Air Disasters Episode Rating Graph

LaMia Flight 2933, carrying Brazil's Chapecoense soccer team, is approaching Medellin, Colombia to play for the prestigious Copa Sudamericana championship when its crew suddenly declares a fuel emergency. Before air traffic control can clear a path, the plane loses power and crashes to the ground, killing all but seven passengers. Investigators discover no leaks and are mystified over how the experienced pilots could fly a plane with an insufficient amount of fuel. As they pore over the evidence, they ultimately uncover a deadly gamble.

An airliner leaving LaGuardia Airport in New York is crippled after flying through a flock of birds. A Canadian flight crew faces disaster when their Boeing 767 loses power and becomes a very large and heavy glider. A violent thunderstorm wreaks havoc on a Boeing 737 flying over the Gulf of Mexico. These three crises would have led to fatal accidents if it weren't for the heroic efforts of the pilots in the cockpit. Witness some of the most remarkable landings in the history of commercial aviation and meet the pilots who pulled them off.

Two Russian pilots with limited experience flying Boeing 737s attempt to land one in the middle of the night with both of the aircraft's engines operating at different power levels. The pairing of a new captain with an unproven first officer was enough to put passengers at risk, but there was one more factor at play that sealed the fate of Aeroflot Nord Flight 821. Witness the fatal crash that occurred minutes before landing, and follow the investigation that led to a call to completely overhaul Russia's aviation system.

As Denver air traffic controllers struggle to keep departures on schedule amid heavy snow in 1987, a DC-9 is delayed on the tarmac. When the crew is finally cleared for takeoff, the plane gets only 20 feet off the ground before banking sharply and slamming back down, killing 28 of the 82 people on board. Follow investigators as they uncover why Continental Airlines Flight 1713 crashed in bad weather while others safely took off. The discovery will change commercial flight, and the teams flying these aircraft, forever.

In October 1992, El Al Flight 1862, a cargo jet heading from Amsterdam to Tel Aviv suddenly begins rolling violently just seven minutes after takeoff. The pilots struggle to turn the crippled plane back towards the airport, but minutes before landing, another sudden roll sends the aircraft plummeting to Earth and straight into a high-rise apartment complex. 43 die in the crash and a nation demands answers. Investigators search for a cause of the Netherlands' worst ever airline disaster. What they find is a potentially lethal problem threatening every 747 in the sky.

Just minutes before touching down in Portland International Airport, all four engines of a DC-8 mysteriously flame out. With the aircraft dropping 3,000 feet per minute, the pilots realize they have no option but to crash land in the middle of a major American city. Witness the harrowing emergency landing of United Airlines Flight 173 in Portland, Oregon, and uncover the shocking reasons for its massive engine failure.

Two commercial airliners go missing over the Arizona desert, and are later found in pieces, scattered along the Grand Canyon floor. It's 1956, and air disaster examiner Jack Parshall is pressed for answers. There are no black boxes or any of the advanced technology used by modern day investigators. And all he has to go on are plane fragments and his own expertise. See how Parshall and his team of experts literally pieced the accident together, and how their findings helped transform air travel as we currently know it.

On June 1, 2009, a modern Airbus A330, traveling from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, vanished somewhere over the Atlantic. The families of the 228 presumed victims demanded answers, but would have to wait two years to get them. This is the story of Air France Flight 447, which came to rest 13,000 feet below the ocean's surface in an area deeper than the resting place of the Titanic. The effort to find and reach the aircraft was a miracle. And what investigators discovered in the wreckage would send shockwaves throughout the aviation industry.

Just three miles from its destination and assaulted by severe weather, TANS Peru Flight 204, crashes in Peru's Amazon jungle, leaving a one-mile-long trail of luggage, bodies, and torn aircraft. But the cause for this air disaster proves even more mysterious when it's discovered that the crash site has been scavenged by looters. Join the 312-day investigation, as examiners use all of their creativity to determine why this Boeing 737 fell from the sky, taking the lives of nearly half of those aboard.

It's 1961. Air traffic controllers and local dignitaries in Ndola, Africa await the arrival of UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold, flying in on a top-secret peace mission. But the plane never arrives, and is found the next morning crashed and burning just a few miles from the airport. For decades, conspiracy theories have suggested that the plane was shot down. Now, startling new claims from a former U.S. intelligence officer have triggered a new investigation to get to the bottom of this controversial, decades-long aviation mystery.

Not far from Congonhas Airport, a Sao Paulo neighborhood is in flames. It's a scene of devastation caused by TAM Airlines Flight 3054, a plane that crashed just seconds after takeoff in July 2007. With a shocked nation watching, investigators from the Brazilian Air Force join forces with the National Transportation Safety Board to learn what happened. After combing through more than a hundred parameters in search of a lead, they determine a series of malfunctions caused the accident, coupled with a mechanical failure so rare that pilots had received no training for it.

