Episodes
Fight for Control
April 27, 2014
On Jun 8, 1983 — Reeve Aleutian Airways Flight 8 (Lockheed Electra): High over the Pacific off Alaska, a propeller tears loose and slices into the fuselage, jamming the controls of a plane still hours from safety.
Fire in the Hold
May 4, 2014
On May 11, 1996 — ValuJet Flight 592 (DC-9): Minutes after leaving Miami, smoke pours into the cabin and the jet plunges into the Everglades, igniting a controversy that rocks the FAA itself.
Caution to the Wind
May 11, 2014
On Oct 31, 2000 — Singapore Airlines Flight 006 (Boeing 747): Departing Taipei as a typhoon closes in, a jumbo jet erupts in flames partway down its takeoff roll, and investigators make a shocking discovery on the airfield.
Pushed to the Limit
May 18, 2014
On Dec 19, 1997 — SilkAir Flight 185 (Boeing 737): Cruising toward Singapore in clear weather, a nearly new jet suddenly plunges from 35,000 feet into an Indonesian river, and two investigations reach very different conclusions.
Blind Landing
May 25, 2014
On Aug 23, 2005 — TANS Peru Flight 204 (Boeing 737): Descending through a violent storm toward Pucallpa, a jet comes down in the Peruvian jungle — and looters strip the crash site before investigators arrive.
Grand Canyon
June 8, 2014
On Jun 30, 1956 — United Airlines Flight 718 & TWA Flight 2: Two airliners cross the Arizona desert on the same summer morning and collide over the Grand Canyon — a disaster that transforms how America controls its skies.
Catastrophe at O'Hare
July 20, 2014
On May 25, 1979 — American Airlines Flight 191 (DC-10): As a fully loaded jet lifts off from Chicago O'Hare, an engine tears away from the wing — the beginning of the deadliest aviation accident on U.S. soil.
Focused on Failure
July 27, 2014
On Dec 28, 1978 — United Airlines Flight 173 (DC-8): Circling Portland while the crew troubleshoots a landing gear problem, a jet with 189 aboard slowly runs out of time — and the lessons reshape every cockpit in the world.
Hockey Team Tragedy
August 3, 2014
On Sep 7, 2011 — Yak-Service Flight 9633 (Yak-42): A charter carrying the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey team fails to climb on takeoff and crashes beside the Volga, stunning the sports world and all of Russia.
Death of the President
August 10, 2014
On Apr 10, 2010 — Polish Air Force Flight 101 (Tu-154M): Carrying Poland's president and dozens of national leaders to a memorial ceremony, a government jet descends through dense fog toward Smolensk — and never arrives.
Subtle Incapacitation
August 17, 2014
On Jan 25, 2010 — Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 (Boeing 737): Minutes after a stormy night takeoff from Beirut, a jet banks off course and spirals into the Mediterranean, and investigators focus on the men at the controls.
Seconds to Survive
August 24, 2014
On Feb 21, 2008 — Santa Bárbara Airlines Flight 518 (ATR 42): Departing the mountain city of Mérida at dusk, a Venezuelan turboprop has only moments to escape the Andes rising around it.
Vanished
August 31, 2014
On Jun 1, 2009 — Air France Flight 447 (Airbus A330): An overnight flight from Rio to Paris disappears over the mid-Atlantic without a distress call, launching a two-year hunt for wreckage, recorders, and the truth.
