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Movie overview

ConWest flight 1501 crashes while making an unscheduled landing after a bomb threat. The Captain, severely injured, is immediately blamed, but his wife makes every effort to clear him from any responsability.

Originally published in July 1999.

Re-edited in December 1999.

crash: the mystery of flight 1501
by Sergio Ortega

losing her husband was a challenge.
now, Diane Halstead will have to face the press.

ir disasters are always a horrible pain for the friends and relatives of the victimes. But, maybe it is a little more for the spouse of the Captain, especially when he is unfairly judged responsible for the crash of his aircraft and the death of his passengers. This is the subject of this made-for-TV movie, also known as Aftermath.

Plot summary
At the beginning of the movie, we see a couple arriving to the airport in a beautiful blue convertible car. But it isn't as beautiful as it looks like. As soon as they are at the airport, the couple, Diane (Cheryl Ladd) and Greg (Doug Sheehan) argue. They argue about some "project" they are resigned to give up... or try again. They obviously seem to make a big deal of the project. But what is it? You will find out in the movie. Shortly after, they reconciliate and Greg, who is a Captain for ConWest Airlines, has to board already. We later see the passengers on boarding time... as well as the different pieces of luggage loaded in the aircraft. We see many suitcases, of course, but also... a big yellow protected box, containing electronic equipment, a barrel labeled "Laundry Chemicals", and some pets.

Diane and Greg Halstead (Cheryl Ladd and Doug Sheehan)

Diane and Greg Halstead (Cheryl Ladd and Doug Sheehan)

On the ConWest DC-9, there is a lot of movement as the passengers take their seats. Flight 1501 leaves Baltimore/Washington for a stopover at Kansas City, then continuing on to San Francisco. In the meantime, Captain Halstead and his co-pilot proceed to their first checklist. Oops. Small problem. The co-pilot (Gregory Feith, see "things to notice") notices that the hydraulic pressure on one of the pumps is oddly low. They could take-off anyway but the Captain prefers to have that fixed ASAP. Which means: one hour of delay, at least.

The passengers' reaction is immediate: total deception. Especially for that couple, Mr. and Mrs. Switzer (Ray Blunk and Liz Jury), who have a connecting flight at San Francisco. An important political figure (John Rayburn) is on flight 1501, and he says he has to be ASAP at Kansas City. His assistant says another flight leaves in 30 minutes, so they deplane...

Greg takes advantage of that small unexpected pause to call home. But Diane hasn't gotten home yet. He leaves a little message asking her to be patient with him, and he adds that they WILL succeed. Later, Diane gets to a friend's home for some shopping. An hour has elapsed already, and the DC-9 rolls to the runway for a smooth take-off. Then, on to Kansas City, where the Senator is already there. A furious crowd, waving cartons and chanting slogans reserve him a rather cold welcome. They are protesting against abortion. Once he is inside the building, the Senator learns something totally incredible: he was booked on another flight not only because of the delay, but also... the possibility of a bomb placed onboard flight 1501. And no one thought of alerting the plane. Ah, government...

Capt. Halstead announcing the delay

Back to flight 1501, flying over Ohio, at night. The Captain receives the message on the SELCAL (system used to communicate privately with a commercial aircraft), but there is no confirmation of what could possibly be a rumor. He prepares the aircraft for an immediate landing, and tells the passengers that due to bad weather, instead of going back to Baltimore, the plane is landing in Dayton. The passengers are of course very dissapointed. Their flight was delayed one hour, and now, they have to spend the night in Dayton. And it seems the weather is worse than expected. There are thunderstorm fronts all over Dayton.

During the descent, Tower advises flight 1501 it is flying right into an important storm cell. But, according to the color weather monitor of the aircraft, it is AVOIDING the cell. Which instrument should he trust? Captain decides he has to trust his instruments. It isn't his fault, but it is a big mistake. Tower was right. The aircraft is shaken and pivots left and right swiftly. Throughout the approach, the worried controller has his hand on the red button, and suddenly pushes it. The emergency teams are on the runway. One of the engines of the DC-9 suddenly stops and the aircraft pivots to the left at an angle close to 90°... The last words of the Captain are: "We have no more...". The DC-9 crashes into a fireball close enough to the runway.

The result: inferno. The flame apocalypse. What was only a few minutes ago a commercial aircraft carrying dozens of passengers is nothing more now than many many debris on fire.

