Editing SST: Death Flight

{{Short description|1977 television film directed by David Lowell Rich}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox television
| image          = SST poster.jpg
| alt_name       = {{Plainlist|
* ''Death Flight''
* ''Flight of the Maiden''
* ''SST: Disaster in the Sky''
}}
| screenplay     = {{Plainlist|
* [[Robert L. Joseph]]
* [[Meyer Dolinsky]]
}}
| story          = [[Guerdon Trueblood]]
| director       = [[David Lowell Rich]]
| starring       = {{Plainlist|
* [[Barbara Anderson (actress)|Barbara Anderson]]
* [[Bert Convy]]
* [[Peter Graves]]
* [[Lorne Greene]]
* [[Season Hubley]]
* [[Tina Louise]]
* [[George Maharis]]
* [[Doug McClure]]
* [[Burgess Meredith]]
* [[Martin Milner]]
* [[Brock Peters]]
* [[Robert Reed]]
* [[Susan Strasberg]]
}}
| composer       = [[John Cacavas]]
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| producer       = Ron Roth
| cinematography = [[Joseph Biroc]]
| editor         = [[Pembroke J. Herring]]
| runtime        = 93 minutes
| company        = [[List of production companies owned by the American Broadcasting Company#ABC Circle Films|ABC Circle Films]]
| network        = [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]
| released       = {{Start date|1977|02|25}}
}}

'''''SST: Death Flight''''' is a 1977 American [[Disaster film|disaster]] [[television film]] directed by [[David Lowell Rich]]. The film stars an ensemble cast including [[Barbara Anderson (actress)|Barbara Anderson]], [[Bert Convy]], [[Peter Graves]], [[Lorne Greene]], [[Season Hubley]], [[Tina Louise]], [[George Maharis]], [[Doug McClure]], [[Burgess Meredith]], [[Martin Milner]], [[Brock Peters]], [[Robert Reed]], and [[Susan Strasberg]]. It follows a crippled [[supersonic transport]] (SST) that is refused permission to land due to the threat of spreading a deadly strain of [[influenza]].

The teleplay was written by [[Robert L. Joseph]] and [[Meyer Dolinsky]] from a story by [[Guerdon Trueblood]]. 
David Lowell Rich also directed the airplane disaster films ''[[The Horror at 37,000 Feet]]'' and ''[[The Concorde ... Airport '79]]''.

==Plot==
On the flight of Maiden 1, the first [[United States|American]] supersonic transport, Captain Jim Walsh is the assigned pilot on an attempt to set a world speed record from New York to Paris. The flight crew includes the flight engineer, stewardess Mae and steward. The select group on the ceremonial first flight include passengers and executives. On board is Willy Basset, the designer of the SST, Tim Vernon, the Cutlass Airlines head of publicity who is having an affair with "Miss SST" Angela Garland, the model who is the public face of the new aircraft. Hank Fairbanks, an ex-pilot who now works for an airline group in South America as an aircraft buyer, accompanies the other VIPs, and wants to renew an earlier romance with Mae. Other passengers include Paul Whitley, Bob Connors, former sportscaster Lyle Kingman and his wife Nancy. Harry Carter, a television broadcaster and a reporter are at the airport terminal to cover the festivities.

Unfortunately, a disgruntled employee, wanting to  get back at Willy Basset, the designer of the airliner, sabotages the hydraulic system, causing an inflight massive leak of [[hydraulic fluid]]. Subsequent repair attempts by the crew cause an [[explosive decompression]] that breaks open a medical shipment of Senegal Flu, brought aboard by Dr. Ralph Therman. Consequently, the aircraft is refused landing rights in Europe. The SST eventually tries to divert to Senegal (the only country with experience in dealing with the virus). However, there is not enough fuel and the pilots are forced to make an emergency landing in a mountain pass.  Some of the passengers are killed, but most survive.

==Cast==

The principal cast was listed in alphabetical order:

{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|
* [[Barbara Anderson (actress)|Barbara Anderson]] as Carla Stanley
* [[Bert Convy]] as Tim Vernon
* [[Peter Graves (actor)|Peter Graves]] as Paul Whitley
* [[Lorne Greene]] as Marshall Cole
* [[Season Hubley]] as Anne Redding
* [[Tina Louise]] as Mae
* [[George Maharis]] as Les Phillips
* [[Doug McClure]] as Hank Fairbanks
* [[Burgess Meredith]] as Willy Basset
* [[Martin Milner]] as Lyle Kingman
* [[Brock Peters]] as Dr. Ralph Therman
* [[Robert Reed]] as Captain Jim Walsh
* [[Susan Strasberg]] as Nancy Kingman
* [[Misty Rowe]] as Angela Garland
* [[Billy Crystal]] as David
* [[John de Lancie]] as Bob Connors
* [[Regis Philbin]] as Harry Carter
* [[Robert Ito]] as Flight Engineer Roy Nakamura
* Tom Stewart as First Officer Eric Brent
* Sherwood Price as Mickey
* Paul Napier as Eddy
* Tim Pelt as Linus
* Alain Patrick as Controller Girard
* [[Richard Derr]] as Governor Stensky
* [[Ric Carrott]] as Reporter
* Shawn Randall as Passenger
* [[Walter Maslow]] as Passenger
* Chrystie Jenner as Kathy}}

