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), 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

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

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 City to Sydney exceeds its cruise altitude, due to sabotage by a revenge-seeking company engineer.

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Goofs

When Columbia meets Starflight One the first time, it rotates such that the two craft are nose-to-nose, but then Columbia is immediately seen from Starflight One's passenger windows, without sufficient time to move.

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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 ...
[...]

User Reviews

Starflop One

I'll admit it: I used to love this movie as a kid. But that was when I thought anything was possible. Now that I'm older (and have seen the Airport Movies), I realize just how bad this movie really was.

First, it should have been called Airport '83, since it has a nearly identical plot to the rest of the Airport series (especially The Concorde: Airport '79, where technical malfunctions screw up the Concorde).

Second is the truly abominable acting. Lee Majors, the Six Million Dollar Man himself, stars as the plane's captain, who is married but shacking up with the head stewardess (Lauren Hutton, which explains why she is given a first-class seat out of the plane at the end). Hal Linden plays the designer and head engineer of Starflight One, who seems very uncomfortable in his role. The rest of the cast was too terrible to mention as their parts didn't even get off the ground, so to speak.

Third are the obvious mistakes, scientific errors, and plot holes that are large enough to fly a Star Destroyer through. For example: -Starflight was equipped with a flange that allowed an airlock to be fitted over it. But if it was never designed to operate in a vacuum (like outer space), why have it there in the first place? -Captain Briggs mentions that everything still worked, including the engines. If the engines worked, and they were in a decaying orbit, why not just transfer to a higher orbit? -In this movie, NASA service techs seem to be recruited from NASCAR, since they are able to service and launch the Space Shuttle Columbia several times in two days (which is physically impossible, and why didn't that second shuttle help out sooner?). -It was mentioned that Starflight was not built with a heat shield. Bt at the speeds that it was designed to operate at, kinetic heating and friction would necessitate SOME kind of protective layer on the aircraft.

-How come we never see the blonde female astronaut's face? -Starflight uses scramjets to provide thrust, but these engines cannot operate from a stand-still as they are shown to do; they must be in motion before they can operate. -An aircraft that is designed to operate at Mach 6 and higher speeds would not likely have such huge wings in proportion to its body, or even be spindle shaped; in fact, its actual design would most likely be a lifting body.

And now for the good stuff: why I liked this movie. John Dykstra, who came up with the ships for Star Wars and Firefox, was the one who designed Starflight One; the plane, while not believable, still looks very good. Also, Lalo Schifferin's score was very good and dramatic. In all, about a 6 out of 10.