Trama

After a plane is hijacked by terrorists, The Delta Force is sent in to resolve the crisis.

1985. Five years after the botched attempt to rescue American hostages in Tehran, Colonel Nick Alexander's elite Delta Force unit is called in to handle a volatile situation: stop armed-to-the-teeth terrorists who have hijacked American Travel Ways Flight 282. As the violent revolutionaries force the captain to fly the crammed-with-people Boeing 707 to Beirut, seasoned deputy commander Major Scott McCoy and his highly trained commandos embark on a suicide mission to rescue the passengers. This time, the men are determined to give the enemy hell and come home in one piece. But this is a dangerous, white-knuckle race against time. Can McCoy's super-soldiers do the impossible and avenge the honour of the United States?—Nick Riganas

A 707 aircraft jetliner on its way from Athens to Rome and then to New York is hijacked by two Lebanese terrorists. The terrorists demand that the pilot take them to Beirut. What the terrorists don't realize is that an elite team of commandos led by Major McCoy (Norris) and Colonel Alexander (Marvin) has been called into service to eliminate all terrorists on the jetliner and who's involved in the hijacking and try to retake the plane before the terrorists kill all the hostages.—Shaun Ouimette <xtreemshaun589@hotmail.com>

Operation Eagle Claw, in Apr 1980, is the American operation to rescue American hostages being held at the U.S. embassy to Tehran. The operation is being aborted after a fatal helicopter crash, with the U.S. Delta Force evacuating to their C-130 transports. Among them is Major Scott McCoy (Chuck Norris), who, against orders, rescues his wounded comrade Pete Peterson (William Wallace) from the burning helicopter before the team finally evacuates. Peterson was trapped under the burning debris of a jeep. McCoy put his own life and limb on the line to lift the jeep, extract Peterson and carry him to the C-130 transport all by himself. Colonel Nick was worried about the entire squadron and wanted to lift off but holds the transport long enough for McCoy to bring Peterson back.

McCoy expresses his disgust for the politicians and military hierarchy that forced the mission to launch despite the risks, and announces he is resigning his commission. McCoy says that for 5 years he saw people planning missions in Vietnam and soldiers dying on the ground as a result of it. Overall, 8 members of the special forces were killed and 13 wounded in the disastrous operation.

Five years later, a group of Lebanese terrorists armed with a Colt M1911, PM-63 machine pistol and AK-47s hijack American Travelways Boeing 707 (ATW) Flight 282 that is on a flight from Cairo, Egypt to Athens, Greece to Rome, Italy and then to New York City. The flight is currently in Athens and going to Rome.

The flight has couples Harry Goldman (Joey Bishop) and Sylvia (Lainie Kazan), Ben Kaplan (Martin Balsam) and Edie, and Robert Levine (Jerry Lazarus) and Debra (Susan Strasberg). Debra is travelling with her daughter Ellen (Natalie Roth).

A flight mechanic had stowed the weapons on-board before the flight departed and the hijackers retrieved them after the flight took off from Athens. Taking all passengers and crew hostage, the group, the pro-Khomeini New World Revolutionary Organization, led by Abdul Rifai (Robert Forster) and Mustafa (David Menachem), forces Captain Roger Campbell (Bo Svenson) and his crew to fly the plane to Beirut (they force the cockpit to be opened by threatening to blow up the plane with a grenade), Lebanon, where they make demands to the United States government that, if not met, will result in the death of the hostages.

During the flight, the hijackers realize that the passengers include Hebrews from Israel on board. They collect everyone's passports and also find that the flight has 3 Marine Divers on board. Abdul separates the Marines in first class cabin and binds their hands and legs.

At the hijack, the captain switched on the emergency beacon, indicating to Athen's ground control that the flight has been hijacked. The news soon reaches the Pentagon. General Woodbridge (Robert Vaughn) US general, Army Chief of Staff is in charge of the US operation. Woodbridge and the President authorize a Delta Force unit to neutralize the terrorists. The plane has over 100 Americans on board.

During the crisis, the terrorists segregate the Hebrew passengers from the Americans by forcing a reluctant flight purser of German heritage named Ingrid Harding (Hanna Schygulla) to identify them. Another passenger, Catholic priest William O'Malley (George Kennedy), joins the Hebrews in solidarity. Unbeknownst to the authorities, once the plane lands in Beirut, the Hebrew hostages and O'Malley are then taken off the plane and transported to a militant-controlled area of Beirut, while a dozen additional henchmen (Jaffar (Avi Loziah), Jamil Rafai (Uri Gavriel), Salim (Adiv Gahshan)) are brought on board. The flight departs for Algiers, where the terrorists release the female hostages and children.

Meanwhile Delta Force, led by Colonel Nick Alexander (Lee Marvin) is deployed to resolve the crisis. McCoy joins the task-force when he hears the news on TV. The Delta force believes that there are only 2 terrorists on board. Once the female hostages are evacuated in Algiers, they launch their assault, only to discover too late that there are additional hijackers and inadvertently alert the terrorists. Abdul kills one hostage, a US Navy diver named Tom, taking the other two US divers with them as well as dozens of male Hebrew passengers on board to Beirut. Delta Force gives chase to rescue the remaining hostages.

Upon landing in Beirut, the terrorists gather their hostages and transport them to a militant-controlled area of Beirut. The pilots and two male flight attendants remain in the 707. Using a sympathetic Greek Orthodox priest Father Nicholas (Shaike Ophir), Israeli Army Intelligence prepares an operation to free the hostages. McCoy and Peterson are able to enter into Lebanon disguised as a Canadian television crew. In a prolonged campaign against the terrorists, the Delta Force bide their time to identify the terrorist leaders and locate the hostages.

Once their location is discovered, Delta Force assaults the terrorist holdout, freeing the hostages and evacuating them to the airport. During the battle, McCoy, Peterson, and their team hunts down Abdul and his men, killing most of the militants before Abdul shoots Peterson, gravely injuring him. McCoy chases Abdul and tracks him down to an abandoned home. He then engages him into a vicious hand-to-hand fight, breaking Abdul's arm. As the terrorist leader prepares to shoot McCoy, he is killed after McCoy launches a rocket into his car.

With the hostages and rescue teams secured, the team seizes Flight 282 by secretly infiltrating the airfield through a cotton field. Using silenced weapons, Alexander and the Delta team assassinates the terrorist guards including the last hijacker and saves the crew, ordering them to fly to Israel. The team boards the plane with all of the hostages, taking off just as McCoy is the last one to board the plane after having destroyed several terrorist jeeps on the runway with his motorcycle armament. On board the team tends to the wounded passengers and Pete who is now dying.

After having confirmed that the hostages are safe and on route home, Pete says his farewells to McCoy before succumbing to his wounds. In the main cabin the ex-hostages and Delta commandos join together in a rousing rendition of "America the Beautiful", not knowing about Pete's death.

In Israel, the Boeing 707 lands safely and the hostages are greeted by their families, while Delta Force disembarks with Peterson's body in tow to their C-130. The team concludes their operation and departs for the United States in the middle of celebrations by the people.