Describe

The film opens when a joint team of Russian Spetznaz and American Delta Force commandos arrest the genocidal dictator of Kazakhstan, General Alexander "Ivan" Radek (Jürgen Prochnow), after killing most of his bodyguards. Three weeks later, U.S. President Marshall (Harrison Ford) makes a speech in Moscow announcing a new offensive against terrorism. Having visited the Red Cross camps and seen the brutality and atrocities committed under Radek's regime, Marshall vows to continue the offensive against the terrorists, stating that the U.S will never tolerate any kind of terrorist government.

The President then boards Air Force One and heads home to the United States. The flight back to Washington starts off smoothly, but soon six Soviet neo-nationalist terrorists, who are supportive of Radek, led by Egor Korshunov (Gary Oldman) and posing as a Russian news crew (who are later found murdered), take control of the plane with help from a mole in the Secret Service, Agent Gibbs (Xander Berkeley). An emergency is declared by the pilot, causing Air Force fighters to take off from Ramstein Air Base in Germany to intercept and escort Air Force One. Marshall is rushed to an escape pod in the plane's cargo hold, but he refuses to leave, hiding behind the machinery when the pod is launched, leading Korshunov to believe that the President is no longer aboard.

After shooting the pilots, cutting off all telephone communications and taking control of the plane during an emergency landing at Ramstein Air Base, Korshunov flies the plane towards Russia and calls Vice President Kathryn Bennett (Glenn Close), demanding the release of Radek in exchange for the rest of passengers on board Air Force One, including the wife and daughter of the President, saying they will kill one hostage every half-an-hour until Radek is released. Bennett refuses to cooperate, and soon discovers that Marshall never entered the escape pod and he could be either dead, held hostage or still aboard the plane.

President Marshall is a former U.S. Air Force helicopter pilot who won the Medal of Honor in Vietnam. He now intends to use the combat skills he learned to fight the terrorists and rescue everyone still on the plane. He kills one of the terrorists (Vladimir Krasin), and hides in the cargo section; Korshunov thinks that one of the Secret Service agents is still free and tells his men to find and kill him. Marshall then breaks the neck of another terrorist (Bazylev), who came down to the cargo cabin to look for him. This makes Korshunov angry. He kills one of the hostages, Jack Doherty, (Marshall's national security advisor), after General Radek was not released. Korshunov then takes the president's wife, Grace, and his daughter, Alice, to the cockpit with him and the other terrorists. Marshall contacts the White House and with the help of an Air Force general, he initiates a fuel dump assuming that it would force the terrorists to land the plane. To make the "Secret Service agent in the baggage area" reveal himself, Korshunov threatens to shoot Melanie Mitchell, the president's deputy press secretary, unless Marshall reveals himself in 10 seconds, as Grace pleas with him to let her tell him to come out and not shoot Melanie, but the president remains hidden and Melanie is executed. With the loss of fuel, Korshunov forces Bennett to agree to a mid-air fueling. Marshall, who has managed to sneak into the room where the hostages have been held after taking another terrorist, Nevsky, at gunpoint. Marshall is then told by his military advisers that they can parachute all the hostages off the plane if they can get the plane down to 15,000 feet. Marshall relays this to Bennett via the fax machine which the terrorists forgot to disable, and the refueling KC-10 tanker instructs Korshunov to drop to 15,000 feet.

As the plane is refueling, Marshall sneaks the hostages to the cargo hold with parachutes and out of the back of the plane. Korshunov sees the indicator in the cockpit that the parachute ramp was opening, forcing Air Force One away from the refueling tanker, causing its fuel line to spark and detonate the fueling plane. More than half of the hostages escape, however, many people, including the terrorist taken at gunpoint, fall off the plane without parachutes, including terrorist Igor Nevsky. A terrorist named Lenski arrives in the cargo hold in time to prevent Marshall and his closest advisers from jumping. (Marshall had already decided to stay to bring back his family from the terrorists in the upper deck); Marshall, White House Chief of Staff Lloyd Shephard, military advisor Major Caldwell (William H. Macy) and Gibbs are taken to the plane's communication room and tied down. Korshunov reveals to Bennett he now has the President, and demands Radek's release, forcing Marshall to make the request to Russian President Petrov to do so. Bennett's advisers tell her that under the 25th Amendment, she could declare the President to be incapacitated, thus allowing her to override Marshall's command, but she refuses to, believing Marshall to still be in control.

Korshunov quickly reneges on his promise to free the hostages once Radek is released, leaving Marshall with nothing to lose. As Korshunov hears the ceremony of Radek's release, Marshall managers to free him self and fights Korshunov, killing of other two terrorists. However Lloyd Shepherd is badly wounded in the fight. Marshall follows Korshunov into the cargo bay where he plans on making his escape, and dupping off all of the parachutes snapping Korshunov's neck and letting the parachute pull his body out of the plane. Marshall manages to call Petrov to announce that the terrorists have been killed in time to stop Radek from leaving the prison facility; Radek is gunned down as he tries to make his escape when word reaches the prison.

As Marshall takes over piloting of the plane, the US Central Command informs him through Marshall at least six Kazakh MiG-29s piloted by militants loyal to Radek have taken off to avenge their leader's death. A squadron of US Air Force F-15's has already taken off to keep the President under guard. Shortly afterwords the MiGs approach their target and attempt to fire upon Air Force One. While one of the escorting F-15 pilots sacrifices himself to block a missile, 3 MiGs are destroyed and the remaining 3 MiGs decide to flee. With amount of damage done to the plane during the battle, Air Force one is unable to land properly so An Air Force Pararescue C-130 Hercules plane is arranged to help zip-line the remaining passengers from the plane. Marshall insists on going last, making sure Grace and Alice are safe. Chief of Staff Shepherd was taken across next. However, when it is announced that only one more retrieval can be made, Gibbs reveals his true allegiance and kills Caldwell and the remaining parajumper. Marshall fights off Gibbs and manages to make it onto the zip line moments before Air Force One (now SAM 28000) plummets into the Caspian Sea, killing Gibbs in the process. The Pararescue plane reels in Marshall, and announce their success as they change their call sign to "Air Force One".