American Airlines Flight 1420 was a flight from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport to Little Rock National Airport. On June 1, 1999, a McDonnell Douglas MD-82 (registration number N215AA) overran the runway upon landing in Little Rock and crashed. According to the NTSB's report, the crew of Flight 1420 learned that the winds were changing direction and that a windshear alert had sounded on the airport due to a thunderstorm nearby. The crew was originally told to expect Runway 22L for landing but requested a change to Runway 4R. As the aircraft approached Runway 4R, a severe thunderstorm arrived over the airport. The controller's last report to the crew prior to landing stated that the winds were 330 degrees at 28 knots. During the rushed approach, the pilots had failed to arm the spoilers, devices atop the wings that reduce lift by "spoiling" airflow. After landing, the first officer stated, "We're down. We're sliding." The aircraft never fully settled onto its landing gear and therefore braking was ineffective. Despite the application of brakes and reverse thrust, the aircraft skidded off the far end of the runway at high speed and crashed into an approach lighting tier, ending up on the banks of the Arkansas River. Such structures are usually frangible - i.e. designed to shear off on impact - but because the approach lights were located on the unstable river bank, they were firmly anchored and the impact destroyed the aircraft. It broke into three pieces and ignited. The pilot, one of six crew members, died in the crash, along with 10 of the 139 passengers. Flight: American Airlines Flight 1420 AKA: Fatal Landing
United Airlines Flight 811, a Boeing 747-122 (registration number N4713U), took off from Honolulu International Airport bound for Sydney, Australia, via Auckland, New Zealand with 3 flight crew, 15 flight attendants, and 337 passengers aboard. As the 747 climbed to between 22,000 and 23,000 feet the R5 cargo door tore open, decompressing the cabin and leaving a gaping hole. Five rows of business class seats were blown out of the aircraft, along with nine passengers. Severely injured, a flight attendant was lying down beside the hole caused by the decompression. Because the cabin was no longer pressurized, the pilots initiated an emergency descent to reach an altitude with breathable air. The explosion had knocked out the number three engine and the number four engine caught fire. Despite only partial flaps (a portion of the shed fuselage damaged the flaps on one wing) and concerns over the plane's landing gear and structural integrity, the crew made a perfect landing and deployed all ten evacuation slides on the aircraft. The evacuation was completed in 90 seconds, with no additional injuries occurring. Flight: United Airlines Flight 811 AKA: Ripped From the Sky
AeroPeru Flight 603 was a scheduled flight from Jorge Chávez International Airport in Lima(LIM), to Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport in Santiago, which crashed on October 2, 1996. The flight originated in Miami, Florida. On October 2, 1996, just past midnight, the Boeing 757 airliner crew, shortly after takeoff, reported receiving contradictory emergency messages, such as rudder ratio, overspeed, underspeed and flying too low, from the onboard computer; asked for an emergency to be declared and decided to return to base. Faced with the contradictory warnings, the pilot decided to descend. It was only when one wing touched water, almost an hour after emergency declaration, that the pilots realized how confused and disoriented they were. All nine crew members and sixty-one passengers died. Flight: AeroPeru Flight 603
Air Transat Flight 236 was an Air Transat route between Toronto and Lisbon flown by Captain Robert Piché and First Officer Dirk Dejager. On August 24, 2001, the flight ran out of fuel over the Atlantic Ocean with 306 people (293 passengers + 13 crew) aboard. The flight crew was able to successfully land the plane in the Azores with no loss of life. Flight: Air Transat Flight 236
On 31 January 2000, Alaska Airlines Flight 261 crashes into the Pacific Ocean, killing all 88 people on board. The horizontal stabilizer had jammed due to an improperly maintained jackscrew.
Swissair Flight 111 (SR-111, SWR-111) was a Swissair McDonnell Douglas MD-11 on a scheduled airline flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, United States to Cointrin International Airport in Geneva, Switzerland. This flight was also a codeshare flight with Delta Air Lines. On September 2, 1998 the aircraft used for the flight, registered HB-IWF, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean southwest of Halifax International Airport at the entrance to St. Margarets Bay, Nova Scotia. The crash site was 8 km from shore, roughly equidistant between the tiny fishing and tourist communities of Peggys Cove and Bayswater. All 229 people on board were killed. The resulting investigation by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) took over four years and cost US$39 million (CAD$57 million). Their main conclusion was that flammable material used in the aircraft's structure allowed a fire to spread beyond the control of the crew, resulting in the loss of control and crash of the aircraft Flight: Swissair Flight 111 AKA: Fire in the Sky
British Airways Flight 5390 was a British Airways flight between Birmingham International Airport in Birmingham, England and Málaga, Spain. On June 10, 1990 the airplane suffered an explosive decompression when an improperly installed pane of the windshield blew out; the flight crew managed to perform an emergency landing in Southampton with no loss of life. Flight: British Airways Flight 5390 AKA: Blow Out
Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 529, registration N256AS, was a Embraer Brasilia aircraft that crashed near Carrollton, Georgia on August 21, 1995 while on a flight from the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport to Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport in Gulfport, Mississippi. Nine of the 29 passengers and crew on board eventually died due to injuries suffered in the accident. Flight: Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 529 AKA: Wounded Bird AKA: A Wounded Bird
Air France Flight 8969 (AF8969, AFR8969) was an Air France flight that was hijacked on December 24, 1994 at Algiers. The crisis was ultimately solved with minimal casualties to innocents by the GIGN, the intervention group of the French Gendarmerie, a law-enforcement agency. Flight: Air France Flight 8969 AKA: Hijacked AKA: Killing Machine
Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937 was a Tupolev 154M passenger jet en route from Moscow, Russia to Barcelona, Spain. DHL Flight 611 was a Boeing 757-200 cargo jet flying from Bergamo, Italy to Brussels, Belgium. The two aircraft collided in mid-air on July 1, 2002 at 21:35 (UTC) over Überlingen, Germany (near Lake Constance), killing all 71 aboard both aircraft. German investigators determined that the accident had been caused by problems within the air traffic control system. The controller who was on duty at the time, Peter Nielsen, was later stabbed to death by an architect who lost his wife and both of his children in the accident.
American Airlines Flight 965 was a scheduled flight from Miami International Airport in Miami, Florida to Alfonso Bonilla Aragón International Airport in Cali, Colombia. Flight 965 crashed into a mountain in Buga, Colombia on December 20, 1995. Flight: American Airlines Flight 965 AKA: Crash on the Mountain
Avianca Airlines Flight 52 was a regularly scheduled flight from Bogotá's El Dorado International Airport to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport via Medellín, Colombia's José María Córdova International Airport. On Thursday, January 25, 1990, the aircraft performing this flight, a Boeing 707-321B registered as HK-2016, crashed into the town of Cove Neck, Long Island, New York after running out of fuel. 73 out of the 158 passengers and crew on board were killed. Flight: Avianca Airlines Flight 52 AKA: Deadly Delay
Aloha Airlines Flight 243 was a scheduled Aloha Airlines Boeing 737-200 flight between Hilo and Honolulu in Hawaii. On April 28, 1988, the aircraft suffered extensive damage after an explosive decompression in flight, but was able to land safely at Kahului Airport on Maui. One crew member was blown out of the airplane and another 65 passengers and crew were injured. The extent of the damage was only just below that which would have caused the airliner to break up, and the survival of the aircraft with such a major loss of integrity was unprecedented and remains unsurpassed.
The DHL shootdown incident in Baghdad occurred on 22 November 2003, aboard an Airbus A300B4-203F cargo plane, registered OO-DLL, operating on behalf of DHL. The aircraft was hit by a missile, which resulted in the loss of its hydraulic systems. It was the first time an aircraft in this condition was landed safely.
Japan Airlines Flight 123 was a JAL domestic flight from Tokyo International Airport in Haneda to Osaka International Airport in Itami. The Boeing 747-SR46 that made this route, registered JA8119, crashed into the ridge of Mount Takamagahara in Gunma Prefecture, Japan 100 km from Tokyo, on Monday August 12, 1985. The crash site was on Osutakano-O'ne (Osutaka Ridge), near Mount Osutaka. It remains the worst single-aircraft disaster in history, and the second-worst aviation accident of all time, second only to the Tenerife disaster. All 15 crew members and 505 out of 509 passengers died (including the famous singer Kyu Sakamoto): a total of 520 deaths. The four female survivors were seated towards the rear of the plane: Yumi Ochiai, an off-duty JAL flight attendant, age 25, who was jammed between a number of seats; Hiroko Yoshizaki, a 34-year-old woman and her 8-year-old daughter Mikiko, who were trapped in an intact section of the fuselage; and a 12-year-old girl, Keiko Kawakami, who was found sitting on a branch in a tree.
