Air Disasters
Season 2
201212 episodes
Episode 1
Cracks in the System
Jun 17, 201245m
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.
Episode 2
Target is Destroyed
Jun 24, 201245m
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.
Episode 3
Cruel Skies
Jul 1, 201245m
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.
Episode 4
Panic on the Runway
Jul 8, 201245m
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.
Episode 5
Alarming Silence
Jul 15, 201245m
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.
Episode 6
Cold Case
Jul 22, 201245m
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.
Episode 7
Pilot vs. Plane
Jul 29, 201245m
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.
Episode 8
System Breakdown
Aug 5, 201245m
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.
Episode 9
The Final Blow
Aug 12, 201245m
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.
Episode 10
Cleared for Disaster
Aug 19, 201245m
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.
Episode 11
The Plane That Flew Too High
Aug 26, 201245m
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.
Episode 12
Deadly Reputation
Sep 2, 201245m
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.