# The Odyssey of Flight 33 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [September 23, 2026, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-odyssey-of-flight-33/1033318 "2026-09-23T18:39:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-odyssey-of-flight-33/1033318/1 "2026-09-23T18:39:03Z")
Twilight Zone episode. The airliner travels into the past, seeing dinosaurs. They try again- and it is 1939 New York. > **[The Odyssey of Flight 33](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Odyssey_of_Flight_33)** > > "The Odyssey of Flight 33" is episode 54 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone, the 18th episode of the second season. An unlikely break of the time barrier finds a commercial airliner sent back into the age of dinosaurs and then to New York City of 1939. The tale is a modern telling of the Flying Dutchman myth, and was written by series creator Rod Serling. It originally aired on February 24, 1961, on CBS. You're riding on a jet airliner en route from London to New York... The Captain and crew decide to try again, hoping for 1961 or so. So, here is my question- I would land in 1939, no doubt at all. Period. What would you choose? Now, after we go around on this a bit, feel free to ask about any other quandary posed in a TZ episode. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-odyssey-of-flight-33/1033318/2 "2026-09-23T18:41:38Z")
Captain Sam Beckett elected to keep trying. They never returned home. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-odyssey-of-flight-33/1033318/3 "2026-09-23T18:43:44Z")
I know, unless they landed in 2030 or something. But would you have taken the sure thing and landed in 1939? ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-odyssey-of-flight-33/1033318/4 "2026-09-23T19:01:28Z")
I would definitely have landed in 1939. Close enough. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-odyssey-of-flight-33/1033318/5 "2026-09-23T19:05:11Z")
No way am I (1961 me) landing in 1939. I’d be the same age as my parents, my wife would be underage, and as a pilot, I would be drafted and sent to war within the next two years. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-odyssey-of-flight-33/1033318/6 "2026-09-23T19:08:29Z")
Oh, yeah? Good luck getting eaten by the Morlocks. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-odyssey-of-flight-33/1033318/7 "2026-09-23T19:08:52Z")
1939 sounds good enough. I would be afraid of never making it back on another try. Those pilots and some of the passengers probably had all kinds of useful information that would have helped in the upcoming war. Just reverse engineering the tech from the plane should be enough. It was a Boeing 707 Jet after all. Hopefully forewarned about Pearl would be enough to turn the tables and sink Japan earlier and with less loss of life. The fact the war was upcoming is a drawback, but being able to help, hopefully shorten it would be huge. Timewise the gap isn’t too bad at 22 years. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-odyssey-of-flight-33/1033318/8 "2026-09-23T19:20:15Z")
Agree. Having just jumped many tens of millions of years, to jump again and land within 22 years of your starting point? Quit while you’re waay, waay, waaaaay ahead. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-odyssey-of-flight-33/1033318/9 "2026-09-23T19:20:35Z")
It’s a hard question - we don’t have enough information governing the rules, since we jumped millions of years back and forth, the 20 year gap is likely a tiny rounding error as it were. From the POV of the flight crew, who are making the decision, they have a _duty_ to get their passengers to their destination, safely. The problem in this case is what defines “home” and “safe”! Given the huge gap between the earlier events, and the short fuel, I too would go with the safe bet and try to land, even given the fact that anyone with younger family may never meet them again. Which makes me wonder - given that we don’t see a lot of kids aboard, we’re going to end up with a number of dual versions of the same people in existence - their 1939 selves and the 1961 selves. I could see this leading to incidents of comedy, individual destruction (_Timecop_), or some world/universe ending paradox that creates a two-fer Twilight Zone episode. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-odyssey-of-flight-33/1033318/10 "2026-09-23T19:39:08Z")
So a 707 had a 4 person flight crew typically with 2 Pilots, a Navigator and a Flight Engineer. In this case, they showed 5 flight crew I believe. Capt Farver may have had WWII experience, and almost surely at least Korean War experience. Navigator Hatch & Engineer Purcell were also old enough to have war time experience. It then had 6-8 Stewardesses. Not sure how many they showed. Passengers should be 140 to 184 typically. The pilots may not have known a lot besides flying, but at the time most were military vets and most were degreed. The Flight Engineers mostly had a degree in Mech or Aero Engineering. So hopefully invaluable to the 1939 military. So in theory a huge wealth of knowledge. With any luck a Doctor was on board. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-odyssey-of-flight-33/1033318/11 "2026-09-23T20:18:38Z")