Alternate title: "Suicide Attack" FedEx Flight 705 was the scene of an attempted hijacking of a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 on April 7, 1994. Auburn Calloway, a FedEx employee, was due to be fired for lying on his résumé about his previous flying experience with the United States Navy. He boarded the San José, California-bound aircraft, which was loaded with electronic equipment bound for Silicon Valley, intending to murder the flight crew with hammers, and then use the aircraft for a kamikaze attack on FedEx Headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee. His reason for using hammers was so that the injuries inflicted would resemble those occurring in a plane crash - Calloway wanted to disguise the attack as an accident so that his family would benefit from his work's $2.5 million life insurance policy. As a last resort, he was also armed with a speargun, smuggled on board in a guitar case. Calloway attempted to disable the Cockpit Data Recorder to cover his tracks. Unbeknownst to Calloway, the 2 man flight crew that was supposed to fly that flight was replaced by a new 3 man crew, consisting of Pilot Dave Sanders, Co-Pilot James Tucker, and Flight Engineer Andy Peterson. Calloway, a former Navy pilot and a martial arts expert, decided to attack just minutes after take-off. He brutally wounded the flight crew with hammers, and fractured the skull of Co-Pilot James Tucker. A lengthy struggle ensued with the flight engineer and pilot. Co-Pilot James Tucker, also an ex-Navy pilot, managed to control the plane as the 3 men struggled in the cockpit.
Philippine Airlines Flight 434 (PAL434, PR434) was the route designator of a flight from Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Metro Manila, Philippines, to New Tokyo International Airport (now Narita International Airport), Narita near Tokyo, Japan, with one stop at Mactan-Cebu International Airport, Cebu. On December 11, 1994, the Boeing 747-283B on the route was on its second leg, from Cebu to Tokyo, when a bomb exploded, killing one passenger. The rest of the passengers and the crew survived.
Iran Air Flight 655 (IR655) was a commercial flight operated by Iran Air that flew from Bandar Abbas, Iran to Dubai. On Sunday July 3, 1988, the aircraft flying IR655 was shot down by the U.S. Navy guided missile cruiser USS Vincennes between Bandar Abbas and Dubai, killing all 290 passengers and crew aboard, including 38 non-Iranians and 66 children. The Vincennes was inside Iranian territorial waters at the time of the shoot-down. According to the U.S. government, the Iranian aircraft was mistakenly identified as an attacking military fighter. The Iranian government, however, maintains that the Vincennes knowingly shot down a civilian aircraft.
The G-TIGK North Sea ditching was an incident with the Super Puma helicopter G-TIGK on January 19, 1995 in the North Sea. The flight was carrying 16 oil workers from Aberdeen to an oil platform at the Brae oilfield. En route the helicopter ran into poor weather and was then struck by lightning. This caused severe damage to the tail rotor. Though the helicopter managed to limp for a few more minutes, the tail rotor eventually failed completely and the pilot was forced to turn off the main rotor and let the helicopter fall into the rough seas. Emergency floaters on the helicopter allowed the passengers and crew to be evacuated onto a life raft. In spite of the high waves and bad weather, all the people onboard the flight were rescued.
Flight 990 was a Los Angeles-New York-Cairo flight operated by EgyptAir. On October 31, 1999, at around 1:50 a.m. EST, Flight 990 dove into the Atlantic Ocean, about 60 miles south of Nantucket Island, Massachusetts. Radar and radio contact with the Boeing 767-366ER aircraft (Registration number: SU-GAP) was lost 30 minutes after the aircraft departed JFK Airport in New York on its flight to Cairo. The flight departed from its assigned altitude (FL330: 33,000 feet) and dove to 16,000 feet, then climbed again to 24,000 then continued to dive, hitting the Atlantic Ocean within the span of 36 seconds.
Aeroflot Flight 593 refers to an accident on March 23, 1994 in which an Aeroflot Airbus A310-304 passenger airliner, registration F-OGQS, crashed into a hillside in Siberia. The cockpit voice recorder revealed that the pilot's 15-year-old son, Eldar Kudrinsky, was initially at the controls when the incident began, and that he had unknowingly activated an automatic feature of the A310's autopilot that many pilots at the time were unfamiliar with. All 75 passengers and crew were killed.
On 12 May 1989, a 69-car freight train went out of control while descending from California's Cajon Pass. It derailed into a residential neighborhood of San Bernardino after reaching speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour. Two residents and two train crew were killed in the initial crash. A clerical error had caused the train's weight to be greatly underestimated, and it had been assembled without enough locomotives to provide adequate braking. Additionally, several of the engines had completely inoperable brakes, but this information was not passed on to the crews. More than a week later, an underground gasoline pipeline, which was damaged by earth-moving equipment during crash cleanup, ruptured and sparked a fire that killed a further two people.
On 26 September 2000, waves push the MS Express Samina off course, causing it to hit a group of rocks off Paros and sink, killing 80 people. The ferry was on autopilot with the crew not monitoring the ship's course. Instead, they were watching an association football match.
On 8 February 1986, a VIA Rail passenger train and a 118-car freight train collided, killing 23 people. The freight train crew did not stop at a red railway signal on a section of a passing loop because they were possibly asleep.
Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 was hijacked on November 23, 1996 en route from Addis Ababa to Nairobi, by three Ethiopians seeking political asylum. The plane crashed in the Indian Ocean near Comoros after running out of fuel, killing 123 of the 175 passengers and crew on board.
March 27, 1977 – At 2:00 in the afternoon a thick fog rolled into the usually quiet Los Rodeos Airport in Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. On the runway sat two fully loaded jumbo airliners, blanketed in fog. A bomb explosion at a nearby airport had re-directed air traffic to the undermanned airfield at Tenerife. Within three hours, a KLM 747 slams into a taxiing PAM 747, killing 583 people. The planes never left the ground.
Alternate title: "Desperate Escape" Air France Flight 358, an Airbus A340 airliner, departed Paris without incident at 11:53UTC August 2, 2005, later touching down on runway 24L-06R at Toronto Pearson International Airport at 20:01 UTC(16:01 EDT). The aircraft failed to stop and plunged into a nearby shallow ravine, coming to rest and bursting into flames approximately 200 metres past the end of the runway. The Airbus A340-313X had 309 people aboard (297 passengers and 12 crew), all of whom survived without life-threatening injuries
Alternate title: "All Engines Failed" British Airways Flight 009, sometimes referred to as the Jakarta incident, was a scheduled British Airways flight from London Heathrow to Auckland, with stops in Bombay, Madras, Kuala Lumpur, Perth and Melbourne. On 24 June 1982, the route was being flown by City of Edinburgh, a 747-200 registered G-BDXH, when it flew into a cloud of dust and ash thrown up by the eruption of Mount Galunggung, and all four engines failed. The aircraft was able to glide far enough to exit the ash cloud, and three of the engines were restarted, allowing the flight to divert to Jakarta and perform a safe landing.
Alternate title: "Fiery Landing" Air Canada Flight 797 was a scheduled trans-border flight that flew on a Houston, Texas-Dallas/Fort Worth-Toronto, Ontario route. While flying over Louisville, Kentucky, an in-flight fire began in the rear lavatory of the McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32. The pilots made an emergency landing at the Greater Cincinnati Airport, located in Boone County, Kentucky near Cincinnati, Ohio. During the evacuation, the aircraft doors were opened, causing an influx of oxygen that fueled the fire. 23 of the 41 passengers died from smoke inhalation and a flash fire.
Alternate title: "Blind Landing", "Missed Approach". On 6 August 1997, during final approach for a night landing in Guam, Korean Air Flight 801 crashes into a hill while attempting a missed approach, killing 228 people. The causes were pilot error and the instrument landing system at Guam airport being temporarily out of service for maintenance work.
Alternate title: "Mystery Crashes" The Boeing B-737 is the most reliable plane in the world. But in 1991, United Airlines Flight 585's rudder fails and the plane nosedives during approach. Investigators know nothing about what caused it. T hen in 1994, USAir Flight 427 crashes in the same way after take-off. What is causing the crashes? Is there a Hidden Danger in every B-737 in the world?
Alternate title: "6 Mile Plunge" February 19, 1985: China Airlines Flight 006 collides with a jet stream while flying to Los Angeles. The no. 4 engine fails and the pilots try to restart the engine at a much too high altitude. The plane banks slowly to the right but the pilot expects the autopilot to steady the plane. The plane slows down and stalls, sending the passengers and crew into a spiraling nosedive. The sudden actions put everyone under incredible G-forces. The Flight Engineer mistakes readings on the gauges for total engine failures on all engines rather than the Captain putting the throttle to idle. The speed increases and the plane pulls out of the dive but stalls again and falls. The extreme forces rip the undercarriage doors off and pieces of the stabilizers rip off as well. The Boeing 747SP clears the clouds and the pilot sees the horizon. The plane is pulled from the dive, pinning the passengers to their seats. The pilot lands safely at San Francisco despite having trouble with the elevators. 2 people are hurt, but everyone is alive.
