Fire and Rain (film)

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Fire and Rain
Fire and Rain poster.jpg
Theatrical poster
Genre
  • Drama
  • Disaster
Based onFire and Rain: A Tragedy in American Aviation
by Jerome Greer Chandler
Written by Gary Sherman
Directed by Jerry J. Jameson
Starring Charles Haid
Angie Dickinson
Tom Bosley
Music by Artie Kane
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
ProducerRichard Luke
Production locations Dallas
Irving, Texas
CinematographyFrederick Moore
EditorTom Stevens
Running time89 minutes
Production companyWilshire Court Productions
Original release
Network USA Network
ReleaseSeptember 13, 1989 (1989-09-13)

Fire and Rain is a 1989 American made-for-television disaster film directed by Jerry J. Jameson, starring Charles Haid, Angie Dickinson, and Tom Bosley, as well as an all-star ensemble television cast in supporting roles. It is based on the Delta Air Lines Flight 191 plane crash at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on August 2, 1985, as depicted in Fire and Rain: A Tragedy in American Aviation (1986) by Jerome Greer Chandler.

Contents

Jerry J. Jameson had become known for his work on "movie-of-the-week phenomenon and group-jeopardy suspense and terror", although he also became a specialist in "one-off" television and film features. [1] The film was an example of the aviation "disaster" film, as well, it also very much fits the additional genre of the complex, heavily character-driven ensemble cast film, exploring the personal dramas and interactions that develop among the passengers and crew as they deal with a deadly onboard emergency. It, however, veers from the traditional format as it is based on a real-life accident. It originally debuted on the USA television network.

Plot

On August 2, 1985, Delta Airlines Flight 191 a Lockheed L-1011 flown by Captain Connors (John Beck) and First Officer Rudy Price (Dick Christie) is preparing to land at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on its single stop, flying from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Los Angeles via Dallas Fort Worth. Air Traffic controllers advise that a thunderstorm is present. The flight crew surmise that the plane might get washed, but have no other worries about the storm being so near. Passengers such as Lucille Jacobson (Patti LaBelle), who is terrified of flying, however, are fearful about landing in a storm. Others, like Marilyn (Gloria Hocking) and Mike Steinberg (Joe Berryman) are thinking more about their California vacation. As the rain pelts down on the plane, there is no warning of an impending crisis.

Without warning, the L-1011 is slammed into the ground, a mile short of the runway, slicing into a small car on the road, killing William Mayberry (Rudy Young), before skidding onto the field and exploding. Within a minute, all airport fire and emergency units are alerted. Five minutes into the rescue, first responders Jack Ayers (Dean Jones), Beth Mancini (Angie Dickinson), led by Bob Sonnamaker (Charles Haid) are rapidly deployed to the scene. The severed rear section of the plane is where most survivors are found although flight attendants at the front also survive.

Cast

Production

The film's utilized images of Delta's Lockheed L-1011 fleet, which had the same livery throughout the 28-year span of service with the airline. Screen shot Fire-and Rain.png
The film's utilized images of Delta's Lockheed L-1011 fleet, which had the same livery throughout the 28-year span of service with the airline.

Filmed at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, the film was a docudrama that recreated the events of August 2, 1985, when Delta Airlines Flight 191, a Lockheed L-1011-385-1 TriStar airliner flying from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Los Angeles was coming into Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on its single stop on the route. It unexpectedly flew into an isolated thunderstorm hovering very close to the field. The storm created a dangerous "wind shear", or "microburst", dashing it into the ground just slightly more than a mile north of the outer perimeter. [2]

The film incorporated the true-life stories of many of the 152 passengers and 11 crew members on board. In the end, 137 died and 28 survived; one other person on the ground was also killed. The prologue to the film indicated that the crash was one of the worst aircraft mishaps in U.S. history. Up to that time, the circumstances behind it regarding microbursts and wind shears of the kind that brought it down, as well as the kind of thunderstorm that caused them, were unknown. Subsequently, the investigation and review of procedures led to modifications in all big-body civil aircraft whereby their radar could detect the anomalies of major storm systems. At the time, it could only detect the actual presence of the storm itself. A groundbreaking legal action also resulted. [3]

Many firefighters and emergency personnel were portrayed by real first responders from the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Some of them had been on duty during the actual rescue following the crash, and were, in effect, portraying themselves.

