The overall director of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) commits suicide... now his two underlings spar amongst themselves for his former position and title, by attempting to prove they can handle the pressures of operating one of the world's largest and busiest aviation gateways.

On his way home from a conference in Sacramento with a quick jaunt to Las Vegas, Roger begins to suspect his plane might be in trouble when a minor electrical surge sets off the cabin call lights. Using his status as LAX tower supervisor and experience as a flight engineer, he attempts to gain control of the situation, only to discover the plane is experiencing a massive power failure as the control instruments slowly start to fail. In the LAX control tower, Harley attempts to guide the distressed plane in for a safe landing while Tony keeps Roger's wife comforted in the terminal.

A suspended airtraffic controller takes over the control tower.