Gatins explained in a 2012 interview with the '' Los Angeles Times '' that the dramatic fictional crash depicted in '' Flight '' was " loosely inspired " by the 2000 crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 , which was caused by a broken jackscrew . That crash had no survivors . The airplane in '' Flight '' , a two-engine T-tail jet airliner , appears to be from the same model family as Alaska Airlines 261 , a variant of the MD-80 . Many elements from the accident were used in the film such as the cause of the accident , segments of the radio communication , and the decision to invert the airplane
Alaska Airlines Flight 261
Alaska Airlines Flight 261
Flight (2012 film)