February. Ruskin Air Services is grounded: locked in the icy grip of winter, Enter Ernie Cade, with a proposition the men find hard to refuse, Had they known what they were letting themselves in for, they would have remained earthbound.

Stripped of his pilot's licence and no airline to run, Ruskin, undaunted, embarks on a new 'money earner' - and that's where he comes unstuck: military training hasn't exactly prepared his crew for carrying passengers.