Episodes
Cracks in the System
June 17, 2012
On Dec 19, 2005 — Chalk's Ocean Airways Flight 101 (Grumman Turbo Mallard): A vintage seaplane bound for the Bahamas goes down moments after lifting off from Miami's Watson Island, stunning witnesses along the shoreline.
Target is Destroyed
June 24, 2012
On Sep 1, 1983 — Korean Air Lines Flight 007 (Boeing 747): A passenger jet en route from Anchorage to Seoul strays into Soviet airspace and is shot down by a fighter jet, pushing Cold War tensions to the brink.
Cruel Skies
July 1, 2012
Special — Multiple incidents (1977–1999), including Southern Airways Flight 242, British Airways Flight 009, and American Airlines Flight 1420: A look at how violent weather has brought down airliners and how forecasting and cockpit technology evolved in response.
Panic on the Runway
July 8, 2012
On Aug 22, 1985 — British Airtours Flight 28M (Boeing 737): An engine catches fire as a holiday flight accelerates down the runway at Manchester. The takeoff is aborted, but a survivable emergency turns deadly on the ground.
Alarming Silence
July 15, 2012
On Aug 16, 1987 — Northwest Airlines Flight 255 (MD-82): Moments after takeoff from Detroit, a fully loaded jet fails to climb and crashes beyond the runway, leaving investigators to trace the final minutes before departure.
Cold Case
July 22, 2012
On Mar 10, 1989 & Mar 22, 1992 — Air Ontario Flight 1363 & USAir Flight 405 (Fokker F28s): Two wintry takeoffs, three years apart in Ontario and New York, end in disaster and force investigators to look for a common thread.
Pilot vs. Plane
July 29, 2012
On Jun 26, 1988 — Air France Flight 296 (Airbus A320): A brand-new fly-by-wire jet performs a low flyby at a French airshow and fails to climb away, igniting a bitter public battle between the pilot and investigators.
System Breakdown
August 5, 2012
Special — Multiple incidents: Five disasters tied to communication failures and an overburdened air traffic control system, and the changes they forced on how controllers and pilots keep planes apart.
The Final Blow
August 12, 2012
On Jan 20, 1992 — Air Inter Flight 148 (Airbus A320): On a night approach to Strasbourg, a domestic French flight descends into the Vosges Mountains, and investigators must determine why a modern jet flew so low.
Cleared for Disaster
August 19, 2012
On Feb 1, 1991 — USAir Flight 1493 (Boeing 737) & SkyWest Flight 5569: A jet landing at Los Angeles collides with a commuter plane on the runway, turning attention to the control tower.
The Plane That Flew Too High
August 26, 2012
On Aug 16, 2005 — West Caribbean Airways Flight 708 (MD-82): A charter flight from Panama to Martinique falls from cruise altitude over Venezuela, and the investigation reaches deep into a troubled airline.
Deadly Reputation
September 2, 2012
On Jul 17, 2007 — TAM Airlines Flight 3054 (Airbus A320): Landing at São Paulo's Congonhas Airport on a rainy night, a jet fails to stop and careens off the end of the runway into buildings beyond.
