Introduction:President James Marshall (Ford), on a visit to Moscow,
announces in a speech that the United States will not negotiate with terrorists,
after an operation by U.S. and Russian Federation special forces captured the
tyrannical leader of Kazakhstan, General Ivan Radek (Jurgen Prochnow). With his
visit to Moscow complete, the President is now on his way home to Washington,
D.C. aboard Air Force One. However, Soviet neo-nationalists posing as a news
crew have infiltrated the plane.

One of President’s Secret Service detail, Gibbs (Xander Berkeley), works
alongside the terrorists; once the plane is aloft, he kills three fellow agents
before opening the on-board weapons locker. The terrorists - led by Egor
Korshunov (Gary Oldman) - storm the plane and take hostages, including Chief of
Staff Lloyd Shepard (Paul Guilfoyle), Military Advisor Major Caldwell (William
H. Macy), National Security Advisor Jack Doherty (Tom Everett), and Marshall’s
wife and daughter. Several others are killed during the shootout, including the
military officer charged with carrying and protecting the nuclear launch codes of
the United States Strategic Command (carried in a briefcase known as the
football). The flight crew declare an emergency and prepare to land at Ramstein
Air Base, Germany. The President is evacuated to an escape pod by numerous
Secret Service agents, who are killed defending him. The terrorists kill the
pilots and take control of the plane, which takes off again, to the surprise of
standby Ramstein crew.