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Episode on a Plane (view source)

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{{trope}}
[[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin]].
 
Okay, you're the writer/director/producer/executive/all of the above of a hit TV show. You want to do something different to create some tension and drama and/or humor in an episode and you don't want a [[Very Special Episode]] or a clipshow and you don't want to spend all the money to take the whole cast and crew on location to Disney World/Hawaii/Jamaica/[[Where the Hell Is Springfield?|Springfield]]. A lightbulb switches on in your brain: set the episode on a plane.
 
This is fairly easy to do because it requires a very limited amount of sets; the limited space on a plane creates [[Cabin Fever|close quarters]], which can create [[Rule of Drama|Dramatic Tension]], especially if one of the main characters is [[Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?|deathly afraid of flying]]. Also, there can be accidents in a plane's bathroom, and that can help with comedic sequences. So writers/directors/producers/all of the above can get a lot of drama on a lower budget.
 
See also [[Death in Thethe Clouds]], [[Mile -High Club]] and all the other [[Tropes On a Plane]].
 
A subtrope of [[Bottle Episode]].
{{examples|Examples:}}
 
* ''[[Full House]]'' had a Christmas episode that took place on a plane during a snowstorm and in an airport terminal.
* "Phantom Traveler," the fourth episode of the first season of ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' where Sam and Dean had to stop a demon that took down planes forty minutes into flight. Dean freaked out the whole time because he is [[Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?|terrified of flying]].
* An episode in the fourth season of ''[[Bones]]'' had Booth and Brennan solve a murder on a flight to China and they had to race against the clock because once the plane landed, it would no longer be in U. S. jurisdiction.
* A fourth season episode of ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'' had House and Cuddy stuck on a plane when a strange epidemic started breaking out among the passengers. Although the case on the plane only made up one half of the episode, with the other being a fairly standard situation for the rest of the team except without House.
* There's a ''[[Monk]]'' episode where Monk discovers that a fellow passenger on an airplane killed his wife and, during the flight, killed another passenger, and had to prove it from the air, before the plane lands and the killer gets away.
* ''[[CSI]]'' and ''[[CSI New York]]'' have both had plane episodes.
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* One episode of ''[[Patlabor]]'' takes place almost entirely on the plane Kanuka Clancy is taking back to America... but it never actually gets off the ground due to an overeager hijacker making his move a little early.
* Two ''[[Case Closed]]'' examples: 1) The "New York Arc" started with a flashback where Shinichi solves a variant "locked room mystery" that takes place on a plane. 2) A case featuring a disgruntled former relief pitcher was solved when Conan realizes that {{spoiler|the suspect had taken the same flight they did}}.
* Once in ''[[Twenty Four|24]]'', Jack Bauer had to hijack a plane for some reason. He was up to his [[Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique|usual shenanigans]] on the plane for about an episode or two.
* Part 1 of the ''[[Titus]]'' two-parter "Insanity Genetic."
* ''[[Rocko's Modern Life]]''.
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* The second episode of ''[[Ace Attorney Investigations]]'' takes place on an unusually large airplane both while it is en route and after it has landed.
* ''[[Small Wonder]]'' had "Vicki and the Skyjacker", with Art Linkletter among the passengers. It was during the production of this episode that the series' cancellation was announced.
* ''[[The A-Team (TV)|The A-Team]]'': In the Season 1 episode "The Beast from the Belly of a Boeing," the A-Team has to stop a group of six hijackers from holding a plane ransom and dumping it in the ocean. B. A. was supposed to be on the ground, but he accidentally ended up on the plane and went into temporary paralysis. Murdock's eyes got wounded when a gun discharged in his face (and shot a hole in the plane), so Hannibal had to land the plane at LAX while Murdock talked him through the whole thing with his eyes closed, proving that Murdock can fly ''any'' kind of aircraft and leading to a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]].
* One episode of ''[[The Golden Girls]]'' takes place (mostly) on a plane, where the girls are all forced to confront their biggest fears: Dorothy of flying, Rose of public speaking, and Blanche of bald men.
* A first-season episode of ''[[The Incredible Hulk (TV series)|The Incredible Hulk]]'' ("747") takes place almost entirely aboard a plane. Not only that, but David Banner single-handedly thwarts a hi-jacking and [[Crash -Course Landing|brings the plane down safely]], even managing to become the Hulk in mid-flight--twiceflight—twice.
* On the ''[[Married... Withwith Children]]'' third season episode "The Gypsy Cried", Marcy is warned by a fortuneteller not to go on a planned business trip, as the fortuneteller had a vision that she would die in a plane crash. In order to ensure her survival, she and Steve agree to purchase extra tickets for the Bundys to go along with her as "good-luck charms". [[Hilarity Ensues|Hilarity]] and turbulence ensue.
* ''[[Cow and Chicken (Animation)|Cow and Chicken]]'' had an episode that takes place in a plane, and it all happens when the plane was still on the ground.
* ''[[Chuck]]'' season 3 had the one where he fought [[Stone Cold Steve Austin]].
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[[Snakes Onon a Plane|"Enough... is ]]''[[Snakes Onon a Plane|enough]]''[[Snakes Onon a Plane|! I've had it with this motherfucking episode on this motherfucking plane! Everyone strap in!... I'm about to open some fuckin' windows."]]
 
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Tropes On a Plane]]
[[Category:EpisodesUnusual Location Episode]]
[[Category:Episode Onon Aa Plane]]
[[Category:Trope]]
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