Panic in the Skies
Panic in the Skies
| 13 October 1996 (USA)
Panic in the Skies Trailers

The cockpit of a Boeing 747 is struck by lightning during takeoff for a flight to Europe, fatally injuring the flight crew. Laurie, the senior flight attendant, enlists the aid of passenger Brett Young. They determine that the autopilot can bring the plane in for a landing, but soon learn that the autopilot is locking onto the transponders of airfields at random, including signals from small airports with runways too short to accommodate the jumbo jet. Meanwhile, federal officials on the ground who have lost radio contact with the jet debate whether the plane should be shot down to prevent a more disastrous crash in a heavily populated area.

Reviews
Infamousta brilliant actors, brilliant editing
Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible
Joanna Mccarty Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.
Lachlan Coulson This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.
jamiecostelo58 The title really says it all, and this film never shakes off its TV style, with your typical bad acting and over the top performances in some places, but Kate Jackson is pretty convincing in her role as an air stewardess, although sometimes you may think that if she just calls Charlie and asks for his help, she'll become Sabrina Duncan all over again!There have been countless TV movies/dramas detailing the effects of air disasters and so on, and I think to myself why the time and effort was wasted in making yet another one. In a nutshell, this really does not make viewers who are rather timid of flying (like myself) feel any better, and for those who are not frightened of air travel, watching something like Panic In The Skies will not be something they would want to remember.Nevertheless, Panic In The Skies does contain heart-stopping moments mixed with the usual sympathetic and emotional aspects of people fearing for their lives, and perhaps this is what makes it a little more interesting for the viewer who would actually want to see the film to the end and find out what happens, even if we can guess beforehand! 6/10
rcoulam999 Who cares if it's utterly, utterly ridiculous and implausible? Never heard of "the willing suspension of disbelief"? It is a miserably wet November afternoon, but "Panic In The Skies" has cheered me enormously. With more cheese than a pile of ripening socks, and enough improbability to drive Heisenberg to drink, this film has to set some sort of clichés-per-minute record, which I suspect will never be challenged. Astounding effort. I give this one ten out of ten for the mad dog alone. I hated "CHiPS" because I thought Erik Estrada was rubbish; I loved "PITS" (somehow appropriate?) for much the same reason - Erik was truly in his element here. A simple rule for life: don't get on a plane if you recognise one of the flight attendants from TV.
Flippitygibbit Maybe I was in a forgiving mood, but I didn't think 'Panic In The Skies!' - exclamation! - was that bad. On a sliding scale for plane-disaster movies, it was somewhere near the top. The cliches, given that the genre demands at least a few, were limited: nobody had a mobile phone easily at hand (Airspeed), and there were no pilots (Rough Air), doctors, or nuns with guitars among the passengers. Nor were ground control on hand to help. There was the lone child, the pregnant woman and/or newly pregnant stewardess, plus the elderly couple, but I would have started to get really nervous without some familiar stereotypes. What about the Bar-B-Pilots, though, or the dog attack in the cargo hold? And for the 'stewardess who holds it all together before falling in love with the conman hero', we got 'stewardess who falls to pieces' as a bonus package (normally the hero pilot's role). How's that for equality? The computer graphics let the climax down a little, but all in all, I really didn't end up cringing in my seat (see Final Descent, and its train sequel, Final Run. Guffaw, snort).
actress-3 I saw this movie after the Payne Stewart incident. Even though some of the special effects were fake it made me think about what the people would be feeling. It was pretty good. Of course I tuned in because of Kate Jackson and was not disappointed! She was solid as usual. I would definitely recommend it. Thumbs up!