Airport 1975 - Second Pilot Transfer

After the first attempt failed, it's now Alan Murdock himself, who is going to get transferred into the 747, but will he succeed or will he face the same fate as the first pilot?

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• airport
• 1975
• 747
• disaster
• charlton
• heston
• karen
• black
• george
• kennedy

[baldbrad]

Get me out of here before I change my mind!

[DC322]

@xocolida I remember that story. The flight crew were holding the pilot's legs for dear life while the co-pilot had to do an emergency landing procedure. The flight crew were thinking of letting the pilot go but didn't. I don't think it was a movie. It was a National Geographic series called Air Emergency.

[jerico641]

If I was one of the passengers, I would've been praying (and I'm an atheist!) "please don't let me die in a plane with purple and red seats!" 

[bslmbslm]

The times this bring back - the simple timeless story of man standing up and saying 'Hell no, i won't go". As I grow older, and remember these movies and these times, I almost cannot watch without crying. I know, it's just an old movie and I know sound maudlin. When I look at my 17 year old son and think what his future holds in this deteriorating country, I cannot help but weep.

[JetMechMA]

@roquefortfiles Ice forming on his nose. I didn't think about that, but when you come to think of it, look at those mountains in the background. Yikes. Brave guys all around.

[JetMechMA]

@roquefortfiles Sounds right to me.

[roquefortfiles]

@xocolida I am betting the 747 had a minimal fuel load and no passengers. Ya ain't doing this fully loaded and fueled. They had that baby light as possible, big time flaps. Then you could get it down to min speed. The chopper is a Jolly Green giant i believe. Its probably all at about 180kts. That's doable for both aircraft.

[roquefortfiles]

@JetMechMA Apparently Universal wanted to do the pilot transfer for real. A mock up cockpit or actually make a hole..or something. And have the stunt guy really climb inside while shooting it in flight. For 1975 a tough thing to shoot. They could do it for real today no problem. They also wanted to have a real guy fall (1st pilot dude).  It would be a great sequence to see done for real. Apparently the stuntman on the line had ice forming on his nose, it was so cold up there.

[JetMechMA]

@roquefortfiles Totally fascinating story. Thanks. They were right not to try it. There is a boundry layer of airflow, I think. I think the stuntman would have been beat up pretty bad. Airplanes push a bow-wave of air in front of them. I'm surprised he made it to within 20 feet. Some of the best air-to-air footage though. ;)

[JetMechMA]

@xocolida Yeah, that's a true story. Unfortunately it's a maintenance failure. The fasteners to hold the windshield in were supposed to be 3/16ths in diameter....the guy installing the window reached into the wrong bin and pulled out the next smaller size fasteners. They tightened down to the specified torqure, but the window blew out after being pressurized. Captain lived to fly again, if I'm not mistaken.