Death flight 401

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Movie
German title Death flight 401
Original title Crash
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1978
length 95 minutes
Rod
Director Barry Shear
script Donald S. Sanford
Steve Brown
production Edward Montagne
music Eddy Lawrence Manson
camera Jacques R. Marquette
James Pergola
cut Sam E. Waxman
occupation

The flight of death 401 (English original title Crash ) is a specially developed for television docudrama that was released in 1978 and is based on the true story of the first crash of a wide-body aircraft, that of Eastern Air Lines flight 401 , a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar , which crashed in the Everglades near Miami on the night of December 29, 1972 . The film is more or less based on the true events of the crash, although the names of the key characters have been changed and certain dramatic events have been invented. The crash sequence was one of the most authentic (and expensive) for television of its time, using multiple stunts, pyrotechnics, and set pieces.

action

The film shows William Shatner as the outsider of the crash investigator of the National Transportation Safety Board, Carl Tobias, who, under pressure from his superiors, is supposed to investigate the jetliner crash in order to free Lockheed from his responsibility. While the film implies that Lockheed was negligent in developing the TriStar flight control systems, it concludes by citing the NTSB's official statement that the crash was due to a pilot's error: the crew failed to properly monitor the flight instruments for the past four minutes. The crew were distracted by a burned out lightbulb in the landing gear position display, which prevented them from realizing that they had accidentally turned off the autopilot and put the TriStar into a slow, imperceptible descent. Eddie Albert portrayed the captain and Lane Smith, in an early role, portrayed the in-hospital flight engineer who advises Tobias of a computer mismatch in the autopilot. The cast also included Adrienne Barbeau and Sharon Gless, whose characters were based on the actual flight attendants who looked after passengers that fateful night. Lorraine Gary, Ed Nelson and Ron Glass played notable passengers.

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