Editing Airport (1970 film) (section)

==Plot==
During a severe January snowstorm at Chicago's fictional Lincoln International Airport, Trans Global Airlines (TGA) Flight 45's crew misjudge their turn from Runway 29 onto the taxiway. The [[Boeing 707]] aircraft gets stuck in the snow, and its tail sticking out results in that runway's closure. Airport manager Mel Bakersfeld is forced to work overtime, causing tension with his wife. A divorce seems imminent as he nurtures a closer relationship with a co-worker, customer relations agent Tanya Livingston.

Pilot Vernon Demerest is scheduled to evaluate Captain Anson Harris during TGA Flight 2 to Rome, aboard the airline's flagship international service - ''The Golden Argosy''. Despite being married to Bakersfeld's sister, Demerest is having an affair with Gwen Meighen, chief stewardess on the flight, who informs him before takeoff that she is pregnant with his child. They consider abortion, but Gwen has moral qualms about such a procedure and expresses the excitement she felt upon being told of her pregnancy.

Bakersfeld calls in senior mechanic Joe Patroni to assist with removing the snowstuck plane. He and Tanya also deal with Ada Quonsett, an elderly widow from [[San Diego]] who is a habitual [[stowaway]] on various airlines. Bakersfeld also clashes with commissioner Ackerman, who wishes to close the alternate runway 22 (and thus the entire airport) due to noise complaints from nearby residents.

Former [[U.S. Army Corps of Engineers]] demolition expert Dominic (D.O.) Guerrero, who has a history of [[mental illness]], buys both a ticket aboard Flight 2 and a large life insurance policy, intending to commit suicide. He plans to set off a bomb in an attaché case while they fly over the Atlantic Ocean so that his wife, Inez, will collect $225,000 of insurance. His erratic behavior at the airport, including mistaking a [[U.S. Customs|Customs]] officer for a gate agent, attracts officials' attention. Inez finds a Special Delivery envelope from a travel agency and, realizing D.O. might be doing something desperate, goes to the airport to try to dissuade him. She informs officials that he had been fired from a construction job for "misplacing" explosives and that the family's financial situation is dire.

Ada Quonsett manages to evade the employee assigned the task of putting her on a flight back to Los Angeles. Enchanted by the idea of a trip to Rome, she talks her way past the gate agent, boards Flight 2 and sits next to Guerrero. When Flight 2's crew is made aware of Guerrero's situation, they turn the plane back toward Chicago without informing the passengers. Once the stowaway widow is discovered, her help is enlisted by the crew --- with the promise to her of a free lifetime travel-voucher --- to get to the briefcase, but the ploy fails.

Demerest tries to persuade Guerrero not to trigger the bomb, informing him that his insurance policy has been nullified. Guerrero moves to give Demerest the bomb, but then runs into the lavatory and sets it off, dying and blowing a three-foot hole in the rear fuselage. Gwen and some other passengers are seriously injured in the explosion and subsequent [[explosive decompression]], but the pilots retain control of the 707. However, flight control is severely hindered due to the blast damage.

With all eastern airports closed due to bad weather, Flight 2 returns to Lincoln for an [[emergency landing]]. Demerest knows that a fatal crash landing would happen if they attempt to land on the shorter Runway 22, and thus demands the airport's longest runway, Runway 29, which is still closed due to the stuck airliner. Bakersfeld orders that plane be sacrificed and forcibly pushed off by snowplows. However, Patroni goes ahead and manages to free the stuck aircraft without damage by defying the specified engine and structural limit requirements, allowing Runway 29 to be reopened just in time for the crippled Flight 2 to land. His assistant declares that the feat was "impossible" according to the manual, to which Patroni replies "That's one nice thing about the 707. It can do everything but read."

As the passengers exit, a tearful Inez apologizes for her husband's actions. Demerest's wife sees him accompanying Gwen's stretcher as he intends to go with Gwen to the hospital. Demerest has by now decided he wants her to go through with her pregnancy. Ada Quonsett enjoys her reward of free first-class travel on TGA. Bakersfeld and Tanya leave together, heading to her apartment for "rest" and breakfast.