Best movies like Mayday at 40,000 Feet!

A crippled plane. A crazed convict...

A unique, carefully handpicked, selection of the best movies like Mayday at 40,000 Feet! Starring David Janssen, Don Meredith, Christopher George, Ray Milland, and more. If you liked Mayday at 40,000 Feet! then you may also like: Non-Stop, Airplane!, Airport, Airport '77, Airport 1975 and many more popular movies featured on this list. You can further filter the list even more or get a random selection from the list of similar movies, to make your selection even easier.

The co-pilot and engineer of a passenger jet struggle to keep the plane airborne after a marshal onboard, transporting a murderer to prison, has a heart attack and the killer uses his gun to shoot the captain and blow out the hydraulics.

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Non-Stop

Bill Marks is a burned-out veteran of the Air Marshals service. He views the assignment not as a life-saving duty, but as a desk job in the sky. However, today's flight will be no routine trip. Shortly into the transatlantic journey from New York to London, he receives a series of mysterious text messages ordering him to have the government transfer $150 million into a secret account, or a passenger will die every 20 minutes.

Airplane!

An ex-fighter pilot forced to take over the controls of an airliner when the flight crew succumbs to food poisoning.

Airport

Melodrama about a bomber on board an airplane, an airport almost closed by snow, and various personal problems of the people involved.

Airport '77

Flight 23 has crashed in the Bermuda Triangle after a hijacking gone wrong. Now the surviving passengers must brave panic, slow leaks, oxygen depletion, and more while attempting a daring plan, all while 200 feet underwater.

Airport 1975

When an in-flight collision incapacitates the pilots of an airplane bound for Los Angeles, stewardess Nancy Pryor is forced to take over the controls. From the ground, her boyfriend Alan Murdock, a retired test pilot, tries to talk her through piloting and landing the 747 aircraft. Worse yet, the anxious passengers — among which are a noisy nun and a cranky man — are aggravating the already tense atmosphere.

Back from Eternity

A South American plane loaded with an assortment of characters crash lands in a remote jungle area in the middle of a storm. The passengers then discover they are in an area inhabited by vicious cannibals and must escape before they are found. A remake of Five Came Back (1939).

The Concorde... Airport '79

Aviation disaster-prone Joe Patroni must contend with nuclear missiles, the French Air Force and the threat of the plane splitting in two over the Alps.

Cone of Silence

A seasoned pilot is condemned for an error which causes a crash. The pilot later dies in a crash with similar circumstances and an examiner looks for scientific reasons for the crashes.

Sully

On 15 January 2009, the world witnessed the 'Miracle on the Hudson' when Captain 'Sully' Sullenberger glided his disabled plane onto the Hudson River, saving the lives of all 155 souls aboard. However, even as Sully was being heralded by the public and the media for his unprecedented feat of aviation skill, an investigation was unfolding that threatened to destroy his reputation and career.

The Flight That Disappeared

A cross-country airliner, whose passengers include a nuclear physicist, a rocket expert, and a mathematical genius, is drawn beyond radar range by an unknown, unbreakable force.

Flight World War II

International Flight 42 is on course, when all of a sudden a massive and weird storm crops up around the plane. This sends the plane back in time to the year 1940- smack dab in the middle of WWII! Now, the crew and passengers must not only find a way back to their time, but fight off the Axis powers.

Destination: Infestation

While on a flight home from Colombia, the plane that Dr. Carrie Ross and her daughter are on is attacked by bullet ants whose sting is the most painful and deadliest on the planet. Joining forces with air marshal Ethan Hart, Dr. Ross, an entomologist, tries desperately to save the flight from disaster. In the end, their struggle brings them closer together and offers the couple hope for the future.

Flight 93

Flight 93 is a 2006 made-for-TV film, directed by Peter Markle, which chronicles the events aboard United Airlines Flight 93 during the September 11 attacks. It premiered January 30, 2006 on the A&E Network and was re-broadcast several times throughout 2006. The film focused heavily on eight passengers, namely Todd Beamer, Mark Bingham, Tom Burnett, Jeremy Glick, Lauren Grandcolas, Donald Greene, Nicole Miller, and Honor Elizabeth Wainio. It features small appearances from many other passengers, namely Donald Peterson and his wife, Jean, and also from flight attendant Sandra Bradshaw.

Skyjacked

A crazed Vietnam vet bomber hijacks a Boeing 707 in this disaster film filled with the usual early '70s stereotypes, and demands to be taken to Russia.

Turbulence

On a flight transporting dangerous convicts, murderer Ryan Weaver manages to break free and cause complete chaos throughout the plane. As various people on board fall victim to Weaver, it is ultimately down to flight attendant Teri Halloran to keep the aircraft from crashing, with on-ground support from an air traffic controller. While Halloran struggles to pilot the plane, Weaver continues to terrorize the surviving members of the crew.

