Maximum Thrust The Movie

“A LONELY PLACE TO DIE” (Fantasia Film Review)

A LONELY PLACE TO DIE is about a small group of people caught up in a terrifying experience where they don’t know what’s coming next—and that’s the same experience, albeit a much safer one, that a hopefully much larger audience will have when watching it. Anyone reading this review has most likely seen more than their share of violent wilderness-survival thrillers, but this one makes the whole subgenre seem fresh and frightening again. 

The movie (currently playing Montreal’s Fantasia festival ) confirms its technical bona fides right away, taking us into a ravishingly shot, mountainous area of Scotland where Alison (Melissa George) and two friends (Ed Speleers and Alec Newman) are climbing. They get into a bit of a pickle, staged by director Julian Gilbey for maximum vertiginous tension, before meeting up with another couple (Garry Sweeney and Kate Magowan) and setting off for the next leg of their trek into the wilderness. And of course, like groups of friends heading into the woods always do in the movies, they start hearing strange noises coming from the trees, and one of them decides to set off and investigate…

Right now I’ll say that if you want to fully appreciate all of A LONELY PLACE TO DIE’s twists and turns, you can stop reading this review now and just know that it's a must-see, in no small part because Gilbey and his co-screenwriter/brother William keep throwing new curveballs into the scenario, taking the movie well off the beaten path of the stalking-in-the-woods genre. There are surprises and subversions throughout, and moments where it seems like Gilbey’s showing his hand too soon—revealing his villains early on, for example—only for them to revealed as part of the filmmaker’s devious design. He even successfully pulls off a fake-out dream sequence that had the Fantasia audience applauding for having been so effectively fooled.

To reveal only the very basics of the plot, the quintet wind up in a position of protecting a terrified little girl named Anna (Holly Boyd), and pursued by a couple of ruthless killers (Sean Harris and Stephen McCole) through a harsh and unforgiving environment. The Gilbeys did serious location research to prepare for shooting the climbing/descending sequences, and there’s never a moment you’re not convinced that the characters are precariously perched and hanging over dangerous drops. Shot on assorted Scottish locations, A LONELY PLACE TO DIE has a strong sense of environment (courtesy of cinematographer Ali Asad) that heightens the feeling of danger; the life-and-death stakes seem real from start to finish. As do the imperiled quintet’s decisions; even when they take familiar actions like splitting up at a key point in the action, their choices always seem plausibly motivated by the dangerous situation they’ve found themselves in.

Missed Approach Acceleration

I’ve recently been contacted by a friend from a previous airline who now works for another Middle Eastern carrier, flying 777′s. Interestingly enough – he’s chasing down information on Missed Approach Acceleration – an issue I also encountered when I arrived here at V in 2008.

Essentially at that time the initial training for the 777 Type Rating was provided in our own 777 Flight Simulator by Alteon , which is now a Boeing Company. While the contract required that our in house developed SOPs (based primarily on Boeing FCOM/FCTM documentation) were to be taught to our transitioning pilots – we encountered a number of stumbling blocks. One of these was Missed Approach Acceleration.

At the bottom of an instrument approach, if visual reference is not established the crew are required to execute the Go-Around procedure and commence a Missed Approach. Initially configured for landing – the undercarriage is raised and some of the landing flap is retracted in the go-around procedure as the aircraft transitions from the descent to a climb.

This is the beginning of the Missed Approach Procedure. While the procedure may involve lateral manoeuvring (turns) – what I’m primarily concerned with here is the vertical component.

From an initial climb speed of essentially the final approach speed, at some point the aircraft will need to accelerate, retract flap and reduce thrust from a the go around (typically maximum) thrust setting to something like Climb/Max Continuous and establish level flight at a safe altitude. The bone of contention is when  that acceleration phase commences. When I arrived, our students we being taught to accelerate at 1000 ft AAL in the missed approach, in common with the take off profile.