Falling from the Sky: Flight 174 (1995)

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

Director:

Jorge Montesi

Writers:

William Hoffer (book), Marilyn Hoffer (book)

Stars:

William Devane, Scott Hylands, Shelley Hack

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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
Philip Maurice Hayes	...	Bob Rand (as Philip Hayes)
David Lewis	...	Frank Farr
Sheelah Megill	...	Mrs. Hebert
John Novak	...	Len Daniels

Storyline

It's the summer of 1982. Canada World Airways' brand-new Boeing 767 leaves Montreal bound for Edmonton. When the plane reaches its cruise altitude, the impossible happens: the plane runs out of fuel, due to a miscalculation by the ground staff in Montreal. Captain Bob Pearson and First Officer Maurice Quintal face a potentially deadly disaster in this true story, as the 767, with about 60 souls on board, slowly falls from the sky.

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Plot Keywords:

boeing 767 | disaster | montreal quebec | edmonton alberta | flight attendant | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Country:

Canada USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 February 1995 (USA)

Also Known As:

Freefall: Flight 174

Filming Locations:

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hill/Fields Entertainment,Pacific Motion Pictures

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In real life the pilots were not told to use the left runway - since only the right runway was in use (by aircraft), it was considered a one-runway airport, nobody thought to advise them, and they simply guessed wrong. But they didn't have to dodge cars, which happened to already have been parked at the edge of the runway. There really was a boy bicycling on the runway, though.

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Goofs

The aircraft cabin is obviously not that of a Boeing 767, with its 2-3-2 seating arrangement in economy class. It looks as though an existing set representing a 747 (3-4-3) was used.

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Quotes

Pearl Dion: What can go wrong when the airline's top mechanic is sitting in the seat right next to us?

User Reviews

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.