Air Disasters

The pilots of Crossair Flight 3597 struggle on their approach to Zurich Airport, hampered by bad weather, an understaffed control tower, and a runway using antiquated equipment. By the time they decide to abort the landing, it's too late. The plane plunges into a hillside, killing 24 of the 33 on board. It's Switzerland's worst air disaster in over a decade and investigators are pressured to find answers fast. What they discover is a series of errors that will lead to sweeping changes to the airport and to the airline.

January 2008. British Airways Flight 38 is about to land at Heathrow Airport when calamity strikes. The Boeing 777, one of the safest planes in the airline industry, suffers double engine failure, and with only seconds until the aircraft hits the ground, Captain Peter Burkill must attempt a highly risky move to save the lives of the 152 people on board. Witness the remarkable emergency landing the follow investigators as they solve the mystery behind the crash, using unrelenting diligence and a little inspiration from Sherlock Holmes.

December 1991. Two days after Christmas, a state-of-the-art DC-9 takes off from Stockholm-Arlanda Airport en route to Copenhagen. But just 25 seconds into the flight, something goes horribly wrong. Both engines quit and the aircraft begins falling from the sky at a rate of 1,200 feet per minute. It will take all of Captain Rasmussen's skill to save the lives of the passengers and crew of Scandinavian Airlines Flight 751. What happens over the next few minutes will shock Sweden and the aviation industry…and change the captain's life forever.

Colgan Air Flight 3407 prepares to land in Buffalo after a short, 50-minute hop from Newark. Suddenly, the twin-engine turboprop takes on a mind of its own, pitching and rolling before finally crashing into a house near the airport. All 49 people aboard the flight are killed, along with one ground fatality, making it the worst crash in the U.S. in more than seven years. It would be followed by one of the NTSB's most important investigations and prompt a grieving father to fight for changes to the laws governing small airlines.

January 15, 2009. US Airways Flight 1549 has just left New York City for Charlotte, North Carolina. Within seconds of taking off, disaster strikes. The Airbus A320 is struck by a flock of Canada geese, destroying the engines. With his plane falling from the sky, Captain Chesley Sullenberger makes a bold and brilliant decision to put his aircraft on the runway that's dead ahead: the Hudson River. Relive the famous emergency landing and follow investigators as they examine how a bird strike could completely cripple two highly advanced jet engines.

February 25, 2009. A state-of-the-art Boeing 737 coming into Amsterdam Schiphol Airport stalls and drops straight from the sky to Earth, less than half a mile from the runway, killing nine people. It's the third crash of a passenger jet in the past six weeks. Equally troubling: the 737 is one of aviation's most popular planes, with more than five thousand of them in the skies, carrying about one and a half million passengers a day. Investigators must quickly determine if there's a flaw with the plane before another, more deadly, calamity occurs.

February 24, 1989. United Airlines Flight 811 takes off from Honolulu International Airport en route to Auckland, New Zealand. Just a hundred miles into the flight, a cargo door malfunction leads to an explosive decompression that rips a huge whole in the plane, taking out five rows of seats and nine passengers. We revisit this headline-grabbing mid-air crisis and the emergency landing that followed, then track the investigations-by both the NTSB and one of the victim's families-that exposed a disturbing truth within the aviation industry.

June 1, 1999. American Airlines Flight 1420 approaches Little Rock National Airport in the middle of severe thunderstorms and fierce crosswinds. The 139 passengers aboard can tell the plane is flying into trouble. So can the pilots, yet they attempt to land anyway. The MD-82 ends up skidding off the wet runway, down an embankment, and breaking apart, killing 11 people, including the captain. Investigators must determine why the crew decided to attempt such a hazardous landing instead of diverting to another airport.

September 2, 1998. Swissair Flight 111 leaves New York's JFK Airport for Geneva, Switzerland. Less than an hour into the flight, the pilots smell smoke and prepare for an emergency landing in Halifax. But minutes later, an inferno erupts in the cockpit, sending the MD-11 into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 229 on board. Witness the flight's final moments, then follow the largest disaster investigation in Canada's history-a four and a half years, $40 million inquiry-to uncover why such a highly reliable plane suddenly burst into flames.

Alaska Airlines Flight 261 takes off from Puerto Vallarta en route to San Francisco. Almost immediately, the pilots realize they're in trouble; a jammed stabilizer in the plane's tail is forcing the aircraft's nose down. It takes all the crew's strength to manually steer their MD-83 towards LAX for an emergency landing…but they never make it. An investigation into the crash quickly reveals a shocking chain of negligence and error, revealing deeply worrying shortcomings in maintenance and regulation that afflict the airline industry.

Air Transat Flight 236 is five hours into its flight from Toronto to Lisbon when the pilots receive oil and fuel imbalance warnings. At first, they think the plane's computer system is delivering false information, but they soon realize they are quickly leaking fuel into the Atlantic, turning their A330 into a 230-ton glider. Witness the crew's desperate battle to reach land and save the 306 people aboard. Then follow investigators as they try to determine how a state-of-the-art airliner could suffer such a catastrophic failure?

June 10, 1990. British Airways Flight 5390 takes off from Birmingham, England, carrying 87 passengers and crew to Málaga, Spain. Just 13 minutes into the two-hour flight, a cockpit windscreen separates from its frame and blows out into the sky, nearly sucking out the captain with it. What follows is a frantic scramble by flight attendants to save their crewmember, a remarkable piece of flying by the co-pilot to land the crippled aircraft, and an innovative examination that used psychological techniques to uncover what caused this near-disaster.

