of four and called the story "ludicrous." Sheila Benson of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "The disaster they face is as contrived as the characters. You never believe for a second that these passengers are in any danger, beyond getting airsick or mussing their hair." Gary Arnold of The Washington Post called the film "nearly as funny as 'The Big Bus,' albeit unwittingly." Film critic Roger Ebert highlighted the film in his book I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie, deriding the science in the scene where Patroni fires a flare gun out of the cockpit window. It is also listed in Golden Raspberry Award founder John Wilson's book The Official Razzie Movie Guide as one of The 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made. Box office Produced on a budget of $14 million, it earned a little over $13 million in the United States and Canada, thus ending the enormous financial success of the Airport films. Internationally the film still performed well, grossing $52 million for a worldwide total of $65 million. Aircraft history The Concorde aircraft used in the film first flew on January 31, 1975, and was registered as F-WTSC to the Aérospatiale aircraft company. It would be re-registered by Aérospatiale as F-BTSC and leased to Air France in 1976. In 1989, this Concorde carried Pope John Paul II. On July 25, 2000, F-BTSC, as Air France Flight 4590, was hit by runway debris on takeoff, igniting the leaking fuel on the wing's fuel tank (part of the fuselage), and causing the aircraft to crash in the small French town of Gonesse, killing all 109 passengers and crew on board, as well as four on the ground. At the time of the accident, F-BTSC had logged 11,989 hours and 4,873 cycles. Television premiere For the film's May 1982 network television premiere on ABC, additional footage was added to expand the film's running time so it could be shown in a three-hour time slot. See also Airport Airport 1975 Airport '77 Concorde Affaire '79 SST: Death Flight, a 1977 made-for-TV movie also directed by David Lowell Rich References Notes External links 1979 films 1970s disaster films Concorde Airport (film series) American aviation films American disaster films Films about aviation accidents or incidents Films directed by David Lowell Rich Films set on airplanes Universal Pictures films American sequel films Films with screenplays by Eric Roth Films based on works by