Justin Sanderson goes through security at the airport and then sees a magazine, Progressive Pointe, with a cover article written by him. A passenger buying the magazine, Joe Beaumont, recognizes Justin and Justin offers to buy it for him. Joe has Justin sign it for him and leaves. As he waits to board, Justin calls his girlfriend and apologizes for raising his voice. He insists that his assignment to Tel Aviv will be the opposite of high stress, and she tells him to forget what happened in the past.
As Justin boards the plane, Captain Donner assures him that it will be a good flight. The writer hears a father trying to get his son to be able to sit with him, and offers them his seat. The attendant, Tammy, agrees and directs Justin to the main cabin and his new seat. He sees Joe sitting toward the back and Joe nods to him. Justin belts himself in and a large bald man sits down next to him. Tammy invites everyone to read the in-flight safety instructions in the back of their seat, and Justin finds a reader playing a podcast of enigmatique about The Tragic Mystery of Flight 1015: the flight Justin is on. He finds a set of earphones and plugs them in, and hears the reader Rodman Edwards describe the flight Justin is on. According to the story, 1015 would disappear from radar in less than an hour. The jet lifts off and Rodman recites the last minutes of 1015.
Rodman says that one of the unusual things about 1015 is Donner. Justin asks his fellow passenger if the captain's name is Donner, and the man tries to ignore Justin. He then asks the man to listen to the podcast and describes what Rodman is saying. The walks away and Justin glances at a passenger across the aisle, Alysha, who is watching him curiously. Justin goes back to listening to the podcast, and Rodman says that Donner reported a flock of cormorants near the jet: a harbinger of death. He then describes how a bird struck the engine at 10:21 pm. A bird strikes the engine at 10:21, and Justin ducks into the rest room, gasping for breath. He manages to get hold of himself and goes back to his seat, then signals for Tammy. Another attendant, Nick, comes over and asks if a bird hit the engine. Nick doesn't know and doesn't want to trouble the pilot, and says that they're at an attitude where there aren't any birds. Justin apologizes and Nick leaves.
Joe tells Justin that it was a bird and explains that he's a pilot. He says that the flight crew is good but they won't tell passengers the truth, and he doesn't fly anymore. Justin puts the headphones back on and Rodman says that the last words spoken by Donner were "Good night, New York", and wonders what happened to make the jet disappear. Nick announces that a storm is developing ahead and they'll be maneuvering around it and there may be rough patches ahead.
Rodman continues speaking, describing the loss of 117 lives and that any small clues could be important. Justin walks around the cabins, looking for anything that might cause the disappearance. Rodman notes that the cockpit is equipped with cameras that let the passengers watch the flight crew, and suggests that there was something onboard that disrupted the flight's communications. Justin sees two men taking selfies and suggests that they turn the camera off, but they gently refuse. Tammy and Nick come over and tells Justin to go back to his seat.
Justin continues listening to the podcast, and Rodman notes that Russian citizen Igor Orlov. Igor was in witness protection and traveling to Tel Aviv to testify against the Russian mafia. Also listed on the manifest is an air marshal. Justin approaches Tammy and apologizes about earlier, and says that he needs to talk to the air marshal. Tammy notes that the Marshals don’t tell the flight crew if they're aboard and asks him to sit down.
As Justin goes back to his seat, he sees Joe drinking and asks if he's an air marshal . Joe insists that he's just a pilot, but Justin doesn't believe him. The pilot says that the best way spot deceptive behavior is to act like a deceptive person.
Justin goes to the front of the cabin and watches the sleeping man he figures is Igor, and then takes an envelope from the man sleeping next to him. Alysha watches him and the other passengers notice Justin as well, and he opens the overhead luggage compartment and a duffel falls on the man, waking him up. Justin apologizes to the man, who insists that his name isn't Igor, and they explain that their soccer players playing a game in Tel Aviv. Tammy comes up and tells Justin to sit down, and says that she's alerted Donner. When Justin mentions that the Russian Mob wants to kill Igor, Igor comes up from the cabin in front of them.
Donner comes out and tells everyone to settle down. He warns Justin that he's threatening the safety of his passengers and tells him to return to his seat. Justin does so and turns on the podcast. Rodman says that Justin was linked directly to the events of the flight, and there's a video of him causing a disturbance. The video plays of the scene that Justin just caused, and Donner comes into the cabin and tells Donner to take his seat. When he doesn't, Donner drags him to the flight attendant alcove and says that he thinks Justin is having a psychotic break. Justin tells him not to say "Good night, New York" in 14 minutes like the podcast said he did. Donner asks why, and Justin says that they're the last words that anyone will hear from the plane. The captain figures that Justin is threatening the plane, and Alysha comes up, flashes an air marshal badge, and places Justin under arrest.
Sitting in his seat, Justin looks out the window. He tells Alysha about the podcast but she doesn't believe him. She says that they'll have people waiting to help when they land, and Justin admits that he's had a mental breakdown before but it feels different. Donner calls Alysha away to talk to her, and she leaves the player behind. Justin turns it on and Rodman says that the jet was perilously close to a thunderstorm.
Joe sits down next to Justin and says that he believes him. He explains that he's a pilot and the fact they're in the plane means anything is possible. Justin figures that Joe can land the plane safely before they vanish, and Joe says that he doesn't know the keypad code to the flight deck. Looking at the podcast player, Joe says that it's 1015, just like the flight number and the other occurrences of the number. Joe says that he'll drop the cabin pressure and put everyone to sleep, and cut off the oxygen to the masks that will drop down. He gives Justin a portable oxygen tank, tells him to hide it until he signals that he's ready, and assures Justin that he's saving the passengers.
Going to the flight deck door, Joe enters "1015" on the keypad. It works and he goes in, and a few seconds later the in-flight monitor shows him struggling with the flight crew. He then comes on the loudspeaker, saying that he's the new pilot. The passengers panic and Tammy tries to calm them, while Alysha and two passengers try to break down the door. Joe lowers the air pressure and the passengers pass out. Justin uses the oxygen tank, and Joe thanks Justin for giving him the opportunity to find peace. As Justin goes to the door, Joe says that his way is the only way to find peace, and Justin will as well. He then says "Good night, New York" to ground control and shuts down the radio before he passes out from the low air pressure. Justin stares around as the jet goes down into the Atlantic.
The next morning, Justin wakes up on a shore. He sees the jet in the water off the shore and finds the player. Rodman says that the first part was their most popular podcast to date. A cargo ship finds an atoll with every passenger on the jet, alive... with one exception. Justin was missing, his whereabouts never known. The passengers from the plane walk up to Justin, surrounding him. He insists that he tried to save them, but they kill him.
Written by Gadfly on Apr 3, 2019