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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 19 of 10 Episodes

  • During a storm, a strong gale slams Delta Air Lines Flight 191 to the ground, killing most people on board.

  • A pilot heads for a decommissioned air force base when the Boeing 767 jet he is flying unexpectedly runs out of fuel.

  • A design fault leads to an explosion on a DC-10 and two years later the same design fault causes another tragedy.

  • A complex recovery operation is launched to find out if a 747 which disappeared into the Indian Ocean was carrying illegal weapons.

  • Air Midwest Flight 5481 plummets to the ground just after takeoff, killing all on board and injuring one on the ground.

  • A bomb explodes on Air India Flight 182 en route from Canada to India causing it to disintegrate over the coast of Ireland.

  • Within five minutes of takeoff, the Dominican Republic bound Birgenair Flight 301 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean; a series of confusing signals crashes the plane.

  • Pilots of Eastern Airline Flight 401 try to determine why both landing-gear lights do not function on an L-1011, tragically distracting them.

  • In September 2006, a brand-new legacy business jet collides with a Boeing 737 over the Amazon forest.

Record to Watch Later

129 episodes will be broadcast over the next two weeks

    Seconds From Touchdown
    Grand Canyon
    Vanished
    Mistaken Identity
    Time Critical
    Killer Attitude
    Phantom Strike
    Ripped Apart
    Deadly Myth
    Edge of Disaster
  • Seconds From Touchdown

    Facing a cascade of failures and a fire on board, a turboprop is just seconds from landing when it flips over and crashes.
    Upcoming
  • Grand Canyon

    United Airlines Flight 718 and Trans World Airlines Flight 2 collide midair over the Grand Canyon in Arizona, killing all 128 people on both aircraft in 1956.
    Upcoming
  • Vanished

    On 1 June 2009, Air France Flight 447 stalls and crashes into the Atlantic Ocean while flying through a thunderstorm, killing all 228 people on board.
    Upcoming
  • Mistaken Identity

    The captain of a Navy cruiser must quickly determine if an approaching plane is friendly.
    Upcoming
  • Time Critical

    In a rush to complete their flights, three different flight crews skip key procedures, ignore signs of danger and make deadly decisions.
    Upcoming
  • Killer Attitude

    The pairing of a domineering pilot and an inexperienced first officer has deadly consequences in northern Minnesota.
    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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