking what the film industry gets right and wrong when it depicts aviation in the movies By First Officer Tori Bottomley Snakes on a Plane (2006) Available to rent on Amazon Genre: Action thriller Rating: Who wants to see Samuel L Jackson fight a bunch of snakes? Im pretty sure thats how the board meeting went when this crazy idea was pitched. In this amusingly crude action movie, an FBI agent commandeers a 747 flight from Honolulu to Los Angeles to transport a key witness to LA for trial. The accused criminal uses the only option available to eliminate the witness filling the plane full of aggressive venomous snakes. This is the Sharknado of aeroplane movies and I would not be surprised if it was written by a 15-year-old. With innuendoes dropped into every other sentence, and the snakes biting literally every part of the body, this should really be put into the comedy section. After an avionics failure, a Mayday is issued and the first officer manages to contact Los Angeles tower, despite being two hours away. Meanwhile, the captain enters the avionics bay for some troubleshooting, where he meets his slithery end, leaving the first officer alone in the cockpit. He, too, is bitten by a snake, but defeats it helped by the cabin manager and is then once again left alone in the cockpit, only for this same situation to repeat itself twice over. When the first officer inevitably dies from the umpteenth snake attack, all sanity seems to go out of the window literally. Jackson decides the most efficient way to get rid of the snakes from the cockpit is to shoot holes in the fuselage, sucking them out. Its not clear how high they are at this point but, of course, no-one dons an oxygen mask and the unsightly reality of a rapid decompression is omitted. Furthermore, the wound in the side of the plane magically grows and shrinks, until an excitable FlightSim enthusiast is able to land the plane. Conveniently he doesnt remember where the brakes are. Despite there having been at least two real-life instances of a rogue snake found on a plane, this was never going to be a realistic movie, so that yardstick has been well and truly thrown out of the window. But it was thought-provoking in a way how many ways are there to kill a snake? How many ways are there to kill a snake? Into the Night Genre: Available on Netflix Rating: This Belgian sci-fi thriller began with a stewardess routinely saying youre on the right aeroplane to a passenger on the red-eye Brussels to Moscow flight. And after watching one flight stretched into seven episodes, I am undecided as to whether I was watching the right TV show. In a similar apocalyptic fashion to Left Behind, the reversal of the suns polarity means everyone on Earth is set to die the moment the sun rises. In Brussels, the news of impending doom reaches an Italian NATO operative who storms the plane and forces the first officer to take-off at gunpoint, leaving the captain and a stewardess gawping through the terminal window partly, I think, because the A320 was miraculously able to push back without a tug. I am still looking for the button to make it do that! As the plane continues to fly west to outrun the sun, the multinational cast deals with heaps of conflicts and attempts to override the now-captains decision-making, although with his poor communication skills and unlikeable personality it is hardly fair to judge them. After the flight diverts to RAF Kinloss (via Iceland), the plane runs out of fuel just before the threshold and the captain orders the helicopter-turnedairbus pilot to shut off the engines before touchdown. Of course, this means no reverse thrust or normal braking, so the parking brake is used and the plane narrowly avoids colliding with a building at the end of the runway. Maybe not the best call from our newly appointed captain In the next episode, a murderous bunch of soldiers join and leave the team ending in a bullet-laden showdown. I lost interest around this point, as one soldier channelled The Terminator and managed to match the speed of the aircraft seconds before v1, climbing onto the gear and stowing away. I somehow managed to watch three episodes back to back. Somewhere between Sully and Snakes on a Plane, Into the Night resides in Economy Plus with a miniature bottle of prosecco. Although it wasnt comfortable, it was good enough for me to book another flight. The A320 was miraculously able to push back without a tug Sully (2016) Available on Netflix Rating: Two shots of Grey Goose and a splash of water, those are the ingredients of a Sully according to New Yorks bartenders. After the Miracle on the Hudson in 2009, Sullys name was on the lips of the world and three years later Clint Eastwoods Sully hit the screens. Although many cinema reviewers thought this was quite a dull watch, as pilots, I think we are able to appreciate this film for what it is. As with all Hollywood films, parts were overdramatised to build tension and there was some considerable controversy created by Eastwoods depiction of the National Transportation Safety Board as the bad guys, which they consider to be detrimental to aviation safety. But overall, this movie is a pretty realistic portrayal of the days events. With a stellar performance from Tom Hanks and dialogue built almost entirely from the CVR transcript, it was pretty tricky to find inaccuracies. But I did find some... Clips of the planes exterior shows the planes CFM engines, which were fitted on the aircraft in question, but the ECAM displays EPR instead of the customary N1. An easy mistake for a ground-dweller, but for those of us looking at those green dials every day, it is a noticeable faux pas. Furthermore, after wading in waist-high water to check the cabin, Sully returns with completely dry trousers. If the airbus was actually that warm, maybe I wouldnt need to carry fluffy socks in my flight bag. The creators threw in a lot of personal drama to create the typical tortured hero that movie-goers love, but the PTSD and insomnia were true to life according to Sullenberger. Im sure every pilot reading this has had a nightmare of some sort after day one of the simulator, where you either relive or imagine some twisted threat, and as a story that emphasises the importance and impact of human factors in aviation; perhaps this is one of the most realistic parts of Sully. A first-class film. If you havent seen Sully, watch it. A first-class film. If you havent seen Sully, watch it With dialogue built almost entirely from the CVR transcript, it was pretty tricky to find inaccuracies