Is it possible he knew the plane would crash, or had some sort of other knowledge that would make him not want to pilot it?

Is it coincidence?

I figure because he was drunk or something since they made refrence to him being a drunk

They referenced him being a drunk and I think we were supposed to infer that was the reason he didn't fly the plane that day.

A very wow moment for Frank to call the Oceanic hotline and mention that he was suppose to fly 815....I can't wait for the flashback explaining why he was replaced.

BTW...the bloated fake pilot's image seemed to linger on the tv screen forever. BARF!

:biggrin:

Here's what I took from that scene...

The chopper pilot Frank Lapidus was "supposed to be flying Oceanic 815" and he was also refered to as "a drunk".

It would appear to me that because of him being a drunk, he was fired from Oceanic or at least grounded for some reason. That was probably his route at one time and because of a drinking issue (was it a one time thing or was he truly an alcoholic...don't know yet) he didn't fly that day.

The fact that he is now running a aquarium store tells me that he lost his job as a pilot and started his own business.

Is it safe to assume that he lost his pilot's license becuase he showed up drunk for work and was grounded from flying 815 that day? How do "drunks" usually lose their jobs??? Right?

I think that this character is going to be the most interesting of the freighties for viewers that are Oceanic 815 conspiracy theorists. I have a feeling that he has some information about the inner workings at Oceanic that might turn out to be pretty cool.

perhaps it's because of his near miss that he turned to drink. like he said, he should've been on that flight, i'll bet that could really mess with a persons head.

I think Frank and the monster are in cahoots:biggrin: :biggrin:

Could be that he was drunk and couldn't fly the plane, however, we only heard Naomi describe him as a drunk, and it appeared that she had only read a file on him. We never actually saw him drinking.