Flight

Airline pilot Captain Whip Whitaker snorts cocaine to stay alert after a long night of drinking in his Orlando hotel room. He pilots SouthJetAir Flight 227 to Atlanta, which experiences severe turbulence during takeoff. Co-pilot Ken Evans takes over while Whip discreetly mixes vodka in his orange juice and takes a nap. He is jolted awake as the plane goes into a steep dive. Whip regains control by pulling out of the dive into inverted flight and makes a controlled crash-landing in an open field, hitting his head and losing consciousness on impact.

Whip awakens in an Atlanta hospital with moderate injuries and is greeted by his old friend Charlie Anderson, who represents the airline’s pilots union. He tells Whip that he managed to save 96 out of 102, losing two crew members and four passengers, but mentions Evans is in a coma. Whip sneaks away for a cigarette and meets Nicole Maggen, a heroin addict recovering from an overdose in the same hospital. The next morning, his friend and drug dealer Harling Mays picks him up from the hospital.