Original subtitles

Delta 348, turn left, heading 255.

Delta 348, heading 255.

TWA 506, contact LA Center at 135 .05.

Copy. TWA 506 switching to 135 .05.

Global Air 927, descend and maintain flight level 14 ,000.

Thank you, Salt Lake. Global Air 927 descending to 14 ,000.

Hey, Salt Lake.

Mm -hmm. Go ahead, Global Air.

I wish you could be up here with us. It is one gorgeous night.

What's going on here, Salt Lake? My fish finder's going crazy.

Whoa, traffic at about 3 o 'clock. Where the hell did he come from?

I can't hear you, Salt Lake. We need vectors away from all this traffic. Now!

Hey. Hey, we're going to run into somebody up here, Salt Lake. Why don't

help us? Why don't you tell us what to do?

Uh, all right. Uh, uh, Global Air 927, percent.

Climb and maintain flight level 180.

Say it again, Salt Lake. We are not reading you. I said global air 927.

Climb and maintain flight level 180.

No. No, there's a plane there.

Climb and maintain flight. I can't hear you, Salt Lake. You are breaking up.

What? What is it? Salt Lake.

Oh, no.

No!

What? What is that?

I'm sorry, honey. Did the lights break you?

No. I was having a dream.

About what?

You really want to know?

Yes, I do.

We're going to be late.

King to pawns four.

I thought we finished this game last night. No, no, no.

Now you fell asleep so you wouldn't have to lose this game.

Pawn to kings four.

I'm not going to have time for my morning swim.

Yes,

you will.

So here's my proposition.

Okay, shoot.

I know we've been talking about the Machu Picchu Trail for months.

Come on, I bought guidebooks, I gave Lama Guy a deposit.

Don't worry, just hear me out, okay? I want you to picture a tiny island.

How tiny?

Very small place. Makes Gilligan's Island look like a continent.

I see, and where would this tiny little island be?

Off the coast of Borneo.

Borneo? Come on!

The greatest diving in the world. Migrating whales and nesting sea turtles

whole school of the Hammerheads.

The Hammerheads, George?

Yeah. They don't attack when they're schooling, just when they're, you know,

themselves. Oh, I feel so much more comfortable now. Thank you.

Come on. Get in here. Come on.

It'll be fun.

Besides, I'm ready for a break.

Yeah, you and your dog.

No, honey, I'm... I'm really ready.

i hope it's not too busy today what do you expect we're down one runway

So, what do you think about Borneo?

How private is this island?

Very.

Look, just think about it. That's all I'm saying, okay?

Okay, I'll think about Borneo. You think about this.

Pawn to Queen's Bishop Four.

Pawn to Queen's Bishop Four?

Yep.

Oh.

That's good.

That's very good. I was dreaming about it all last night. That's...

Okay. Queen to King's Bishop Six.

Check.

Weather briefing at eight, Shelley. Storm's coming in. And Harriet wants to

to you in her office afterwards.

I'll be there.

When are they going to finish resurfacing that runway?

Not in our lifetime.

Not the way this crew works. A drop of rain falls and they're out of there for

the rest of the day.

Tell me about it.

All right, I'll see you on the floor in a half an hour. You got it. Hey.

And what did you mean this morning?

About what?

You were talking about the sharks and you said that you... Oh, no, no.

You don't have to worry if they're in a school.

No, no, no. That's not what I mean. You said that you were really ready for a

break. Oh.

Just don't worry about that, okay? You just caught me feeling sorry for myself

and it's... Jack?

Shelly, listen, I love my job, okay? I'm good at it. I'm pumped. I'm ready to

push the metal around the thing like a big macho goop and thing. I'll see ya.

Yeah.

Hey. Yeah?

Night takes queen.

Checkmate. Read your mind. Oh.

American

1826,

turn right 40 degrees.

Vectors for traffic on that.

Southwest 92, company traffic at your 4 o 'clock.

Looks like we got another push period coming up.

Hope you didn't drink any of that wimpy decaf this morning.

No, Grizzly. I am fully wired.

Shall we go for the shark idea?

She's mulling it over.

She'll come around.

She's just as high -octane as you are.

In fact, the idea either of you are actually relaxing on a vacation is

out there.

One?

Come on, Harriet. The deal was that I was supposed to get three new

There wasn't any deal, Shelley. I told you I'd do the best I could, and I did.

I can't believe this. Not only are we still using radar scopes that came out

old battleships, not only do we have a primary computer that is so ancient, so

slow, it belongs in a museum for crying out loud.

The FAA is planning to replace all out -of -date computers and radar scopes by

the year 2003.

2003? Wow. Whoa. Hey, what a relief, Harriet.

Just think, only five more years of our screens going blank.

Only five more years of near misses.

Harriet, we need that equipment now, today.

What do you want me to do, Shelley?

Go down to the computer shack, buy this stuff, and install it myself?

All right, so who's my new controller?

His name is Vernon Spencer.

Good. He's 55 years old, and he's a rookie.

He was a Patco controller, one of the ones Reagan fired.

And then Ronald Reagan.

Well, you were just complaining that nothing changes around here.

He'll fit right in.

Harriet, why put him in the hole? I mean, put him up at the tower. There's

pressure.

He was retrained at the academy, Shelly. He was the top in his class.

Don't worry about him.

Start him off at the bottom. He'll be all right.

Yeah.

He'll be fine.

He's master.

Snoop. You're rewriting a lot of metal because of that front over Dallas.

You're getting hand -offs like crazy.

Well, you can handle it. Just focus and keep up with it. All right.

Hey.

So, what'd she say?

Oh, please. It was the usual bureaucratic song and dance. You know,

getting one new guy, but of course he's a total fossil.

