Captain George Gort (Bernard Lee) is a pilot for British Empire Airways, flying their route London - Rome - Cairo - Ranjibad - Calcutta - Singapore. He is found to have been at fault after his Phoenix 1 jetliner crashed on takeoff from [fictional] Ranjibad airport, killing his co-pilot. He is accused of Rotation (aeronautics) too early, increasing drag (physics) to such an extent that the aircraft could not achieve flying speed.