Planes: Fire & Rescue

Since winning the Wings Around the Globe Rally, Dusty Crophopper has a successful career as an air racer, but his engine's gearbox becomes damaged due to him constantly overstressing his engine. His gearbox model has been out of production for years, forcing Dusty's mechanic Dottie to fit a warning light to prevent further damage. Disappointed, Dusty goes on a defiant flight, but in doing so, clips a transmission tower and is forced to make an unstable landing back at Propwash Junction's airport, colliding with a pole and inadvertently causing a fire. Mayday, the town's only fire truck, fails to extinguish the fire due to poorly maintained equipment, forcing the residents to topple the nearby water tower out of desperation. The accident leads to government inspectors shutting down the airport for inadequate firefighting protocols until Mayday is refurbished, and another firefighter is added. Dusty, feeling remorseful, offers to become a firefighter to get the airport reopened, so he travels to Piston Peak National Park, where he meets a forest fire and smokejumper crew under the command of a helicopter named Blade Ranger, and is converted into an air tanker by Maru, the team's mechanic. Blade is initially unimpressed by the small newcomer, as Dusty's training proves to be difficult due to his damaged gearbox, which he initially does not reveal. Dusty learns that Blade was a former actor who played a police helicopter on the TV series CHoPs but left for unknown reasons. The next day, Dusty is devastated by a call from his friends back at Propwash Junction, revealing that all attempts at finding a replacement gearbox have failed, effectively ending his racing career. Lightning from thunderstorms over a forest near Piston Peak starts several spot fires which unite into a larger, serious fire. The team seems to have extinguished it; but a day later, during the grand reopening of the park's lodge, visiting VIPs flew too low and restarted the fire, turning it into a much larger one and forcing the entire park to evacuate. Meanwhile, a forlorn Dusty struggles to contain the fire, much to Blade’s frustration, and things escalate when Dusty tries to refill his water tank in a dangerous river, only to be swept through the rapids with Blade racing to pull him out. They eventually reach land, where Dusty admits his gearbox is damaged, and Blade urges him not to give up. Taking shelter in an abandoned mine as the fire passes, Blade suffers severe damage while shielding Dusty from the intense heat, leading to his evacuation by airlift. While Blade recovers at the base, Dusty learns from Maru that Blade’s co-star and best friend, Nick “Loopin’” Lopez from CHoPs, died in a stunt gone wrong that Blade couldn’t prevent, inspiring him to become a firefighter to save lives for real. Cad Spinner, the park superintendent, diverts the park's entire water supply to the roof sprinklers to prevent the lodge from burning. This would cost his job as the crew were unable to produce fire retardant and as a result, is forced to use their remaining supply to help guests evacuate after the fire initially blocked the park's only exit. Dusty is then alerted that two elderly campers, Harvey and Winnie, who Dusty and his crew had met earlier, are trapped on a burning bridge at the other side of the park. He races to the bridge and is forced to push his engine to maximum power while scaling up a waterfall to refill his tank. Blade shows up to assist Dusty, who successfully extinguishes the bridge, allowing the campers to escape; only for Dusty's overstressed engine to catastrophically fail immediately after, causing him to crash into the forest. Dusty is airlifted back to base and recovers five days later. Learning that in addition to fully repairing him, Maru successfully refurbished Dusty's gearbox, allowing him to race again. When the new superintendent, Jammer arrives, Blade, impressed at Dusty's skills and heroism, certifies him as a firefighter. Propwash Junction airport is reopened with Mayday being fully refurbished and Dusty assuming duty as a firefighter. The town celebrates with an aerial show with his new colleagues from Piston Peak. In the mid-credits scene, Cad is seen working as a Death Valley National Park ranger.

Plot from Planes: Fire & RescueCC BY-SA 4.0