I went to see Flight last night. Man, it is gritty and I left before the end, it was just too much of watching someone drowning in alcohol. Defintiely not one to take the kids to.
The idea of him being a great pilot, if you only look at stick and rudder skills, and not judgement, is secondary in the story to the addiction which owns him.
There can't be much worse feeling than when he is rejected by his son since he is still drunk, especially since he seems to have been close to his own Dad and respects him.

I have never once flown after drinking, and won't. I doubt if very many crew would allow an airline pilot to take off when that impaired. I do personally know of an airline pilot some years back that had a drinking problem when off duty, but never heard of it when flying. I have heard, but not seen, of another such pilot, but don't know him personally.

I won't give away the plot as for as the flying part so as not to spoil it for anyone. It is of course, overdone re the Hollywood treatment; however almost the same thing actually happened to former British national acro champ Neil Wiliams, but in a small acro plane, a Zlinn I think, and not an airliner. Neil walked away. His book about flying the old and special planes is a great read.

Has anyone else seen this movie? And don't take anyone who is even a little bit afraid of airplanes!