August 21, 1995. An Atlantic Southeast commuter plane is on one of its several short trips for the day when tragedy strikes. An engine explosion rocks the turboprop, leading to a desperate landing in an open field. All 29 survive the crash, but flames soon erupt, which spread to the fuselage, leading to the death of ten people. Investigators are tasked to find out what made the engine explode in midair, but there's another puzzle to solve: An emergency was declared before the crash, so why did local emergency services arrive so late?

It was one of the most successful anti-terrorist operations ever carried out. French Special Forces stormed a hijacked Airbus A300 in Marseille on the day after Christmas, taking out four terrorists and saving a plane full of passengers and crew. The mission proved even more significant when the true intentions of the extremist plot came into light. This is the inside story of the hijacking of Air France Flight 8969, told by the flight's captain, the hostages, the former prime minister of France, and the operatives who led the daring raid.

Immediately after takeoff, the crew of Aeroperú Flight 603 begin receiving unusual speed and altitude readings from their instruments followed by contradicting alarms. Flying over the dark Pacific Ocean, the pilots lose their bearings and declare an emergency. On their attempt to return to the airport, the plane crashes into the ocean, killing all 70 people aboard. Investigators are baffled as to how the computer system of a four-year-old state-of-the-art passenger jet could act so bizarrely. What they discover will shock the airline industry.

On July 1, 2002, a Russian airliner filled with schoolchildren collided with a DHL cargo plane in the skies over southern Germany. It is the country's worst midair collision in its post-war history, shocking the nation and trigging an investigation that leaves examiners baffled. How could two modern aircraft, each outfitted with traffic-alert equipment, crash into each other over one of the world's most closely regulated areas? Was it faulty technology…or human error? These are questions that will take investigators nearly two years to answer.

1995. Just days before Christmas, pilots of a 757 prepare to land in Cali, Colombia, unaware that they've strayed more than 10 miles off course. By the time they realize their mistake, it's too late. The plane crashes into a 9,000-foot mountain, killing 159 of the 163 people on board. Witness the final moments of American Airlines Flight 965 and hear the harrowing stories of survival from the lucky few who made it out alive. Then discover how and why the crew unwittingly directed their aircraft off its intended course and into mortal danger.

January 25,1990. Avianca Flight 52 leaves Bogota, Colombia on a warm, cloudless day, carrying 158 passengers and crew to New York…where weather conditions are far less friendly. A violent storm has disrupted departures and arrivals at JFK, forcing the Boeing 707 into several holding patterns that burn up all its fuel, causing engine shutdown. The plane crashes in a Long Island neighborhood, killing 72 people and leading to a controversial investigation that has the world's finest air crash detectives arguing over who is to blame.

May 1989. The town of San Bernardino, California, is rocked by two disasters that will kill six people and destroy over a dozen houses. It begins with a runaway train that derails at a speed of over 100 MPH and plows through several homes on Duffy Street. It ends with a massive explosion thirteen days later on the same block. The disasters appear to be linked and it's up to investigators to find the hidden connection. What they uncover is a series of horrifying and deadly mistakes that would shock the freight industry and scar a town forever.

In the dark of night and during an intensifying storm, the Greek ferry Express Samina smashes into two enormous rocks as it approaches Paros harbor. The boat instantly sinks, sending 472 passengers and 61 crew into the raging sea. Rescuers rush to the scene, but not everyone makes it out alive. Witness the harrowing final moments of the doomed ferry, recounted by some of the lucky survivors, then follow investigators as they try to answer how an experienced crew crashed into rocks that were clearly marked on their charts.

Two trains are on a collision course. One is the popular Super Continental, carrying 115 passengers on a tour through Canada's Rocky Mountains. The other is a mile-long freight train, carrying 12,000 tons of cargo. The two will ram into each other at a combined speed of 124 miles per hour, killing 23 people and injuring 71. Freight and passenger trains routinely use the same tracks without incident. What was different this time? An 11-month investigation will answer that question and reveal shocking discoveries about Canada's railroad industry.

Every passenger jet we fly is highly pressurized to keep us alive and breathing. If the oxygen escapes, a normal flight can instantly become a nightmare. In 1989, explosive decompression rips the cargo door off a New Zealand-bound 747 and sucks five rows of passengers to their death. In 2005, Helios Flight 522 crashes when the pilots and over a hundred passengers fall unconscious from a lack of oxygen. Witness the final moments of these and other tragic flights and see how each disaster exposed hidden dangers that changed how planes are built.

A modern jet plane is made up of hundreds of thousands of components. A failure in any one of them can lead to disaster. Airline inspectors and mechanics work around the clock to keep their aircraft flying and passengers safe, but just one oversight can lead to tragedy. Witness horrific air disasters caused by faulty parts that somehow went undetected by maintenance crews. Then follow crash investigators as they search piece-by-piece to find the culprit and make recommendations to ensure similar catastrophes never happen again.

Every time you board a plane, you put your trust in the pilots. And every time pilots enter the cockpit, they put their trust in computers. Usually, the marriage of automation and crew is a seamless one, but when it doesn't go perfectly, disaster can strike in an instant. Witness a series of air catastrophes brought on by miscommunications between pilots and their high-tech instruments and follow the investigations that revealed what happened. Then see how today's pilots are trained to better understand their complicated, on-board equipment.