The plot of Airplane! was lifted verbatim from a non-comedy 1957 movie called Zero Hour!, specifically because AZZ knew they couldn't write plot. They were up-

The plot of Airplane! was lifted verbatim from a non-comedy 1957 movie called Zero Hour!, specifically because AZZ knew they couldn't write plot. They were up-front about it - paid for the rights - but it does suggest that writing comedy and writing plot are very different things.