Oceanic Flight 815
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| Summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | September 22, 2004 |
| Type | Unexplained multiple system failures and mid-air disintegration |
| Site | Pacific Ocean, en route to Fiji |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Boeing 777 |
| Operator | Oceanic Airlines |
| Survivors | 72 |
Oceanic Airlines Flight 815, also known as Flight 815, was a fictional airline flight from the television series Lost. Originally a trans-Pacific flight from Sydney, Australia to Los Angeles, California, USA, the Oceanic Airlines plane suffered several instrument failures during the flight. These failures prompted the pilots to attempt to land in Fiji, taking the plane 1,000 miles off course at the time of the crash. En route to Fiji, the plane sharply nose-dived and tore apart in midair breaking into three pieces which fell onto a mysterious Pacific island on September 22, 2004.
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[edit] Oceanic Airlines
Oceanic Airlines is a name for fictional airline companies that has been used in a variety of settings, including movies and television series. However, in Lost, it is a particularly central part of the mythology of the series. Oceanic was a major Australian airline, founded in 1980. It ceased operations after the crash of Flight 815, but previously flew to destinations such as Costa Rica, Los Angeles, London, Sydney, Seoul, and Miami.
[edit] Flight details
Flight 815 was a regular, timetabled flight from Sydney to Los Angeles with a scheduled flight time of 13 hours, 52 minutes. The plane was configured for 30 First Class, 45 Business Class and 286 Economy Class seats, for a total of capacity of 361 passengers (not the 352 stated on Oceanic's website).[1] Passengers with known seat numbers are:
- 9E - Boone Carlyle
- 9F - Shannon Rutherford
- 15D - James Ford
- 20G - Hugo Reyes (also purchased a ticket for the adjacent seat)
- 23A - Dr. Jack Shephard
- 23D - Rose Henderson
- 23E - Bernard Nadler
- 24D - John Locke
- 27G - US Marshal Edward Mars
- 27H - Kate Austen
- 29C - Charlie Pace
- 42F - Ana Lucia Cortez
[edit] Crash and aftermath
Flight 815 split into three parts in midair due to a sudden loss of structural integrity.
The plane, coming out of its dive at approximately 1000 feet, developed cracks in the rear fuselage. The right hand engine then completely burned up and separated from the wing, at that point the tail section broke off. Most of the left wing then breaks off, with the left engine landing on the beach with the stub of the left wing almost completely intact. The crash footage at the start of 'A Tale of Two Cities' suggests that the cockpit along with the First and Business class cabins broke off just a few seconds before the main fuselage hit the beach, still attached until long after the tail was severed. The fuselage landed with a huge amount of debris scattering everywhere, whereas the tail section broke almost clean off with little debris.
The central fuselage landed on the southern coast of the island. Initially, it was believed that 49 of its passengers survived; however, it was later revealed that one member of the camp (Ethan Rom) was, in fact, not from the plane.
The tail section landed in the ocean on the opposite, northern, side of the island from the center section, about "an hour's run" away from The Others' camp. This third section had 22 survivors, including one (Bernard Nadler) who was still buckled into his seat when it landed in the upper branches of a tree, inland from the beach site. Cindy Chandler and the unnamed pilot are believed to be the only members of the cabin crew to survive the crash.
The very front of the plane, with part of Business Class and the cockpit, landed in the jungle, not too far inland from the remains of the fuselage; of this section only the pilot survived the initial impact. But, many of the seats in this class (when found by Jack Kate and Charlie) were empty, suggesting that there may have been survivors who scrambled out the wreckage before the party arrived to attempt to find the transceiver.
Various pieces and passengers were also scattered through the nearby jungle, including a complete set of seats found in a small pool beneath a waterfall, and middle section passenger Jack Shephard landed in a bamboo stand on the edges of the jungle.
[edit] Possible causes
During the season 2 finale, Desmond Hume surmises that the electromagnetic field built up by not "pushing the button" was to blame for the plane crash, as, according to the computer log printouts from The Pearl, the "system failure" happened on September 22, 2004, the date on which the crash took place (also the date of the Lost series premiere).
The character Hurley believes the plane crashed due to the bad luck which seems to accompany him following his lottery win with "the numbers".
[edit] Trivia
- On the bonus disc of the DVD season 1 set there is a documentary that shows how the Lost producers purchased and cut up an old airliner for the pilot.
- The producers have created an official site for Oceanic Airlines and Flight 815 that contains easter eggs.
- In the U.S. Version of the Transformers: Cybertron episode Inferno, a jet fighter identifying itself as "Oceanic Flight 815" requesting landing calls out "Mayday, Mayday, there seems to some kind of anomaly driving us off course" just before being scanned by Thundercracker for a transformation alternate mode.
- The set piece of the crashed plane was a retired L-1011, although it was supposed to represent a Boeing 777. The plane, which formerly served for Delta Air Lines, was cut apart and barged to the filming location in Hawaii.
- The pilot from Oceanic 815 is played by Greg Grunberg, of Heroes and Alias.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
| Lost | |
|---|---|
| Production: | DVD releases • Episode list • Season 1 • Season 2 • Season 3 • Soundtrack |
| Main characters: |
Ana Lucia • Ben • Boone • Charlie • Claire • Desmond • Hurley • Jack • Jin • Juliet • Kate Libby • Locke • Michael • Mr. Eko • Nikki • Paulo • Sawyer • Sayid • Shannon • Sun • Walt |
| Supporting characters: |
Alex • Bernard • Christian • Cindy • Ethan • The Others • Pickett • Rose • Rousseau • Tom |
| Organizations: | DHARMA Initiative • Hanso Foundation • Oceanic Airlines |
| Elements: | Crossover list • DHARMA Initiative stations • Flight 815 • Mythology • Thematic motifs |
| Miscellaneous: | Gary Troup • In popular culture • Lost Experience • Rachel Blake • Video game |
