Denzel Washington earned a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his 2012 film Flight, and now his depiction of a troubled pilot has been praised by former airline captain Rob Mark for its realism. Mark, who appeared in a Vanity Fair video reviewing emergency landing scenes from various movies, highlighted Washington‘s performance for its accurate portrayal of critical aviation moments.
Emergency Landing Scene Rooted in Real Aviation Incident
In the film, Washington’s character, Whip Whitaker, performs an extraordinary maneuver by inverting a passenger plane to avoid a catastrophic crash, a move inspired by an actual emergency. Rob Mark explained that such a situation involved flipping the airplane because the pitch control of the nose was jammed downward. He noted,
“In this particular emergency landing, they actually did flip the airplane over because the control on the back of the tail, the elevator that controls the pitch movement up and down on the nose, was jammed. And it was jammed in such a way that the nose wanted to go down. So what they did was they flipped it over and then the nose would come back up.”
Mark described this event as extremely unusual, emphasizing that this type of control failure and recovery has happened only once in aviation history.
Elements of Realism in Washington’s Portrayal
Mark praised several aspects of the film’s emergency scenes for their authenticity, especially how Washington and co-pilot Brian Geraghty follow an emergency checklist. He confirmed that such checklists function like decision trees, designed to guide pilots through escalating procedures:
“It’s like a decision tree – if this happens, then try this and this and this in this order.”
Yet, the circumstances faced in Flight were so dire that Mark observed,
“is almost not even in the book.”
This indicates that the crisis depicted extends beyond standard emergency procedures, capturing the overwhelming pressure on pilots during extreme malfunctions.
Moments in the Film That Heightened a Pilot’s Anxiety
Mark noted that certain scenes in the movie genuinely unsettled him as a pilot. One tense moment occurs when Geraghty’s co-pilot loses control of the control wheel during the emergency, something that Mark said would be particularly distressing for any pilot. Another alarming sequence shows a child thrown from his seat onto the ceiling as the plane flips:
“The one thing that scares the bejeezus out of all of us are people that carry kids in their laps or don’t have them buckled in.”
Mark underlined how numerous accidents and injuries in aviation stem from passengers, especially children, not being properly secured during flight emergencies.
Flight’s Cast and Availability
Flight features Denzel Washington alongside actors Kelly Reilly, Don Cheadle, John Goodman, Bruce Greenwood, and Melissa Leo. The film is currently available to stream for free on Tubi, allowing audiences to witness this highly praised and intense portrayal of a pilot facing a life-threatening crisis.
