Russell Johnson playing real life Captain - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

edplattfan · 09-01-2013, 11:14 PM

Sorry for the low quality picture. This is from the film "The Ghost of Flight 401." Russell plays Capt. Bob Loft. This made for tv film is one of 2 based on the crash of Eastern Airlines Flight 401 into the Florida Everglades 2 days before the 1973 New Year. The co pilot died instantly, the pilot(Loft) died shortly after the crash and the engineer died a few days later. After teh crash, pieces of the plane were refitted onto other L-1011s and supposedly the ghosts of Loft and Engineer Dom Repo appeared to both crew members and travelers. Anyway, what I find interesting is that this film uses the pilot and co-pilot's REAL names but change the engineer's name to Dom Cimoli(played by Ernest Borgnine) instead of Dom Repo. Also they give the airline a fake name instead of calling it Eastern. The other film made this year(1978) was "Crash( or Crash of Flight 401)" It focused more on the crash, rescue and investigation(making it a bit soap opera-y as well) while "Ghost" focused on the ghost sightings. Eddie Albert played the Captain but he was called Capt. Dunn instead of Loft. At least they used the name Eastern Airlines for the plane crash. Funny how different movies change different aspects of the story.

jehobden · 09-09-2013, 12:10 AM

Russell Johnson also played a pilot, Jon, though of a 3-person plane, in a 2-part S4 episode of That Girl. The plane was crashing at one point, causing Ann Marie to have flashbacks to previous episodes, such as when she got a pie in the face, as the plane was crash-landing, then as Jon was going for help, Don & Ann were left to wait for his return.

edplattfan · 09-09-2013, 10:26 AM

yup I have that 2 part episode. It's great. Russell Is great in it.

09-01-2013, 11:14 PM	#1
edplattfan Member Frequent Poster Join Date: May 08, 2003 Location: USA Posts: 265	Russell Johnson playing real life Captain Sorry for the low quality picture. This is from the film "The Ghost of Flight 401." Russell plays Capt. Bob Loft. This made for tv film is one of 2 based on the crash of Eastern Airlines Flight 401 into the Florida Everglades 2 days before the 1973 New Year. The co pilot died instantly, the pilot(Loft) died shortly after the crash and the engineer died a few days later. After teh crash, pieces of the plane were refitted onto other L-1011s and supposedly the ghosts of Loft and Engineer Dom Repo appeared to both crew members and travelers. Anyway, what I find interesting is that this film uses the pilot and co-pilot's REAL names but change the engineer's name to Dom Cimoli(played by Ernest Borgnine) instead of Dom Repo. Also they give the airline a fake name instead of calling it Eastern. The other film made this year(1978) was "Crash( or Crash of Flight 401)" It focused more on the crash, rescue and investigation(making it a bit soap opera-y as well) while "Ghost" focused on the ghost sightings. Eddie Albert played the Captain but he was called Capt. Dunn instead of Loft. At least they used the name Eastern Airlines for the plane crash. Funny how different movies change different aspects of the story. Attached Images

09-09-2013, 12:10 AM	#2
jehobden Member Senior Member Join Date: Jan 06, 2002 Location: DFW Area, TX Posts: 2,005	Russell Johnson also played a pilot, Jon, though of a 3-person plane, in a 2-part S4 episode of That Girl. The plane was crashing at one point, causing Ann Marie to have flashbacks to previous episodes, such as when she got a pie in the face, as the plane was crash-landing, then as Jon was going for help, Don & Ann were left to wait for his return.

09-09-2013, 10:26 AM	#3
edplattfan Member Frequent Poster Join Date: May 08, 2003 Location: USA Posts: 265	yup I have that 2 part episode. It's great. Russell Is great in it.