flight of the phoenix

When an Amacor oil rig in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia proves unproductive, Captain Frank Towns (Quaid) and copilot "A.J." (Gibson) are sent to shut the operation down. However, on their way to Beijing, a major dust storm forces them to ditch their C-119 Flying Boxcar in an uncharted area of the desert.

Their cargo consists of used parts and tools from the rig, the rig's crew, and Elliot (Ribisi), a lone drifter. On the way down, the plane is damaged beyond repair, one crew member, Kyle, falls to his death out the plane's damaged cargo hatch, and two others, Dr. Gerber (Ditchfield) and Newman, die from trauma inflicted by turbulence and impact.

When the storm ends and the dust settles, it becomes apparent that they are 200 miles off course with only one month worth of water available. Davis (Jared Padalecki) goes out and gets lost and dies and is not found by his crew. At first they decide, with the counsel of Captain Towns, to just sit and await rescue.

However, after surveying the situation and realizing that their value to Amacor is less than they had originally believed, they reconsider and are convinced by Elliot, who claims to be an aircraft designer, to rebuild the remains of their C-119 into a new airplane which they christen "The Phoenix" after the legendary bird.

They struggle for several weeks through dust storms, bandit attacks, lack of water, and the revelation that Elliot's aircraft design experience has, to this point, been restricted to the design of model airplanes.