August 31, 1986: Aeroméxico Flight 498 is descending into Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) for landing. Meanwhile, a private Piper Cherokee owned by the Kramer family takes-off from an airfield in nearby Torrance. They unwittingly enter LAX airspace but the air traffic controller doesn't notice it due to a distraction by a Grumman Tiger Flight 66R on the screen. Suddenly over the residential district of Cerritos, the Kramers' plane smashes into Flight 498's horizontal stabilizer, shearing off the top of the cockpit of the private plane and snapping half of the tail off from Flight 498. The Kramers die as a result of the impact. The badly damaged DC-9 flips inverted and plummets into the houses below. Everyone on board dies plus 15 people on the ground. The private plane falls out of the sky and crashes into a school playground.
Alternate titles: "Flight 21 is Missing", "Inbound" and "Flight 21 Is Missing". A USAF Boeing CT-43 (operating under the call sign IF021) attempts an instrument approach into Dubrovnik Airport in heavy fog. The passengers are mainly government officials, including U.S. Government Secretaries. The pilots attempt the IFR non-precision NDB approach to Runway 12. The aircraft goes off course and hits mountains north of the airport, killing all 35 people on board, including the United States Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown.
AKA "Desperate Dive", "Deadly Disorientation". . Flash Airlines Flight 604 departs Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport in Egypt for Paris. Just after take-off, the aircraft banks right and goes off course. The pilot corrects the roll but the aircraft banks right again. This time the pilot does nothing. The Boeing 737 rolls further and descends into the Red Sea 9km south of Sharm el-Sheikh. Everyone on board is dead. Although many people today claim that the pilot was spatially disorientated, the cause of this disaster is still disputed.
Alternative title: "Unconscious Pilot" 14 August 2005: Helios Airways Flight 522 takes-off from Cyprus. As it flies over Greece, air traffic controllers lose radio contact with it. Fighter jets are sent up to meet with the Boeing 737. One of the jets get close to the plane only to see that the First Officer is alone and unconscious in the flight deck. Everyone in the cabin is also unconscious and oxygen masks are dangling from the cabin ceiling. The captain is missing. Then, the fighter jet pilot witnesses someone enter the cockpit. The mysterious person appears to be trying to regain control of the aircraft, but it is too late. Soon, Flight 522 runs out of fuel and dives into a hill near Marathon. There are no survivors. After a thorough investigation, the mysterious person is found out to be a flight attendant that had been working on the flight who managed to stay conscious by using a portable oxygen mask as opposed to the aircraft's installed oxygen masks. This solved the mystery of who the fighter pilot was looking at before the aircraft went down.
Air India Flight 182 flying over the Ireland coast exploded in mid-air killing all 329 on board. Investigators discovered that a bomb caused the aircraft to disintegrate.
When an explosion blasts a huge hole in the fuselage of a new DC-10 airliner, the crash investigators discover a serious design flaw in the plane’s rear cargo door. Yet two years after the first crash, another DC-10 goes down because of the same problem. Should this accident have been prevented?
In 1977, a plane was caught in a storm so severe that it cracked the cockpit windscreen. The crew decided to try and land on a nearby highway, but the jet clipped a tree and burst into flames. Together with the cockpit crew, 72 passengers and 8 people on the ground were killed in the inferno but miraculously, 5 people on board survived.
A commuter plane crashes shortly after take-off, killing everyone onboard. Investigators are faced with the possibility that overweight passengers were one of the causes of this fatal crash. The airline industry based average passenger weight calculations on 1940s figures. Were they fatally out of date?
Alternative title: "Slammed to the Ground". In the summer of 1985, a Delta 191 aircraft was diverted away from a thunderstorm, only to be struck by powerful winds and plummet to the ground. Flames engulfed the front of the plane and more than 130 people died in a tragic accident that would eventually expose, and eliminate, an invisible killer.
Alternative titles: "Miracle Flight" and "Deadly Glide". A Boeing 767-200 jet, Air Canada Flight 143, ran completely out of fuel at 41,000 feet (12,000m) altitude, about halfway through its flight from Montreal to Edmonton. The crew was able to glide the aircraft safely to an emergency landing at Gimli Industrial Park Airport, a former airbase at Gimli, Manitoba.
Alternative titles: "Cargo Conspiracy" and "Mystery Fire". South African Airways Flight 295 starts filling with smoke over the Indian Ocean. A fire has erupted in the rear main level cargo area; the pilots successfully open the doors in flight to clear the smoke from the aircraft, however it crashes with no survivors.
Alternative title: "Who's at the Controls?" A Lockheed L-1011 Tristar operating Eastern Airlines Flight 401 to Miami International Airport crashes in the Everglades because the crew is distracted by a faulty landing gear indicator light and accidentally disengage the autopilot. 101 people die.
Alternative title: "The Plane That Wouldn't Talk" Birgenair Flight 301 is scheduled to fly from Puerto Plata to Frankfurt. On takeoff, the captain finds that his air speed indicator (ASI) is not reading properly, though the co-pilot's ASI is showing the correct speed. Both pilots become confused and believe that both ASIs are malfunctioning. They lose control of the aircraft and it crashes in the Caribbean Sea. All 13 crew members and 176 passengers die.
Alternative titles: "Radio Silence" and "Death Over The Amazon" A Gol Transportes Aéreos Boeing 737 and a brand-new Embraer Legacy business jet on its delivery flight collide in mid-air over the Amazon. The 737 crashes but the Legacy manages to make a safe landing. 154 people die.
This special looks at accidents and incidents where pressurization failure or explosive decompression played a part. Episodes re-visited: 3x11-Hanging by a Thread, 2x01-Blow Out, 1x02-Unlocking Disaster, 4x08-Ghost Plane.
This special looks at accidents caused by seemingly minor defects or errors. Episodes re-visited: 1x06-Cutting Corners, 3x03-Out of Control, 2x02-A Wounded Bird, 1x04-Fire on Board, 4x05-Hidden Danger
This special looks at accidents and incidents where problems with the interface between crew members and onboard avionics were a factor, and the causes of those problems. Episodes re-visited: 1x05-Flying Blind, 4x06-Panic Over the Pacific, 3x07-Kid in the Cockpit, 4x07-Vertigo, 1x03-Flying on Empty.
Alternative title: "Shattered in Seconds" Rescuers have to look to the past to solve the riddle of Flight 611, a China Airlines 747 that disappeared 20 minutes after taking off.
Shortly after leaving London Heathrow airport in December 1988, Pan Am flight 103 exploded above Lockerbie , Scotland killing 270 people. Investigators soon discovered that a bomb in the forward cargo compartment had taken down the plane.
AKA "Deadly Prize/Silent Killer" On September 8, 1989, Partnair Flight 94, a charter from Oslo to Hamburg, suddenly begins to dive from 22 thousand feet. The aging propeller plane eventually crashes into the sea, killing all 55 people on board.
An attempt to rescue orphans from the chaos of war-torn Vietnam ended in tragedy when a US plane crashed on April 4, 1975, killing more than 150 people.
Alternate title: Head on Collision/Crash Course/Collision Course Find out what went wrong when a Kazakhstan Airlines jet and a Saudi Airways plane collided in the worst mid-air crash in aviation history, killing 349 people on November 12, 1996.
In January 2007, an Adam Air Boeing 737 crashed into the Makassar Strait killing 102 people on board. The pilots inadvertently disengaged the autopilot while trying to fix the inertial reference system, causing the plane to plunge to the water.
On August 6, 2005, a Tuninter ATR-72 ran out of fuel and was forced to ditch in the sea near Palermo, Italy. Of the 39 people on board, 16 lost their lives. The mistake was simply a wrong fuel gauge that sent higher fuel readings than the actual ones.
On Halloween 1994, an American Eagle ATR-72 suffered a loss of control and crashed near Roselawn, Indiana killing all 68 people on board. While flying in freezing conditions, ice accumulated on the wings. Inadequate de-icing mechanisms failed to remove the ice, resulting in the disruption of the airflow.
This special looked at the role of air traffic controllers in the airline industry, and took a look at the Next Generation Air Transportation System, a new technology meant to eliminate mid-air collisions by reducing overall dependence on radar and radio, as well as delegating some of the air traffic controllers' tasks to computers on board each plane.
This special looks at the role of bad weather in disasters, and tours the US Aviation Weather Center in Kansas City, Missouri to see how information on weather is transmitted to pilots in the sky. Episodes revisited: 5x03-Southern Storm, 5x05-Invisible Killer, 1x01-Racing the Storm, 4x02-Falling From the Sky.
On 22 August 1985, An engine caught fire during the takeoff phase of a British charter flight from Manchester, England to the Greek island of Corfu. Despite a successfully abandoned takeoff, 55 of the 137 passengers and crew are killed as the aircraft burned on the runway. AKA "Manchester Runway Disaster"
On 16 August 1987, Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashed shortly after take off, killing 156 people. The crew did not follow the taxi checklist prior to take off.
