Air Crash Investigations

Sunday July 3, 1988 - toward the end of the Iran-Iraq War - the USS Vincennes, stationed in the Persian Gulf, tracks an incoming aircraft. The plane is destroyed, but the crew's elation turns to dismay as it becomes clear they have shot down an innocent airliner with 290 people on board. According to the US government, the crew mistakenly identified the Iranian Airbus A300 as an attacking F-14 Tom

On August 6, 1997, Korean Air Flight 801 was flying to Guam International Airport from Seoul when it ran into bad weather. Fighting heavy rain and faulty navigational equipment, the plane crashed five kilometres short of the runway. More than 200 people on board were killed. The crash was the beginning of a crusade for one passenger determined to make air travel safer.

Moments from landing, United Airlines 585 starts spinning out of control and falls out of the sky at 450 kilometres per hour killing everyone on board. A year later, the killer strikes again when another 737 - this time US Air 427 - crashes near Pittsburg killing everyone on board. It's only when a third 737 has a similar problem - but doesn't crash - that investigators crack the case open.