Description

Planes: Fire & Rescue.Since winning the Wings Around the Globe race in the first film, Dusty Crophopper has a successful career as a racer. Unfortunately, his engine's gearbox becomes damaged because Dusty routinely operates the engine beyond its design limits. With that particular model of gearbox now out of production and none available anywhere, Dusty's mechanic Dottie fits a warning light to his control panel to ensure he doesn't damage his gearbox any further. No longer able to race and faced with the possibility of returning to his old job as a crop-duster, Dusty goes on a defiant flight and tests his limits. In doing so, Dusty exceeds his limits and makes a forced landing at Propwash Junction airport, causing a fire. The residents put out the fire with some difficulty, but the accident leads government inspector Ryker to condemn the airport for inadequate firefighting personnel. Aggrieved at his carelessness, Dusty offers to undergo training to be certified as a firefighter to meet the necessary regulations to reopen the airport. To that end, Dusty travels to Piston Peak National Park where he meets a fire and rescue crew under the command of a helicopter named Blade Ranger. The leader of an efficient unit, Blade is initially unimpressed by the small newcomer and Dusty's training proves to be a difficult challenge. Maru, the team's mechanic, replaces Dusty's original undercarriage with two pontoons fitted with retractable undercarriage wheels for his new role as a firefighter. During training, Dusty learns that Blade was formerly an actor who played a police helicopter on the TV series CHoPs. Later, Dusty is devastated by a call from his friends at Propwash Junction noting that all attempts at finding a replacement gearbox have failed and that his racing career is over. Lightning in a thunderstorm over a forest near Piston Peak starts several spot fires which unite into a serious forest fire. The team fights it and seem to have extinguished it, but later, during the grand reopening of the park's lodge, visiting VIPs fly too low and make air eddies which blow embers about, creating a larger fire, and thereby forcing the need for an evacuation. A depressed Dusty's education in the midst of the large fire falters to Blade's frustration and things come to a head when Dusty makes a forced landing in a river during a fire dispatch and is swept through the rapids with Blade trying to extract him. Eventually, the pair make it to land, and Dusty confesses his physical disability, to which Blade advises Dusty not to give up. They shelter in an abandoned mine while the fire passes. The situation is complicated in that Blade also is damaged from protecting Dusty in the fire, and is temporarily grounded for repairs. While Blade is recuperating, Dusty learns from Maru that Blade's co-star Nick Lopez from CHoPs was killed during a stunt gone wrong on set that Blade was helpless to stop, so he decided to become a firefighter to save lives for real...