I want you to keep an eye on those fighter jets. Don't let them stray from

quarters. We've got a hell of a lot of traffic out there today.

I'm on top of it, sweetheart.

You could just call me boss if you like.

Citation 2, Romeo, Quebec.

Descent from 1 -6 ,000 to 1 -2 ,000. Acknowledge.

Continental 82, maintain present heading.

Continental 82, copy. Citation 2, Romeo, Quebec. How do you hear, Santa Rover?

Citation 2, Romeo, Quebec.

Attendant, maintain 1 -2000.

Acknowledged. What the hell is this guy?

Citation 2, Romeo, Quebec. How do you hear center? Over.

He's not answering me.

What were the last instructions you gave him? I told him to go to 12 ,000 feet,

but he never acknowledged.

All right, you better keep an eye on him. Watch out for incoming traffic.

If we don't hear from him for a minute or two, I'll call the tower. In the

meantime, we're okay, as long as we know his altitude.

Computer is down.

Hey, I'm juggling 20 flights here. Can I have my information back, please?

We are going down the pipes, man.

Nobody's going down the pipes, DeCarle. Calm down.

Will. Hi.

What's up?

Something went wrong with the cellar. The computer overheated.

All right. So how long is it going to take before you can fix it?

Well, we've located the problem.

Maybe five minutes for it to cool off.

The older she gets, the more unpredictable her hot flashes become.

I know. Well, just do what you can, Will. We've got a lot of planes in the

You don't have to remind me, shall we?

Approach, this is Shelley Lowe.

All of our computers are down here. You're going to have to ground stop all

departures immediately.

I don't know that.

I will let you know as soon as possible.

Jack, have you heard from your missing pilot yet? Not yet. He's probably in

Oh, wait a minute. What is this? See this? No, I missed it. What? Right about

here. It's blinking on and off like a firefly.

Maybe it's a ghost. No, not the legitimate. Hey, Wes, we've got some

intermittent paint here.

Target last seen 15 miles from the airport. Last heading approximately 230

degrees. Altitude is unknown.

Anybody tell me what the hell that is?

I don't know what that is.

Maybe something went wrong with the computer during the handoff. Look, there

is again.

He must be heading straight for the signal.

This damn radar can't pick him up at that angle.

Grizzly! Yeah?

I want you to find out what that plane is and what the frequency is that he's

on. Blaisdell, get on the phone to the tower right now.

R .L., you've got to find us some other way to transmit to those planes, okay?

He's back.

This is not good.

Well, we don't know that they're at the same altitude, Jack. Well, we don't know

that he's not. He was left at 1 -6 ,000 and never acknowledged my descend order.

Damn it. Will somebody please get me in touch with one of those planes before we

have a mid -air collision up there?

Beastmaster. Yo.

Call flight services right now. Got it.

Citation 2, Romeo, Quebec, traffic at your 12 o 'clock, 6 miles, oncoming

traffic, repeat.

Acknowledge.

Citation 2, Romeo, Quebec, traffic at your 12 o 'clock, 6 miles, opposite

direction, type and altitude unknown.

Citation 2, Romeo, Quebec, acknowledge.

Citation 2, Romeo, Quebec.

Got that plane.

Transatlantic 219.

Frequency 132 .0. What's the altitude? 16 ,000.

They're going to hit.

Get them out of there, Jack. We've got to get them out.

Right.

Tower's not happy about the ground stopping.

Uh, Pan Atlantic 219.

Hey, who's got me up here? I've got a traffic alert.

Turn, Jack.

Uh, Pan Atlantic 219, turn.

Right, heading 260 immediately.

260, we're coming around.

Maintain present heading.

Salt Lake, this is Citation 2, Romeo, Quebec.

What was that altimeter reading? Where the hell have you been?

I had some bad chili last night. Had to leave the cockpit for a few minutes.

Uh... It's okay, everyone.

One two thousand to send.

Acknowledged. Thank you, Salt Lake. I hope I didn't cause you guys any

down there.

Way to go, Jack.

Nerves of steel, man.

Jack really pulled that one out.

Finally. All right, everybody, that was the excitement for the day.

Come on, let's get back to work. That's great,

Jack.

Honey?

Grizzly? Yeah?

Can you uncover my skull for a second? Thanks. Sure, ma 'am.

Beastmaster, cover for me. Sure, Cheryl. Take your time.

All right, you guys, come on. You heard the lady. Back to work.

Jack,

you okay?

Yeah, no, I'm fine. I'm, uh... Are you sure?

Yeah.

Absolutely. Listen, I, you know, just, uh, got hot in there.

Maybe the air conditioning took a dive with the computer.

Maybe you should take the afternoon off.

No, no, I'm fine.

Really, I'm okay.

I'll, uh... I'll be in in a second.

You were really good in there.

You never wear a tie to work.

Not that I might today.

I don't want Harriet to think I regard this meeting as casual.

You ever think about it, Shelly?

Who those people are on those airplanes?

You know, a little kid that's going to visit his grandparent.

The elderly couple on the way to New York. You forgot about the singing nun

the little girl who needs the transplant.

I'm serious, you know.

I know you are.

Don't worry.

We'll make a difference in that meeting today.

Yeah? Yeah.

Okay.

Okay.

All I'm saying is that at some point the FAA has got to wake up and recognize

the fact that their equipment is outdated, shoddy, and downright

Look, I'd like to put aside the equipment problem for a minute.

How exactly do you expect us to do that, Harriet? I mean, are we supposed to

just ignore the fact that we're working with equipment that is so old it's

actually working against us?

What if somebody other than Jack would have been at that scope?

