NET Journal; Fasten Your Seat Belts: A Report on the Crisis in the Air

Item Information

Title:
NET Journal; Fasten Your Seat Belts: A Report on the Crisis in the Air
Description:
This program puts into perspective the problem of increasing air traffic which reached staggering proportion during the hectic tourist season last summer. It examines the difficult role of air controllers faced with jammed airports and skies. And it looks into the reasons air crashes have occurred -- and may continue to occur. From out of the debris of ruined planes and burnt corpses, it reconstructs the events leading to accidents, as seen by survivors, observers, and representatives of both pilots and the airlines. One woman recalls that a stewardess "brushed the flames out of my hair" and led the way to the emergency exit, while her husband perished inside the plane. The accident is diagnosed by a representative of the Airline Pilots Association, who contends that certain positioning of the plane's power controls could force it into a sudden dive, which soon became uncontrollable. In another accident, the absence of a cockpit voice recorder proved fatal. And in a third case, a misreading of the altimeter's small type led to the crash that killed everyone on board. But even if these flaws are overcome, the chance of human error remains. And looming in the future is the threat of such recurrent horrors as mid-air collisions. Other problems facing the airlines are poorly designed airports and sonic boom, a noise from high speed jets that even the best public relations campaign cannot minimize. Airlines are therefore faced with a continuing discrepancy between its dangerous profession and its glamorous image, the program finds. In fact, controllers interviewed on the program stress that airport crowding and delays comparable to last summer's congestion will occur again as the holiday season approaches. NET Journal -- "Fasten Your Seat Belts" is a co-production of NET and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. This aired as NET Journal episode 222 on January 13, 1969 and as NET Journal episode 244 on August 11, 1969. (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche) 1 hour piece, produced by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and NET and initially distributed by NET in 1968. It was originally shot on videotape.
Production company:
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Production company:
National Educational Television and Radio Center
Producer:
Leiterman, Douglas
Director:
Leiterman, Douglas
Producer:
Riisna, Ene
Sound designer:
Sanford, Scott
Editor:
Haig, Don
Creator:
Kobayashi, Hideaki
Sound designer:
Moore, Stefan
Date:
January 13, 1969
Format:
Film/Video
Genre:
Documentary
Location:
Library of Congress
Collection (local):
American Archive of Public Broadcasting Collection
Series:
Library of Congress > NET Journal
Subjects:
Public Affairs
Transportation
Extent:
00:58:46
Link to Item:
https://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-512-wm13n21k64
Terms of Use:
Rights status not evaluated.
Contact host institution for more information.
Notes:
Episode Number: 222
Episode Number: 244