From hijackings to mind games at cruising altitude, these in-flight thrillers will have you gripping your armrest.

The new Mark Wahlberg thriller now in theaters, “Flight Risk” caught my attention and I’m planning on seeing it this week. Wahlberg (who I always have time for) plays a pilot navigating an intense flight with an air marshal and a fugitive on board. Set against the backdrop of the Alaskan wilderness, the film promises high-altitude suspense and a ton of “not all is as it seems” twists. It got me thinking about why thrillers on airplanes are so powerful. Maybe it’s because each one of us has had a moment on a flight during major turbulence where the thought has crossed our minds… “If this goes down, there’s not a lot of hope.”

In short, the stakes are just so high, and there are plenty of movies that capture that tension.