User Reviews

Nevermind that this was also the same plot in Airport '75, there was an actual mid-air collision around this same time, I think just before this movie came out, where a smaller plane did collide with a jet and there was film footage of the jet going down, but I don't think the camera caught the crash.

It was this that I thought about when I watched this movie back then. I think I may have seen it inter-spliced within reruns of the show.

Plotwise, it was and still is interesting, minus the bickering couple in the other plane.

Barrie Youngfellow was one of the worst actresses I ever saw, and I have difficulty overlooking her as well.

But like the show, it is all Tighe and Mantooth. They are actually on an emergency call when the plane crashes right over their heads.

Effects? I'm sorry, but that is just plain awful.

"Flight 90: Disaster On The POtomac" manages to get around showing any plane crash by first showing a terrified motorist on the bridge that the plane was about to hit, then darkness as we hear the crash, then commercial break.

When we come back, we see people in absolute silence standing in the snow on the riverbank looking out over the water where the plane has gone.

Emergency also relied on the commercial break, or the break-away to part two, but I'm sorry, all we really see after th so-called plane crash is houses exploding.

One minute they are still, the next, they are exploding. There was no plane debris, there was no black smoke from burning fuel.

The first thing we see of movement after the crash? Jay Hammer looking very 1970s trying to find out if someone is in the house next door.

What debris we have here now is strangely very clean.

In the end, that arguing couple in the smaller plane? They suddenly seemed very interesting as she was overly distraught about his welfare.

Not a great story, but side-by-side with Airport '75, it isn't much worse either.

I'll only give it such a good score for two reasons; Tighe and Mantooth.

And well, maybe for Bobby Troupe, Julie London and Robert Fuller as well.

I first watched this movie (the second of six 2-hour Emergency! made for-TV movies) when it premiered in 1978, when I was 15 years old; I cried when I saw the wrecked L.A. County Fire Department Rescue Squad 51...I was so upset. I got the opportunity to watch the second part of the episode very recently and nearly cried again. I understand the need for Albert J. Zuniga to want more realism as it pertained to the emergency calls the paramedics of squad 51 responded to, but that rescue squad was the ultimate star of the show and destroying the vehicle was way over the top. John Gage (Randolph Mantooth) and Roy DeSoto (Kevin Tighe) gave that vehicle life, but when the producers and writers called for its destruction, they destroyed the show. It's no wonder why Michael Norell (Captain Hank Stanley), Mike Stoker (Engineer Specialist Mike Stoker), Marco Lopez (Firefighter Marco Lopez) and Tim Donnelly (Firefighter Chet Kelly) didn't want to appear in the final six two-hour episodes. After "Survival on Charter #220", Squad 51 was never seen again except for the series-finale that featured a retrospective where Gage and DeSoto are promoted to Captains.

This isn't what I would call the typical episode. None of the regular firefighters were in the show & Gage & Desoto seemed like a guest appearance. Dr Bracken wasn't in it either. The story could have been told in an hour. Terrible way to end a great series.

Looked like a pilot for a new series! I know Robert Fuller was done with the series at this point . Troupe and London were good as ever. Dr Morton ( Pinkard , who should've received full billing by this point) proved he was a capable second lead doctor. The paramedics, don't even remember their names. Now 4 stars , that's for each minute Mantooth and Tighe were on screen. I don't know what else they must've been involved in , but weren't allowed to be involved here. As usual, when on screen, they were at the top of their game. Just were not on screen enough. And no Cap, Chet , Marco , etc. So disappointing. Glad I finally saw it , at least got to say goodbye to squad 51. But won't watch it again .

Don't bother watching this one, you'll die of bordom! It isn't worth it! It's so boring you'll sleep through the first hour, and the second hour isn't much better!

Both episodes are all about the background of the extra players. It's ALL background and NO Action. BORING!!!!!!!

Don't expect to see the regular players either.

With no cable, I'm stuck with watching all reruns of very old shows. So needless to say, I'm finishing watching this loser episode because there was Nothing else on!

I don't think the writers knew what they were doing. No wonder the show was canceled after this season!

TOTAL CRAP!!!!!