On 26 June 1988, Air France Flight 296 failed to regain altitude and crashed into trees after performing a flyby during an airshow at Mulhouse-Habsheim Airport, killing 3 people.
On 1 February 1991, USAir Flight 1493 collided with the waiting Skywest Airlines Flight 5569 on the runway, killing 34 people. An Air traffic controller mistakenly assigned the inbound Flight 1493 to a runway where the Flight 5569 was waiting to take off.
On 1 September 1983, during the Cold War, Korean Air Lines Flight 007 was shot down after violating Soviet airspace. The crew did not switch the autopilot from heading to INS mode following take off which caused the aircraft to deviate from its assigned flight path.
On 10 March 1989, Air Ontario Flight 1363 crashed just after take off, killing 24 people. Three years later, on 22 March 1992, USAir Flight 405 also crashed just after take off in similar conditions to Flight 1363. The cause of the crashes was icing. AKA Snowbound / Unwelcome Addition
On 20 January 1992, Air Inter Flight 148 crashed into the Vosges Mountains while circling to land at Strasbourg Airport killing 87 people. An error made in programing the autopilot of the Airbus A-320, combined with a sudden wind change, caused the plane to descend more rapidly than expected. AKA: Crashed and Missing / Doomed to Fail / Invisible Mountain
On 19 December 2005, just after take off the right wing of the Chalk's Ocean Airways Flight 101 fell off and the aircraft crashed, killing 20 people. The wing fell off due to metal fatigue that resulted from poor maintenance, financial distress at Chalk's, and a lack of appropriate FAA oversight. AKA: Beach Crash / Miami Mystery
Minutes before they're scheduled to land in Zurich, the pilots of a routine passenger flight can't find the runway. They abort and power up the engines in order to climb. But they are too late.
On 25 February 2009, a Turkish Airlines jet crashed during landing at Schiphol airport, killing nine people. What caused the plane to crash?
When an aircraft's engines fail during its approach to Heathrow, the captain's quick thinking enables the flight to avoid nearby buildings. The craft crashes just short of the runway and all aboard miraculously survive. But what caused the engine failure in the first place - could Sherlock Holmes theories lend a hand to investigators? AKA: Heathrow Crash Landing
Despite being de-iced twice for winter conditions, both engines fail in a plane departing Stockholm. It falls 3000 feet and breaks in three but everyone survives. What crippled a near-new jetliner?
In one of the worst American crashes of the past decade, an aircraft approaching Buffalo airport plummets towards the ground and crashes into a suburban house. With a fire raging at the crash site, can investigators find any surviving clues in the wreckage? AKA: Stalled in the Sky
On January 15, 2009 an Airbus 320 callsign US Airways Flight 1549 hit birds just 1 and half minutes after taking off from LaGuardia Airport in New York. The flight just lasted about 5 minutes when the plane hit the Hudson River. This was described as "the most successful ditching of all time". AKA: Hudson Splash Down
July 17th, 2007 TAM Airlines Flight #3054 is on its final approach to Sao Paolo's notorious Congonhas Airport. Runway 35-L at Congonhas is one of the busiest and most treacherous airports in the world. It's built on a hilltop, completely surrounded by tall buildings. The crew of Flight #3054 gets a report that the runway is wet and slippery. Captain Henrique Stephanini brings his Airbus A-320 down at the foot of the 1,945 meter long runway, activates the one working reverse thruster and applies the brakes, but his plane doesn't slow down. It hurtles down the runway at top speed, crosses a highway and slams into a building and adjacent gas station. No one on the plane survives. Twelve people on the ground are also killed. This is the worst aviation disaster in South American history. Investigators are under enormous pressure to figure out what went wrong on Brazil's busiest runway, before it claims any more lives.
August 16th, 2005 Several hours behind schedule, West Caribbean Airways Flight #708 finally takes off from Panama City en route to Martinique. The aircraft flies through weather so severe that the pilots must divert to avoid it. In addition to the turbulence, the pilots have another problem; their engines are not providing enough thrust. To solve this issue the pilots drop down to a lower altitude, but before they can reach it a Stall Warning fills the cockpit. The plane is flying too slowly to remain airborne. Before the pilots can figure out what has caused the problem, the aircraft drops from the sky and crashes on a remote Venezuelan farm. By far the worst aviation disaster in the country's history, a small team of Venezuelan investigators must now determine what brought down one of the safest airplanes in the world.
December 12th, 1985 After a six-month peace keeping mission in the Middle East, 248 elite American soldiers are on their way home for the Christmas holidays. Destined for Fort Campbell, Kentucky, they are travelling on Arrow Air Flight #1285, a discount air carrier contracted by the military to transport troops. En route from Cairo, the DC-8 eventually touches down for a routine refueling stop in Gander, Newfoundland. But just seconds after taking off again for the last leg of its journey, the plane immediately loses airspeed and altitude and crashes into a heavily wooded area just outside the remote Canadian town. An unprecedented disaster, it is one of the deadliest aviation accidents of all time and the resulting investigation ignites a storm of controversy that continues to this day.
On its second routine trip of the morning, Continental Express Flight #2574 is nearing the end of its 90-minute flight from Laredo to Houston, Texas. A state-of-the-art Embraer 120 Brasilia, the commuter plane is scheduled to make several more short flights. But just as the pilots are preparing to land, the plane falls out of the sky. Dropping thousands of feet in mere seconds, there is a massive explosion as the aircraft crashes into a farmer's field. All 14 people on board die in the disaster, and the impact is so violent that the wreckage is not recognizable as an airplane. Investigators first suspect there was a bomb on board, but when the theory is dismissed, they dig deeper and eventually reveal a chilling story of good intentions gone horribly wrong.
On 6 February 1958, British European Airways Flight 609, carrying members of the famed Manchester United football team, crashed shortly after taking off from Munich, killing 23 aboard.
On 9 October 2002, Northwest Airlines Flight 85 is cruising above the Bering Sea before problems develop and pilots must make an emergency landing in Anchorage, Alaska.
On 22 December 1999, a cargo flight operating as Korean Air Cargo Flight 8509 left London Stansted Airport for Milan, Italy, crashed about 55 seconds after taking off. All 4 crew members died in the disaster.
Just minutes from landing in San Diego, PSA Flight # 182 collides with a Cessna and both planes crash in a residential area; investigators must determine what went wrong in the biggest airline disaster in American history.
On 11 July 1991, shortly after taking-off from Jeddah's King Abdulaziz International Airport, Nigeria Airways Flight 2120 suffered an in-flight fire. The crew unsuccessfully tried to return to the airport, the plane breaking up within sight of the runway. The plane was carrying 247 Nigerian pilgrims and 14 crew who all perished.
On 7 December 1987, an angry former USAir employee by the name of David Burke boarded its parent airline, PSA Flight 1771 en route to San Francisco. The hijacker killed the pilots and shot himself after take off. Shortly afterwards the CVR picked up increasing windscreen noise as the airplane began to dive rapidly and shortly thereafter the plane crashed in a cattle ranch in San Luis Obispo County, California. All 43 people onboard were killed.
On 24 May 1988, TACA Airlines Flight 110, a Boeing 737 flew through a thunderstorm and suffered a dual engine flameout. The pilots amazingly managed to land on a grass levee close to a nearby stream at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in the Michoud area of eastern New Orleans, USA. All onboard survived.
On 8 October 2001, Scandinavian Airlines Flight 686, a McDonnell-Douglas MD-87 airliner carrying 110 people bound for Copenhagen, Denmark collided on take-off at Milan's Linate Airport into an Air Evex Cessna Citation CJ2 business jet carrying four people bound for Paris, France. The MD-87 plane suffered major damage and crashed into a hangar shortly afterwards. All 114 people on board the two aircraft were killed, the crash and subsequent fire killed a further more four Italian ground personnel in the hangar, and injured four more.
On 19 July 1989, United Airlines Flight 232's DC-10 was crippled when an engine explodes causing serious damage to the vital hydraulics system causing the plane to go out of control. The plane managed to land at Sioux City but the plane erupted into a fireball shortly after.
On 8 June 1983, Reeve Aleutian Airways Flight 8's propeller separated from the aircraft over Cold Bay, Alaska causing an explosive decompression and loss of control. The pilot managed to land safely at Anchorage, Alaska. Since the propeller fell into the sea the cause of the separation is undetermined. AKA: Flight for Control
On 11 May 1996, ten minutes after take-off, Valujet Flight 592 crashed into the Florida Everglades after an in-flight fire started by an accidental triggering of an oxygen cylinder in the cargo area caused the passengers and crew to suffer unconsciousness. On impact, all 110 persons on board were killed instantly.
