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

On the maiden flight of the first hypersonic commercial plane which can make the flight from New York City to London in four hours, a minor disaster occurs resulting in the plane actually ... See full summary »

Director:

Jerry Jameson

Writers:

Robert Malcolm Young (screenplay by), Peter R. Brooke (story by)

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

On the maiden flight of the first hypersonic commercial plane which can make the flight from New York City to London in four hours, 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 its passengers to safety.

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Plot Keywords:

passenger | oxygen | orbit | nasa | disaster | 

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Taglines:

The first hypersonic passenger plane marooned in outer space helpless ... ready for certain death.

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Genres:

Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Released theatrically in the UK and several other countries by Orion Pictures.

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Goofs

A character refers to koalas as "koala bears". Koalas are marsupials, not bears.

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Quotes

Joe Pedowski: You're gonna try to fly this thing back?
Captain Cody Briggs: Joe, did you ever skip a flat rock across a lake and watch it skim and bounce along the surface? I wanna give reentry that kind of shot.
Joe Pedowski: I have skipped a few rocks on a few lakes in my time and I never saw yet one that didn't sink. It's one chance in a million.
Captain Cody Briggs: So was this accident.
Joe Pedowski: I am scared out of my mind being up here inside this plane and you want me to go outside?
[laughs nervously]
Joe Pedowski: oh no!
[pause]
Joe Pedowski: I'll need a wire stripper and some wire nuts... and a dry ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

While the credits list the character played by Herbert Jefferson Jr. as 'Kenny', at 1:31:57 Capt Cody Briggs (Lee Majors) addresses the character as 'Benny', in conjunction with the subtitles. At 1:32:07 the character, and the subtitles clearly note the characters name as 'Benny'

User Reviews

Silly disaster flick

"Starflight: The Plane That Couldn't Land" is a silly made-for-TV disaster flick that could have been titled "Airport '83: Trapped in Space". While the film is modestly entertaining at times, it's just too preposterous to believe. The plot: a hypersonic jet takes off for Australia and ends up stuck in outer space by accident. Director Jerry Jameson fared better with "Airport '77", and the cast (Lee Majors, Hal Linden, Lauren Hutton, Tess Harper, Ray Milland, etc.) have done better work than this. Not a real bad movie but not a real good one either. This movie originally aired as a three hour movie on TV; the home video version was edited by about 30-40 minutes and retitled "Starflight One".

** (out of four)

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