Final Flight

Arthur Hailey, the novelist who produced such best sellers as Airport and Hotel, has died at the age of 84. Hailey’s ability to create realistic characters and exhaustive research to establish scenes, as well his simplistic, formulaic approach, made these novels naturals for the big screen. After dropping out of high school, he talked his way into a stint as a pilot in the RAF during WWII, which apparently fostered the hatred for flying displayed in Airport (and the myriad movie sequels), Test Pilot, and Flight into Danger, the teleplay that established him as a full-time writer. Flight Into Danger was filmed as the comically overdone dramatic film Zero Hour 1957, then was used as the backdrop for the comic brilliance of Airplane! in 1980, a turn of events that did not suit Hailey.