He receives a notice of rejection from the Air Force Academy, and his father has been shot down and captured by the fictional Arab state of Bilya while patrolling over the Mediterranean Sea.

Though the incident occurred over international waters, the Arab state's court finds Colonel Masters guilty of trespassing over their territory and sentences him to hang in three days.

He requests the help of Col. Charles "Chappy" Sinclair, a Vietnam veteran pilot currently in the Air Force Reserve, who, though not knowing Colonel Masters personally, had a favorable run-in with him years before meeting Doug and "knew the type."

Chappy is initially skeptical, but Doug convinces him that, with his friends, he has full access to the airbase's intelligence and resources and can give him an F-16 fighter for the mission.

On the day of Colonel Masters's scheduled execution, Doug and Chappy fly their jets to the Mediterranean Sea and cross into Bilyan airspace.

Seeing that any punishment for the duo would expose an embarrassing lapse in Air Force security, the panel forgoes prosecution as long as Doug and Chappy never speak of their operation to anyone.

[5] Although F-16s are featured in the movie poster, the United States Air Force has a long-standing policy about not cooperating on any film involving the theft of an aircraft.

To simulate the above-ground facilities of a typical USAF base, a combination of hangars and barracks at Camarillo and the Planes of Fame Air Museum at Chino, California were employed.

[1] The aircraft used for both the American and the Bilyan air forces were Israeli jets: single-seat F-16As, two-seat F-16Bs, and F-21/C-2 Kfirs simulating MiG-23s, painted with fictional national markings.

Forget the picture and buy the soundtrack album instead; King Kobra's titular music video, Never Say Die, is better made than the movie itself.

[14] Janet Maslin of the New York Times gave the film a favorable review, saying it has a "fun-loving feeling" and "something for everyone", appealing to teenagers and military aviation buffs for the "skillfully done" aerial combat sequences, along with the heartwarming, fatherly-like interracial relationship between Chappy and young Doug.