Air Disasters

With flames emerging through the cockpit floor, the pilots of Pilgrim Airlines 458 manage a heroic landing on a frozen Rhode Island reservoir.

Solving the crash of China Airlines Flight 676 hinges on 11 baffling seconds when neither pilot controls the airplane.

Two float planes collide midair near an Alaskan waterfall. One shatters; the other crash-lands intact. With no warning before impact, investigators use wreckage clues and 3D tech to uncover how—and why—the deadly crash occurred.

After a DC-8 cargo plane with only three working engines crashes on takeoff in Kansas City, investigators uncover a flaw in the pilots’ training.

While landing at a notoriously tricky Alaskan island airport, the pilots of a twin turboprop can’t stop their plane.

A massive explosion tears a hole in a 747 over Hawaii, and the trail of clues ultimately leads investigators to a catastrophic short circuit.

Three flight crews face impossible odds: a Boeing 707 loses engines over the Alps as fire spreads, Air Astana 1388 goes out of control over Portugal, and a bomb on PA 434 severs control cables and blasts a hole in the fuselage.

Alaska Airlines 261 nosedives into the Pacific leaving investigators stumped . A rare storm and a deadly design flaw intersect cause American Eagle 4184 to fall from the sky. And, investigators suspect a fatal flaw in the Boeing 737.

Failures in pilot training lead to catastrophe in the cockpit.

With zero margin for error, three catastrophes are narrowly averted by pilots who manage to land their damaged planes—against all odds.

From pilot error to meltdowns within air traffic control, investigators dig deep into three mid-air collisions that seem to defy logic.

From corrosion and metal fatigue to faulty repairs, three doomed airlines are brought down by gradually deteriorating parts.

In a rush to complete their flights, three different flight crews skip key procedures, ignore signs of danger and make deadly decisions.

Mistaken identity and hostile fire over enemy territory are among the many risks that pilots face in war zones around the world.

The world's deadliest mid-air collision and the overall third-deadliest aircraft accident, Saudia Flight 763 and Kazakhstan Airlines Flight 1907 collide in mid-air near New Delhi, India.

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.

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.

Twenty minutes after taking off from Taipei, a China Airlines 747 suddenly disappears from radar. A massive rescue mission is launched.

Three planes are brought down by ice and it's up to investigators to determine how modern aircraft could possibly end up with frozen wings.

Relying on instinct rather than the rule book, three flights end in tragedy when crews improvise on their final approach.

In Sao Paolo, the Himalayas, and on the Norwegian coast, the toughest landings on earth pushed three flight crews.

Faced with a midair crisis, pilots must make a life or death decision, but the wrong approach can trigger a far more serious problem.

Three crews experience the same devastating event; but with radically different outcomes when an engine falls off their commercial airplane.

Confused, flying blind, and lost in the dark, three crews lose site of the horizon and fall into the same deadly trap.

Three flights ending in tragedy prove that minor missteps during takeoff can have disastrous consequences.

A trio of crashes reveals that when the nuts and bolts of maintenance go unchecked, it can spell catastrophe.

Devastating failures in the air put pilots to the test, and shine a light on three astonishing feats of flying.

Mid-air tragedies are particularly horrifying when they occur over a community, and rain terror on the people below.

From the wreckage of three airplane crashes, survivors emerge to tell harrowing tales and provide critical data about what to do in an emergency.

Following three deadly crashes, investigators uncover dangerous mathematical flaws in the very operations systems designed to prevent aircraft from flying into mountains.

Traced to a breakdown of vital safety measures, three horrific disasters provoke fundamental changes to airport security procedures around the world.

Airplane crashes involving high-profile passengers—including a top diplomat and a Brazilian football team—put investigators under intense pressure to come up with answers.

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.

Dashcam footage aids in the investigation of a fatal TransAsia crash, experts determine the cause of a botched emergency landing, and a test flight for a revolutionary aircraft turns deadly.

When former race car driver Niki Lauda's planes nosedives into a Thai jungle, a one-in-a-million failure reveals a weak spot in every Boeing 767.

