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Vaughn Faculty Offer Flight Insights to TV Cast

April 2, 2011

Members of Vaughn's aviation faculty lent their expertise Sunday (March 27) to cast and crew of the TV pilot "Pan Am," an hour-long drama on the history of the airline being pitched to ABC.

Professors Domenic Proscia, Vincent Driscoll, Andrew Kneissl and Robin Ruggiero gave "Pan Am" cast members Jonah Lotan, Michael Mosley and Kal Parekh two hours of flight lessons in Vaughn's simulator lab. The session was designed to introduce the cast to flight protocols and other issues it might confront as the series develops.

If picked up by ABC, "Pam Am" will focus on the glory days of the airline, which dissolved in 1991. Lotan plays a pilot, Mosley a co-pilot and Parekh a flight engineer. The show also stars Christina Ricci, whose credits include the "Addams Family" films, "Sleepy Hollow," "Ally McBeal" and more.

The pilot takes place in 1963, when Pan Am was the world's leading international carrier. It is being produced largely at the nearby Kaufman Astoria Studios. For more on the show and its cast, see the Internet Movie Database here.

Cast members from the potential ABC series "Pan Am" at Vaughn on Sunday. Clockwise from top left, Professor Vincent Driscoll with actor Jonah Lotan; actor Kal Parekh with Professor Andrew Kneissl; and actors Lotan and Michael Mosley in the Canadair flight simulator.