The crash of Delta Flight 191 was not only the subject of the film. [4] It was also featured on an episode of When Weather Changed History on The Weather Channel, [5] and the episode "Deadly Weather" of Survival in the Sky . [6] The television series Mayday (aka Air Crash Investigation or Air Emergency) on Discovery Channel Canada and National Geographic dramatized it in the episode "Invisible Killer" (aka "Slammed to the Ground"). [7] It was also shown and discussed in a later Mayday episode about the American Airlines Flight 1420 accident, which also occurred during landing in bad weather conditions.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lockheed L-1011 TriStar</span> American wide-body trijet airliner

The Lockheed L-1011 TriStar is an American medium-to-long-range, wide-body trijet airliner built by the Lockheed Corporation. It was the third wide-body airliner to enter commercial operations, after the Boeing 747 and the McDonnell Douglas DC-10. The airliner has a seating capacity of up to 400 passengers and a range of over 4,000 nautical miles. Its trijet configuration has three Rolls-Royce RB211 engines with one engine under each wing, along with a third engine center-mounted with an S-duct air inlet embedded in the tail and the upper fuselage. The aircraft has an autoland capability, an automated descent control system, and available lower deck galley and lounge facilities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dallas Fort Worth International Airport</span> Airport in Irving serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex area in Texas, United States

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This is a list of aviation-related events from 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delta Air Lines Flight 191</span> 1985 aviation accident

Delta Air Lines Flight 191 was a regularly scheduled Delta Air Lines domestic service from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Los Angeles, California, with an intermediate stop at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW). On August 2, 1985, the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar operating Flight 191 encountered a microburst while on approach to land at DFW. The aircraft impacted ground just over one mile (1.6 km) short of the runway, struck a car near the airport, collided with two water tanks and disintegrated. Out of the 163 occupants on board, 137 people died and 25 others were injured in the crash.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delta Air Lines Flight 1141</span> 1988 aviation accident at DFW airport

Delta Air Lines Flight 1141 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight between Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, Texas, and Salt Lake City International Airport, Utah. On August 31, 1988, the flight, using a Boeing 727-200 series aircraft, crashed during takeoff at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, resulting in 14 deaths and 76 injuries among the 108 on board.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Airlines Flight 1420</span> June 1999 runway overrun and crash in Arkansas, US

American Airlines Flight 1420 was a flight from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) to Little Rock National Airport in the United States. On June 1, 1999, the McDonnell Douglas MD-82 operating as Flight 1420 overran the runway upon landing in Little Rock and crashed. Nine of the 145 people aboard were immediately killed—the captain and eight passengers. Two more passengers died in the hospital in the following weeks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Downburst</span> Strong surface-level winds that radiate from a single point

In meteorology, a downburst is a strong downward and outward gushing wind system that emanates from a point source above and blows radially, that is, in straight lines in all directions from the area of impact at surface level. It originates under deep, moist convective conditions like cumulus congestus or cumulonimbus. Capable of producing damaging winds, it may sometimes be confused with a tornado, where high-velocity winds circle a central area, and air moves inward and upward. These usually last for seconds to minutes. Downbursts are particularly strong downdrafts within thunderstorms . Downbursts are most often created by an area of significantly precipitation-cooled air that, after reaching the surface (subsiding), spreads out in all directions producing strong winds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pan Am Flight 759</span> 1982 passenger plane crash in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States

Pan Am Flight 759 was a regularly scheduled domestic passenger flight from Miami to San Diego, with en route stops in New Orleans and Las Vegas. On July 9, 1982, the Boeing 727 flying this route crashed in the New Orleans suburb of Kenner after being forced down by a microburst shortly after takeoff. All 145 on board, as well as eight people on the ground, were killed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastern Air Lines Flight 66</span> 1975 aviation accident

