A Wing and a Prayer

Shelley Lowe is an air-traffic controller whose routine shift becomes a high-stakes emergency when a commercial plane suffers critical failures and needs hands-on guidance to land. She manages radio calls, redirects other traffic, and consults with pilots and emergency crews, all while unaware that her husband is among the passengers on the stricken flight. As systems falter and minutes tick away, she steadies her team, weighs imperfect options, and struggles to keep focus amid growing personal fear and professional pressure. The story follows the procedural tension of crisis management and the emotional toll that secrecy and uncertainty place on one controller.

A Wing and a Prayer premiered as a 1998 television movie, directed by Paul Wendkos, with a teleplay from Michael Ahnemann and Stephen Harrigan. Claudia Christian headlines as Shelley Lowe, supported by Jeff Yagher, Jessica Tuck, Christopher Cousins, and Leon Russom, bringing television-familiar faces to the emergency drama.

The film did not pick up major awards or prominent nominations, and it avoided awards season attention. As a made-for-TV thriller it faced competition from cable originals and theatrical prestige projects, so any recognition stayed local to network promotion and scheduling rather than industry prizes.

Its cultural footprint remained modest, but the movie finds a place among viewers who collect 90s TV disaster dramas. Fans of Claudia Christian sometimes cite this role when tracing her career beyond science fiction, and the film pops up occasionally in cable reruns and streaming lineups focused on retro television thrillers.

Critical and audience response leaned negative, reflected in low user ratings and sparse professional coverage, with complaints aimed at uneven pacing and predictable plotting. Still, the movie foregrounds themes of duty under pressure, the clash between private life and public responsibility, and the technical choreography of air-traffic control, so viewers interested in procedural crisis scenarios may find the film worth a look despite its flaws.