A seasoned pilot is condemned for an error which causes a crash. The pilot later dies in a crash with similar circumstances and an examiner looks for scientific reasons for the crashes.

Following the takeoff crash of a jet plane in India, veteran British pilot Capt. George Gort is called before a court of inquiry. Though he is found guilty of "pilot error," in recognition of his long safety record, he is not grounded. His daughter, Charlotte, refuses to believe her father was at fault and persuades an expert flying examiner, Captain Dallas, to help her prove her father's innocence. A short time later Gort fatally crashes in a takeoff from Ranjibad in conditions identical to those of the previous crash. As a second inquiry is held, Dallas proves that the jet's designer, Nigel Pickering, had withheld data concerning a defect in the plane's takeoff equipment, which he had been secretly trying to perfect. With this new information Charlotte is able to preserve her late father's good name.