1.04 Phantom Traveler

A very nervous George goes into the airport bathroom to wash his face before flying. Another man enters and tries to reassure him that flying is safe. When this man leaves, a strange black entity emerges from the nearby air vent and enters George through his eyes. The now possessed George gets on board his flight. The welcoming stewardess notices his eyes are all black, but shrugs it off. Forty minutes into the flight, George asks the passenger beside him the time. He then comments, "Time really does fly", before saying he is going to stretch his legs. A young man near the exit notices George heading for the emergency release handle and shouts for him to stop when he reaches for the handle, but somehow George manages to open the door and it blows off, hitting the plane's tail. The plane goes into a dive and everyone starts screaming in fear and panicking.

It is 5:45 a.m. and Dean is awakened from his slumber by Sam. Sam has not slept for a while now. He says what they do preys on his mind. Dean says he is never afraid like that, but Sam pulls a huge knife from under Dean's pillow and is not convinced. Dean's cell phone rings, interrupting their conversation.

It is a man Dean and John once did a job for in the past. He says he needs their help again. Dean and Sam meet Jerry in an aircraft workshop. He had a ghost problem once before at his home, but this time, the problem is work related. He plays them the voice recorder of the downed airliner and they all hear a horrid noise. Jerry says he does not think the plane had mechanical failure, which is what the authorities think. Apparently, there were 7 survivors, including the pilot. Dean and Sam ask for access to logs, flight recordings, etc., as well as the wreckage. Jerry says he can get them everything but access to the plane's remains.

Dean goes to a copy shop and fakes two Homeland Security IDs. Sam is waiting outside, having checked out the noise on the voice recorder. It is clear now that something is saying "No survivors".

They go visit the young man who last saw George trying to open the plane's emergency exit. He is one of the seven survivors and has admitted himself to the psychiatric hospital because he is afraid of what he saw. He tells the brothers he knows it is impossible for George to open the exit, as it had two tons of pressure on it, and yet he did. He tells them George had strange black eyes too. Next, Dean and Sam visit George's widow, from the information from the flight manifest. George's wife tells them he was just an ordinary guy going to a dentist's convention. This disappoints the brothers as they had assumed he might be some evil creature masquerading as a man.

The boys decide they need to check the wreckage to get any kind of clues and for that they need suitable attire. They go shopping and come out of the store dressed in black suits. Dean says he feels like the Blues Brothers. They gain access with their fake IDs and go check out the plane's remains. They find an odd residue on what is left of the emergency exit's handle, but then the real Homeland Security agents appear and the boys have to make a quick exit, taking a sample of the residue with them. The substance from the handle is sulfur, and they conclude they are dealing with some kind of demonic possession.

Chuck, the downed plane's pilot, is about to take his first aircraft up since the crash. It is only a small prop plane, but he is still very nervous as he waits. The strange black entity appears and seep into Chuck's eyes. Chuck takes the plane up; his nerves are now strangely gone. After 40 minutes, he deliberately crashes into a field near a place called Nazareth.

Dean and Sam look up demons and possession on their laptop. Sam finds a Japanese item stating that disasters are caused by certain demons. Dean says this is something bigger than usual and he wished their dad was there. His cell rings- it is Jerry with more bad news about Chuck's plane going down. The boys visited the site where Chuck crashed and found more sulfur residue. They realize the demon is using some kind of biblical reference because it is crashing planes after 40 minutes in flight. It has crashed several over the years. The number forty apparently signifies death. They also figure it is going after all the survivors from the flight because they should not have lived.

Sam rings the rest of the survivors to see if any plan to fly. Apparently, only one does - Amanda Walker, the stewardess. Their only problem is, they cannot contact her and her flight leaves soon! Dean floors the gas and prays. The boys arrive at the airport and Dean has Amanda paged. He tells Amanda a lie to stop her from flying, but the ruse does not work. She goes to board the flight, the black entity lurking. Sam says they have to get on the plane with Amanda and exorcise the demon or everyone on it will die. Dean confesses he is afraid to fly; Sam offers to do it alone but Dean does not like that idea.

Dean gives in and boards the flight, but he is obviously pretty scared. Sam tells him he has to stay calm because it is most likely to possess someone uneasy or under pressure/stress. They only have 40 minutes to find who the demon has possessed. Dean goes to check Amanda. He tests her by saying God's name in Latin but the test fails! Dean goes back to Sam and as the plane encounters turbulence Dean hits panic mode again. Sam calms him and explains the exorcism is in two parts. The first one makes the demon leave the body it has possessed, but it also makes it more powerful- it can survive without a human host! They must make sure they read out both parts of the ritual to banish it back to hell. Dean does not like the sound of this. He uses his home made, "Walkman spook detector" to check out the passengers; he finds nothing. They now have 15 minutes and are getting nowhere, before the meter picks up on something. The demon is in the co-pilot!

Dean and Sam enlist Amanda's help. They tell her the plane will go down if she does not lure the co-pilot to them. She admits something was strange on the original flight and tells them she saw George's black eyes too. Eventually she goes to get the co-pilot, still not really understanding what is going on. He arrives and the brothers try to subdue him. Sam recites the exorcism while Dean grapples with the demon, tossing holy water on him and fighting him down. The demon screams that it knows what happened to Sam's girlfriend Jess, but then is forced from the body it is in and the black entity vanished into an air duct. Immediately, the plane starts to take a dive and people begin to scream. The lights flicker and Sam drops the journal he has been reciting from. In the darkness and mayhem he has to grapple to retrieve the book! The plane plummets and a terrified Dean is pinned to a wall panel. Somehow, Sam manages to grab the book at the last minute and finish the exorcism. A huge electrical discharge flares around the plane and it levels out. The Winchester boys have saved the flight.

Later, people are being tended to by paramedics or questioned by the authorities about what happened on the plane. Amanda mouths thanks to Dean and Sam and they walk away. Sam is upset that the demon knew about Jess. Dean says the thing knew his fears and probably lied. Later as the boys head for their car, Jerry thanks them for all they have done. Dean asks Jerry how he got his cell phone number, as he has not had it long. Jerry tells them their dad's voicemail points to Dean's number. This was a surprise as last time they checked their father's number was not working, so Dean rings and hears the voicemail. This means their dad could still be alive somewhere, but why has he not contacted them directly? The two drive off in their Impala as the screen fades to black.