History Film / SSTDeathFlight

The world's first commercial supersonic flight, Maiden I, is about to take off from New York to Paris, filled with a group of contest winners and crew. Unfortunately, Les Phillips (George Maharis), an engineer, fed up with being dissed by the plane's designer, Willy Bassett (Creator/BurgessMeredith), sabotages the plane's hydraulic system, causing it to malfunction during flight. And as if that isn't bad enough, Ralph Therman (Creator/BrockPeters), an epidemiologist from [=WHO=], has the plane transport a highly infectious Senegal flu, turning the plane into a flying quarantine zone.

Critically panned for its painfully standard disaster movie plot and poor production value, the film holds the dubious honor of being one of the first movies ever riffed on ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'', getting the treatment during the show's [=KTMA=] season. For the ''[=MST3K=]'' episode, see [[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S0EK13SSTDeathFlight here]]. (In fairness, at least ''SST: Death Flight'' ''has'' enough of the trappings of a DisasterMovie to qualify as one, unlike [[Film/SanFranciscoInternationalAirport another TV movie]] given the Satellite Of Love treatment.)

Critically panned for its painfully standard disaster movie plot and poor production value, the film holds the dubious honor of being one of the first movies ever riffed on ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'', getting the treatment during the show's [=KTMA=] season. For the ''[=MST3K=]'' episode, see [[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S0EK13SSTDeathFlight here]]. (In fairness, at least this ''has'' enough of the trappings of a DisasterMovie to qualify as one, unlike [[Film/SanFranciscoInternationalAirport another TV movie]] given the Satellite Of Love treatment.

Critically panned for its painfully standard disaster movie plot and poor production value, the film holds the dubious honor of being one of the first movies ever riffed on ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'', getting the treatment during the show's [=KTMA=] season. For the ''[=MST3K=]'' episode, see [[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S0EK13SSTDeathFlight here]].

In the midst of all this, [[FourLinesAllWaiting a whole bunch of subplots crop up]]. Hank Fairbanks (Doug [=McClure=]), a passenger working for an aircraft buyer company, has a grudge against the captain, Jim Walsh (Robert Reed). Said passenger used to have a relationship with one of the stewardesses. The airline's publicist is having an affair with Angela Garland (Misty Rowe), "Miss [=SST=]". And as if that isn't enough, a former sportscaster on the plane, Lyle Kingman (Martin Milner), is discussing a job change with his wife, Nancy (Susan Strasberg), and a woman, Anne Redding (Creator/SeasonHubley), runs into her old boss/lover, Paul Whitley (Creator/PeterGraves), while traveling with her new lover, Bob Connors (Creator/JohnDeLancie).

In the midst of all this, [[FourLinesAllWaiting a whole bunch of subplots crop up]]. Hank Fairbanks (Doug [=McClure=]), a passenger working for an aircraft buyer company, has a grudge against the captain, Jim Walsh (Robert Reed). Said passenger used to have a relationship with one of the stewardesses. The airline's publicist is having an affair with Angela Garland (Misty Rowe), "Miss [=SST=]". And as if that isn't enough, a former sportscaster on the plane, Lyle Kingman (Martin Milner), is discussing a job change with his wife, Nancy (Susan Strasberg), and a woman, Anne Redding (Season Hubley), runs into her old boss/lover, Paul Whitley (Creator/PeterGraves), while traveling with her new lover, Bob Connors (Creator/JohnDeLancie).

* DudeWheresMyRespect: Phillips sabotages the plane planning to get the plane to turn around and discredit Basset. It works about as well as expected.

* FromBadToWorse: Things are difficult enough when the plane's hydraulic system are malfunctioning, but the deadly virus onboard really puts the icing on the cake.

!Tropes:

In the midst of all this, [[FourLinesAllWaiting a whole bunch of subplots crop up]]. Hank Fairbanks (Doug [=McClure=]), a passenger working for an aircraft buyer company, has a grudge against the captain, Jim Walsh (Robert Reed). Said passenger used to have a relationship with one of the stewardesses. The airline's publicist is having an affair with Angela Garland (Misty Rowe), "Miss [=SST=]". And as if that isn't enough, a former sportscaster, Lyle Kingman (Martin Milner), on the plane is discussing a job change with his wife, Nancy (Susan Strasberg), and a woman, Anne Redding (Season Hubley), runs into her old boss/lover, Paul Whitley (Creator/PeterGraves), while traveling with her new lover, Bob Connors (Creator/JohnDeLancie).

The world's first commercial supersonic flight, Maiden I, is about to take off from New York to Paris, filled with a group of contest winners and crew. Unfortunately, Les Phillips (George Maharis), an engineer, fed up with being dissed by the plane's designer, Willy Bassett (Creator/BurgessMeredith), sabotages the plane's hydrualic system, causing it to malfunction during flight. And as if that isn't bad enough, Ralph Therman (Creator/BrockPeters), an epidemioligist from [=WHO=], has the plane transport a highly infectuous Senegal flu, turning the plane into a flying quarantine zone.

