Trivia

Although several air crisis films contributed a range of clichés that would appear in the parody Airplane! (1980), Airplane! was directly based on this film. The writers noted down every quirk and came up with such great material that they decided to make their own comedy film. To avoid lawsuits and royalty issues, and as Zero Hour was so obscure, they found that they could afford to buy the rights to the entire film and then do whatever they wished. This would inspire Airplane! fans to view Zero Hour with cult-like status, organizing viewings during which they could spot all the clichés.

Early in the flight, three male passengers are sharing a drink and talking about football. The Scotsman in the trio is explaining a new player position recently introduced to the game, called a "flanker," which he describes as being impossible to defend against. In reality the position of flanker was created in the 1950s by Elroy 'Crazylegs' Hirsch, the pro football player turned actor who plays Capt. Wilson in this film.

Dramamine, the old standard for motion sickness, is still in use in 2022.

Like Airplane! (1980), this movie featured an actor portraying a pilot who would be later elected to a sports Hall of Fame. Elroy 'Crazylegs' Hirsch in this movie would be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in Airplane! was elected to the Pro Basketball Hall of Fame.

Although the sight of a captain moving through a plane and greeting guests, or of visitors welcomed into the cockpit, might seem unfathomable now, such occurrences were common in the postwar years of commercial aviation. Flying in a plane was still a glamorous new adventure. Passengers dressed accordingly, too.