On 31 October 2000, Singapore Airlines Flight 006 collided on take-off into construction equipment at Chiang Kai-shek International Airport in Taipei during Typhoon Xangsane after taking off on the wrong runway. Out of the 179 passengers and crew, 83 people perished. AKA: Caution To The Wind
On 19 December 1997, Silk Air Flight 185 en route to Singapore crashed into the Musi River in Indonesia after abruptly plunging from its 35,000 feet (10,668 m) cruise altitude, killing all 97 passengers and 7 crew on board in an instant.
On 23 August 2005, TANS Perú Flight 204 attempted to make a landing at Pucallpa Airport, Peru, after a severe thunderstorm, but crashed into a muddy swamp 4 miles (6.4 km) off the airfield. AKA Blind Landing
On 30 June 1956, United Airlines Flight 718 and Trans World Airlines Flight 2 collided over the Grand Canyon in Arizona. All 128 occupants on both flights were killed. At the time it was the deadliest airline crash in history, and would lead to sweeping changes in the regulation of flight operations over the United States.
On 10 April 2010, in heavy fog and low visibility, a Tupolev Tu-154M carrying the Polish president Lech Kaczyński, his wife Maria Kaczyńska and other top officials, failed to make the runway and crashed into a wooded area while on final approach to Smolensk North Airport. All 96 occupants on board perished.
On 25 May 1979, American Airlines Flight 191 a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 lost its No.1 engine moments after take-off at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and crashed into a trailer park shortly thereafter. All 271 people on board the plane as well as two other people on the ground were killed making it the worst single-aircraft air disaster in United States history. AKA Catastrophe at O'Hare
On 7 September 2011, a Yakovlev Yak-42D carrying the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl professional ice hockey team crashed on take-off at the Volga River, near Yaroslavl, Russia. Out of the 45 occupants only two survived. Five days later one of the survivors (Alexander Galimov) died, succumbing to his injuries.
On 28 December 1978, United Airlines Flight 173 ran out of fuel after a landing gear problem. The DC-8 circled in the vicinity of Portland and crashed in a sparsely populated area near 158th and East Burnside Street, killing 10 and seriously injuring 24 of the 189 on board. According to the NTSB, the flight crew failed to check the fuel state causing the plane to crash. AKA: Fatal Fixation
On 25 January 2010, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 an international scheduled passenger plane en route to Addis Ababa plunged into the Mediterranean Sea shortly after takeoff from Beirut–Rafic Hariri International Airport during a thunderstorm, killing all 90 people on board.
On 21 February 2008, Santa Bárbara Airlines Flight 518 was operating as a scheduled domestic flight from Mérida, Venezuela to Caracas when it crashed into the side of a mountain shortly after takeoff. All 46 passengers and crew aboard the plane died.
On 1 June 2009, Air France Flight 447, a scheduled flight from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Paris, France, stalled and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean while flying in a thunderstorm, killing all 216 passengers and 12 aircrew on board. The causes of the crash were incorrect airspeed readings due to ice blockage of the aircraft's pitot tubes, inappropriate control inputs and the pilots not taking recovery action until it was too late.
On 18 June 1972, British European Airways Flight 548 stalls and crashes in a field near Staines-upon-Thames shortly after take-off from London Heathrow Airport, killing all 118 people on board. The crash was attributed to the pilot retracting the aircraft's droops at too low an airspeed and failing to recognise the stall warnings.
Just after taking off, Air Florida Flight 90 plunges into the frozen Potomac River. It takes an ingenious experiment to uncover why it happened.
Military investigators work with the NTSB to identify what happened when a Marine Corps F-4 Phantom collided with a Hughes Airwest DC-9.
When American Airlines Flight 587 crashed into Queens, New York after 9/11, it was considered an act of terror - until evidence proved otherwise.
When a flight from Zurich crash-lands, killing everyone on board, the discovery of drugs among the wreckage suggests an alarming explanation.
Experts investigate an unexpected explanation for the fatal crash of Air Moorea Flight 1121 when they hear its pilot's anguished cry on the cockpit voice recorder.
Investigators determine what sparked the engine fire that crippled a team of hurricane hunters' plane during a daring flight into Hurricane Hugo.
Experts investigate why XL Airways German Flight 888T spiralled into the Mediterranean sea in 2008. What deadly flaw was the Airbus hiding? AKA: Deadly Test
In 1980, Itavia Flight 870 exploded over the sea. After 30 years of investigations, experts finally reveal the truth behind the mysterious disaster
On 4 November 2010, the pilots of Qantas Flight 32 were forced to deal with a series of failures when an explosion tore apart an engine on their A380.
On 8 January 1989, British Midland Flight 92 crashes onto the embankment of the M1 motorway near Kegworth, Leicestershire, UK. The aircraft was attempting to conduct an emergency landing at East Midlands Airport. Of the 126 people aboard, 47 died and 74, including seven members of the flight crew, sustained serious injuries.
On 26 May 1991, Lauda Air Flight 004 spiral out of control and disintegrate about 100 miles northwest of Bangkok. All of the 223 passengers and crew die in the crash. AKA Niki Lauda: Testing The Limits.
On 25 July 2000, a Concorde operating as Air France Flight 4590 en route to New York City, USA, stalls and crashes into a hotel in Gonesse shortly after take off from Charles de Gaulle International Airport. All of the 109 passengers and crew die in the incident and 4 on the ground.
On 16 July 1999, John F. Kennedy Jr. dies when the Piper Saratoga light aircraft he was piloting crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts in hazy conditions. His wife, Carolyn Bessette, and sister-in-law, Lauren Bessette, were on board and also killed. The NTSB concluded that the crash was caused by spatial disorientation resulting in pilot error.
Fog makes landing difficult and as Manx2 Flight 7100 makes its third attempt, disaster strikes as the plane crashes. AKA 3rd Time Unlucky.
On 3 September 1989, Varig Flight 254 runs out of fuel over the Amazon and makes a belly landing in the jungle. 13 people die in the crash.
Almost 12 months have passed and we are no closer to knowing the fate of Malaysian Airlines Flight 370. Was it a suicidal pilot; an act of terrorism; technical failure or has a new Bermuda Triangle opened up in the region? In a world where nothing much escapes satellite technology which can pinpoint your front door from outer space, this mystery remains unsolved. How can that be?
FedEx Express Flight 14 crash lands at Newark and the pilots survive. Years later, FedEx Express Flight 80 experiences a similar but fatal crash.
On 4 November 2008, an official Mexican Interior Ministry Learjet 45 crashes in central Mexico City. Mexican Secretary of the Interior Juan Camilo Mouriño, who was aboard the plane, was killed in the crash, along with the other seven people on board and eight people on the ground. The plane crashed in rush-hour traffic at Las Lomas. AKA Inner City Carnage.
On 20 August 2011, First Air Flight 6560, a charter flight crashed near to their destination of Resolute Bay Airport, Resolute, Nunavut, Canada in poor weather conditions. Out of the 15 passengers and crew, only three survived.
Copa Airlines Flight 201 is flying towards Cali, Colombia when the plane suddenly disintegrates in mid-air.
After a routine flight from Jakarta, Garuda Flight 200 hits the ground so hard it bounces violently before careering off the end of the runway.
Shortly after taking off, a fire breaks out on UPS Flight 6. As smoke fills the cockpit, getting the plane safely back is a race against time.
When Asiana Airlines Flight 214 crashes at San Francisco Airport, investigators discover an issue that could be putting passengers at risk.
When a crash in Georgia kills 23, including an astronaut and a US senator, an investigator puts his reputation on the line to find the truth.
In 1992, Flight 1862 from Amsterdam to Tel Aviv suffered a catastrophic crash. Investigators discover a lethal problem threatening every 747.
A 1996 collision between United Express 5925 and a private plane leaves investigators stumped until they learn a missing pilot played a role.
On a routine stop at the tiny Norwegian island of Stord, Atlantic Airways Flight 670 mysteriously careers off the runway and down an embankment.
Seconds after taking off, TAM Airlines flight 402 slammed into a residential neighbourhood bursting into flames, killing all 95 people on board.
More than 50 years after a plane crash that killed UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold, a new investigation shines light on the controversial aviation mystery.
When Spanair Flight 5022 slams into a creek and bursts into flames, killing 154 people, it is Spain's worst aviation disaster in decades.
A Learjet carrying pro golf legend Payne Stewart goes rogue. Air traffic controllers are unable to reach the crew, and as the plane continues its unplanned trajectory, it's obvious that something has gone wrong.
It is September 11th, 2001, and shortly after taking off from Washington DC, hijackers storm the cockpit of American Airlines Flight 77 and fly the plane into the Pentagon. The symbol of US military might is in flames.
On 27 March 1977, two Boeing 747 passenger aircraft crash on the runway of Los Rodeos Airport on the Spanish island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands. With a total of 583 fatalities, the crash is the deadliest accident in aviation history.
When China Airlines Flight 120 catches fire after touching down in Japan, the disaster leaves an international team with troubling questions.
