Plot
Ex-fighter pilot and taxi driver Ted Striker (Robert Hays) became traumatized during an unnamed war, leading to his fear of flying. As a result, he is unable to hold a responsible job and his wartime girlfriend, Elaine Dickinson (Julie Hagerty), now a stewardess, leaves him. To win her back, Striker overcomes his fear and boards a flight from Los Angeles to Chicago that she is serving on. During the flight, Elaine rebuffs his attempts to win her back over.
After dinner is served, many of the passengers fall ill, and fellow passenger Dr. Barry Rumack (Leslie Nielsen) quickly realizes that the fish dinner gave some passengers food poisoning. The stewards discover that the cockpit crew, including pilot Clarence Oveur (Peter Graves) and co-pilot Roger Murdock (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), have all come down with food poisoning, leaving no one aboard to fly the plane. Elaine contacts the Chicago control tower for help, and is instructed by tower supervisor Steve McCroskey (Lloyd Bridges) to activate the plane's autopilot, a large inflatable doll named "Otto Pilot", which will get them to Chicago, but will not be able to land the plane. Rumack convinces Ted to fly the plane, though Ted feels unable to handle the pressure and the unfamiliar aircraft.
McCroskey knows that he must get someone else to help talk the plane down and calls Rex Kramer (Robert Stack). Kramer was Ted's commanding officer in the war, and despite their dislike, would be the best choice to instruct Striker. As the plane nears Chicago, Ted becomes increasingly stressed and can only land the plane after a pep talk from Dr. Rumack. Furthermore, lightning storms strike the plane, disabling some of its engines. With Kramer's stream of advice, Ted is able to overcome his fears and engine troubles and safely land the plane with only minor injuries to some passengers. Ted's courage rekindles Elaine's love for him, and the two share a kiss while Otto takes off in the evacuated plane after inflating a female companion.
Read more about this topic: Airplane!
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“The plot was most interesting. It belonged to no particular age, people, or country, and was perhaps the more delightful on that account, as nobody’s previous information could afford the remotest glimmering of what would ever come of it.”
—Charles Dickens (1812–1870)
“Morality for the novelist is expressed not so much in the choice of subject matter as in the plot of the narrative, which is perhaps why in our morally bewildered time novelists have often been timid about plot.”
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“If you need a certain vitality you can only supply it yourself, or there comes a point, anyway, when no one’s actions but your own seem dramatically convincing and justifiable in the plot that the number of your days concocts.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)