Somebody with less experience, somebody with less presence of mind. I mean, you

would have a downed airliner right now, Harriet.

Actually, it's Jack's performance we'd like to talk about for a minute.

What about his performance?

Jack is a great controller, one of the best we've got.

What are you trying to say? That controller error had anything to do with

The computer went down. No one is disputing that the computers went down,

Shelley. No one is disputing the fact that Jack may have saved those two

from flying into one another.

But after the crisis was over...

I lost it.

You didn't lose it, Jack. Don't be so dramatic.

But you did react in a way which makes us think maybe you could use a break.

A break?

You're talking about administrative leave, and that goes directly on his

Come on, guys, you're shifting the blame from faulty equipment to one of the

best clothes we've ever had. Shelley!

Jack, what's going on?

Nothing's going on, you know. They're right, you know it. I freaked. It was an

intense situation. Anybody would have... Come on, Shelly.

Anybody else might have, yes, but not me.

Look, Shelly, you know me, okay?

Look, something is wrong, you know? I'm having dreams about planes crashing into

each other, and I'm sitting there at my scope, useless.

Now, come on, you know me.

You know, it used to be the more intense it got, the closer we got to going down

the tubes, the better I liked it. It was like a video game.

You know, they were just blips on a screen.

You know, this isn't a game. This is life or death, and you can't afford to

somebody flip out on you.

So what do you want to do about it?

Uh, do you mind if I can get out of here for a while?

Where do you want to go?

Galveston Bay.

I found this fish from cabin, you know.

That's fine.

No company?

I should be by myself.

You know, think about things, figure stuff out.

I checked the weather for you. It's clear all the way to Houston.

Good.

Sure I can't come with you?

Come on, honey, I don't want this to be our vacation.

Administrative leave.

Remember?

You gonna be okay while I'm gone?

Sure I am.

Good.

Me too.

You positive?

I'll catch a redfish for you.

Can we still go diving with those sharks?

Sure we can.

What, do you think I lost my nerve?

Have fun.

Thanks.

Bye. See ya.

Well,

it would be a hell of a lot easier for any parts available.

I mean, look at this.

Who makes vacuum tubes anymore?

Just try your best, Will. You always do.

Shelley Lowe?

Yes. Vernon Spencer, your new controller?

Oh, right.

It's great to meet you, Mr. Spencer.

Well, since you're my boss, you could probably get away with calling me

Well, I was just... You were just according to me to respect, do my dance

Has anybody explained to you that you'll be starting out as an A -side?

Oh, yes, they explained it.

It's a glorified errand boy.

Well, things are a bit more complicated today than they were in your day, Mr.

Spencer. They've got a different radar system, more redundancy, a hell of a lot

more traffic.

It doesn't look to me as though anything's changed at all.

Everything's just like I left it.

Damn it.

Do you mind if I take a look at that?

Not at all.

That ought to hold until

the part comes in.

Thank you. I'm just doing my bit to reassure the flying public.

It is really coming down, isn't it? Yeah.

Radios doesn't like this all the way from the Canadian border down to Texas

Panhandle. It's going to be one of those days. We're probably going to get all

the Denver traffic.

Thanks for saving me from drowning out there.

Oh, not a problem.

Hey, Vernon, can I ask you something?

Sure.

You're 55 years old.

You should be getting ready for retirement.

You've got less seniority than I do.

I mean, why do you want all this stress at your age?

What's the attraction?

I don't know.

You go to work, and you spend your day keeping planes from banging into each

other, and then you go home. You think maybe somebody's alive because you're

good at your job.

I was making decent money selling cars, but...

All that time, it felt kind of like I was a shepherd without a flock.

Must have been hard losing your job like that.

Well, to tell the truth, back in those days, we were just a little cocky.

$10 ,000 raise, or the whole union walks.

End of discussion.

What's Reagan going to do about that?

Virus?

We never dreamed he'd come up with such excellent replacements.

You don't like us, do you?

You don't think we can do the job?

Did I say that?

It'll be on your desk tomorrow morning, I promise.

Okay, bye.

I wouldn't squeeze any more in there right now, Grizzly.

If you say so.

But when I see unused airspace like this, it breaks my heart.

Heard from Jack?

No, not yet.

There's no phone up in the fishing cabin.

Administrative leave?

We got a raw deal, Shelly.

Maybe we'll catch some fish at least.

At least.

Cherokee, 1 -5 November, squawk 1 -3 -7 -0 and identify.

How come they call you Beastmaster?

See that?

Yeah.

Hamster bite.

Ham.

You got a problem?

This guy's got a rough engine. He's got to land.

You got an airport?

In Ogden.

Man, I do not like the look of this.

Hey, DeFaro, take it easy. You can handle this.

Look at this. I'm getting these track jumps.

This computer goes down like a duck.

Don't worry about that. If the computer goes down, you've got every plane's

position in your head. Yeah, sure.

Okay, Bob.

Here. I'll tell you what you want to do.

You split the traffic down the middle.

Take these planes 30 to the left. Take these planes 30 to the right. You clear

corridor for your pilot.

Pan Atlantic 302, execute 030 left.

All traffic north, turn 030 right. Global Air 602, turn to heading

030 right.

All flight south, turn 030 left.

Nothing to it, see?

Sure. Phone call.

Oh, thanks.

This is Shelly Lowe. Hey.

Hey. Honey, where are you calling from? I'm at the Houston airport.

What are you doing there? You're supposed to be sitting in Galveston Bay

thinking about things.

Well, I thought about things, and I just want to come home and talk about them,

okay?

Okay, fine.

I'm having a little trouble here, Shelly.

Jack.

