The picture opens with the District Attorney (Adolfo Yanelli), listening to voices from a recording in the black box retrieved from an air disaster. The docudrama then tells the story of director Enrique Piñeyro, who plays himself as T, a principled pilot at LAPA, an Argentine airline, upset over his company's disregard of basic safety regulations in order to save money.
Filmmakers James Hanlon and the Naudet brothers were originally filming Tony Benetatos, a probationary firefighter of the New York City Fire Department assigned to the Engine 7/Ladder 1/Battalion 1 Firehouse on Duane Street in Lower Manhattan with the intention of making a film about the "probie's" first experience as a firefighter. On the morning of September 11, the firehouse, under the direction of Battalion Chief Joseph Pfeifer, was called out on a reported "odor of gas" at Church and Lispenard Streets. Jules rode with Pfeifer to investigate, while Gedeon stayed behind at the firehouse with the "probie.
On a Boeing 747 flight from London to Los Angeles piloted by Captain Ernie Slade (Chuck Connors), a wealthy architect (Roy Thinnes) and his wife (Jane Merrow) have placed a druid sacrificial altar in the baggage hold of the airliner. Aboard for the ill-fated trip is ex-priest Paul Kovalik (William Shatner) and millionaire Glenn Farlee (Buddy Ebsen). Soon after takeoff, crew and passengers alike face the supernatural horror that is unleashed from the baggage compartment – the ghosts of the druids, that are seeking revenge from being uprooted from their ancient home.
Following a Miss Universe style contest in Miami, Florida, the five semi-finalists are flown to Nassau, Bahamas in a flying boat along with the American contestant's stage mother, the group's escort Kate Malloy, the Miss Beautiful Master of Ceremonies Marv Barker, and a deadheading pilot, Paul Fabiani.
At Portland, Oregon, playboy pilot Len Kendrick (Vinton Haworth) lands at the end of a cross-country record flight, met by his father J.P. Kendrick (Charley Grapewin) who owns Amalgamated Air Lines. Len is a media darling, adored by fans for his daring flights. He is in love with Amalgamated stewardess Kay Armstrong (Sally Eilers) who is dating veteran pilot "Wad" Madison (Robert Armstrong). Len dates her sister Penny (Frances Sage) who learns that his hard-drinking and recklessness has caused the death of his co-pilot. Penny knows that he was drinking before the fateful flight and only escaped prosecution by bribing a bartender. She leaves Len who ends up at Amalgamated as a line pilot, being tutored by Wad.
In response to the attacks on September 11, 2001, the FAA orders all planes out of the air. American and Canadian air traffic controllers face a difficult situation: how to safely re-route and land 6,500 planes carrying close to a million people. For individual air traffic controllers, the work is chaotic, intense, and deceptively simple: pick a new route for each flight; radio instructions to turn; listen for pilot confirmation; hold traffic to keep airways from overcrowding. From Cleveland, Ohio to Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador, controllers on September 11 searched for alternate airports to land large jets as their traumatized colleagues return from breaktime having watched the attacks on TV.
In February 1988, two pilots in a flight simulator face the challenge of landing a crippled jet that experiences a cabin decompression, an engine fire and a loss of hydraulics. The three emergency situations foreshadow the events of Paradise Airlines Flight 243, taking place two months later.
The story begins in the mountains of Bavaria, Germany, where wildlife documentarian Ernest Helms (Michael Winters) is filming local wildlife. While filming, he discovers a man attempting to break into his rental car. After foiling the man's attempt, Helms prepares to drive away but is thwarted by the man smashing the driver's window. Helms, however, succeeds in escaping the crazed man, but receives a minor cut on his hand. A few days later, in Frankfurt, Germany, Captain James Holland (Richard Dean Anderson), amidst preparations for his forthcoming transatlantic flight as Captain of Quantum Airlines Flight 66, is told by his doctor he does not have cancer. On board Flight 66, a Boeing 747, Helms (already displaying signs of illness) is assisted to his seat by flight attendant Brenda Hopkins (Kate Hodge). Shortly after takeoff, Helms rises from his seat and falls into cardiac arrest, and Brenda gives him CPR. Head flight attendant Barb Rollins (Jennifer Savidge) notifies Holland of the emergency, and the Captain and his check pilot, Daniel Robb (Richard Lawson) set a course for London's Heathrow Airport,. However they are turned away when British Air-Traffic Control informs them that one of the passengers (Helms) could be infected with a deadly strain of influenza.