Turbulence 2: Fear of Flying

A passenger of a hijacked airliner who happens to be an airplane engineer works to deactivate a chemical weapons bomb after the hijackers kill the pilot and threaten to kill all the passengers on the plane.

The Crowded Sky

When Navy pilot Dale Heath takes off, he doesn't expect his navigational equipment to fail and must adapt when it goes out along with his radio. Heading straight for a commercial jet piloted by Dick Barnett, whose plane is full of passengers, Heath can't tell which way to turn in order to avoid a catastrophe.

Murder on Flight 502

On a flight to London, a note is found stating that there will be murders taking place on the airliner before it lands.

Ground Control

An air-traffic controller quits after a plane crash but, years later, goes to help an airport that is in the path of a terrible storm.

Come Fly with Me

Three airline hostesses combine their work crossing the Atlantic with searching for a rich handsome man to marry.

Flight 666

Passengers and crew on a flight are attacked by unseen forces that threaten all aboard.

Hijacked: Flight 285

A convicted murderer is escorted by marshals on a regular flight from Phoenix to Dallas. Shortly after takeoff, two of his aides, traveling as ordinary passengers, take control and free him. He demands $20 million in bonds upon landing. And a sick passenger, bad weather or mechanical problems won't stop him.

The Carrier

England has been overrun by a pandemic with no apparent cure. As the infection continues to spread, safety - for a lucky few - looms in the form of a damaged 747 set to seek solace abroad. It's only once the plane is airborne that the survivors discover the infection made it onto the flight with them.

Turbulent Skies

When a new airplane that's equipped with a new computer that can fly the plane on its own, is about to have its first flight. But the son of the owner decides to upload more software, he doesn't bother to check if there are any viruses with it. And he also invites some potential investors to try it. So the plane appears to be working well but suddenly it veers off course and it can't be shut down. When the military learns of this and fears what if something happens if it's over a populated area; decides to shoot it down along with everyone on board. The man who built the computer whose wife is among the passengers thinks if he can get on board he might be able to shut it down and regain control of the plane. So the military using a new plane gets him on board. But what he didn't know is that both pilots are incapacitated so there's no one who can fly the plane.

Air Marshal

A commercial jet plane has been hijacked by a group of terrorists who don't realize that a U.S. Air Marshal, Brett Prescott (Dean Cochran), is among the passengers. The fate of dozens of people lies in the hands of Prescott, who must forge a one-man war against the hijackers destructive plans.

Sky Liner

Travellers board a flight, unaware that other passengers might be spies and counterspies, complete with secret documents, poison and elaborate plans to engage in international espionage!

SST: Death Flight

On its maiden flight, the crew of America's first supersonic transport learns that it may not be able to land, due to an act of sabotage and a deadly flu onboard.

Airborne

As a snow storm closes in, one final plane takes off. The plane reports to the ground that both pilots are dead, while the slowly dwindling number of passengers on the plane wish that they’d never left the ground.

Flight Angels

Federal Airlines ace pilot Chick Faber is grounded by Flight Superintendent Bill Graves when a doctor says his eyesight is failing. Aided by Mary Norvell and Nan Hudson, Graves persuades Chick to take a job as teacher in the school for airline hostesses, and Chick and Mary get married. He learns that the Army is going to test a stratosphere plane that he and Artie Dixon designed and feels that he should make the first flight but permission is refused.

The Doomsday Flight

A bomb on board an airliner has an altitude-sensitive trigger. Unless a ransom is paid, it will explode when the plane descends to land.

747: The Jumbo Revolution

At any given moment hundreds of people are soaring above us in a 747. From the moment the very first jumbo jet took off in 1969, it has been the aircraft against which all others are judged. But its 45-year journey has been anything but smooth. This is the definitive story of the Boeing 747, from its milestones and triumphs to its turning points and disasters. Witness its history through rare archival footage and tales from pilots, engineers, designers, and passengers who were there when it all began.

Flight 7500

Flight 7500 departs Los Angeles International Airport bound for Tokyo. As the overnight flight makes its way over the Pacific Ocean during its ten-hour course, the passengers encounter what appears to be a supernatural force in the cabin.

The Horror at 37,000 Feet

A commercial-jet captain (Chuck Connors) has ghosts on board from stones of an English abbey being shipped overseas.

Flight 90: Disaster on the Potomac

Flight 90: Disaster on the Potomac is a true story based on the crash of Air Florida flight 90 on January 13, 1982 in Washington D.C. This movie follows the main players throughout the day, with a lot of care taken to re-create what actually went wrong, who died, and who survived. There is a lot of actual footage from the day, as well as accurate representations of aircraft type and airline.

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