When Proteus Airlines Flight 706 suddenly explodes after deviating from their flight path, investigators turn to a local journalist who from a nearby plane captures the scene as the wreckage falls from the sky.
When Continental Express Flight 2286 plunges into the frozen wilderness just a few miles from the runway, it's up to investigators to figure out what went wrong, leading to a shocking conclusion.
On 24 March, 2015, co-pilot Andreas Lubitz deliberately locked his captain out of the cockpit and initiated a purposeful descent of Germanwings Flight 9525, resulting in the death of 150 people when the plane hit a mountain at 700km/h
After losing both engines in a storm above Indonesia, the pilots of Garuda Indonesia Flight 421 performed an incredible emergency landing.
On December 28 2014, Air Asia flight 8501 left Indonesia for Singapore with 162 people on board. An hour later, after seeking permission to deviate from their route to avoid storms, all communication was lost.
Transporting military cargo in a converted Boeing 747, National Airlines Flight 102 takes off from Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan. But within seconds, the suddenly uncontrollable plane stalls and crashes to the ground. The accident is captured by a passing dashcam, and though the footage first leads investigators to an obvious conclusion, an overlooked piece of evidence eventually tells them they were dead wrong about the cause.
After a routine one-hour flight from Minneapolis, Northwest Airlink Flight 5719 crashes in northern Minnesota, killing everyone on board. Investigators face intense pressure to find the cause. The cockpit voice recorder raises disturbing questions about an inexperienced pilot. But as investigators dig deeper, they uncover a troubling pattern of abuse that led to a breakdown in human cooperation.
When a commuter flight to Detroit ends in a harrowing death spiral, it's up to investigators to determine the cause and prevent it from ever happening again. They sort through the shattered wreckage in search of clues, and a close analysis of the flight data eventually leads them to a stunning realization-What doomed Flight 3272 is a danger the industry has known about for years.
Headed for South Korea's Gimhae International Airport, a Boeing 767 crashes into a hillside several miles from the runway. As the nation mourns its worst-ever air disaster, investigators face puzzling evidence: The surviving captain of Air China Flight 129 claims that everything on board was normal, but air traffic controllers testify that the crew's radio communications were anything but.
Just minutes after taking off from New York's JFK Airport, TWA Flight 800 is ripped apart by a massive explosion. With a possible terror attack on their hands, the FBI joins investigators from the NTSB in an urgent search for answers. Both agencies are hoping for quick results, but the investigation into TWA Flight 800 will eventually pit them against one another, and will turn into one of the longest, most costly and challenging ever conducted.
Amid thick smoke from a forest fire, Garuda Indonesia Flight 152 approached Sumatra. Minutes from the runway, and flying the wrong direction, the Airbus A300 crashed claiming the lives of all on board.
When US Air Flight 1016 fell out of the sky above North Carolina during a storm, most passengers on board perished. Somehow, both pilots survived and told the same story - the weather was to blame.
Terrorists claimed responsibility when Metrojet 9268 broke up in the air after leaving Sharm el Sheikh in 2015. But could experts prove what really happened?
A car dashcam captures footage of the moment TransAsia Flight 235 nosedives into Taipei's Keelung river. Facing a barrage of questions, Taiwan's Aviation Safety council soon discovers that the mystery went quite deep.
LAPA Flight 3142 lifts off from an airport in Buenos Aires. The 737 starts shaking and crashes to the ground. The disaster leaves the nation stunned, but nothing prepares them for the blunder that caused it.
Experts are baffled when the wreck of Thai Airways Flight 311 is found amid treacherous mountain peaks. It's miles from its flight path. How did it end up there?
Moments after taking off from a California airport, an American cargo plane needs to make an emergency landing. The pilots manage to bring their DC-8 to within sight of the runway, but the crippled plane crashes into an automobile salvage yard one mile east of the airport.
After circling above the Taiwan Strait to wait out a passing cyclone, TransAsia Flight 222 crashes on the Taiwanese resort island of Penghu. The media claims the storm is to blame, but the evidence soon points investigators in a different direction. Six months into the investigation, the airline is hit with a second accident. And that's when investigators uncover a systemic problem with fatal consequences.
En route to Salt Lake City, Delta Airlines Flight 1141 crashes just moments after lifting off from Dallas-Fort Worth airport and erupts into flames.
A commercial airliner goes down over a warzone in eastern Ukraine. The evidence indicates the plane was shot down by a surface-to-air missile.
On a high-stakes demonstration flight in Indonesia, a Russian-made Sukhoi Superjet slams into a mountain killing everyone on board. It's one of the most challenging salvage operations Indonesian investigators have ever faced.
With the future of space tourism hanging in the balance, experts investigate the fatal crash of Virgin Galactic's revolutionary rocket plane.
In 2008, Qantas Flight 72 travelling from Singapore to Perth suddenly nosedives while over the Indian Ocean. With warnings flooding the cockpit and passengers being flung around, it’s up to an experienced fighter pilot to get the plane to safety.
On 14 November 1990, Alitalia Flight 404 descends too low and crashes into the woodlands of the Stalderberg Mountain near Weiach, Switzerland, 5.2 nautical miles (9.6 kilometres) short of the runway during final approach to Zurich Airport. All 46 passengers and crew members on board are killed.
On 26 April 1994, China Airlines Flight 140 pitches upwards, enters an aerodynamic stall at low altitude and crashes approximately 340 feet east-northeast of the centreline of the runway while on final approach to Nagoya Airport in Nagoya, Japan. 264 of the 271 people on board are killed in the crash.
On 15 November 1987, Continental Airlines Flight 1713 stalls and crashes off the right side of the runway shortly after taking off in a snowstorm from Stapleton International Airport in Denver, Colorado, on a scheduled flight to Boise, Idaho, killing 28 of the 82 people on board.
En route from Indonesia to Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific Flight 780 is high over the South China Sea when both of the plane's engines fail, turning the Airbus A-330 into a 200-ton glider. Declaring a Mayday-and determined to avoid a disastrous ocean ditching-the captain takes over manual control of the aircraft and manages to power up only one engine by very slowly increasing the throttle. But then the misfiring engine won't let him slow down for landing.
Flying just a few hundred feet above the desert, six single-engine WW2 fighter planes get into position for the highlight event of the Reno Air Races. And with 30,000 spectators watching from below, they fly an eight-mile oval at close to 450 miles per hour. Competing in a highly-modified P-51 Mustang called 'The Galloping Ghost', local legend Jimmy Leeward is determined to set a new speed record. But half-way through the race, his plane suddenly pitches up, spirals out of control, and crashes onto the tarmac in front of the stands. It's one of the worst air race crashes of all time, and investigators call on the pilot's close friend to help them...
An American cargo plane attempts a difficult landing at the US naval station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. With the runway just a few meters from the armed border, the maneuver requires avoiding Cuban airspace. But something goes terribly wrong on its final approach, and the DC-8 crashes at the end of the runway. At first, investigators wonder if Cuba somehow played a role in the crash, but they eventually uncover an invisible culprit that threatens the lives of cargo pilots everywhere.
En route from Amsterdam to Cardiff, Wales, the crew of KLM Cityhopper Flight 433 report an engine problem and head back to the airport. But just as they're about to touch down, the dual turboprop banks sharply to the right, the wing grazes the ground, and the aircraft crashes and breaks apart on a field next to the runway. Of the 24 people on board, two passengers and the captain are dead. And when investigators from the Dutch Safety Board pore over the evidence, they determine that a minor circuitry problem sparked a cascading series of fatal errors.
En route to the Dominican Republic with more than 87,000 pounds of denim, Fine Air Cargo Flight 101 takes off from Miami. But just moments later, the plane crashes to the ground, careens across a freeway, and plows into a building. Hundreds of bystanders witness the carnage, and though investigators are determined to figure out what happened, it will take an anonymous tip to break the case wide open.
Just minutes after taking off from Bucharest, Romania, Tarom Flight 371 banks sharply to the left, veers off course, and nosedives into a farmer's field. It's the deadliest air disaster in the country's history, and rumors of a bomb on board quickly reach a frenzied pitch in the country's newly free press. Romanian investigators call in the FBI to determine if it was an accident or an act of murder. But it's ultimately the captain's own voice that reveals the underlying cause of the disaster.
Continental Airlines Flight 1404 is speeding down the runway at Denver International Airport when the aircraft suddenly careens off the runway, crashes, and bursts into flame. Everyone on board escapes death, and then it's up to investigators to figure out what happened. At first, clues point to a deadly mechanical problem previously found on other Boeing 737s. But investigators eventually find the true culprit in the Rocky Mountains.
En route from Moscow to Perm, Russia, Aeroflot Nord Flight 821 is on its final approach when the plane nosedives and crashes onto the trans-Siberian railway. All that's left of the Boeing 737 is charred wreckage. All 88 people on board are confirmed dead. At first, investigators suspect a known design flaw in the aircraft's rudder. But as they dig deeper, they make a series of shocking discoveries that will result in calls to transform the country's aviation system.
