This film is excellent, surpassing my expectations in terms of the quality of the film-making and in terms of the depth of the story. Not to ruin the suspense, but the aviation difficulties of the film are more of a resolution than a starting point of the plot. The special effects could have been better, the women could have been less hysterically cruel, the ending could have had less Russian sentimental comic relief; but the movie is successful in telling a story about human beings. I would rate it even higher if the women weren't so shrewish, but that's because I like a bit of fantasy in the films I watch.

I've seen this movie, when I was only six or seven years old. I could mention, that I was very impressed by this movie. I could say, that this is outstanding work in Soviet cinematography. In '80 it was first thriller/disaster movie in Soviet Russia, where all sides of air crews' everyday life were shown. For us, Russians, this movie was more than simply "just another soviet movie", but movie, which tell to us "Look! Everyday is not calm and clear, everything is unstable". Also, this cinema is about love, family's life, every little thing in life of man as professional, as father, as husband, as good friend.

This story is about group of good friends - pilots of Tu154B soviet airplane. One of them has a family - wife, daughter, others are single. As the one crew, they drive the airplane across the Soviet Union and also to the Europe. The life is calm and easy, day by day goes to the retire. But one day they were asked to go to Georgia to save people in disaster - the earthquake. During the escaping, the airplane was badly damaged to perform the successful landing, so the engineer has to go out the plane and fix the problem during the flight.

So, this movie is very impressive, outstanding for '80s.

I pretty like this movie not because of my special favor to aircraft disasters (although I like films like Turbulence or Airport) but because of outstanding bunch of actors starring here and because of our common knowledge that there were NO $ billions spent for effects. This film shows HOW you may do your job if you are a true PROFESSIONAL of cinema (and not just a guy who was chosen to spend much money for visual effects made by computer). If you may show great results without money, you are great. And this film is great. To Arik from Washington: I'm pretty sure you were a Soviet citizen :) People who came from USSR are often very hostile to anything produced there despite its real quality.