Plot

Before an assembly of police brass that includes his boss Captain Braddock, LA chopper pilot Frank Chaney demonstrates the Blue Thunder, an advanced attack helicopter with powerful surveillance equipment and a 20-mm. Gatling cannon capable of shredding anything. The demonstration goes well despite some hot-dogging by Chaney to the displeasure of Braddock. Braddock, Chaney, and his new co-pilot Clinton Wonderlove (nicknamed JAFO for Just Another Foolish Observer) are teamed with a ground support unit of officers Richard Butowski and Lyman Kelsi as the city is attacked by an old enemy of Chaney, who goes by the name PVC and flies a former Army attack plane that can destroy Blue Thunder.—Michael Daly

Blue Thunder, a high tech helicopter which is equipped with state of the art surveillance equipment, and weaponry. And is also armored. Is being used by the police and piloted by Frank Chaney, a pilot who doesn't always follow orders or rules. When a police helicopter is shot down by a plane, the department is up in arms. At the funeral for the officers killed, the plane shows up and drops something with a note attached addressed to Frank. It's a man who killed Frank's partner and whom he pursued and thought he killed. He wants to face Frank and Frank is willing to accommodate him but his Captain won't allow him. He threatens to shoot down more police helicopters until he gets what he wants.—rcs0411@yahoo.com

A police helicopter is on station over the city when it suddenly comes under attack from an OV1 Mohawk, a Vietnam-era scout plane/bomber sporting wing-mounted cannons. The chopper is blown out of the sky as the Mohawk flies away.

Some time later a police van is being driven through the desert. Driving is Richard "Ski" Butowski and his passenger is Lyman "Bubba" Kelsey, members of the police department's Blue Thunder unit, a unit formed for special tasks for the police and for the government. Butowski and Kelsey joined the department after retirement from lengthy careers in pro football and frequently bicker. The van, containing a huge computer databank system, arrives at a weapons testing ground where a mobile grandstand is peopled with military brass and the head of the Blue Thunder unit, Captain Ed Braddock. But the true star of the unit is Blue Thunder itself, a special attack helicopter sporting a 20 mm Gatling cannon, sophisticated surveillance systems, and "Whisper Mode" rotor noise repression technology. The gunship, flown by Frank Chaney and his computer expert Clinton "Just Another Frustrated Observer" Wonderlove, demonstrates its power to the amazement of the visiting brass by strafing a simulated town, shooting up red board dummies simulating gunmen, and reading a politician's business card.

Later, at the funeral of officers shot down days before, the Mohawk flies overhead and strafes the cemetery, then drops a toy bomb to the ground sporting a streamer. The streamer warns that Frank Chaney is the Mohawk's target and identifies the pilot as P.V.C. P.V.C was a former informant for Narcotics, but he used his status to learn police procedures and thus circumvent them to smuggle his own illicit substances across the Mexican border; when he set up an ambush that killed Chaney's partner, Chaney violated orders and pursued P.V.C. to Mexico where he was able to shoot down his aircraft. P.V.C., wanting revenge for the severe injuries he suffered, telephones Braddock taunting him and challenging Chaney to come after him; when Chaney requests going after P.V.C. with Blue Thunder Braddock rejects him, saying they can lay an ambush on P.V.C., an ambush Chaney is certain will go wrong given P.V.C.'s knowledge of police efforts.

The next day Blue Thunder flies over the California desert near the Mexican border and spots a hideout known as a rendezvous point for illegal shipments. Blue Thunder plus Ski and Kelsey run down several gunmen awaiting a shipment, then Blue Thunder encounters the Mohawk flown by P.V.C. The criminal escapes Blue Thunder and strafes a waiting police chopper, thus ruining Braddock's plan.

When Chaney confronts Braddock again over the methods used against P.V.C. an alarm sounds for discovery of a bomb inside Chaney's locker. Helicopters are scrambled and the "bomb" turns out to be nothing but a jury-rigged beeper sending out a Morse code warning to Chaney; after hearing the warning he suddenly realizes the bomb threat was meant to launch police choppers - a suspicion that turns deadly accurate when P.V.C. shoots down a chopper with a shoulder-fired rocket.

All choppers are grounded as a result, but once again Chaney violates orders, going after P.V.C. in his Mohawk with Blue Thunder.