With Brazil's Chapecoense soccer team on board, LaMia Flight 2933 is on its final approach to Medellin, Columbia when the crew suddenly declares a fuel emergency. Before air traffic control even has time to clear a path, the plane crashes on the crest of a mountain, killing nearly everyone on board. With the soccer world in mourning, investigators face incredible pressure to figure out what happened. And as they pore over the evidence, they uncover a disturbing tale of greed and a deadly gamble.
En route from Washington, D.C. to Columbus, Ohio, United Express Flight 6291 is on its final approach when the high-performance twin turboprop crashes just a mile from the runway. Three survivors emerge from the inferno, but the disaster claims the lives of the three crewmembers and the other two passengers on board. The charred remains leave little for investigators to work with. That is, until the cockpit voice recorder reveals the smoking gun.
Experts fail to find a bomb when a Taiwanese plane explodes. But as they examine the wreckage, they uncover something shocking in the overhead lockers.
When a blanket of confusion and heavy fog puts two planes on a path to disaster, investigators wonder if it was the pilots themselves creating chaos.
A Pakistani airliner crashes in the Himalayas, and when their most vital piece of evidence fails to deliver, investigators scramble to find answers.
When SOL Airlines Flight 5428 nosedives into a remote desert, investigators struggle to find the cause amongst the scattered and scorched debris.
A helicopter carrying offshore oil workers crashes into the ocean off the coast of Newfoundland and a far-reaching investigation reveals a fatal flaw.
A cargo jet plummets to earth in the Swedish Arctic. And as investigators pore over the evidence, a terrifying picture of chaos and confusion emerges.
A turboprop crashes into an Indonesian mountain, and while three systems could have prevented it, investigators must figure out why none of them did.
When an African airliner mysteriously crashes, Namibian investigators rule out a host of possible causes before reaching a chilling conclusion.
On 5 May 2007, Kenya Airways Flight 507 crashes shortly after takeoff from a stopover in Douala, Cameroon. All 114 passengers and crew died in the accident.
On 16 August 2010, AIRES Flight 8250 crashes short of the runway while attempting to land at San Andrés, Colombia in a storm. The aircraft broke up into 3 pieces on the runway. 2 of the passengers died in the accident.
On 15 December 2014, Loganair Flight 6780 starts an uncontrolled descent while on approach to Sumburgh Airport in Scotland. The pilots regain control and make an emergency landing at Aberdeen, with no fatalities. A lightning strike had disabled the aircraft's elevator controls.
On 10 November 2015, Execuflight Flight 1526 enters an aerodynamic stall and crashes into an apartment building and an embankment during final approach to Akron Fulton International Airport in Akron, Ohio. Both crew members and all seven passengers on board are killed in the crash.
On 27 August 2006, Comair Flight 5191, operating for Delta Connection, crashes into a wooded area while taking off from Blue Grass Airport in Kentucky, killing 49 of the 50 people on board. The pilots lost situational awareness and inadvertently taxied onto the wrong runway.
On 29 October 2018, Lion Air Flight 610 enters a nosedive and crashes into the Java Sea shortly after taking off from Soekarno–Hatta International Airport in Jakarta, Indonesia, on a flight to Pangkal Pinang. All 181 passengers and 8 crew members on board are killed in the crash.
On 17 April 2018, Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 makes an emergency landing at Philadelphia International Airport after its left engine explodes. A passenger dies after being partially ejected from the aircraft. The engine failure was caused by a fatigue crack in a fan blade.
On 12 March 2018, US-Bangla Airlines Flight 211 skids off the runway, travels through the airport perimeter fence, and crashes into a football field during landing at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, Nepal. 51 of the 71 people on board are killed in the accident.
After losing two engines near enemy territory, US Air Force pilots abort their refuelling mission and attempt to land their damaged plane.
On 9 June 1995, Ansett New Zealand Flight 703 suffers a landing gear malfunction during final approach to Palmerston North Airport in New Zealand. The aircraft descends until it crashes into hilly terrain as the pilots try to resolve the problem.
On 18 June 1998, Propair Flight 420 crashes while attempting to conduct an emergency landing at Montréal-Mirabel International Airport after an in-flight fire causes its left wing to fail.
On 14 August 2013, UPS Airlines Flight 1354 clips the tops of trees and crashes into a hillside about one nautical mile short of the runway during final approach to Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport in Alabama.
When Alaska Airlines Flight 261 suddenly nosedives into the Pacific, investigators uncover a critical maintenance issue with deadly implications.
After a Boeing 727’s near-fatal nosedive over Michigan, investigators risk their own lives to determine why TWA Flight 841 fell out of the sky.
When a two-billion-dollar Stealth Bomber crashes in Guam, it’s up to the US Air Force to investigate the most expensive aviation accident of all time.
Rocked by an explosion that rips both right wing engines off the wing, the pilots of Transair 671 manage a miraculous landing at a French military airfield.
When Flydubai Flight 981 nosedives into the runway at Russia's Rostov airport, investigators uncover one of the most lethal traps in aviation.
A Martinair flight crashes in Portugal amid thunderstorms and heavy rain, and when investigators piece together the evidence the mystery only deepens
When basketball legend Kobe Bryant is killed in a helicopter crash in Los Angeles, investigators look for clues amid a global outpouring of grief.
After a turboprop crashes in North Carolina, investigators resort to a risky test flight—and uncover an industry-wide safety problem.
Facing a severe thunderstorm and a control tower shutdown, American Airlines 1572 suffers double-engine failure on final approach into Windsor Locks Airport in Connecticut.
On October 11, 1983, a routine 160 mile (245km) commuter flight from Springfield, Illinois, to Carbondale, Illinois, turns deadly when the Hawker Siddeley HS 748 the pilots were flying loses D.C. electrical power from both aircraft generators.
Misidentification and accidental bombing of enemy territory are among the many risks pilots face in military zones around the world.
In a rush to complete their flights, distracted pilots skip key procedures, ignore signs of danger, and make deadly decisions. A Turkish Airlines 737 crashes just short of the runway in Amsterdam. Amid heavy snow and ice, a delayed flight crew ignores standard procedures in Denver. And, when a captain helps a struggling first officer, their botched approach ends up in a New Zealand hillside.
From metal fatigue to faulty repairs, three doomed airlines are brought down by gradually deteriorating parts. On a flight in Tahiti, a frayed steel cable snaps sending a turboprop to the ocean floor. Shortly after take-off, a Boeing 747’s tailfin blows off and the aircraft slams into a mountain near Tokyo. And, tourists on Miami beach watch in horror as a sea plane’s wing tears off in mid-flight.
With zero margin for error, three catastrophes are narrowly averted by pilots who somehow manage to land their damaged planes. A passenger is sucked out of a window after Southwest Flight 1380 is rocked by a mid-air explosion. While flying over Hawaii, the cabin of a Boeing 737 is blown wide open. And, Air Canada Flight 797 erupts in flames just 90 seconds after an heroic emergency landing.
With zero margin for error, three catastrophes are narrowly averted by pilots who somehow manage to land their damaged planes. A passenger is sucked out of a window after Southwest Flight 1380 is rocked by a mid-air explosion. While flying over Hawaii, the cabin of a Boeing 737 is blown wide open. And, Air Canada Flight 797 erupts in flames just 90 seconds after an heroic emergency landing.
Three flights suffer catastrophic computer errors that force investigators to dig deep for clues. A seasoned Alitalia crew somehow flies a DC-9 into the ground just miles from a Zurich runway. En route from Singapore to Perth, Qantas Flight 72 suddenly nosedives toward the Indian Ocean. And, without a key instrument to guide them, the pilots of a Venezuelan turboprop crash into a mountainside.
Critical errors in the cockpit cause three planes to fall out of the sky. It’s the computer versus the pilots on board China Airlines Flight 140. Foul weather and a deadly chain of mistakes, causes a turboprop to flip over and crash while landing in Ireland. And on a doomed flight over Siberia, a terrifying lapse in judgment puts a child in the pilot’s seat.
Three planes fall prey to fearsome winds, and it’s up to investigators to find out why. On final approach to Charlotte, US Air Flight 1016 is thrown to the ground by a deadly microburst. Flying blind over Peru, a 737 drops like a stone and cuts a mile-long swath through the jungle. And, a scientific expedition into the eye of Hurricane Hugo goes horribly wrong.
Three flights are hijacked by acts of sabotage. When the cockpit of an Ethiopian airliner is stormed by hijackers, the captain manages an heroic yet deadly ocean landing. Investigators are torn between competing theories after an Italian passenger plane is blown out of the sky. And, Namibian investigators reach a chilling conclusion after piecing through the wreckage of LAM Mozambique Flight 470.