Shelly, if you weren't married to me, you wouldn't want me on your floor.

You know it, and I know it.

Shelly, emergency weather briefing.

Jack, something's just come up. I've got to go.

When are you coming in?

I should be in tonight.

I'm going to hitch her out in the cockpit.

Okay, listen, we're going to talk this through, okay?

Sure.

Shelly, I don't want to interrupt, but we need you right away. Okay, I'm

I really have to go, sweetheart.

Give Beastmaster your flight information. I'll meet you plane.

I love you.

I love you, too.

Beastmaster, take this, please.

Hey, John.

Hey.

I'll be coming in on Longhorn flight 16 to 8 p .m.

Okay, I got it.

I'll see you when you get back.

Bye.

Longhorn, flight 1602, now boarding gate 22.

I'm

sorry,

sir, but regulations allow only two carry -ons per passenger. You're going

have to check this.

I'm sure you can find some place for it, huh?

Even if I could, the regulations take.

I don't have time to sit around Salt Lake Airport tonight waiting for my

to arrive.

I have a very important breakfast meeting at 6 o 'clock. Then I get to

talk to over 400 people.

Sir, I'm sorry. It has to be checked.

All right.

Could you at least put it on last so that it'll come off first so I don't

to spend the best years of my life at the baggage care cell?

I'll see what I can do.

Thank you.

Hydraulics. Check.

Boost.

Check. Circuit breakers.

One, three, five, seven, nine, check.

Flap emergency over, Ron. I've got a guest today, guys.

Oh, Jack Lowe.

Better days, Jack. How are you? Good to meet you. First officer, Lisa Parmenter.

Hi, how are you? Listen, I hope I'm not getting in your way here. No, no, not at

all. Have a seat.

You know the drill, right? No talking under 10 ,000 feet or on rollout?

Yeah, I know the drill. Okay. Thanks. Let me know if you need anything, Jack.

name's LeVon. I'm Will LeVon. Thanks.

Radio.

Jack. Transponder.

Um... Uh, check.

Could you get me a scotch and water, please? Certainly. Give me a second.

Hey, Stuart, listen, I need your advice, man. I don't know what to say to this

group. As soon as you can. Yeah, sure.

Yeah, I need a speech by the end of the flight or I'm in panic mode, okay?

Yeah. Move on.

I'd like you to meet a young friend of mine. His name is Justin.

Hi, three. Are you flying by yourself today?

Yes, ma 'am.

Oh, first class.

Lucky you.

Come on.

Let's see now. You're in 3A. It's right here, next to this nice man.

Can I take your hat, Justin?

Oh, no, I guess I'll hold it.

Well, how about something to drink?

I guess I'll have a soda if it's not too much trouble.

No trouble at all.

What about that scotch?

Yeah, go ahead.

So, you work in the tower there, Jack?

Uh, no, I'm in the hole.

Pretty intense, I hear, down there.

Yeah, well, pretty intense.

Man, give me ulcers to do that kind of work.

Oh, you know, you get used to it after a while.

Ascend to 06 ,000.

Have a pleasant flight.

We've got electrical storms all through this front.

And, as you can see, at the moment it's parked all across the western half of

the country.

Does it show any signs of dissipating?

No. If anything, it's getting heavier.

Well, you've got your work cut out for you, Shelley.

Whatever you do, I'll back you up. Thanks, Harriet.

Okay, everybody, we're going to have a lot of activity out there today, a lot

jumpy pilots. We want to maximize the airspace. We also want to keep those

planes apart. I don't want any aluminum showers.

Shell, Jack's flight info is on your desk. Thanks.

Shelly, hello.

Yeah, tell me about it. This is, I think, the worst storm I've seen in,

five years?

All right, so you guys will let me know it's the first sign of any ground

delays, right?

Thanks.

Think we'll make it to Salt Lake on time?

On days like this, we usually get a lot of extra traffic and weather reroutes.

I wouldn't be surprised if we ended up in a holding stack for an hour or so.

And I hope nobody back there is in a big hurry.

Okay, so far I've got if Thomas Edison could come back from the dead and

today's global communications technology. Mr. Lansing, will you be

for dinner this evening?

Yes, sure. What do you got? Our choices tonight are remember the Alamo

enchiladas topped with a mildly spicy ancho chili sauce or our chuck wagon

chicken breast crusted with native Texas pecans.

Wow. What the hell? Let's remember the Alamo.

Are you ready for dinner, Justin? You like enchiladas?

Oh, yes, ma 'am. And I like them. Oh, dear. Oh, man. Hold on.

Sorry, it's here.

No, it's here. Can you please just get me out of here? I'm sorry. As you can

see, we have a very full flight.

Although I'm sure it's possible that someone in coach might change seats with

you. No, thank you. Just bring me a wet towel, please.

Certainly, Mr. Lansing. I'd be happy to bring you a wet towel.

Yeah, I'm sorry. Go on.

Sure, thanks.

So you heard about the storm?

Yeah, big one.

Think you can handle it?

Well, we'll see.

You know, I just bought my son a PC.

You know how much memory it has?

Two gigabytes.

So he's sitting at home playing Intergalactic Warrior, and I'm here

this contraption.

You gotta love the old girl, though.

Well, just don't let anything happen to her, Will.

She's got to keep track of a lot of flights tonight.

You're a pretty good backup, Shelly.

You think so?

Yeah, I've been watching you.

I mean, that brain of yours must have at least one gigabyte.

Well, do me a favor, Will.

Don't make me have to use it.

Well, unfortunately, I can't make that promise.

Thanks for the coffee.

Anytime.

Got a pretty good lake here, Jack.

Hand me that wrench.

Hey, Jack.

