Falling from the Sky: Flight 174 (1995) (TV)

Director:

Jorge Montesi

Writers (WGA):

William Hoffer (book) and
Marilyn Hoffer (book) ...

Release Date:

20 February 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

True story of a brand-new Canadian airliner running out of fuel in-flight and forced to glide to the nearest airfield.

Plot Keywords:

Boeing 767 | Disaster | Run Out Of Gas | Metric System Usage | Prayer

Cast

William Devane	...	Capt. Bob Pearson
Scott Hylands	...	Maurice Quintal
Shelley Hack	...	Lynn Brown
Kevin McNulty	...	Larry Roberts
Gwynyth Walsh	...	Pearl Dion
Gloria Carlin	...	Meg
Suzy Joachim	...	Florence Bisaillon
Nicholas Turturro	...	Al Williams
Winston Rekert	...	Rick Dion
Mariette Hartley	...	Beth Pearson
Philip Granger	...	Phil Lyons
Phil Hayes	...	Bob Rand (as Philip Hayes)
David Lewis	...	Frank Farr
Sheelah Megill	...	Mrs. Hebert
John Novak	...	Len Daniels

Also Known As:

Freefall: Flight 174 (Canada: English title) (UK)
Vol 767 en détresse (Canada: French title)

Runtime:

USA:93 min

Country:

Canada | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Netherlands:12 | UK:PG

Filming Locations:

Montréal, Québec, Canada

Company:

Hill/Fields Entertainment

Trivia:

In real life Pearson did not return to the smoky cockpit alone, requiring Quintal and Dion to rescue him. He and Quintal returned together, did what they could, and left the airplane by the forward slide.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Since the former Gimli air base was still in use by small planes, detailed information about it should have been (and was, in the actual event - see trivia entry) available at the Winnipeg airport.

Quotes:

Rick Dion: You don't want the oxygen masks popping out. It might panic the passengers.
Capt. Bob Pearson: "Might panic"? Heh. I'm surprised they're not back there knitting their own parachutes right now.

Smoking or non-smoking?

This is a surprisingly gripping made-for-TV movie for two reasons: (1) It's based on a true story so you're not guaranteed a happy "Hollywood" ending; you're compelled to sit on the edge of your seat to find out what eventually happens, and (2) Unlike the "Airport" movies that spend most of their time on the soap opera aspects of the passenger's lives, for the bulk of "Falling from the Sky," you're in the cockpit - sweating it out with the pilot (the excellent William Devane) and his crew attempting to keep aloft this jet airliner with no fuel. How did this ordinarily routine flight wind up in such peril? At the outset of the movie, we see the ground crew obviously having trouble with gallon-to-liter conversion. As we find out later, their math was a little off.