Failures in pilot training lead to catastrophe in the cockpit. Amid heavy turbulence over the Caribbean, a charter plane falls out of the sky—when pilots react to a crisis that never happened. After a lightning strike, a commuter turboprop nosedives toward the North Atlantic as the pilots misdiagnose the problem. And, a top Russian hockey team is wiped out when a pilot botches a routine takeoff.
Just moments after takeoff, Japan Airlines Flight 123 experiences two explosions. The pilot is having trouble keeping the damaged Boeing 747 in the air. It plunges into the mountain. The accident becomes one of the deadliest accidents in aviation history. Investigators immediately suspect terrorism, but the remains tell a different story, threatening all 747 planes around the world.
Corporate Airlines Flight 5966 appears out of the clouds and crashes into trees on approach to Kirksville, Missouri. The twin-engine turboprop plane catches fire just over a kilometer from the runway. The charred wreckage offers clues as to what happened. The researchers conclude that it was not a mechanical failure. They hear a recording from the cockpit that may reveal the whole beginning of the accident.
Independent Air Flight 1851 is en route from Italy to the Dominican Republic and is scheduled to refuel on a Portuguese island. For some reason, a Boeing 707 crashes into a mountain just minutes before the airport. The international team of investigators finds no mechanical faults at all and is confused about the cause of the accident. Then the CVR reveals a cluster of errors that sealed the fate of the 144 passengers.
After losing both engines, a turboprop crashes in Papua New Guinea and investigators soon uncover a deadly flaw in an aircraft used around the world.
A Kazakh crew manage to land an uncontrollable aircraft and investigators must determine how a freshly-serviced plane was released with a fatal flaw.
When the cockpit window of Sichuan Airlines 8633 explodes, the crew somehow battles gale-force winds and oxygen deprivation to safely land the plane.
When a UK billionaire and his family die in an Australian seaplane crash, investigators uncover a minor maintenance issue with deadly consequences.
The plan to save a Bulgarian airliner hinges on convincing the violent hijackers that their demands have been met before the plane runs out of fuel.
An Amazon cargo plane nosedives into a swamp outside Houston, the evidence eventually leads investigators to a pilot with a long history of failures.
EgyptAir flight 804 crashes into the Mediterranean on its way from Paris to Cairo. Evidence initially suggests that the plane caught fire, but Egyptian authorities later blame the crash on terrorism. The case will be handed over to the Egyptian state prosecutor for criminal investigation. Six years later, an Italian reporter leaks the information and a new confusing theory surfaces.
When Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashes shortly after takeoff, the catastrophe leads to the grounding of the entire Boeing 737 MAX 8 fleet.
A massive explosion tears a hole in a 747 over Hawaii, and the trail of clues ultimately leads investigators to a catastrophic short circuit.
With rising young football star Emiliano Sala on board, a chartered Piper Malibu suddenly disappears from radar over the English Channel.
With flames emerging through the cockpit floor, the pilots of Pilgrim Airlines 458 manage a heroic landing on a frozen Rhode Island reservoir.
Investigators must turn to 3D technology to determine why two float planes carrying tourists collided above a spectacular Alaskan waterfall.
Three hundred people are killed in one of the deadliest aviation accidents of all time after a fire breaks out on board Saudia Flight 163.
On 17 October 2019, PenAir Flight 3296 overruns the runway on landing at Unalaska Airport in the Aleutian Chain of Alaska, killing one passenger. The accident was caused by incorrect wiring of the wheel speed transducer harnesses on the left main landing gear.
On 26 August 2003, Colgan Air Flight 9446 crashes into water shortly after takeoff from Barnstable Municipal Airport, killing both pilots. The causes of the crash were an improper replacement of the forward elevator trim cable and the pilots not following checklist procedures.
On 16 February 1995, Air Transport International Flight 782 crashes into the ground after failing to takeoff from Kansas City International Airport in Missouri, killing all 3 pilots. The flight crew failed to understand a three-engine takeoff procedure due to improper training.
On 16 February 1998, China Airlines Flight 676 attempts a go-around while on approach to Chiang Kai-shek International Airport in poor weather conditions, but crashes into a residential area after entering a stall. All 196 people on board and 7 people on the ground are killed.
Pitch problems, or the incorrect position of the aeroplane nose, lead to catastrophic impacts that leave little evidence behind.
A Boeing 707 loses both right engines, an out-of-control aircraft needs managing and a bomb explodes aboard PA 434.
Bad data can be deadly. When a Stealth Bomber crashes at a US Air Force base, it becomes the most expensive aviation disaster ever.
Three harrowing disasters reveal the threat of poor weather to a safe landing, with heavy rain, thunderstorms and treacherous crosswinds.
Situations can turn deadly if training is ignored. Basketball legend Kobe Bryant is among the casualties when a helicopter crashes in LA.
Three catastrophic approaches provoke questions, from a turboprop disaster to an invisible culprit on the Cuban border.
This special looked at how people survive aviation accidents, in part with demonstrations at the Czech Airlines Training Centre. It provided case studies on the following flight: - Asiana Airlines Flight 214 - Air France Flight 358 - Reeve Aleutian Airways Flight 8 - Air Canada Flight 797 - US Airways Flight 1549
This special looked at how failures in communication lead to disasters
This special looked at how pilots' aggressive or unprofessional behaviour can cause deadly accidents.
This special looked at how pilots safely land their aircraft in emergency situations.
This special looked at how automation in the cockpit causes deadly misunderstandings.
This special looked at terrorist acts, including bombings and shootdowns.
This special looked at pilots' carefully planned strategies in deliberately crashing aircraft.
This special looked at foreign items, including ice, a chemical oxygen generator, and a bomb as the cause.
This special looked at disasters where multiple investigations don't agree on the cause of these accidents.
This special looked at how pilots' deviation from cockpit duties lead to crashes.
This special looked at disasters caused by fires, either on the ground or in the air.
Three devastating crashes make front page news and the media frenzy puts intense pressure to uncover the true cause of these deadly disasters.
While commercial pilots undergo hundreds of hours of training and testing, even experienced pilots can make deadly rookie errors.
Investigators comb through the wreckage of three separate midair collisions in a race to prevent another fatal impact.
When an aircraft loses total engine power, a pilot's training can make all the difference in the world.
Three mysterious accidents send investigators hunting for clues. In the end, all three trails lead back to the same source - the fuel tank.
Three planes fatally out of balance highlight to investigators a flight risk that's entirely preventable, and yet seemingly not stopping.
If pilots aren't prepared when the runway is in sight, a landing can quickly become a tragedy as evidenced in these three crashes.
Spatial disorientation is one of the leading causes of all air accidents. Even the most experienced pilots are susceptible to its subtle yet deadly effects.
Radio silence between pilots and controllers can mean many different things, but in these stories, the physical evidence reveals the truth.
Drawing the attention of the entire world, three fatal design flaws put air crash investigators in a storm of controversy.
Devastating systems failures in the air put pilots to the test and shine a light on three astonishing feats of flying, including Qantas Flight 32.
Mid-air tragedies are particularly horrifying when they occur over a community, and rain terror on the people below.
Revisit three crashes involving high-profile passengers and the pressurized investigations into the causes that followed.
These are three horrific air disasters that provoked fundamental changes to airport security and the measures we follow across the world today.
Follow three horrifying crashes that revealed high-tech blind spots in the technology preventing aircraft from ploughing into mountains.
From the wreckage of three airplane crashes, survivors emerge to tell harrowing tales and provide critical data about what to do in an emergency.
Follow three mid-air tragedies that rained terror on those below when they happened over crowded areas.
When aviation decisions are made in the heat of the moment, even minor issues can have fatal consequences.
A trio of crashes reveal that when the nuts and bolts of maintenance go unchecked, it can spell catastrophe.
Three flights ending in tragedy prove that minor missteps during take-off can have disastrous consequences.
Confused, flying blind and lost in the dark, three crews lose site of the horizon and fall into the same deadly trap.
Three crews experience the same devastating event, but with radically different outcomes when an engine falls off their commercial airplane.
Faced with a mid-air crisis, pilots must make life-and-death decisions, but the wrong approach can trigger a far more serious problem.
In Sao Paolo, the Himalayas, and on the Norwegian coast, three flight crews are pushed to the limit by the toughest landings on earth.
Relying on instinct rather than the rule book, three flights end in tragedy when crews improvise on their final approach.
Three planes are brought down by ice, and it's up to investigators to determine how modern aircraft could possibly end up with frozen wings.
Three catastrophic runway collisions raise the same pressing question: How could two planes end up on the same runway at the same time?
Illustrating the deadly consequences of a mismatched crew, three flights end in tragedy, leaving investigators to unravel what went wrong.
Three last-resort water landings-all handled differently-yet each one crucial to improving the outcomes of ditching on open water.
Faced with the extreme conditions of the far North, three flights fall out of the sky leaving investigators to uncover the cause.
