Air Disasters

A private Learjet carrying golf legend and reigning U.S. Open champion Payne Stewart takes off from Orlando heading for Dallas in 1999. But within minutes, air traffic control loses contact with the aircraft. The situation grows more urgent when the plane begins an unplanned trajectory across the Midwest. Air Force F-16 fighter planes scramble to intercept the Learjet, only to discover that the pilots and passengers are dead. The only question is why it happened.

A Boeing 757 takes off from Washington Dulles International Airport en route to Los Angeles. In minutes, hijackers storm the cockpit and turn the plane back toward the nation's capital and straight into the Pentagon. A total of 189 people are dead, the fuselage has been vaporized, and investigators are under tremendous pressure to determine how this could have happened. Witness the crash of American Airlines Flight 77 and the ways in which the 9/11 attacks brought immediate and profound changes to commercial aviation throughout the world.

Nearly half a century later, it remains history's deadliest air crash. The 1977 collision of two jumbo jets at a tiny airport in the Canary Islands horrified the world and sent investigators scrambling to understand what happened. Witness the runway disaster that claimed the lives of 583 passengers and crew. Then watch as examiners from Spain, the Netherlands, and the U.S. sift through the wreckage, the tower transcripts, and one pilot's flight log to untangle the chain of events that led to this catastrophic accident.

The chances of a catastrophic event happening after a plane parks are nearly nonexistent, which is why the incident aboard China Airlines Flight 120 was so baffling to investigators. The plane's engines were switched off. The passengers were lining up to debark. Then within seconds, the aircraft was engulfed in flames. What caused the sudden inferno that sent panicked passengers scrambling for their lives? Discover the tiny failure that endangered not only this flight and its passengers, but air travelers around the world.

A short hop from Lyon, France to Brittany in 1998 is extended when pilots of Proteus Airlines Flight 706 decide to give passengers a bird's-eye view of a legendary French ocean liner nearby. Suddenly, the commuter plane explodes in midair and spirals into Quiberon Bay, tragically ending 15 lives. Despite hundreds of eyewitnesses, no one seems to know what brought down the twin-engine Beechcraft. Follow the unimaginable chain of events that led to this crash and discover its impact on innovations in airline safety.

A Trans-Colorado Airlines commuter plane flies over the Rocky Mountains heading to Durango-La Plata County Airport in 1988. Five miles from touchdown, something goes terribly wrong. There's no sign of the runway and before both pilots can react, the aircraft crashes in the frozen wilderness. Nine of the 17 people on board are killed, and investigators are left scrambling for answers. One survivor's testimony troubles the examiners, but it's an unexpected phone call that points to a shocking discovery.

It's a routine takeoff on an ordinary morning in 2015 when Germanwings Flight 9525 leaves Barcelona for Düsseldorf. But something goes horribly wrong over the French Alps. The plane begins rapidly descending and air traffic control gets no response from the cockpit. Everyone's worst fears are realized when the plane is found smashed to pieces in the mountains. All passengers and crew aboard are dead. As the investigation unfolds, grief soon turns to horror when black box data points to a possibility so dark, it's almost beyond belief.

During Indonesia's unpredictable rainy season, a Boeing 737 suddenly finds itself in the middle of a violent storm in January 2002. The white-knuckle ride gets much worse when the plane loses both engines and then its electrical power. After two failed attempts to restart the crippled aircraft, the pilots are left with only one perilous option. Witness the crash of Garuda Indonesia Flight 421 and the desperate water landing with no engines, no assistance, and no electronic guidance.

Just days after Christmas in 2014, an Airbus A320 en route to Singapore disappears over the Java Sea. A massive search confirms the worst: the plane has crashed, killing all 162 on board. Speculation runs wild about what could have brought the airliner down, and an international team of experts comes together to help determine what caused AirAsia Flight 8501 to plummet from the sky. Discover how a mysterious action by the captain set off a deadly sequence of events that ultimately doomed the aircraft.

It's April 2013. A 747 cargo plane leaves Afghanistan's largest airfield with 207,000 pounds of military equipment. Within seconds of takeoff, the pilots lose control of the aircraft. The nose won't drop, and in an instant, the plane stalls and crashes to the ground. The accident is caught on camera, leading investigators to what seems like an obvious conclusion, until further research indicates there must be more to the story. Discover how the crash of National Airlines Flight 102 became Bagram Airfield's worst ever civilian aviation accident.