Radio silence between pilots and air traffic controllers can mean many different things, but only the physical evidence can reveal the true story. Three shocking cases send investigators hunting for answers.

Spatial disorientation is one of the leading causes of all air accidents. Even the most experienced pilots are susceptible to its subtle yet deadly effects.

If pilots aren't prepared when the runway is in sight, a landing can quickly become a tragedy.

Three planes fatally out of balance force investigators to question every calculation. It's a flight risk that's entirely preventable, and yet repeated disasters reconfirm the need for critical backup systems.

Three mysterious accidents send investigators hunting for clues. In the end, all three trails lead back to the same source - the fuel tank.

When an aircraft loses total engine power, a pilot's training can make all the difference in the world.

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.

While commercial pilots undergo hundreds of hours of training and testing, even experienced pilots can make deadly rookie errors.

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.

When a plane's windshield shatters over the Himalayas, the pilots are forced to make a rapid emergency landing while battling freezing winds and dangerously low oxygen.

Equipment and software oversights on Air Astana Flight 1388 cause a critical malfunction immediately after takeoff, forcing the crew to attempt a series of near-impossible landings.

An investigation into the crash of Airlines PNG Flight 1600 on Papua New Guinea reveals a potentially deadly flaw in the popular Bombardier Dash 8 turboprop plane.

Minutes after takeoff, Japan Airlines Flight 123 experiences a sudden loss of pressurization and crashes into a mountain northwest of Tokyo, prompting investigators to look for answers.

Investigators try to determine why Independent Air Flight 1851 was flying below advised altitude when it struck a mountain on the Portuguese island of Santa Maria, killing everyone on board.

A twin-engine turboprop carrying 15 people on a flight from St. Louis is on final approach to Kirksville, Missouri. Visibility is poor, but the pilots appear to have the runway lights in sight. When the plane crashes into a wooded area just 1.2 miles from the airport, it's up to the NTSB to find out what happened in the final seconds of Corporate Airlines Flight 5966.

A Greek ferry, the Express Samina, is pushed off course by strong waves and crashes into a rock formation, causing 80 passengers to lose their lives in the freezing water as they wait for rescue.

A freight train carrying an excess of cargo loses its brakes while descending a mountain causing it to gain speed and derail into a neighborhood killing several people.

Avianca Flight 52 is delayed numerous times by bad weather en route and is dangerously low on fuel as it attempts a landing at New York City.

An American Airlines Flight en route to Cali, Colombia loses their exact position and flies into a mountain.

A Bashkirian Airlines Flight collides with a DHL Flight in German airspace near Überlingen.

A cleaning crew makes a careless error while cleaning a Boeing 757, affecting the plane's computer system and causing it to crash into the Pacific Ocean.

An Air France Flight is hijacked on the ground at Algiers Airport; terrorists demand the aircraft be allowed to depart for Paris.

A blade on the left-side propeller of Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight breaks off; the imbalance of the rotating propeller causes the engine to partly tear itself from its mounting.

The crew of British Airways 5390 springs into action after explosive decompression pulls the pilot out the window, and investigators use a novel psychological tactic to determine the cause.

The pilots of Air Transat Flight 236 find themselves gliding without power high above the Atlantic, and investigators must figure out how a state-of-the-art airbus could run out of fuel.

Learn how Alaska Airlines Flight 261's fatal nosedive into the Pacific Ocean led to much-needed mechanical improvements and a libel suit.

A Swissair passenger jet catches fire midflight and crashes into the Atlantic, leading to one of the largest investigations in aviation history.

An MD-82 crash lands in Arkansas during a severe thunderstorm, but investigators believe weather was not the main reason for the accident.

When United Flight 811's cargo door blows off at a high altitude over the Pacific Ocean, the crew acts to bring the packed aircraft down safely, and one victim's family searches for answers.

When Turkish Airlines Flight 1951 drops out of the sky on its final approach to Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, investigators work to determine if the cause is due to plane or pilot error.

A comprehensive look at the famous “Miracle on the Hudson” emergency landing in January 2009, and the investigation that followed.

