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Air Disasters

Air Disasters

Statistically, traveling by airplane is safer than driving and other forms of transportation, but when something goes wrong during a flight, it can be catastrophic with potentially hundreds of lives at stake. This series examines some of the world's worst air disasters, using official reports, transcripts and interviews with people involved to tell the stories of midair mishaps and discover what went wrong in each case. Episodes include a discussion of how the weather affects flights -- including stories of aviation disasters and near-misses -- and a New Year's Eve flight that fell from the sky into the Florida Everglades.
14 seasonsDocumentary, DramaTV-14Violence
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Season 1710 of 10 Episodes

  • Flydubai Flight 981 enters a rapid descent and crashes nose-first at Rostov-on-Don Airport in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, after aborting its second landing attempt in poor weather conditions.

  • On December 21, 1992, Martinair Flight 495 crashes off the right side of the runway while attempting to land at Faro Airport in Faro, Portugal, in severe weather conditions, killing 56 of the 340 people on board.

  • When a USAF stealth bomber crashes after takeoff, investigators search for a reason.

  • Trans-Air Service Flight 671 suffers an in-flight separation of its two right engines while en route to Kano, Nigeria, forcing the pilots to make an emergency landing at Istres-Le Tubé Air Base in France.

  • 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.

  • After a Boeing 727's near-fatal nosedive over Michigan, investigators risk their own lives to determine what caused the aircraft to lose control.

  • After a passenger jet miraculously survives a collision with trees while landing, investigators attempt to uncover why the plane was flying so low.

  • When an Illinois turboprop crashes after losing battery power, investigators uncover a series of errors made by the pilots.

  • When a turboprop stalls and crashes into a North Carolina forest, investigators resort to a risky test flight-and uncover an industry-wide safety problem.

  • When basketball legend Kobe Bryant is killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, investigators examine the data, the wreckage, and the pilot's actions for clues.

Record to Watch Later

30 episodes will be broadcast over the next two weeks

    Dangerous Winds
    The Heathrow Enigma
    Stormy Cockpit
    Risky Runways
    Nowhere to Land
    Radio Silence
    Deadly Reputation
    Pilot Betrayed
    Into the Eye of the Storm
    Deadly Distraction
  • Dangerous Winds

    Three planes fall prey to deadly winds, and it is up to investigators to find out why.
    Upcoming
  • The Heathrow Enigma

    A British Airways Flight's engines failure to respond cause the plane to crash-land just short of the runway.
    Upcoming
  • Stormy Cockpit

    Pilots leaving Cameroon steer their plane clear of a storm, but the aircraft begins rolling to the right, and they are unable to regain control.
    Upcoming
  • Risky Runways

    In São Paulo, the Himalayas, and on the Norwegian coast, the toughest landings on earth pushed three flight crews.
    Upcoming
  • Nowhere to Land

    Pilots of TACA Flight 110 make a remarkable landing on a narrow levee, but investigators must find out why the engines in a brand-new plane failed.
    Upcoming
  • Radio Silence

    The business jet carrying PGA golfer Payne Stewart and former Alabama football quarterback crashes; how loss of pressurization and structural failure led to this crash and the deadliest aviation accidents in both Greek and Taiwanese history.
    Upcoming
Air Disasters

More about Air Disasters

Statistically, traveling by airplane is safer than driving and other forms of transportation, but when something goes wrong during a flight, it can be catastrophic with potentially hundreds of lives at stake. This series examines some of the world's worst air disasters, using official reports, transcripts and interviews with people involved to tell the stories of midair mishaps and discover what went wrong in each case. Episodes include a discussion of how the weather affects flights -- including stories of aviation disasters and near-misses -- and a New Year's Eve flight that fell from the sky into the Florida Everglades.

Starring

Bill Ratner

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