Air Disasters

A bumpy flight from Dubai to Russia's Rostov-on-Don Airport ends in disaster when the plane nosedives into the runway two hours after entering a holding pattern. With grieving families and the world demanding answers, the Interstate Aviation Committee and a team from the United Arab Emirates investigate why the pilots of Flydubai Flight 981 completed one successful go-around but crashed during the second. They suspect a problem endemic to the aircraft, but soon uncover the most lethal trap in aviation.

Martinair Flight 495 is seconds from landing at Portugal's Faro Airport when the storm it's flying through takes a sudden turn for the worse. On touchdown, the DC-10 erupts in flames and tears apart as it slides more than 350 feet off the runway. Miraculously, most of the 340 passengers and crew survive the crash, but 56 people are killed, and investigators need to determine the cause of the accident. Bad weather appears to be the main culprit, but the discovery of a two-inch deep cut down the runway raises troubling new questions.

At the end of a four-month deployment in Guam, a two-officer crew prepares to fly back to the states in one of the world's most sophisticated warplanes: the B-2 Spirit bomber. But immediately after takeoff, the plane pitches up dramatically, losing speed and shaking violently. The pilots quickly eject from the stealth bomber just before it crashes to Earth. With a price tag of two billion dollars, it's the most expensive aviation accident of all time, and investigators are under pressure to determine what happened... and if it could happen again.

A cargo flight from Luxembourg to Nigeria turns into a nightmare over the French Alps for its five-person crew. A large explosion has blown both engines off the right wing, the weather is worsening, and the cockpit has lost contact with air traffic control. It will take every bit of muscle and piloting expertise to steer the disabled Boeing 707 over the mountains and reach Marseille for an emergency landing. Witness the harrowing flight of Trans-Air Cargo Flight 671, then discover the microscopic but deadly flaw that almost doomed the plane.

Fifteen minutes after taking off from Puerto Vallarta for San Francisco, the pilots of an MD-83 realize something is very wrong with their plane. They're struggling to keep the nose up due to a jammed stabilizer and must divert the flight to Los Angeles. Unfortunately, they never make it. Witness the terrifying final moments of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 as it flips over before nosediving into the Pacific, killing all 88 people on board. Then follow investigators as they uncover a critical maintenance issue that has deadly implications.

After a 45-minute delay in New York, TWA Flight 841 is cruising over Michigan en route to Minneapolis when, without warning, the Boeing 727 banks hard to the right. Within seconds, the aircraft spirals towards Earth at a rate of 540 feet per second. The captain gets an idea that may save the flight and its 82 passengers... but is it too late? Witness the air emergency that happened high above Saginaw, Michigan in 1979. Then follow investigators as they risk their own lives to determine why TWA 841 fell out of the sky.

On a stormy November night, American Airlines Flight 1572 prepares for landing at Bradley Airport in Connecticut. With the control tower shut down because of a leaky window, the pilots must rely on their own observations to land safely. Somehow, while approaching the runway, the aircraft plows through a tree-lined ridge, taking out both engines and forcing the crew into an emergency landing. Miraculously, all 78 on board survive. It's now up to investigators to piece together the events that nearly sent the MD-83 crashing to Earth.

The pilots of Air Illinois Flight 710 get a warning light less two minutes into their short hop from Springfield to Carbondale. One of the plane's two generators has failed, but the captain decides it's safe to continue the flight. Just a half hour later, however, the turboprop crashes 25 miles from the destination, killing all ten people aboard. NTSB investigators wonder why an aircraft with one perfectly functioning generator could fall out of the sky. An astonishing statement heard on the cockpit voice recording may point to the reason.

When a warning light indicates an engine flameout, the pilots of American Eagle Flight 3379 abort their landing just minutes before touching down at Raleigh-Durham Airport. But the turboprop won't climb and begins veering off course before slamming to Earth just a few miles from the runway. Only five of the 20 people onboard survive, and it's up to investigators to find out what happened. Puzzled by the wreckage, they take a test flight to the brink of disaster to uncover the astonishing sequence of events that led to the crash.

It was supposed to be a quick 80-mile flight from L.A. to a basketball tournament in Camarillo. But within a half-hour of takeoff, the state-of-the-art Sikorsky S-76B helicopter crashed, killing all aboard, including basketball legend Kobe Bryant. Flying the chopper was highly experienced pilot Ara Zobayan, who had flown Kobe and his family dozens of times, so what happened on January 26, 2020? Join us as we detail the tragedy that shocked the world and the reasons why the pilot completely lost his bearings on a route he knew so well.