Turbulence 3: Heavy Metal

Plot

The film opens in Los Angeles International Airport where fans and haters of heavy metal singer Slade Craven (John Mann) gather. Craven will perform his farewell concert on a Boeing 747 operated TransCon Airlines flight 619, which will be flying from Los Angeles to Toronto, and the concert is scheduled to be broadcast over the internet. The FAA has received threats that they had better allow this concert to take place. Erica Black (Monika Schnarre) is a news anchor who is on the airplane with her cameraman Ethan (Ben Derrick), covering the concert. The fans board the plane and later Craven and his band get on while the crew checks everything. During the safety demonstration, the fans do not pay attention and they cheer saying Craven many times. There are several shots of people cheering, and also some close-ups as well. The faces of the stewardesses are shown and it is clear that they are frustrated. The fans are shown as well, and some have makeup on, and rock and roll hair styles.

For the past two years, FBI agent Kate Hayden (Gabrielle Anwar) has been after hacker Nick Watts (Craig Sheffer), who has gained access to the live broadcast of the concert. After having snacks, Craven and his band start the concert and perform "Gun Love" and do tricks. Later when Craven is backstage at the first class toilet, an unknown person corners him and assumes his personality. The anonymous person then kills Craven's manager. When Kate arrives at Nick's home, they both see something that they never thought was supposed to be part of the broadcast. Craven kills captain Collins and takes the airplane hostage. Kate places a call and tells fellow agent Frank Garner (Joe Mantegna) and his partner Dave Barrett (Mike Dopud) to check it out. Garner and Barrett head to the offices of Z-Web-TV, the company that's broadcasting the concert and it is the same company that Erica works for, and the company is run by Benny Mitchell. When Barrett calls the FAA tower in San Diego and talks to Mr. Stopnow (Brad Loree), the head of the tower and his staff, an explosion splinters the tower, killing everyone in there. Garner and Barrett think that Craven has accomplices on the ground.

Kate and Nick use Nick's equipment to figure out who the hostage taker is and later find out that he is not the real Slade Craven, but an impostor named Simon Flanders (also played by Mann; voice by (Brian Dobson), and it is revealed that he was the anonymous person who cornered Craven and abducted him by tying up and locked him in a room in the cargo hold, and the room has a computer in it. They then find more information that Simon is a member of a Satanic Cult called Guardians of the Gateway, who see themselves as the vanguard of the Antichrist who will rule the next millennium. He learns that Simon was previously suspected of murder and charged with 5 counts of Arson with all of the charges dropped due to insufficient evidence.

The plane strays off its normal flight path, and is heading toward Stull, Kansas, because there is a small church there that Simon and his accomplices from the cult plan to crash the airplane in, because they believe that Satan will be released by the crash. Nick checks the internet and finds research that when the Pope visited Colorado in 1996, he refused to fly over Eastern Kansas, because this part of Kansas is said to be one of the most unholiest places in the world. It turns out that Erica, who is a high-ranking member of Guardians of the Gateway is the mastermind. Erica organized the whole plan to take the airplane hostage, and the co-pilot, MacIntosh’s (Rutger Hauer) assignment is to crash the airplane into the church. After using the computer to talk to Kate and Nick, Craven manages to free himself and as he is about to leave, Simon enters and the two converse. A fight follows and Craven knocks Simon unconscious. He gets out of the hold, and heads to the auditorium wherein backstage, he finds Erica whom he engages in a hand-to-hand combat where he disarms her of a gun and knocks her to the electric chair prop which he wires, killing her. He then sees his guitarist, Damen, dead. He goes to the cockpit and finds MacIntosh, who tells him his plan to crash the plane and commits suicide. Realizing that no pilot is left to fly the plane, Craven takes the controls.

The fans and the two remaining band members are in despair in the economy class cabin as Craven is guided by the Kansas City International Airport control tower along with Nick and Kate to land the plane. Simon enters the cockpit again and intervenes. Craven engages him in a hand-to-hand combat while the plane goes into a dive. The two land in the main cabin where Simon is about to stab Craven but Craven manages to disarm him by using a fire extinguisher and subdue him by locking him in the first class toilet and blocks the door with a service trolley.

The flight reaches Kansas in a stormy weather and Craven lands the plane safely at Kansas City International Airport. Everyone in the plane applauds. Nick and Kate, the Z-Web-TV, FBI, and Kansas Airport controllers also celebrate. Nick is apprehended and the FBI agents are congratulated. As the plane is surrounded by emergency vehicles, the fans, crew, and the band disembark. One of the fans, Jen Shore (Michelle Harrison) is given the chance to share on camera what has happened. After that, Craven disembarks and is congratulated and cheered by everyone as the film ends.