Follow the tragic crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407 from Newark, NJ, into a house in Buffalo, NY, a case that confounded both forensic anthropology students and investigators.

A Scandinavian Airlines flight plummets from the winter sky moments after takeoff, and a seasoned pilot's career comes to an end after the culprits of the disaster are identified.

January 2008. British Airways Flight 38 is about to land at Heathrow Airport when calamity strikes. The Boeing 777, one of the safest planes in the airline industry, suffers double engine failure, and with only seconds until the aircraft hits the ground, Captain Peter Burkill must attempt a highly risky move to save the lives of the 152 people on board. Witness the remarkable emergency landing the follow investigators as they solve the mystery behind the crash, using unrelenting diligence and a little inspiration from Sherlock Holmes.

The pilots of Crossair Flight 3597 struggle on their approach to Zurich Airport, hampered by bad weather, an understaffed control tower, and a runway using antiquated equipment. By the time they decide to abort the landing, it's too late. The plane plunges into a hillside, killing 24 of the 33 on board. It's Switzerland's worst air disaster in over a decade and investigators are pressured to find answers fast. What they discover is a series of errors that will lead to sweeping changes to the airport and to the airline.

Investigators must pull off a risky test flight to see if the pilots of a heroic emergency landing are hiding a secret.

Heroic flying isn't enough to overcome neglectful maintenance in the tragic accident of Alaska Airlines Flight 261.

An emergency over the French Alps leads to a miraculous landing, followed by the discovery of a small but deadly flaw.

Discover the cause of history's most expensive aviation accident: the 2008 crash of the B-2 bomber Spirit of Kansas.

All signs point to bad weather causing the crash of Martinair Flight 495... until investigators make an intriguing discovery.

Discover the surprising reason why a Boeing 737 took a deadly nosedive after circling the runway for two hours.

Witness the Kathmandu crash of US-Bangla 211 and follow detectives as they investigate both the plane and the pilots.

Relive the 2018 disaster of Southwest Airlines 1380, in which a passenger was nearly sucked from the plane mid-flight.

Follow investigators as they race to find out why a best-selling, new plane crashed into the sea shortly after takeoff.

Discover how out-of-date taxi charts and a casual conversation conspired to doom the takeoff of Comair Flight 5191.

Witness the final moments of ExecuFlight Flight 1526 and discover why it crashed into a residential neighborhood.

Enter the cockpit of a high-tech turboprop as its pilots battle to keep their plane from slamming into the North Sea.

Investigators are stumped when a turboprop slams into an Argentine desert, and it's a microscopic filament that provides the first tangible clue.

Landing on a Caribbean island in a severe tropical storm, a Colombian airliner crashes short of the runway. Investigators need to find out why.

Follow the investigation to see how a DC-9 ended up on the wrong runway and in the path of an oncoming 727.

Most passengers relax after their plane touches down, but when Uni Air Flight 873 landed, that's when the terror began.

Witness the doomed flight of a West Air Sweden jet and see how the failure of a single instrument led to catastrophe.

Witness the final minutes of PIA Flight 268 and discover why it crashed into a mountain just minutes from landing.

A 737 cruising above an Indonesian jungle suddenly plummets from the sky. An Airbus A320 crashes into the French Alps. Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 vanishes over the Gulf of Thailand. At first, these accidents perplex investigators, until surprising findings suggest the pilots could be to blame. See how these acts forced the industry to be more proactive in monitoring the mental health of their pilots.

When civilian airliners explode in the sky, rumors involving terrorist plots and enemy acts often follow. It's up to investigators to gather the evidence they need to determine if they are examining a plane crash or a crime scene. Three commercial flights became targets over the Sinai Desert, the Sea of Japan, and a combat zone in Eastern Ukraine. See the impact these crashes had on the world and the changes they triggered in the aviation industry.

Some of aviation's worst disasters involved the world's most advanced passenger planes. Often, the calamities are caused by a breakdown in trust between the pilots and their highly automated aircraft, turning the cockpit into a struggle of pilot versus machine. Investigate three crashes where experienced pilots lost control of their high-tech planes, including a commercial jet crash that went down at an air show, an Airbus A320 flight test gone wrong, and a modern airliner that dropped from the sky and slammed into the Atlantic.

