Drop Zone
Aboard a commercial airliner, U.S. Marshals Terry (Malcolm-Jamal Warner) and Pete Nessip (Wesley Snipes), are escorting computer expert Earl Leedy (Michael Jeter) to a high security prison. When an apparent terrorist hijack attempt blows a hole in the (Boeing 747) airliner, Terry is sucked out to his death, and the terrorists parachute out of the same hole, taking Leedy with them.
Ex-DEA agent and renegade skydiver Ty Moncrief (Gary Busey) is the mastermind behind the attack, which culminated in the first ever parachute jump from a commercial jet at 30,000 feet. Ty plans to use Leedy to hack into the DEA mainframe computer in Washington DC so Ty can auction off the names of undercover agents to drug cartels worldwide. Ty has scheduled this to be accomplished during an Independence Day parachute exhibition and fireworks display, which is the one day every year when security is loosened around the airspace above Washington DC.
Pete believes that the assault may have been an elaborate prison break meant to free Leedy. However, the FBI declares that sneaking a parachute through airport security is impossible, and that parachuting at the jet's altitude and speed is not survivable. A devastated Pete is blamed for overreacting to the incident, and forced to turn in his badge.
Undeterred, Pete consults a U.S. Navy High-altitude military parachuting instructor who confirms that he and his team have parachuted from that height and speed, but also states that the high-density metal rings in the parachutes would not pass airport metal detectors and that the operation required either rare skills or suicidal recklessness. The instructor believes the world class skydiver Dominic Jagger (Luca Bercovici) could perform the jump, but does not know his current whereabouts. Pete is instead referred to Jagger's reckless ex-wife, ex-con Jessie Crossman (Yancy Butler) - who is unaware that Jagger is part of Ty's crew. Jessie agrees to train Pete how to skydive, if he will sponsor her team for the parachute exhibition.
When Jessie's parachuting friend Selkirk (Corin Nemec) is severely injured after using a faulty parachute that Ty had intended for Jessie to use, Pete is appointed to take Selkirk's place. Soon after, Jagger is found dead, tangled in some high voltage power lines. Jesse breaks into the police impound to examine Jagger's parachute, declares that his death was a murder engineered by Ty, and swears revenge. Pete inquires as to the parachute's lack of metal, which Jesse explains is a custom "smuggler's rig" made with high density fabrics to deter radar.
When Pete discovers Ty's plan to hack into the DEA mainframe, the rest of the parachuting team agrees to help Pete with the situation. On the night of the Independence Day exhibition, Jessie sneaks into Ty's parachuting aircraft, holding them at gunpoint in order to determine an explanation for Jagger's death. But Ty's men kick her outside and then parachute out. Jessie, managing to grab hold of the aircraft door bar, lets go on a free fall just as Pete and the parachuting team arrive and rescue her, floating down safety to the roof of the DEA mainframe office building where Ty has already arrived.
Pete tries to find access to the DEA mainframe control room, eliminating Ty's men one by one, with the help of the parachuting team. He breaks in and holds Leedy (who has already started downloading the identities) as hostage. Ty, having kidnapped Jessie, appears and threatens to kill her unless Pete releases Leedy. A fight breaks out between Pete and Ty that results with both of them go falling out the building window. Luckily, Pete opens his emergency parachute as Ty tumbles to his death. Pete lands safely on the ground and is escorted away by paramedics, but spots Leedy wearing a DEA jacket leaving the scene. One of the team members, Swoop (Kyle Secor), leaps from the building, parachuting down onto Leedy and stopping him in his tracks. Pete tells Jessie jokingly that he would try skydiving again in forty or fifty years.
violence