Air Disasters

2011
4.6
364 reviews
TV-14
Rating
Eligible
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Season 6 episodes (10)

1 Mistaken Identity
8/9/15
A passing civilian airliner or an attacking Iranian fighter jet? That is the question facing Capt. Rogers after his Navy cruiser, stationed in the Persian Gulf, picks up the track of an incoming plane. All attempts to contact the aircraft are unsuccessful. The rules of engagement are clear: anything approaching their vessel is to be considered a threat. But what if it’s a friend and not a foe? Witness the crew’s intense seven-minute race for answers, the decision they’re forced to make, and the major impact it will have on the world.
2 Bomb on Board
8/15/15
December 11, 1994. There are 293 people headed for Tokyo aboard Philippine Airlines Flight 434, each of them unaware that a terrorist planted a time bomb under one of their seats. The midair explosion kills a passenger, cripples the plane, and forces the pilot into the most challenging landing of his career. These are two chilling stories, one aboard the flight, as passengers pin their hopes on the skill of the cockpit crew, and the other across the globe as authorities race to catch a terrorist before he can strike again.
3 Fight for your Life
8/23/15
They're called "jumpseaters": employees who take free rides on company plane trips for personal reasons. On April 7, 1994, FedEx Flight Engineer Auburn Calloway had a very specific reason to hop aboard. He wanted to crash the plane to the ground. This is the violent and desperate life-or-death fight between Calloway and the three-man crew on FedEx Flight 705 and how one pilot used the aircraft itself to immobilize the attacker.
4 Out of Control
8/30/15
What was supposed to be a brief flight from Tokyo to Osaka for the 509 passengers aboard JAL Flight 123, instead turned into the worst plane crash in history involving a single aircraft. A midair explosion, decompression, the loss of the tailfin, and hydraulic failure all conspired to send the 747 plowing into the slopes of Mt. Osutaka in August 1985. But how did it happen and why? Investigators wrestle with a difficult crash site and the shocking truth behind the disaster.
5 Attack Over Baghdad
9/6/15
November 22, 2003. War-torn Iraq. A DHL Airbus A300 carrying letters home from American soldiers departs from Baghdad International Airport. The crew is unaware that just a few miles away, a terrorist group has its own plans for the aircraft, involving a surface-to-air missile. This is the crippling attack on the cargo carrier, captured through rarely seen footage, taken by a passing military helicopter and on the ground by one of the terrorists responsible for the attack.
6 Hanging by a Thread
9/13/15
An island hop through paradise turns into a living hell for all aboard Aloha Airlines Flight 243 when the top of the fuselage tears off the airplane. The cabin becomes depressurized and there's no emergency oxygen supply. First, the pilots must rapidly reach a lower altitude so everyone can breathe. Then they must figure out how to land a plane that is held together by just its floor beams. Passengers brave 13 minutes of terror and 300 MPH freezing winds as pilots attempt to land a plane on the verge of coming apart.
7 Helicopter Down
2/14/16
The Super Puma helicopter is the workhorse of the North Sea oil industry, able to ferry workers to and from offshore drilling platforms in the harshest of conditions. However, a January 1995 storm proves too much for one chopper, sending it spiraling into the frigid sea, and putting the lives of 18 in peril. Follow the passengers' and crew's hair-raising struggle to stay alive on a tiny raft in a vast, turbulent sea, the race for rescuers to find them, and the follow-up investigation that revealed a shocking, hidden danger.
8 Death and Denial
2/21/16
There was no distress signal, no explosion, no obvious signs of malfunction. So why did Egypt Air 990 suddenly crash into the Atlantic during what was supposed to be the calmest part of the flight? The investigation into this 1999 catastrophe would develop in two directions, mechanical failure and pilot error, and the results would fuel an international controversy that continues to this day. Reexamine this shocking and baffling air disaster as we relive the aircraft's final moments and revisit the disputed investigation.
9 Kid in the Cockpit
2/28/16
In March 1994, on a flight from Moscow to Hong Kong, a fully automated Airbus A310 suddenly began banking steeply before it wildly corkscrew-spun into the snowy mountains of Siberia. The cause of the spiral: a teenager was at the controls. Remarkably, however, the child was only part of the problem. Discover the inside story of the bewildering case of Russian International Airlines Flight 593 and see how a little-known feature of the A310 triggered a series of disastrous events that went from bad to worse to fatal.
10 Ocean Landing
3/6/16
A routine trip to the Ivory Coast turns into a battle of survival for the 12 crew members and 163 passengers aboard Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961. The aircraft has been hijacked by prison escapees, who demand to be flown to Australia, but there's not enough fuel to get them there. Witness the harrowing moments as Captain Leul Abate struggles against criminals and very slim odds to do something no one has ever done before: safely land a passenger jet on the open ocean.

About this show

Harrowing stories of tragedy and triumph in the sky are brought to life through official reports and interviews with flight crews, investigators, and lucky survivors of history's most terrifying crashes. Widely considered to be the safest form of travel, air transportation is still in its infancy and when midair calamity strikes, the results are often catastrophic. From the cockpit to the cabin, from the control room to the crash scene, we uncover what went wrong, then reveal what's been done to ensure these atrocities never happen again.

Ratings and reviews

4.6
364 reviews
Linda Alcorn
May 6, 2019
It amazes me how the investigators can find what went wrong and from charred pieces and tangled wires.The one that floored me the most was a small charter that went down over water in a flight that lasts 8 minutes How they found out what brought the plane down. Part of me feels guilty that I enjoy watching this show. There's times the plane seems doomed, and somehow with the flight crew working together, saves the plane and most importantly the passengers.
9 people found this review helpful
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Monito Power
August 2, 2015
True events, real people. A docu-drama made to simulate the point where you're in a plane crash! And how it can save you too. Fasten Your seatbelt and get ready for season 6! Don't forget about "Air Crash Investigation"! Hopefully they'll come to America but we have this! So prepare for landing and brace for impact!
4 people found this review helpful
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Jackie Nichols
May 16, 2022
Me encanta cómo los investigadores siempre hacen cambios después de una investigación para evitar que vuelva a ocurrir un accidente. Incluso si descubren que un accidente fue un error humano, intentan cambiar las cosas para que sea aún más difícil que alguien vuelva a cometer el mismo error. En realidad, es bastante reconfortante, y desearía que todas las industrias funcionaran de esta manera.
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