Want me to get you something?

Yeah, I was hoping for a cup of coffee.

Cream of sugar?

Oh, no, black. It's fine.

Thank you.

So, busy flight?

It's full, but everyone's pretty well behaved.

Except for that creep in 3B.

You based in Salt Lake?

Yeah. You and your wife have any kids?

No. I'm afraid the FAA keeps us a little busy for that.

Shelly and I, we have the same shift at the radar room. Actually, same area.

In fact, we just passed over the front range.

So in a couple of minutes when Denver hands us off, we'll be coming into

Shirley's airspace.

Well, that must be a nice feeling.

Excuse me?

To know that there's somebody down there watching out for you.

Oh, excuse me. I have to go check on His Majesty.

It's the kind of night I used to love.

Plenty of metal in the air, lots of action.

Yeah, I like it too, as long as we don't have too many nasty surprises.

Yeah, I'm here.

Okay, let me have it.

Computer's down!

What do you got?

I mean, really down.

What the hell's going on here?

All right, folks, we're on battery power now. Don't worry about it. It's a

backup generator. We'll kick you in in a second. Chef, chef, the backup's

failed. What? I've got my guys on a sector to check the search.

Well, what about the phones? They're still working for now.

All right, we've got a full power outage.

Get on the phones immediately and transfer whatever metal you can to other

centers. I need you to check your flight ships very, very carefully. I want the

exact location of every plane out there. You got it?

This is Shelley Lowe, Area Supervisor, Salt Lake Center, advising all loss of

radar and radio communications.

Requesting immediate transfer of airspace control.

Yeah, well, look, I don't know, Stuart. I think we're getting nowhere with this

whole Thomas Edison thing. I mean, no one cares about Thomas Edison.

People care about Bill Gates. Justin, would you like another soda?

No, I guess not.

Just in time. I'm about to turn on the bathroom seatbelt.

That's pretty grim out there.

Nothing we can't handle.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is Captain Ortiz.

There's a bit of weather up ahead that might cause a small degree of

So just to be on the safe side, I'd appreciate it if you remained seated

your seatbelt securely fastened for the next half hour or so.

Thanks very much.

Longhorn Air 1602, contact Lake Center 127 .85.

Longhorn 1602, copy.

127 .85.

Looks like we're in your territory now.

Approach, we've got a complete system failure here.

We're going to have to hold all the parches until further notice.

Yes, I know there's a lot of planes out there, but if we don't have a complete

ground stop right now, they're going to be falling out of the sky in little

pieces.

DePaul. He's having a heart attack. Oh, my God.

I've got a medical emergency here, possible heart attack.

Please, Master, pick up those flight strips. They're all we've got to go on

right now.

Got it.

Yeah, hi, I'm here.

Salt Lake Center, this is Longhorn Air 1602.

Do you copy?

Repeat, Salt Lake Center, this is Longhorn Air 1602.

Come back, Salt Lake.

I can't reach him.

You guys all take your meal break at the same time there in Salt Lake?

It could be that the radios went out. It's happened before.

They should come on in a minute.

I hope so.

I'd sure like to get permission to fly over this stuff.

Yeah, yeah, let's do it. No more historical stuff, all right?

Forward -looking. We're on new frontiers.

We're talking about the millennium.

Stuart? Stuart?

Hello? Stuart?

Hello?

Don't worry, sweetheart. Just a little lightning.

My music's gone.

I'm sure it'll come back soon. Try it now.

Okay, it's back.

Do you mind waving your magic wand and getting my dial tone back?

Thanks. What's your name?

LaVon. LaVon, I'm going to vote you stewards of the month.

They call us flight attendants now.

How's he doing? I don't think he's breathing.

All right.

Anything?

No, nothing.

Come on, DeParo. Come on.

Will somebody go outside and guide the EMTs in so we don't waste any time? I'll

do it. Do it again.

Hey, what about us? I'm sorry, sir. We have to discontinue service until

afternoon.

Well, in weather like this, the least you can do is give us a drink.

Tell you what, as soon as we're out of this weather, I'll bring you a double.

Deal.

You all right? Yeah.

Definitely know what to do with this.

Well, just give it to me, right? Sure, I got nothing better to do.

Oh, God.

Well, I got to hand it to you.

What's your name?

Justin. Justin, I got to hand it to you. At least you didn't throw up on me this

time. Make good progress.

How can I help you, Mr. Lansing?

We have a little gift for you.

Are you all right, Justin?

Yes, ma 'am.

I'm on a flight from hell, Stuart.

Paul, hang in there. Is he going to make it? I don't know.

Will, what's going on?

The problem started in a junction box. We're working on it now.

If we're lucky, we'll have the computer rebooted in half an hour.

Okay, what about the phone?

Well, they're okay for now, but we're losing battery power fast.

I'll keep you posted.

All right, everyone, it looks like we're in for a long haul.

Does anybody have any route conflicts?

No conflicts here.

There's nothing we can do for DePaul right now.

Stay focused. In the meantime, we're in good shape.

Power's going to come back on.

We have every flight in our airspace accounted for.

Salt Lake Center, this is Longhorn Air 1602.

They're still not answering.

Why don't I try an in -flight phone? I'll call my wife, find out what's going

on. Good idea. If something rerouted, I'd like to know about it as soon as

possible.

May I borrow an inflight phone?

Sure, this one right on the wall.

Thank you.

Beastmaster, tell me something. Just before the scope went down, did you see

target coming in from south -south -east?

South -south -east?

Yeah, that part of the sky was clean. Why?

I don't know. I thought I saw something just for a second.

Found to be a ghost image.

What's going on, Gus?

