Okay, in a fit of aviation desperation, I decided to watch these two
films back to back as a way to get my regular fix without running the
Hobbs.

The movies are interesting. They're this strange mix of preposterous
and kinda 1/2 decent from an aviation persepective, especially the
first one. They definitely have all the seeds necessary for the follow-
on funny-on-purpose Airplane films.

The original Airport (I think) does a relatively good job of showing
what it might be like to run a busy airport and mange the needs of the
airlines, passengers, surrounding city, etc.

The second movie, where a Baron hits the cockpit of a 747 and the
first officer is sucked out, well, that was just ridiculous. Even the
special effects looked like they pulled a rag doll out the window.
They clearly weren't even trying with the details. It only got worse
when they used a helicopter to lower in a new pilot through the hole.

I'll say this, though, my odd preoccupation throughout Airport 1975
was for that poor Baron pilot and his wife. I kept thinking, they're
gonna blame that guy for everything: pilot error, loss of control in
IMC, etc -- when really his only piloting mistake was expiring at the
controls. Who's to blame for that, his AME? He actually had shown good
judgment earlier in the film by landing to let a line pass.

Anyway, it all fits in well with the four directives of flying:
aviate, navigate, communicate, blame the dead guy

Thank you for indulging me in this pointless post!

-- dave j