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Encyclopedia
Air Crew is a movie produced by Mosfilm
Mosfilm
Mosfilm is a film studio, which is often described as the largest and oldest in Russia and in Europe. Its output includes most of the more widely-acclaimed Soviet films, ranging from works by Tarkovsky and Eisenstein , to Red Westerns, to the Akira Kurosawa co-production and the epic Война и Мир...

 in 1979. It was the first catastrophe movie
Disaster film
A disaster film is a film genre that has an impending or ongoing disaster as its subject...

 shot in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

.

Plot

First part of the film tells about personal lives of the air crew, their problems and relationships. One of the pilots needed to exchange a promising career to the less ambitious one because of the family. He have done but the wife feels he is not happy that makes her a very conflicting and angry partner as well. While both parents love their son, this does not protect the family from divorce. The pilot, however, returns to work with the large passenger planes he was missing. Another pilot is not believing into family at all - his own flat is full of impressive self-made light effects and son et lumière
Son et lumière
Son et lumière may refer to:*Son et lumière , a sound and light show*"Son et Lumiere", song by The Mars Volta on the album De-Loused in the Comatorium...

 that he uses to attract new and new women just for night.

The second, dramatic part lands the Tu-154 Aeroflot
Aeroflot
OJSC AeroflotRussian Airlines , commonly known as Aeroflot , is the flag carrier and largest airline of the Russian Federation, based on passengers carried per year...

 airplane in city of "Bidri" located somewhere in Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

. The city gets destroyed by an earthquake, and the damaged runway is no longer suitable for regular take off (another plane is shown crashing while trying). Still, there is no other way as to fly because the airport will soon be buried by the coming avalanche. The experienced crew captain decides to take advantage that this is a mountain airport and the plane can actually fly down rather than up near immediately after it leaves the runway. In addition, the warning "not ready for flight" appears in the dashboard but the plane manages to take off at the last moment. The captain insists on rapid, but full take off protocol, checking the aircraft following the rules. It might be that his idea is to calm the crew, setting it the normal work.

While taking off in the immediate proximity of the avalanche, it gets two severe damages: an airport projector is jammed in the altitude controls and the tail part is cracked.

The previously described two pilots volunteers to get out of the plane, the first one fixing the tail and the second one the rudder. They return wounded and covered by ice crust but alive. Panic starts to raise in the plane but the captain again manages to calm the situation, asking stewardess to deliver coffee like usual.

During landing in Moscow the crew discovers that the brakes are either not working or not sufficient to stop the plane in a heavy rain conditions. The captain commands to turn on the thrust reversal
Thrust reversal
Thrust reversal, also called reverse thrust, is the temporary diversion of an aircraft engine's exhaust or changing of propeller pitch so that the thrust produced is directed forward, rather than aft. This acts against the forward travel of the aircraft, providing deceleration...

 that rips the tail off but stops the plane. The now detached tail burns but the remainder of the plane stays away from fire and all people on board escape.

During the next medical certification the aged captain does not get further permission to fly due heart problems. He is shown accepting this very heavily and does not show the former coolness and self control the he demonstrated while leading the crash-landing plane. Hence all three figures (the captain and the two pilots) behave as much more mature personalities under extremal circumstances than in they ordinary daily life.

Reception

It was watched by more than 70 millions of viewers, mostly throughout the Eastern Bloc
Eastern bloc
The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...

where it won several awards.
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