[2][3] Anchor Bay Entertainment distributed the film in North America, UK, Australia, and New Zealand.

[4][better source needed] In the prologue, the mother of Sara (Jessica Lowndes) is transporting a family of three (two parents and their son) in a small aircraft.

Wondering why he is so afraid, the parents suddenly see an out-of-control aircraft that crashes into them, and everyone plummets to the ground.

Years later, Sara, who has recently received her pilot's license, is planning to fly to a concert with her friends: her boyfriend Bruce Parker (Landon Liboiron), her cousin Cory (Ryan Donowho), her best friend Mel (Julianna Guill) and Mel's boyfriend Sal (Jake Weary).

Sara explains that with the elevator jammed, they will keep climbing until they run out of fuel or reach the aircraft's ceiling.

They have less than an hour's worth of fuel left; Bruce has a panic attack and is put to sleep with a choke hold by Sal.

Sal wraps the rope around himself and after some difficulty, Cory makes it to the tail and removes the errant bolt.

As they fly out of the storm, they see another aircraft heading straight for them, carrying Bruce, his parents and Sara's mother.

With a "micro-budget" secured, further financing came from Darclight and Telefilm to raise an operating budget to over $3.5 million, enough to make a credible product.

[citation needed] The small light twin Piper Chieftain (C-MYZX) aircraft that was the main setting of the film was originally a salvaged airframe, but it served the purpose well as a movie set, with panels and sections that could be easily removed for shooting into the cabin.

[8] They stated that the blending of the computer-generated imagery and the camera shots used in such a tight and cramped location was quite impressive and better than many big budget movies.

[8] However, reviewers were quick to fault the badly written script and the lack of characterisation throughout the film, decreasing the overall enjoyability of the movie.