A great scene from one of the great movies. Two big things struck me. The first was the explosion of the Indian guy. The second was the cocaine scene was removed. (It comes up in a later part of the film). Removing the cocaine scene was a smart. This is a big moment in the story and inserting this random (though hilarious) scene in the middle takes away the momentum. The reason why Airplane is such a great movie is not just the sight gags, pop culture references and funny dialogue. The movie also has the same rhythm as a real thriller. Inserting the cocaine scene at that point might have led viewers to forget what Stryker was going up there for. It would have taken away from the sense that this was an important moment. It is worth remembering that all stories even parodies need to have interesting conflict. The main selling point of the movie was the jokes but there was enough plot to hold everything together. Consider how bad movies like "Meet the Spartans" are. I didn't like the addition of the explosion. It actually hurt my suspension of disbelief. I have always thought that the plane should explode if something like that happens. Even knowing that I am watching a silly parody that moment bugged me. If they wanted the Indian to die they should have killed him off in a different way. Herre are a few possibilities. He takes a drink and chokes to death on it. He reads a magazine, gets a paper cut and bleeds out. A piece of luggage falls on his head. He has a heart attack. None of these ideas are that good but I think that Zucker and Co. could have come up with something better.