John McCain flies his jet from a carrier on a bombing mission over Hanoi, Vietnam. As a warning buzzer announces incoming missiles, McCain stays with the bomb drop, but is hit by a missile. He lands in the water and is pulled ashore by an angry mob, and taken prisoner. Asked to give information, he gives out the names of a sports team rather than of his squadron. In flashbacks, his father tells of how his submarine escaped destruction in World War II, and told him not to worry about his grades, as his father and grandfather "really fooled them" by rising to admiral despite doing poorly in school. In prison, McCain sees other prisoners cruelly tortured, while he sees a couple who appear to have decided to cooperate with the enemy. McCain is given a choice to be released early in recognition that his father is commander of US forces in the Pacific, but he refuses, and suffers for it. During a stepped-up bombing campaign, the prisoners sing "Silent Night", after which negotiations result in a release of prisoners and a trip home.
Anna (Felicitas Woll), daughter of a wealthy hospital director, works as a nurse along with her father and her future husband, Doctor Alexander (Benjamin Sadler). Whilst behind enemy lines, British pilot Robert Newman (John Light) is severely wounded and hides in the hospital's cellar. Anna finds him and cures his wounds, slowly falling in love with him.
On the flight of Maiden 1, the first American supersonic transport, Captain Jim Walsh (Robert Reed) is the assigned pilot on an attempt to set a world speed record from New York to Paris. The flight crew includes the navigator (Robert Ito), stewardess Mae (Tina Louise) and steward (Billy Crystal). The select group on the ceremonial first flight include passengers and executives. On board is Willy Basset (Burgess Meredith), the designer of the SST, Tim Vernon (Bert Convy), the Cutlass Airlines head of publicity who is having an affair with "Miss SST" Angela Garland (Misty Rowe), the model who is the public face of the new aircraft. Hank Fairbanks (Doug McClure), an ex-pilot who now works for an airline group in South America as an aircraft buyer, accompanies the other VIPs, and wants to renew an earlier romance with Mae.
Fin Shepard and his ex-wife April Wexler are flying to New York City to promote How to Survive a Sharknado and Other Unnatural Disasters, a book April has written about the Los Angeles sharknado. As the plane comes in for a landing through a storm, it is battered by airborne sharks, losing an engine. Sharks enter the plane, killing passengers and crew, including both pilots. While Fin successfully lands the plane, April's hand is bitten off by a shark while she attempts to shoot it with an air marshal's handgun.
On August 2, 1985, Delta Airlines Flight 191, flown by Captain Connors (John Beck) and First Officer Rudy Price (Dick Christie) are preparing to land at Dallas on its single stop, flying from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Los Angeles. Air Traffic controllers advise that a thunderstorm is present. The flight crew surmise that the aircraft might get washed, but have no other worries about the storm being so near. Passengers such as Lucille Jacobson (Patti Labelle), who is terrified of flying, however, are fearful about landing in a storm. Others, like Marilyn (Gloria Hocking) and Mike Steinberg (Joe Berryman) are thinking more about their California vacation. As the rain pelts down on the airliner, there is no warning of an impending crisis.
Le vendredi 13 octobre 1972, un avion reliant Montevideo à Santiago au Chili avec à son bord 45 passagers, membres de l’équipe de rugby de Montevideo s’écrase dans la Cordillère des Andes. Pendant 72 jours, le monde a cru que tous les passagers étaient morts pourtant 16 d’entre eux survécurent au crash. À 3600 m d’altitude et dans des conditions climatiques extrêmes, les survivants ont dû se résoudre au pire pour lutter contre la faim. Leur combat pour la vie a fait les gros titres de la presse internationale, des « unes » dans lesquelles on pouvait lire le mot « cannibalisme ». Ce documentaire poignant revient sur ce qui est probablement à ce jour le récit le plus douloureux jamais conté de la bouche même de l’un de ses survivants, Nando Parrado.