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.

Passengers place their lives in the hands of pilots on every flight. While pilots are highly trained to handle a wide variety of emergencies, it is often personal problems like impatience, arrogance, and incompetence that can lead to tragedy. Witness three air disasters caused by human flaws and tension in the cockpit, including the 1972 crash of a British Trident, a Minnesota commuter plane that slammed into a hillside, and a Colorado flight doomed by a hungover captain.

Some of the deadliest air disasters in history have been caused by simple miscommunications. A tiny error in the cockpit brings tragedy to Quincy Airport in Illinois. A moment of confusion turns a routine flight in Sumatra into chaos. And a runway mix-up on the island of Tenerife sends two jumbo jets on a collision course. Watch these disasters unfold and see how safety investigators responded to prevent human misunderstandings from triggering future catastrophes.

A commercial airliner crashes minutes after taking off from an airport in Bucharest causing suspicions to rise.

Discover why a cargo plane, operating as Fine Fir Flight 101, lost control after takeoff and plowed through a Miami highway in August 1997.

When a DC-8 cargo jet crashes on approach to a U.S. naval base in Guantanamo, investigators wonder if Cuba played a role.

A false warning in the cockpit triggers a series of pilot errors, sending a commuter plane crashing by the runway of an Amsterdam airport.

When a modified WWII fighter plane crashes into the crowd at a Nevada air show, investigators struggle to find the cause.

See what happens when an airbus A330 loses power to both its engines over the South China Sea.

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.

The state-of-the-art Russian aircraft Sukhoi Superjet 100 takes flight on what's meant to be a tight, 30-minute loop over Indonesia to impress potential buyers and journalists. But the trip turns catastrophic after pilots lose their way in the clouds and veer straight into a mountain at 240 mph. Just reaching the wreckage will be one of the most challenging salvage operations Indonesian investigators have ever faced. Finding an explanation for the crash will prove just as troubling.

A commercial airliner whisks 283 passengers from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on a flight path that will take them over a conflict zone in eastern Ukraine. Mid-flight, the aircraft suddenly breaks up and crashes to Earth, killing all aboard. Signs point to a surface-to-air missile strike, but with the wreckage resting in the heart of a war zone, finding evidence proves challenging. See how investigators, against all odds, were able to literally piece together the story of what caused the 2014 crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17.

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.

The landing of a TransAsia commuter flight in bad weather goes horribly wrong in July 2014. The plane crashes less than a mile from Magong Airport in the Penghu archipelago, a popular Taiwanese vacation spot. The media quickly claims the storm caused the disaster, but investigators aren't so certain. When another TransAsia crash occurs just seven months later, their suspicions are confirmed: there is a systemic problem with the airline, and if it isn't corrected soon, the lives of more passengers and crew members will be at risk.

Emery Worldwide Flight 17 leaves Sacramento Mather Airport in February 2000 while carrying a load of freight containers. Upon takeoff, the aircraft dives repeatedly and banks to the left. The pilots attempt to regain control of the crippled plane and return to the airport, but the DC-8 crashes a mile from the runway, killing all three crewmembers. Investigators suspect the cargo was loaded improperly, until a much more troubling cause is discovered upon closer examination.

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.

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.

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.

A blackened scar on a frozen field near Detroit marks the fatal impact zone of Flight 3272. The sudden loss of 29 lives leaves families in anguish and investigators perplexed. In search of answers, the NTSB turns to the FAA only to discover that federal regulators themselves may be part of the problem. Witness the stunning 1997 crash of this small commuter aircraft and discover how outdated ideas put pilots and passengers at risk.

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.

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.

Continental Express Flight 2286, 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.

A short hop from Lyon, France to Brittany in 1998 is extended when pilots of Proteus Airlines Flight 706, a Beechcraft 1900D, 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.

The chances of a catastrophic event happening after a plane parks are nearly nonexistent, which is why the incident aboard China Airlines Flight 120 in August 2007 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

On July 6, 2013, when Asiana Flight 214 crashed after striking the seawall short of the runway on final approach into San Francisco, it shook the world and the investigation proved to be just as dramatic. It was the first crash of a Boeing 777 that resulted in fatalities since that aircraft model entered into service in 1995.