Vernon here saw a ghost right before the scopes went.

I think it might have been a real target.

Hey, man.

No offense, but it's been a few years since you spent any real time on this

equipment, all right? I know ghosts when I see one, Beastmaster, and I've had

more on -job experience than you ever will.

Hold on, guys.

If it was a real plane, it'll be on the strips, right?

I'll go double -check.

Great.

Shelly Lowe here.

Shelly? Hello?

Hello, anybody there?

Please, master, check the other phones.

Hello?

They're dead.

Get Will in here right now.

Nobody home?

Something strange is going on.

Yeah. I thought you said the phones were working.

We must have had less battery power than I thought.

Look, we're working on the reboot right now. Just get me in touch with those

planes, Will.

I

couldn't

get him.

Phone seemed to be down.

Better check with Denver, Lisa.

Denver Center, this is Longhorn 1602.

We are unable, I repeat, we are unable to reach Salt Lake Center. Please

Longhorn 16 -02.

Salt Lake's radar and radio are temporarily down.

Get you some new route instructions as soon as we can.

We're a little backed up here at the moment.

Thank you, Denver. Standing by.

That ever happen on one of your ships? Radar and radio both?

It's uh it happened to no clue once I wouldn't worry about it. They should be

online soon

Machine

you're awesome Thanks a lot. Oh you want

hello on

You mind?

Thanks.

So, what hat you got there?

Oh, yes, sir. It's a bull rider.

Don't tell me you actually ride bulls.

Oh, no, that's just the kind of hat it is.

I ride horses.

Why didn't you ride a horse to Salt Lake City?

Oh, because it's too far.

You know, I'm going to go see my granddaddy.

He raises cutting horses.

Your granddaddy must be pretty rich to play first class.

Yeah, he's got a lot of miles.

He's platinum.

I got it. You all right? Yeah. You all right?

Okay.

It's okay. It's all right. I'm going to go up front, okay?

Everyone sit down. It's all right. It's all right. It's annoying.

Everything's fine.

Everything's fine.

and seem to have lost a good deal of our electrical power.

But I want to reassure you that the aircraft itself is completely stable and

we'll have you safely on the ground at no time at all.

May I have your attention, please? I know we're all a bit shaken up, but

everything is going to be just fine.

I'd like to ask all of you to please remain seated with your seatbelts firmly

fastened. Thank you.

Levon.

I think you better take a look at this.

Fire on the strapper's wing. I know. We've left the outer wing panel and

revented fuel.

Fire bottle one.

Still burning.

Fire the second bottle.

It's out.

Yeah, for now. It could reignite.

Any luck with Salt Lake? I can't read from the light and wiped out our radio.

Check the transponder.

Right.

Hey.

You're telling me we lost our radios and transponder both?

Afraid so.

Then we're flying blind.

The best we can do until the phones come back.

Oh, this is fine, thanks. Okay.

I found this on the floor.

Denver had probably just begun the handoff when the computer went down.

It shouldn't be that big of a problem. They probably still have him on radar.

Yes, hi, this is Shelley Loaf with Salt Lake Center.

I need all the information you have on Longhorn Air Flight 1602.

What?

Well, when?

All right, could you give me their last heading and altitude?

Yeah, I hope so, too.

Denver lost all contact with that site, which means that we've got a plane out

here and we have no idea where it is.

Come on, we've got to go talk to the passengers again. They're bound to have

seen the fire.

Okay, Jack.

I'm ready for some expert advice.

Our Salt Lake is back online. If they have their radar, we'll still show up as

primary target. But we don't have a transponder.

And without that signal, they won't be able to tell our exact position or our

altitude. We've had transponders go out before. In that situation, we expect the

pilots to follow the original flight plan. So, hold your course.

There's a problem with that. We're losing fuel like crazy, and the

beating us up.

I say, of course, but only if you can.

Altitude 24 ,000.

Airspeed 460. That's the last we know about them.

Well, if they stick to their original flight plan, we shouldn't be in any

trouble. Yeah, but why did their transponder go out? I mean, what the

going on up there?

We're back in business.

What the hell's going on here?

I don't know, but I'm going to find out.

Vernon, check the board.

Will!

Get me, Will!

have your attention, please.

Captain Ortiz has asked me to emphasize that there is no longer a threat to the

aircraft. There's no reason that we shouldn't have you on the ground in Salt

Lake within an hour. So, please, until then, all of you continue to remain

seated and keep your seatbelts firmly fastened. Thank you.

Hey, Mormon.

I am through babysitting you, you arrogant little weasel.

How are you, Justin? You okay?

Um, I'm kind of scared.

Don't you worry. This man right here is going to take care of you.

I'm wasting my time with this thing, aren't I?

Yeah, all the in -flight phones are dead.

Someone probably has a cell phone. No, it won't work at this altitude.

I think I might be able to help you.

How's that?

I have a satellite phone.

You what?

I need to borrow it right now.

I wish it was that simple. It's in my suitcase.

I need to check it.

Regulations, you know.

Can we get it?

I can try.

What does it look like?

It's a tan leather suitcase.

It says Evan Lansing on the tag.

We've got to have that phone.

I need this.

Thanks.

My pleasure.

All right. What did you just say? I need a code and base, won't I?

What the hell's going on, Will?

Generator surge.

Circuit failed.

Well, what are you going to do about it? We're going to try and reroute the

circuit. Well, how long is this going to take?

20 minutes. We don't have 20 minutes, Will. Oh, okay, Shelly. Since you're

a preferred customer, I'll just hurry it up a little bit.

I'm sorry.

Just do what you can, okay? It's okay. I'm a little tense, too.

This is no good. If I turn south now, I can head toward Albuquerque.