Eastern Air Lines Flight 66 was a regularly scheduled flight from New Orleans to New York City that crashed on June 24, 1975, while on approach to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, killing 113 of the 124 people on board. The crash was determined to be caused by wind shear caused by a microburst, but the failure of the airport and the flight crew to recognize the severe weather hazard was also a contributing factor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">USAir Flight 1016</span> 1994 aviation accident

USAir Flight 1016 was a regularly scheduled flight in the southeastern United States, between Columbia, South Carolina, and Charlotte, North Carolina. On July 2, 1994, the flight encountered heavy thunderstorms and microburst-induced windshear while attempting to land, and crashed into heavy trees and a private residence near the airport. The crash and ensuing fire caused 37 fatalities and seriously injured 20 others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vertical draft</span> Small-scale current of rising air

In meteorology, an updraft is a small-scale current of rising air, often within a cloud.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Air France Flight 358</span> Aviation accident in 2005

Air France Flight 358 was a regularly scheduled international flight from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, France, to Toronto Pearson International Airport in Ontario, Canada. On the afternoon of 2 August 2005, while landing at Pearson airport, the Airbus A340-313E operating the route overran the runway and crashed into nearby Etobicoke Creek, approximately 300 m (980 ft) beyond the end of the runway. All 309 passengers and crew on board the Airbus survived, but twelve people sustained serious injuries. The accident highlighted the vital role played by highly trained flight attendants during an emergency.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern Airways Flight 242</span> 1977 aviation accident

Southern Airways Flight 242 was a flight from Muscle Shoals, Alabama, to Atlanta, Georgia, with a stop in Huntsville, Alabama. On April 4, 1977, it executed a forced landing on Georgia State Route 381 in New Hope, Paulding County, Georgia, United States, after suffering hail damage and losing thrust on both engines in a severe thunderstorm.

The airborne wind shear detection and alert system, fitted in an aircraft, detects and alerts the pilot both visually and aurally of a wind shear condition. A reactive wind shear detection system is activated by the aircraft flying into an area with a wind shear condition of sufficient force to pose a hazard to the aircraft. A predictive wind shear detection system is activated by the presence of a wind shear condition ahead of the aircraft. In 1988, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) mandated that all turbine-powered commercial aircraft must have on-board wind shear detection systems by 1993. Airlines successfully lobbied to have commercial turbo-prop aircraft exempted from this requirement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Garuda Indonesia Flight 421</span> 2002 airliner ditching

Garuda Indonesia Flight 421 was a scheduled domestic flight operated by Indonesian flag carrier Garuda Indonesia travelling about 625 km from Ampenan to Yogyakarta. On January 16, 2002, the flight encountered severe thunderstorm activity during approach to its destination, suffered flameout in both engines, and ditched in a shallow river, resulting in one fatality and several injuries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ozark Air Lines Flight 809</span> 1973 plane crash in Missouri, United States

Ozark Air Lines Flight 809 was a regularly scheduled flight from Nashville, Tennessee, to St. Louis, Missouri, with four intermediate stops. On July 23, 1973, while landing at St. Louis International Airport, it crashed, killing 38 of the 44 persons aboard. A severe downdraft, associated with a nearby thunderstorm, was cited as the cause.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delta Air Lines Flight 318</span> 1953 aviation accident

The crash of Delta Air Lines Flight 318 was an accident involving a Douglas DC-3 of the American airline Delta Air Lines 13 miles (21 km) east of Marshall, Texas, United States on May 17, 1953, killing all but one of the 20 people on board.

References

Notes

  1. After the sole listing of Charles Haid, the cast list was shown in alphabetical order.

Citations

  1. Roberts 2009, p. 279.
  2. "Delta Air Lines Flight 191 Crash." [usurped] National Transportation Safety Board . Retrieved: December 12, 2014.
  3. Magnuson, Ed. "Like a Wall of Napalm." Time, April 18, 2005.
  4. Fire and Rain at IMDb
  5. When Weather Changed History episode Delta 191 Crash at IMDb
  6. Survival in the Sky episode Deadly Weather at IMDb
  7. "Slammed To The Ground." Mayday .

Bibliography