Airport 1975 1974

As the red-eye flight from Washington Dulles to Los Angeles, Columbia Airlines Flight 409, a Boeing 747-100, navigates through treacherous skies, it finds itself sharing airspace with Scott Freeman (no actor name provided), a businessman en route to a sales meeting in Boise, Idaho. The West Coast of the United States is shrouded in an occluded front, forcing both planes to make an emergency landing at Salt Lake City International Airport. With Columbia 409 and Freeman’s Beechcraft Baron diverted, air traffic control assigns the commercial airliner priority clearance for landing ahead of the private plane.

Just as Flight 409 begins its descent, First Officer Urias (no actor name provided) stands up from his seat to investigate a mysterious vibration. In that moment, Scott Freeman suffers a heart attack and inadvertently steers his Beechcraft Baron into Columbia 409’s path. The smaller aircraft crashes into the larger one just above the co-pilot’s seat, causing catastrophic damage and sending debris raining down on the flight deck. First Officer Urias is ejected from the plane as the flight engineer is killed and Captain Stacy (no actor name provided) is rendered unconscious due to the blinding effects of the wreckage.

As chaos erupts in the cockpit, Nancy Pryor (no actor name provided), the first stewardess, rushes to the flight deck to assess the situation. She quickly informs Salt Lake air traffic control of the crew’s status and the extent of the damage, revealing that there is no one at the controls to guide the plane. Columbia’s Vice President of Operations, Joe Patroni (no actor name provided), who has family on board, is briefed on Flight 409’s predicament.

In response, Patroni turns to Captain Al Murdock (no actor name provided), the airline’s chief flight instructor and Nancy’s boyfriend, whose relationship was struggling at the time. Together with Patroni, Murdock boards Columbia’s executive jet and sets course for Salt Lake City. En route, they stay in constant communication with Nancy, learning that the autopilot is keeping the plane stable but ineffective for turns. As Flight 409 hurtles towards the Wasatch Range mountains, Murdock begins to guide Nancy over radio waves on how to execute a turn when communications are interrupted and the Salt Lake tower loses contact.

As Columbia 409 continues to defy control, its precarious situation becomes even more dire, with fuel leaking and the aircraft’s trajectory veering perilously close to the rugged mountain peaks. In a daring attempt to rescue those on board, an HH-53 helicopter from the US Air Force Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service swoops in, piloted by a seasoned aviator. The stage is set for a high-stakes air-to-air rescue operation, with a replacement pilot preparing to be extended on a tether to Columbia 409. However, Stacy’s cryptic warning about the plane’s decreasing airspeed during a climb in altitude sparks a crucial realization in Nancy: she must accelerate to overcome the mountains and ensure a successful rescue. With the stricken airliner now levelled off, the replacement pilot is released towards Columbia 409, only for his harness to become entangled in the jagged metal surrounding the cockpit hole just as he’s about to climb aboard. His tether is severed, leaving him plummeting from the aircraft.

In a last-ditch effort to save those on board, the US Air Force turns to its most skilled pilot - Murdock. With no one else qualified to land the 747, Murdock takes to the skies, tethered to the helicopter and lowered towards Columbia 409. He successfully navigates the perilous journey through the cockpit hole and takes control of the plane, guiding it to a safe landing at Salt Lake City International Airport. However, his triumphant moment is short-lived as a sudden drop in brake pressure forces him into high-speed taxiing maneuvers to bring the aircraft to a stop. As the passengers are safely evacuated via the evacuation slides, Nancy and Murdock share a poignant reunion amidst the chaos.