Denzel Washington credited as playing...
Whip Whitaker
- Whip: This is going to sound real stupid coming from a man in prison. But for the first time in my life, I'm free.
- Charlie Anderson: Remember, if they ask you anything about your drinking, it's totally acceptable to say "I don't recall".
- Whip: Hey, don't tell me how to lie about my drinking, okay? I know how to lie about my drinking. I've been lying about my drinking my whole life.
- Whip: There's whole lot of people out there whose mothers die and they don't fucking drink.
- Nicole: You are sick, Whip.
- Whip: Yeah, well, I embrace it, shit! I choose to drink.
- Nicole: You do?
- Whip: Yes, I do.
- Nicole: You choose it? Well, I don't see a whole lot of choice going on here!
- Whip: I choose to drink! And I blame myself! I am happy to! And you know why? Because I choose to drink! I got an ex-wife and a son I never talk to! And you know why? Because I choose to drink!
- Harling Mays: What the hell kind of meds they giving you? Alprazolam: that's generic xanax. Hydrocodone: that's generic Vicodin. Probably Canadian. Where's the dihydromorphinone? Is this amateur hour? Get that doctor in here; you just saved a hundred people!
- Whip: Harling! Did you bring my smokes?
- Harling Mays: Yes I did. I got your medicines, and yes I got your smokes right here. Here's a fresh carton. Hell, if I was you, I'd fire up right here in the damn room.
- Atlanta ATC: SouthJet 227, Atlanta Centre. Descend and maintain flight level three-zero-zero.
- Ken Evans: Descend and maintain flight level three-zero-zero, SouthJet 227.
- Whip: Whoa, wha? What is that?
- Ken Evans: The elevator feels really stiff, sir!
- Whip: Alright, hold course. Margaret, get everybody strapped in, get everybody strapped in tight!
- Ken Evans: Full left hard sir!
- Whip: Power back! Power back!
- Margaret Thomason: Ladies and gentlemen, fasten your seatbelts now! Fasten your seatbelts securely now!
- Ken Evans: I have no control on my side. No control at all sir.
- Whip: We've lost our hydraulics. Centre, this is SouthJet 227, we've lost our hydraulics and feels like our pitch control.
- Atlanta ATC: Southjet 227, Atlanta Centre, understand you've lost hydraulics and pitch control?
- Whip: That is affirm, we are in an uncontrolled descent.
- Atlanta ATC: Southjet 227, Atlanta, say your intentions. Are you declaring an emergency?
- Margaret Thomason: Everyone's belted in, are we going down?
- Whip: We need everyone in brace positions. Yes, that is affirm, we are in a dive. We are in a dive. We have lost vertical control. We're gonna need drag, I want you to throw out everything you got, the speedbrakes, the gear, everything.
- Ken Evans: Gear, speedbrakes.
- Margaret Thomason: Brace positions, head down and forward, head down and forward!
- Ken Evans: Uh, gear is down. I don't think hydraulics is the problem sir.
- Whip: We need to dump the fuel, do it! Atlanta Centre, this is SouthJet 227, we are in an uncontrolled dive, descending out of 21,000 feet, we're declaring an emergency. We've dumped our fuel. We've got a jammed stabilizer or something, we need a block of altitude to work the problem and a heading to the nearest airport.
- Atlanta ATC: SouthJet 227, Hartsfield-Jackson Airport is twelve o clock at two-zero miles from your present position. Turn left, heading three-one-five.
- Whip: Dump the flaps.
- Ken Evans: We're still fast.
- Whip: Just do it. Do it, 30 degrees. Three-one-five, we'll try our best. Alright, that bought us a little time. That bought us a little time. Now we've got to revert to manual control, your side first.
- Ken Evans: OK, I got it. Nothing, no control. Oh no, we're diving again!
- Whip: Alright, Okay, okay. I can't let go of my side, see if you can reach my side.
- Hugh Lang: An initial report shows alcohol in your bloodstream at a level of .24. In the U.S. -- one of the most lenient drunk driving countries in the world -- you go to jail for driving with a number over .08. And by driving, I mean a car.
- Whip: What does that mean? I had a beer the night before I flew. And what... that made the tail of the plane explode?
- Charlie Anderson: Separate issues, Whip.
- Whip: I need a lawyer.
- Charlie Anderson: Hugh is your lawyer.
- Whip: I need a bigger lawyer. A lawyer who understands that I flew a broken plane and without me at that stick there'd be 102 funerals, not 6.
- Hugh Lang: We're talking about prison, not funerals. Somebody has...
- Whip: To write checks. Well, it's not me, I promise you that. And as long as they're writing checks, write me one because someone put me in a broken plane. I'd love a check.
- Charlie Anderson: Easy, Whip.
- Hugh Lang: This tox report states that you were drunk and high on cocaine, felonies punishable by 24 years in jail. And if your intoxication is proven to have caused the death of the 4 passengers you'll get 4 counts of manslaughter. That could be life in prison. Can I now do my job on your behalf and kill this tox report?
- Charlie Anderson: He'll get it done, Whip. It's what his entire life is about. Trust me, trust him. Don't worry, Whip. You're gonna walk away the hero you deserve to be.
- Whip: I'm not worried, Charlie. I promise you that. No one could have landed that plane like I did. No one.
- Whip: [Speaking to the prisoners in counseling] That was it. I was finished. I was done. It was as if I had reached my lifelong limit of lies. I could not tell one more lie. And maybe I'm a sucker, because if I had told just one more lie, I could have walked away from all of that mess, kept my wings, kept my false sense of pride. And more importantly, I could've avoided being locked up in here will all you... nice folks for the last 13 months. But I'm here, and I'll be here for at least the next four or five years, and that's fair. I betrayed the public trust. I did. That's how the judge explained to me. I had betrayed the public trust. The FAA, they took away my pilot's license and that's fair. My chances of flying are slim to none. And I accept that. I had a lot of time to think about it, all of it. Been doing some writing. I've wrote letters to each of the families that have lost loved ones and... some of them were able to hear my apology. Some of them never will. I also apologized to... all the people that tried to help me along the way, but I... couldn't or wouldn't listen. People like my wife, you know? My ex-wife and... my son. And again, like I said, you know, some of them will... never forgive me. Some of them will. But at least I'm sober. And I thank God for that. I'm grateful for that. And this is gonna sound real stupid from a man who's locked up in prison, but for the first time in my life, I'm free.