Wing and a Prayer

Due to “public relations reasons,” you won’t see the name Aloha Airlines depicted in CBS’ forthcoming movie, “Miracle Landing,” about the remarkable April 1988 journey of Aloha Flight 243--which landed with a big chunk of its fuselage missing. Nor will you see a re-creation of the grim death of a flight attendant swept from the open fuselage at 24,000 feet.

Although the carrier was “very cooperative and helpful” with the project, according to producer-director Dick Lowry, “they were absolutely sure they didn’t want their name on screen for 2 1/2 hours.”

As for flight attendant C. B. Lansing--the sole fatality on the 737--writer Garner Simmons told us, “The way I wrote it, we cut to the cockpit, when suddenly all the pilot could see behind him was blue sky. You don’t see anything (of Lansing). This is a story of incredible heroism. Nobody has any interest in doing a horror show.”

Simmons said his script--production starts Oct. 16 in Hawaii--will be as accurate “as is humanly possible,” focusing on pilot Bob Schornstheimer, co-pilot Mimi Tompkins and flight attendant Michelle Honda.