On November 12, 2001, American Airlines Flight 587, enroute from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to the Dominican Republic, crashed shortly after takeoff into the Belle Harbor neighborhood of Queens. All 260 people aboard the plane (251 passengers and 9 crew members), as well as 5 bystanders on the ground, were killed. It's the second-deadliest aviation accident involving an Airbus A300 (after Iran Air Flight 655), and the second-deadliest aviation accident to occur on U.S. soil (after American Airlines Flight 191).

On January 13, 1982, Air Florida Flight 90, a Boeing 737-222, crashed into the 14th Street Bridge and plunged through the ice into the Potomac River just two miles from the White House. The death toll reached 74, including four motorists on the bridge, forever changing airport procedure during inclement weather.

In September 2010, shortly after taking off from Dubai, UPS Flight 6 catches fire. With flames spreading throughout the main deck, the pilots make a desperate attempt to return to the airport for an emergency landing. But critical systems are failing, the pilot has collapsed, smoke is filling the cockpit, and the first officer cannot see his instruments. The only way to land is to improvise an emergency procedure, but shaky communications with controllers and poor visibility inside and outside the plane will make for a nearly impossible landing.

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.

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.

The world's largest commercial airliner is coming apart in midair. Fortunately, the pilots are keeping it all together. The story of Qantas Flight 32, a 2010 passenger flight from London to Sydney, Australia. After taking off from Singapore's Changi Airport for the second leg of its flight, an engine exploded, forcing the crew to return to Changi Airport and attempt an emergency landing.

It was supposed to be a routine 50-minute hop from Columbia, SC to Charlotte, NC for USAir Flight 1016. But in an instant, a beautiful summer day gave way to one of the most powerful microbursts on record, sending the DC-9 crashing to Earth and killing 37 of the 52 passengers on board. While the storm was intense, investigators are not convinced weather alone caused the disaster. Revisit the harrowing crash and discover how the plane's extreme changes in speed, direction, and altitude created fatal confusion in the cockpit.

On a commuter flight from Minneapolis to Hibbing in 1993, Northwest Airlink Flight 5719 descends into the clouds on a cold Minnesota night. Suddenly, the pilots of the twin-engine turboprop find themselves ricocheting off the treetops, crashing violently into a hillside. Investigators face intense pressure to find the cause of the crash that killed all 18 people on board. Initial concerns center around the inexperienced first officer, but further digging reveals a darker issue, one that surfaced months before the plane ever left the ground.

A routine flight from Jakarta to Medan, Indonesia encounters a very non-routine obstacle: forest fires that are sending a thick blanket of smoke across all of Southeast Asia. But it was a series of avoidable human errors, not a natural disaster, that doomed Garuda Indonesia Flight 152 on September 26, 1997. Discover how an air traffic controller's number mix-up, an incorrect altitude setting, and a wrong turn claimed 234 lives, resulting in the deadliest plane crash in Indonesian history.

It was an air disaster that crippled a country, heightened tensions between two nations, and ignited conspiracy theories worldwide. On April 10, 2010, Polish Air Force Tupolev Tu-154M, carrying Poland's president, Lech Kaczynski, crashed on Russian soil, killing everyone aboard. Russian experts pinned the blame on the pilots, but Poland's Interior Minister examined the evidence and reached a far different conclusion. Experience the tragedy that shocked the world and follow the investigation that remains steeped in controversy.

A DC-9 lines up for a nighttime landing at Zurich's Kloten Airport. Although the pilots can't see the runway, their navigation instruments indicate the plane is locked onto the proper signal from the airport. But the equipment is wrong. The plane is actually flying more than a thousand feet lower than it should. Discover the series of errors that caused Alitalia Flight 404 to plow into the ground six miles short of its destination.

When planes crash, the pressure is on investigators to uncover what happened. That pressure increases dramatically when the case involves high-profile victims or when examiners disagree about the cause of the accident. Witness three controversial air disasters: a 1958 failed takeoff that wiped out the Manchester United soccer team; the 1985 tragedy of Arrow Air Flight 1285, which killed 248 U.S. soldiers heading home for the holidays; and the 2010 crash that claimed the life of Lech Kaczynski, the president of Poland.

American Airlines Flight 77 slams into the Pentagon on America's darkest day of the 21st century. TWA Flight 800 explodes over Long Island minutes after leaving JFK. The supersonic superstar Concorde crashes into an airport hotel after a failed takeoff from Paris. All three air disasters made headline news around the globe, creating media frenzies, igniting conspiracy theories, and putting immense pressure on investigators. In this episode, we revisit these three accidents and follow examiners as they uncover the truth behind the tragedies.