No, no, no. It's better to stay with your original flight plan. There's too

traffic in the south this time of night. Yeah, but the weather might be better.

I'm getting low on fuel trying to fight this turbulence.

We're still better off heading for Salt Lake.

Shelly's going to be clearing out airspace for us. If you go in any other

direction, it's going to be like playing Russian Roulette.

What if it catches fire again?

Couldn't happen.

You want some of my pants?

Yes, sir.

You always call everyone sir and ma 'am.

Yes, sir.

I think we've looked at that long enough. Don't you?

You know what that is right there?

A UFO?

That's a satellite.

Do you know how many of these my company is going to have in geosynchronous

orbit by this time next year?

Yes, sir.

A hundred and ten.

Justin, I'm telling you, by this time next year, with those satellites up

there's not a place in the world you can't make a phone call from.

Imagine you're in a submarine at the bottom of the Marianas Trench and you

suddenly remember it's your grandfather's birthday.

All you do, you get on the phone, you give him a call.

You all

right?

I feel like we hit something.

Look outside.

What do you see?

Everything's where it should be.

What the hell is going on?

I don't know. Maybe it was a...

We're not, okay?

Yes, we are.

What do you know about it? You're an aerospace engineer, huh? Yes, sir.

Okay, well, let me tell you something. I apply a lot. We're going to be okay.

Come on, let's talk about something else.

You have your own horse?

Well, what's his name?

He's a mare. Her name's Blue Bonnet.

Okay, well, tell me about Blue Bonnet. Tell me about her withers or fetlocks or

something, okay?

It was an air pocket.

Might be an air pocket that big out there, but not two in a row.

The weight.

What? What? The weight from other planes.

Get us out of here right now.

We're in the middle of a holding stack.

Call Ogden and Provo as well. I want a full ground stop at every airport in the

region. Yes.

All right, get back to me somehow as soon as you can.

Great, let's just hope they stay up this time.

Where's 1602?

Right there.

All I'm getting is a blip. The transponder must still be out. There's

all. All right, well, let's just... Tell me we're not seeing this, okay?

I need an immediate alert to every aircraft in the vicinity. I've got a

airliner flying through the holding stack at Salt Lake.

Altitude and airspeed unknown. Current heading 040. Get that out instantly,

please.

Grizzly, burn him. Alert those other planes.

Beastmaster, keep your screens locked on this sector.

What's going on with this guy, Shelly?

I don't know. All I know is he's on a collision course with 20 other planes.

We must have won it off course somehow.

I think the lightning knocked out our navigation system. We're not getting

accurate heading information.

Well, you've got to get us out of here fast.

Right. Where do I go?

Okay. We usually go to Holystack, 45 miles.

Okay.

Can you still get a reliable heading from your company?

I think so.

I want you to turn to the right.

30 degrees right now.

Turning 30 right.

How's our fuel?

Not good.

He must have figured out where he is. He's getting out of there. The question

is, where's he going to go next? The money's on runway 16 right. I hope

wrong. At this moment, that would take them right through a military departure

corridor.

So, uh, what'd you do about Blue Bonnet's chipped hoof?

We put some wet burlap on it. Uh -huh. And did that cure it up okay?

Yes, sir, it did.

Well, glad to hear it.

All right,

this is what we do. We cut up... That's the scene where the little girl morphs

into the alien.

Cut the morph?

You can't cut the morph.

Why not?

Because the little girl is the whole reason Terra Nova gets on the spaceship.

Without her, what's his motivation?

Janet, Janet, Janet, I am $20 million over budget on this movie, all right?

Call that writer in the morning, have him come up with a, what do you call it,

motivation? That doesn't involve special effects, all right?

You ready to fly?

Don't you think we ought to wait for the weather to clear?

Well, that's why I bought the plane.

So we don't have to wait.

I don't care if you have the authority to order a ground stop or not, Major. If

you don't do it in the next five minutes, one of your F -16s is going to

head -on collision with a civilian airliner. Shell, he's turning.

I don't get it.

Why is this guy turning away from our main runway? There's no way he could

known he was traveling through an Air Force corridor.

It's like he's got one of us in the cockpit with him.

Longhorn 1602.

Oh, my God.

What's the matter?

Jack's on that plane.

Oh, God.

Okay, this baby will hold together another 15 minutes or so. I think I can

us down. We're heading straight in.

Straight in? What runway?

One -sixth right. That's where they usually put it. No, that's no good.

going to take you straight through an Air Force departure corridor. I am

practically running out of fuel here, and these controls are getting sloppier

the minute. We just got to hope you're wrong. Not wrong. But I'm the captain of

this aircraft. And I'm the air traffic controller, and I am telling you, I have

a picture of this airspace in my head. And if you keep going in this direction,

you are going to commit suicide.

There's something wrong with the plane. Something worse than the transponder

being out. How do you know? Because Jack would have stuck to the original flight

plan. There's some reason why he can't.

Grizzly, get on that cell phone. Alert the tower. We've got a crippled plane.

don't know where it's going to land. Got it.

Kelly, we've got to have a plan. There's lots of traffic still up there. We've

got to figure out what Jack's going to do next so that we can clear a path for

him. I am trying to think of a plan, Vernon.

Don't you think I'm trying to do that?

It's just a little personal, okay?

Use your radar, Shelly.

What's Jack's next move going to be?

It's going to runway 25.

Runway 35?

It's closed. It's under construction.

Not tonight. That crew doesn't work in the rain, and Jack knows that.

He also knows that nobody's going to be taking off or landing from there.

Grizzly, get on the phone to Denver.