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?

Relive one of the most shocking air disasters in American history as we revisit the 1999 crash that killed JFK Jr.

See if two MD-11 planes crashes, nearly 12 years apart, were both the result of pilot error or a flaw in the aircraft itself.

Relive the crash of Copa Airlines Flight 201 and the harrowing investigation in one of the world's most remote jungles.

After a terrifying crash, survivors face a new challenge: surviving the remote Brazilian jungle.

What caused a 767 to break apart in mid-air? A world-famous race car driver discovers a surprising answer.

One of the worst crashes in British history has a stunning cause that changed aviation safety forever.

The story of China Airlines Flight 006, which almost crashed into the Pacific Ocean after experiencing engine trouble. The investigation of the incident detailed how jet lag and lack of sleep can impact pilots.

Two deadly Boeing 737 crashes during the 1990s are investigated.

The 1997 crash of Korean Air Flight 801, which occurred when the crew attempted an instrument landing during a heavy rain storm, is recalled.

A smoke-filled DC-10 makes an emergency landing in Cincinnati and, 90 seconds later, bursts into flames.

A passenger jet tries to make it to land when it runs into trouble over the Indian Ocean.

An August 2005 incident in which an Airbus A340 skidded off a runway, endangering the lives of more than 300 people on board, is investigated.

A Navy cruiser in the Persian Gulf must determine if an incoming plane is friend or foe.

A mid-flight bombing aboard Philippine Airlines Flight 434 forces its pilots to attempt a daring landing at Naha Airport in Okinawa, Japan.

FedEx employees fend off an attack by a coworker.

Japan Airlines Flight 123, the worst single-plane crash in history and the simple error made years earlier that caused it.

A surface-to-air missile cripples a cargo plane just after it leaves Baghdad International Airport.

The 1988 flight of Aloha Airlines Flight 243, which saw the top of its fuselage torn off due to an explosive decompression, is recalled.

In June of 1980, Aerolinee Itavia Flight 870 was a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-15 that left Guglielmo Marconi airport in Bologna, Italy traveling to Palermo, Sicily, and was in its final descent before crashing into the Tyrhennian Sea near the island of Ustica. All 77 passengers and 4 crew lost their lives in the crash, the cause of which is still debated to this day.

In September of 1989, NOAA 42 “Kermit” flew a research mission into Hurricane Hugo, east of Barbados. On approach, there was a temporary outage of the lower fuselage radar, blinding the crew as to the structure and strength of the storm. Follow the crew through it's hair-raising ordeal as they monitor the landmark hurricane, while flying a plane in turbulence so severe, it puts the mission in jeopardy.

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 January 2000, Crossair Flight 498, a Saab 340 commuter flight from Zurich, Switzerland, to Dresden, Germany, crashed two minutes after takeoff in the Swiss municipality of Niederhasli. The seven passengers and three crew members aboard the aircraft all died on impact. It was the first fatal crash for the Swiss regional airline Crossair in its 25-year history.

On June 6, 1971, Hughes Airwest Flight 706, a Douglas DC-9-31, enroute from Los Angeles, California, to Salt Lake City, Utah, collided in mid-air with a McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II, of the U.S. Marine Corps, over the San Gabriel Mountains, near Duarte, California. The F-4 pilot and all 49 passengers and crew on board the civilian airliner died; the Radar Intercept Officer of the F-4 survived. Join the NTSB and military experts as they work together to uncover how a fighter jet could collide with a civilian airliner.

Can a generation gap actually cause a catastrophic air disaster? Witness the story of BEA Flight 548, a scheduled passenger flight from London Heathrow to Brussels, which crashed in June of 1972 shortly after take-off near the town of Staines, England. All 118 people on board were killed. The accident became known as the Staines air disaster and, as of 2018, remains the deadliest air accident to take place in the United Kingdom and also marks the highest death toll involving a Hawker Siddeley Trident.