Authorities scramble for answers when a passenger plane collides with a military fighter jet in California, and two commercial planes meet a similar fate decades later in India. Investigators comb through the wreckage of three separate midair collisions in a race to prevent another fatal impact.

A Boeing 737 vanishes off the radar, a South Korean jet slams into the English countryside moments after takeoff, and an inexperienced crew faces a pileup of errors on a flight over Russia. When critical instruments cause confusion, the consequences can be deadly.

A bomb explodes on Pan Am Flight 103, causing the aircraft to disintegrate in mid-air and the wreckage of the aircraft to crash into the Scottish town of Lockerbie, killing all 259 people on board and 11 people on the ground.

Partnair Flight 394 loses control, breaks up in mid-air, and crashes into the North Sea. The aircraft's vertical stabilizer had vibrated loose during flight due to excessive wear on sub-standard bolts, sleeves, and pins that had been illegally sold.

An Airbus A321 carrying Russian tourists back from Egypt in 2015 suddenly disappears from radar minutes after takeoff. Air Force jets locate the charred wreckage in the Sinai Desert. There are no survivors. How did this modern airplane just fall from the sky? Follow Egyptian investigators and their Russian counterparts as they work through political tensions and wild rumors to discover the truth behind the crash of Metrojet Flight 9268.

The story of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961, which was hijacked while on a routine trip to the Ivory Coast. The hijackers demanded to be taken to Australia, but there was one problem: the plane didn't have enough fuel to make the trip.

In November of 2008, XL Airways Germany Flight 888T crashed at high speed into the Mediterranean Sea killing all 7 on board. The Airbus A320-232 was a flight test (or "acceptance flight") which took place immediately following light maintenance and repainting done in preparation for its transfer from XL Airways Germany, which had been leasing it, to Air New Zealand, the owner.

What caused Garuda Flight 200 to slam to the ground and careen off the runway in Yogyakarta, Indonesia? Was it a powerful downdraft? Was there something wrong with the wing flaps? Or did a baffling decision by the pilot lead to the death of 21 people? Join us as we investigate the crash of March 7, 2007, through actual video captured at the scene and testimony from a heroic passenger who survived the disaster. Then see how the investigation led the troubled airline to overhaul its training and safety protocols.

In 1996, at Quincy Regional Airport in Illinois, United Express Flight 5925, a Beechcraft 1900 twin turboprop, collided on landing with another Beechcraft, a private King Air, that was taking off from an intersecting runway. Why did the fiery collision turn to tragedy, causing all twelve on board the 1900 and two on board the King Air, to perish when they were unable to escape the burning aircraft?

After a long delay on a hot July evening in 1996, TWA Flight 800 leaves John F. Kennedy Airport carrying 230 passengers and crew en route to Paris. Minutes after takeoff, the Boeing 747 jumbo jet suddenly explodes without warning, killing everyone aboard. Was it a bomb? A missile? A design flaw? To find the answer, the NTSB must attempt the unthinkable: rebuild the entire plane, piece by shattered piece.

A Boeing 727 leaving Dallas for Salt Lake City on August 31, 1988 crashes just moments after takeoff, killing 14 of the 108 passengers and crew on board. The NTSB is fast to arrive on the scene, but finding the answers to what went wrong won't come nearly as quickly. Revisit the disaster of Delta Airlines Flight 1141, recounted by one of its fortunate survivors, and follow the inquiry, which uncovers a fatal error made during takeoff.

In the skies above the Mojave Desert, Virgin Galactic's commercial spacecraft, SpaceShipTwo, accelerates toward the outer reaches of Earth's atmosphere, guided by test pilots. Suddenly, the aircraft breaks apart and falls from the sky, killing the flight's co-pilot. With the future of space tourism in jeopardy, NTSB investigators must determine exactly what caused the test flight to go so horribly wrong.

Air China Flight 129 prepares to land at Gimhae International Airport in Busan, South Korea when a direction from air traffic control to change its approach sets off a series of tragic events that claim the lives of 129 people on board. What happened in those final moments between the captain and his crew? And could a few critical seconds have made the difference between life and death? Discover what caused the worst air disaster in South Korean history and find out the key recommendations made to prevent a similar tragedy from happening again.

When a flight ends in disaster, investigators must determine what, and sometimes who, caused the accident. Some cases are easy to solve, but others require unrelenting diligence and Sherlock Holmes-level powers of deduction. See what it took to solve three plane crashes that stumped examiners, one in the Florida Everglades, another in the small Scottish village of Lockerbie, and a miracle emergency landing at London's Heathrow Airport.