Have them alert every plane in the sector. I want a 10 -mile lane on either

of that heading. I don't care what altitude. Nobody gets in that corridor.

Understand? Nobody! Right.

You're right, Chell. They just turned in. They're headed in that direction.

Have you ever flown in this sort of weather before?

What are you so worried about, Janet?

Oh, I just think if we wait a little while, we'll have a better... Janet,

Janet, Janet, I've got to be in New York first thing in the morning in front of

a room full of suits who want to take me off this picture.

If it's all right with you, I would like to get there in time to get a decent

night's sleep, you know?

Besides, this stuff is thin, you know? As soon as we punch through the clouds,

it'll disappear.

Most likely.

Don't you have to call the tower or somebody?

Oh, no, no, there's no tower. It's an uncontrolled airport.

Janet,

baby, don't worry about it. Just sit back, relax, enjoy the flight, okay?

The guy must have taken off from some uncontrolled airport.

We've got to know his altitude. He hasn't turned his transponder on yet.

And until he does, we won't know how high he is. All we know is that he's got

right for them.

Turn on your transponder.

Damn it!

Turn it on.

Come on!

What are you doing up there?

No, no. Don't be ridiculous, Justin. They'll put it back out again, okay?

It is. The wing's on fire. It's going to blow off. Listen to me, Justin.

Even if it blows up and the wing comes off, it's no big deal.

I'm serious.

These pilots are trained for all sorts of emergencies.

They spend hours and hours in simulators.

When it comes to it, they can fly one of these babies with just one wing.

They can?

Yeah, sure they can.

Listen, Justin, you are safer up here on this plane than you are down there on

that horse.

I mean, uh, old Blue Bonnet hits one of those prairie dog holes and you end up

breaking your neck, right?

Good story.

It's gonna be okay.

What's this guy doing up there?

I'm gonna put us in a dive. Maybe it'll blow it out.

Better make it shallow.

If we pick up too much speed, we're just gonna...

It looks like we lost about eight feet of our starboard wing.

Can't keep her in the air.

Hang on!

I will find a way to get it down.

All right?

Hey,

come on, look.

Weather like this is why we've got all these instruments and dials and... Oh,

wow. See, that one should be on.

Uh -oh.

He turned his transponder on. We got him.

Altitude 10 ,000. He's on your frequency. Hurry.

Oh, hey.

Here's that demo from the guy that's been calling me. Tell me what you think.

Aircraft, 10 miles southwest of Salt Lake, climbing through 10 ,000. Traffic,

o 'clock. Acknowledge.

What do you think? I like it. It's a little sappy, but I like it. Aircraft,

miles southwest of Salt Lake. Acknowledge.

Aircraft, 10 miles southwest of Salt Lake. Traffic is at your 12 o 'clock, 8

miles opposite direction.

An emergency airliner. Album is unknown.

You can hear it better.

Yes, he is right there. Heading 050.

Something's wrong. This guy's tuned out up there.

All I can hear is music. It sounds like some movie soundtrack.

Oh, oh, right here.

I want to use this for the part where Terranova first meets the Overlord. What

do you think?

The landing gear is down.

That's one thing we don't have to worry about.

Yeah. It's our lucky day, all right.

Stop crying, okay? I'm not going to let anything happen to you, I promise.

Don't let go of me.

I'm not going to let you out of my sight until I get you to your granddad, okay?

How's that?

Hey, does anyone hear me?

I need help!

Hey!

What's that?

You hold on here, okay? I'll be right back, all right? I'm going to be right

back.

Aircraft, southwest of Salt Lake Airport. This is Salt Lake Center. How

hear over?

How do you hear over?

Man, this is bad.

Shelly, no. Shelly!

Jack! Jack, what's your altitude?

What's our altitude?

10 ,000. 10 ,000. Jack, descend immediately.

Descend now.

Take her down. Right now.

I'm not sure they can land that.

Sure they can.

I love you.

I love you.

You just hold on, okay?

Okay. I will.

Take over, Vernon.

Not a problem.

Okay, folks.

We're still in crisis mode.

Focus.

Concentrate.

Bring this man home.

How you doing? You okay?

I'm fine. Just a little shook up. Bit of a mess.

Yeah? Well, I bet you're all right.

You should get yourself strapped in. What about the passenger?

It's all right. I'll check.

Hurry. I'm about to put this thing down.

Okay, let's go.

Please make sure your seatbelts are fastened. Lean forward in your seats,

cradling your head with your arms.

I know you're scared of everybody, but try not to panic. Make sure everybody's

buckled in tight. Check your friends.

Is LaVonna okay?

Yeah, she's all right. She got a little tossed around, but she'll be fine, okay?

All right.

Ready for a rollercoaster ride, buddy?

I'm kind of scared.

You'll be fine, Justin, all right? Just squeeze tight on my hand.

I mean, uh... Not bad gonna be, right?

Let's get your heads down, man.

I'm not gonna let anything bad happen to you.

I think all the construction is on the left side.

Try to stay to your right as much as you can.

Try this thing's fighting me. I'll be lucky. We hit the runway at all

Like they're ready for us.

He's on the right!

I can't!

Work it! Work it!

Thank you.

Get the turn up. Ready?

Justin.

You don't want to leave this behind.

Thanks.

See, buddy, I told you to show up, huh?

Well, I got to take him back to his grandfather.

Actually, that's my job.

But you're welcome to join me.

I bet you're anxious to know if I cut a redfish, aren't you?

I was so worried about you.

Yeah?

Yeah, me too.

I want you to come back.

You got me back.

No, I want you to come back to my floor.

Tell me you will.

We'll talk about it in Borneo.

How are we getting to Borneo?

How about a really slow boat?