Diane goes back home with her friend and... (oh no!) she notices immediately a car bearing the logo of ConWest in front of her house, and crew members waiting for her by the door. This can only mean one thing: something happened to Greg. A pilot tells her that Greg's plane was rerouted to Dayton and that the plane crashed there.

CNW1501 flying right into the storm cell

CNW1501 flying right into the storm cell

It is a miracle: two survivors on more than 100. A passenger, now a widow, and... Greg Halstead. The rest of the movie shows us the investigation following the accident, and the speculations which are the "trademark" of each accident. The movie realistically shows how the media jumps to the conclusions when an air disaster happens. They accuse the pilot of not following the instructions provided by the ATC, and even of taking a drug not approved by the FAA! What is the medicine? "Procaline" (???), used to cure impotence. According to Diane, this drug is as harmless as Aspirin and has no side effects, except dry skin.

If this movie would have been made in the late 1990s, the pilot would have probably taken Viagra and they would have been right to accuse him (maybe), since the FAA prohibits pilots to fly 6 hours after taking the medicine. We all know Viagra for its side effect of modifying vision and making it become... blue! Also, if the movie would have been made today, we could have easily said that it was partially inspired by the crash of ValuJet flight 592, the DC-9 that crashed in the Florida Everglades, after a fire caused by mislabeled oxygen canisters... or the most recent American Airlines crash at Little Rock, where the plane skidded off the runway during a thunderstorm.

Appreciation
I think the movie is good. I like the denunciation of the media and their misinterpretation of the air disasters. Cheryl Ladd plays a good widow (yes, Greg dies a few days after the crash), and the other secondary actors are good too. Too bad however that this movie isn't visually good, most likely the result of a small budget. It looks like a movie made in the 1980s or even before, with the special effects and the footage used.

I give Crash: The Mystery of Flight 1501 6.5 out of 10. It is a good critic of the media, but unfortunately visually poor, because of a bad budget, and a bad editing.

Things to notice
The movie is unfortunately very inaccurate in continuity, as a result of a bad editing. This causes some mistakes regarding aviation facts, but besides that, the movie is technically accurate.

The footage used for the scene where flight 1501 is on take-off shows a Boeing 727.
The altimeter shows an altitude of at least 4,000 feet and the aircraft crosses the clouds (again) when the pilots says the last words, a few seconds before impact. This is impossible, unless the aircraft descends at an incredible vertical speed. Also, the plane was supposedly on final approach and should have been at a lower altitude. Anyway, this is all unlike the quite realistic computer simulation of the crash, later shown.
The weather is awful in the area the DC-9 was flying in, but once the plane crashes, there is no more thunderstorm. Also, the plane is heavily shaken and nearly struck by lightning, yet it is still out of the major storm cell, according to both radar screens. It enters the cell only when it is crashing.
Many differences between the night scenes before the crash, where the sky passes from black to dark blue.
The wreckage of Flight 1501 is easily recognizable as a prop plane, possibly a Convair 240, and not a jetplane.
The aircraft shown from outside, during the thunderstorm, is footage of a TWA DC-9 (in the old twin-globe color scheme), with added lightning (not very credible).
The footage used at the beginning of the movie (crossing the clouds), and before the crash (idem, but darker) is the same as Flight 90: Disaster on the Potomac.
This goof only concerns the French version, which I have seen. The post-synchronisation is okay, but the translation is terrible and makes the movie sound technically inaccurate. The altimeter setting becomes "290.9" (you noticed the decimal was misplaced) and headings bear four numbers! (e.g. heading 1020) Also, "Flaps 15, landing gear down" is simply translated as "We're starting the descent".
One viewer (Ken M.) reports that Greg Feith, playing the role of flight 1501's First Officer, is a now former NTSB senior investigator. Most surprisingly, this movie (made in 1990) foreshadows his role as a key investigator for the ValuJet flight 592 crash (in 1996), which occured in very similar circumstances as the crash in the movie.

The plane
It is a DC-9 flown by ConWest Airlines, flight 1501, on the Baltimore - Kansas City - San Francisco route (BWI-MCI-SFO).

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IMDb - Crash: The Mystery of Flight 1501
Cast, plot summary, from the world's widest movie database.

Specifications
U.S.A. 1990, Produced by Citadel Entertainment. Directed by Philip Saville. Starring Cheryl Ladd, Jeffrey DeMunn, Frederick Coffin, Peter Jurasik, Jim Metzler, Jeff McCarthy, Moira Walley, Doug Sheehan. Rated PG.