Ernest K. Gann

Masada is a 1981 American historical drama television miniseries aired on ABC under the tentpole ABC Novel for Television. The screenplay by Joel Oliansky is based on Ernest Gann's 1971 novel The Antagonists. A dramatization of the historical siege of the Masada citadel in Roman Palestine by legions of the Roman Empire in AD 73. A siege that ended when the Roman armies entered the fortress, only to discover the mass suicide by the Jewish defenders when defeat became imminent.

Dan Roman is a veteran pilot haunted by a tragic past. Now relegated to second-in-command cockpit assignments he finds himself on a routine Honolulu-to-San Francisco flight - one that takes a terrifying suspense-building turn when disaster strikes high above the Pacific Ocean at the point of no return.

An American woman arrives in Hong Kong to unravel the mystery of her missing photographer husband. After getting nowhere with the authorities, she is led by some underground characters to an American soldier of fortune working in the area against the Communists. He promises to help find her husband.

An airline executive refuses to believe that pilot error, by his friend, caused a fatal crash and persists in looking for another reason.

A C-47 transport plane, named the Corsair, makes a forced landing in the frozen wastelands of Labrador, and the plane's pilot, Captain Dooley, must keep his men alive in deadly conditions while awaiting rescue.

The only chance to escape a desert island is to convert the plane carrying many different animals into a boat.

A 1920s mail pilot and a rich man's daughter crash-land on a mountain full of hungry wolves.

A San Francisco hood is rubbed out by rival Bruno Felkin, who himself reports the crime to Homicide Lt. Kelsey in an alibi scheme which fails. To escape, he stows away on a fishing boat. At sea, skipper Hamil Linder receives Bruno kindly, teaching him fishing; Bruno enlists Hamil's wayward son Carl to tend his slot machines. Then Carl takes an interest in Bruno's girl Connie. Climax in a storm at sea.

In this aerial melodrama, four brothers working as stunt pilots for a flying circus leave their jobs to become mail pilots. Because their job requires that they constantly travel, they are advised to not settle down with wives and kids. Still, one pilot falls in love and marries. Unfortunately, the woman dislikes his brothers and constantly worries that he will be killed during a flight. Her fears are not unfounded and much tragedy ensues as the story unfolds.

Rich Sadie Patch is marooned on a desert island after an emergency on her cruise-ship. With her are Irish stoker Pat, prickly young Jimmy Carrol, and bald and bookish Professor Gibble. All fancy their chances.

An alcoholic captain sails a two-master through danger with a call girl and others on board.