==Production==
[[File:SST Death Flight screenshot.png|thumb|''SST: Death Flight'' relied heavily on models of the canceled Lockheed SST prototype.]]
Poor production values predominated in ''SST: Death Flight''. During filming, the production was called ''Flight of the Maiden''. A major historical error was in depicting an American SST as the first of its kind. The aviation sequences utilized a scale model of what was basically a [[Concorde]] lookalike with [[Boeing 747]] [[turbofan]] engines attached. Other shots were completed using a mock-up of a [[Lockheed L-2000]], a prototype the company had created when Americans were still pursuing their own SST programs.<ref name="Callaway p. 87">Callaway 2013, p. 87.</ref> {{#tag:ref|The [[Boeing 2707]] was also a contemporary SST program, that like the Lockheed entry, was eventually cancelled in 1971.<ref name="Callaway p. 87"/>|group=Note}} Airport scenes were filmed at the [[John F. Kennedy International Airport]] in [[New York City|New York]], where various terminals, runways, boarding areas and cargo loading bays were featured.<ref>[http://www.airports-worldwide.com/usa/new_york/john_f_kennedy_intl_new_york.php "John F. Kennedy International Airport."] ''airports-worldwide.com''. Retrieved: December 8, 2014.</ref>

==Reception==
''SST: Death Flight'' premiered on ABC as the Friday Night Movie on February 25, 1977, and subsequently went into syndication as ''SST: Disaster in the Sky''.<ref>[http://www.allmovie.com/movie/sst-death-flight-v147223 "SST: Death Flight".] ''AllMovie''. Retrieved: December 8, 2014.</ref>  For its overseas showings, the film is titled simply ''Death Flight'' and has an additional scene featuring nudity that is not present in other versions.<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076650/releaseinfo?ref_=ttfc_sa_1 "Release dates: SST: Death Flight (1977 TV Movie)."] ''IMDb''. Retrieved: December 7, 2014.</ref><ref name="Synposis">[https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/478220/sst-death-flight "Synopsis: SST Death Flight."] ''[[Turner Classic Movies]]''. Retrieved: December 7, 2014.</ref> In its overseas theatrical showings, the film went by numerous titles including ''New York Parigi Air Sabotage 78'' (New York–Paris, Air Sabotage 78) in Italy.<ref>DiMucci, Bob. [http://filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?forumID=7&pageID=10&threadID=80288&archive=0 "SST: Death Flight."] ''Film Score Monthly'', April 21, 2013. Retrieved: December 8, 2014.</ref>

''SST: Death Flight'' is noted for its formulaic plot and its poor production values.  The television show ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'', where characters watch "bad" movies along with the viewers and make jokes mocking the flaws, showed the film in 1989 during its first season, broadcast on [[Minneapolis–Saint Paul]] UHF channel KTMA (now [[WUCW]]).
<ref>[http://www.mst3kinfo.com/?p=7489 "Episode guide: K13- SST- Death Flight."] ''Mystery Science Theater 3000''. Retrieved: December 7, 2014.</ref><ref>Erickson, Hal. [https://web.archive.org/web/20160307015537/http://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/147223/SST-Death-Flight/overview "SST: Death Flight".] ''[[The New York Times]]''. Retrieved: December 8, 2014.</ref>

==References==

'''Notes'''
{{Reflist|group=Note}}

'''Citations'''
{{Reflist|30em}}

'''Bibliography'''
{{Refbegin}}
* Callaway, Tim. "Lockheed L2000." ''Lockheed Martin'' (Aviation Classics Magazine Issue 21). 2013.
* Roberts, Jerry. ''Encyclopedia of Television Film Directors''. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-81086-138-1}}.
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{IMDb title|0076650}}

{{David Lowell Rich}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sst: Death Flight}}
[[Category:1977 films]]
[[Category:1977 television films]]
[[Category:1970s disaster films]]
[[Category:1970s English-language films]]
[[Category:American aviation films]]
[[Category:American disaster films]]
[[Category:American television films]]
[[Category:ABC Motion Pictures films]]
[[Category:American Broadcasting Company original films]]
[[Category:Disaster television films]]
[[Category:Films about aviation accidents or incidents]]
[[Category:Films directed by David Lowell Rich]]
[[Category:Films set on airplanes]]
[[Category:1970s American films]]
[[Category:Mystery Science Theater 3000]]