In the midst of all this, [[FourLinesAllWaiting a whole bunch of subplots crop up]]. Hank Fairbanks (Doug [=McClure=]), a passenger working for an aircraft buyer company, has a grudge against the captain, Jim Walsh (Robert Reed). Said passenger used to have a relationship with one of the stewardesses. The airline's publicist is having an affair with Angela Garland (Misty Rowe), "Miss [=SST=]". And as if that isn't enough, a former sportscaster, Lyle Kingman (Martin Milner), on the plane is discussing a job change with his wife, Nancy (Susan Strasberg), and a woman, Anne Redding (Season Hubley), runs into her old boss/lover, Paul Whitley (Creator/PeterGraves), while travelling with her new lover, Bob Connors (Creator/JohnDeLancie).

* DevelopingDoomedCharacters: A plane full of them, no less.

* FromBadToWorse: Things are difficult enough when the plane's hydrualic system are malfunctioning, but the deadly virus onboard really puts the icing on the cake.
* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: Played straight with Miss SST when the publicist isn't willing to start a family with her and wants her to have one; she immediately refuses and seems offended that he even suggested it.

* WhatTheHellHero: In the past, Hank lost his pilot license for making an emergency landing, in his words, in "less than ideal weather". While he presents it to Bassett as though the airline overreacted, Jim Walsh, his co-pilot during the flight who reported him, later reminds him that [[spoiler:the landing he did was much more reckless than he let on and it was a miracle the plane didn't crash]].

The world's first commercial supersonic flight, Maiden I, is about to take off from New York to Paris, filled with a group of contest winners and crew. Unfortunately, Les Phillips, an engineer, fed up with being dissed by the plane's designer, Willy Bassett, sabotages the plane's hydrualic system, causing it to malfunction during flight. And as if that isn't bad enough, Ralph Therman, an epidemioligist from [=WHO=], has the plane transport a highly infectuous Senegal flu, turning the plane into a flying quarantine zone.

In the midst of all this, [[FourLinesAllWaiting a whole bunch of subplots crop up]]. Hank Fairbanks, a passenger working for an aircraft buyer company, has a grudge against the captain, Jim Walsh. Said passenger used to have a relationship with one of the stewardesses. The airline's publicist is having an affair with Angela Garland, "Miss [=SST=]". And as if that isn't enough, a former sportscaster, Lyle Kingman, on the plane is discussing a job change with his wife, Nancy, and a woman, Anne Redding, runs into her old boss/lover, Paul Whitley, while travelling with her new lover, Bob Connors.

'''SST: Death Flight''', also known as ''SST: Disaster in the Sky'', ''Flight of the Maiden'' and simply ''Death Flight'', is a 1977 [[MadeForTVMovie made-for-TV]] airplane DisasterMovie. Meant to capitalize on the success of the disaster movies like the ''Film/{{Airport}}'' series, it featured an [[AllStarCast all-TV star ensemble cast]] and was directed by David Lowell Rich, who went on to direct the fourth and final ''Airport'' movie.

''SST: Death Flight'', also known as ''SST: Disaster in the Sky'', ''Flight of the Maiden'' and simply ''Death Flight'', is a 1977 [[MadeForTVMovie made-for-TV]] airplane DisasterMovie. Meant to capitalize on the success of the disaster movies like the ''Film/{{Airport}}'' series, it featured an [[AllStarCast all-TV star ensemble cast]] and was directed by David Lowell Rich, who went on to direct the fourth and final ''Airport'' movie.

In the midst of all this, a whole bunch of subplots crop up. Hank Fairbanks, a passenger working for an aircraft buyer company, has a grudge against the captain, Jim Walsh. Said passenger used to have a relationship with one of the stewardesses. The airline's publicist is having an affair with Angela Garland, "Miss [=SST=]". And as if that isn't enough, a former sportscaster, Lyle Kingman, on the plane is discussing a job change with his wife, Nancy, and a woman, Anne Redding, runs into her old boss/lover, Paul Whitley, while travelling with her new lover, Bob Connors.

Critically panned for its painfully standard disaster movie plot and poor production value, the film holds the dubious honor of being one of the first movies ever riffed on ''MysteryScienceTheater3000'', getting the treatment during the show's [=KTMA=] season. For the ''[=MST3K=]'' episode, see [[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S0EK13SSTDeathFlight here]].

* TokenRomance: Most of the subplots qualify, but the triangle drama between Anne, Paul and Bob stands out.
* TrappedByMountainLions: Pretty much all the subplots on the plane are this since they have nothing to do with the plane's mechanical problems and have no impact on them. The only one that ties even vaguely into the flight is when Bob Connors [[spoiler:calls for a vote by the passengers on whether the plane should land in London as ordered or take a risk and try to land in Senegal and he votes for London while Ann votes for Senegal]].