While Atlanta screenwriter Brian Egeston was learning how to fly a plane in 2014, an instructor played an actual flight traffic controller recording of a civilian with minimal flight experience who landed a King Air twin-engine turboprop in Florida after the pilot died midflight on Easter Sunday in 2009.
Intrigued by the story, Egeston found a P.O. box address for the man, a Louisiana pharmacist named Doug White, and wrote him a letter telling him that he wanted to create a movie about his experience. Egeston then drove his Chevy pick-up truck eight hours to White’s home and they spent three days bonding.
“I felt comfortable around him,” White said. “I felt he was sincere.” White gave Egeston the rights to his story. See more at the AJC.
