Robert Stevens (Geoff Meed), the leader of the assault, forces the pilot to contact his sister, President Harriet Franklin (Meredith Baxter) and demands that 10 of his Argus Aryan Brotherhood be released.

Just when the airliner goes out of control, the President realizes she must make a momentous decision, choosing between her family and the safety of the people in the cities below.

With the Starquest plummeting out of control and heading for Washington, the order to shoot it down results in the pursuing jet fighters being ineffective when the airliner's automated defense systems are triggered.

Finally acting to protect the passengers, the Sky Marshal (Peter Smith) is killed, but Vitale shoots the terrorists and takes back control of the Starquest.

She tells her brother to do the only thing left, pilot the Starquest to a water landing on the Potomac River, at Washington, D.C. After a lengthy career as a cinematographer, electrician, gaffer and film crew member, John Willis III (credited as John "Jay"' Willis III) made his directorial debut in Airline Disaster.

[3][4] On its release on Blu-ray, in a searing indictment of Airline Disaster, reviewer Martin Liebman, described the film as the epitome of "... epically bad and lazy movies".