So they just step out of their strange futuristic craft with no propellers and calmly explain their situation to authorities? Ask Klaatu how that ends. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-odyssey-of-flight-33/1033318/12 "2026-09-23T20:20:58Z")
It’s been a while since I saw that episode, but IIRC the captain stated that the runways at 1939 LaGuardia were waaaay too short to safely land a 707 on, so I assume they would have ended up in the water if they tried to land there. Idlewild (JFK) didn’t exist yet, and I don’t recall Newark being mentioned in the episode, but I assume their runways would have been shorter in 1939 as well (IIRC there was a wave of airport expansion in the 1950s to accommodate the newfangled jet airliners that were in the works). Did _any_ runway suitable for a 707 exist in 1939, close enough for them to plausibly divert to? Would you just attempt to land anyway, maybe try to find a runway with nothing but farmland beyond it, and try for a landing that at least everyone can walk away from? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-odyssey-of-flight-33/1033318/13 "2026-09-23T20:40:14Z")
It looks like no 1939 airfield in the NYC area was long enough. Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn had the longest at 5000’, so an emergency landing would probably be survivable there. Taking back off, not an option. Recommended landing 5900’ and it looks like 7500’+ for take off. Paging @LSLGuy, how survivable would 5000’ be for a landing. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-odyssey-of-flight-33/1033318/14 "2026-09-23T20:42:33Z")
None of this matters because the Langoliers are coming for you. And they’re hungry. 🎵 In the year of ‘39 came a ship in from the blue 🎶 ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-odyssey-of-flight-33/1033318/15 "2026-09-23T20:45:02Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > Which makes me wonder - given that we don’t see a lot of kids aboard, we’re going to end up with a number of dual versions of the same people in existence - their 1939 selves and the 1961 selves. > > I could see this leading to incidents of comedy, individual destruction (_Timecop_), or some world/universe ending paradox that creates a two-fer Twilight Zone episode. Or, worse yet, if you had a single mother, and your father was a one-night fling… ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-odyssey-of-flight-33/1033318/16 "2026-09-23T20:46:47Z")
All you Zombies. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-odyssey-of-flight-33/1033318/17 "2026-09-23T20:48:48Z")
[![](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRzcRwLlwY4HtjFjn0XNXDX3hK2OG2XPGwzdYc-t3vLBuXbLPI7wAj2iC3-&s=10) ](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRzcRwLlwY4HtjFjn0XNXDX3hK2OG2XPGwzdYc-t3vLBuXbLPI7wAj2iC3-&s=10) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-odyssey-of-flight-33/1033318/18 "2026-09-23T21:00:20Z")
If one of the trips went all the way back to the dinosaurs, then the simplest assumption is that it’s picking years uniformly at random over a range of tens or hundreds of millions of years. With that kind of odds, getting as close as 1939 is basically miraculous. You’re not going to get another chance that good. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-odyssey-of-flight-33/1033318/19 "2026-09-23T21:00:56Z")
> **Story time** > > I personally have witnessed a 707 land on a 5700’ runway. It was Air Force One no less, carrying Richard Nixon to a campaign event near what’s now **[John Wayne Airport - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wayne_Airport)**. The airport’s runways haven’t changed since that day in IIRC 1972. > > My dad was at that time a 707 pilot and was very interested to watch this arrival. Of course they had nearly zero fuel aboard, having arrived first at nearby **[Marine Corps Air Station El Toro - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_Corps_Air_Station_El_Toro)** which was then in full operation. They stopped there first to optimize the fuel load and probably had enough to get the 10 miles back there and not much more. Although that airplane w all the presidential equipment installed probably weighed a bunch more than a standard 707. > > In the event, they did get stopped, but it was a breath-holding thing from our POV off to the side near the end of the runway. My bet is 5000 feet is not doable w a 707. Not even at sea level with near empty tanks. And definitely not full of pax and luggage / cargo. If you depart the end of the runway at e.g. 60 knots ~=75mph, it all comes down to what’s beyond there. Nice hard desert or dry lake bed: easy. A ditch, a road, and a city block filled with 3-story inter-war era brick apartment buildings? Gonna be a fiery mass casualty exercise. Farmland or an estuary? Still gonna rip up the airplane and cause a big fire, but some folks may get out alive. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-odyssey-of-flight-33/1033318/20 "2026-09-23T21:03:44Z")
Some of the strips ran into sand I believe. But I’m trying to remember back to the mid-90s. It looks like the 1 strip might allow a slightly safe overrun. Satellite view. [https://maps.app.goo.gl/RpeKL9FpGDzhDVPy5?g\_st=ac](https://maps.app.goo.gl/RpeKL9FpGDzhDVPy5?g_st=ac) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-odyssey-of-flight-33/1033318.md?page=2)