Starflight: The Plane That Couldn't Land (TV 1983)

The fictional story of the first "hypersonic" commercial passenger plane, which can make the flight from New York to London in a mere four hours. On the maiden flight of this plane, a minor... See full summary »

Director:

Jerry Jameson

Writers:

Robert M. Young (screenplay), Peter R. Brooke (story)

Stars:

Lee Majors, Hal Linden, Lauren Hutton

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Lee Majors	...	Captain Cody Briggs
Hal Linden	...	Josh Gilliam
Lauren Hutton	...	Erica Hansen
Ray Milland	...	Q. T. Thornwell
Gail Strickland	...	Nancy Gilliam
George DiCenzo	...	Bowdish (as George Di Cenzo)
Tess Harper	...	Janet Briggs
Terry Kiser	...	Freddie Barrett
Heather McAdam	...	Laurie Hansen (as Heather Mc Adam)
Michael Sacks	...	Pete
Gary Bayer	...	Martin
Pat Corley	...	Joe Pedowski
Robert Webber	...	Felix
Jocelyn Brando	...	Mrs. Harvey
Diane Stilwell	...	Betty

Storyline

The fictional story of the first "hypersonic" commercial passenger plane, which can make the flight from New York to London in a mere four hours. On the maiden flight of this plane, a minor disaster occurs resulting in the plane actually leaving the Earth's atmosphere and orbiting around the globe. A lack of heat-resistant tiling prevents the plane from simply re-entering the atmosphere. With oxygen (and therefore time) running out, the crew of the plane and the crew on the ground must figure out a way to return the plane and it's passengers to safety.

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Plot Keywords:

passenger | oxygen | nasa | disaster | orbit | 

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Taglines:

The first hypersonic flight turns into a terrifying nightmare...in space. [Australia Theatrical]

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Genres:

Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 February 1983 (USA)

Also Known As:

Starflight One

Filming Locations:

Laird International Studio - 9336 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Orgolini-Nelson Productions, Orion Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The movie is loosely based on the novel "Orbit" by Thomas H. Block, from 1982. In the novel, a hypersonic plane on a cruise from New York to Sidney excesses its cruise altitude due to sabotage by a revenge-seeking company engineer.

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Goofs

A second space shuttle appears near the end. It is identified as Columbia and then a number. This implies there are two shuttles with the name Columbia, which is unlikely, even in science fiction.

User Reviews

How Ironic!

It took me a few minutes into the movie to realize I had seen it before when I was in high-school. Even though it had Barney Miller and Lauren "whistle while you work because of the gap between your teeth" Hutton in it I watched it again anyway. They sure can get that space shuttle in and out of space quickly, cant' they? They must of had an Indy 500 crew working for them! Plus they can take off from L.A. too! what a deal! Now the ironic and sad part. At one point the crew of the plane asks the Columbia crew to take a peek and see if there was any damage to their aircraft. So the (the Starflight crew) knew they got hit, NASA knew they got hit, so isn't it great to have another set of eyes (the Columbia crew) to actually see the damage everyone assumed was there in the first place? So they can actually try to fix it, or figure out some other option to avoid a disaster. So why in the world didn't NASA have the REAL Columbia go to the International Space Station and have them see if they had a hole in their wing! The whole country saw the foam hit the wing. STUPID!!!