Air Crash Investigations

September 8, 1989. High above the North Sea, an aging propeller plane tumbles from the sky. Investigators consider a string of possibilities; it takes two years to find the cause. It's something that's never been seen in previous investigations. It would lead to arrests half a world away and call into question the safety of one of the world's most important planes, Air Force One.

August 22nd, 1985. With 137 people on board, the crew of British Air tours Flight 28 is preparing to leave Manchester Airport for the Greek island of Corfu. Just as the aircraft is accelerating, a loud 'thud' emanates from outside the plane. Investigators from the AAIB need to figure out how an emergency on an aeroplane that never even left the ground turned into one of the worst disasters in Brit

August 16th, 1987, Flight 255 is on the tarmac and bound for Phoenix, Arizona. The pilots have trouble locating the runway, but once they do, the airplane roars down the runway and barely manages to leave the ground before hitting a pole and slamming into a building, quickly disintegrating. This is the second deadliest airplane disaster in US history, but can investigators determine what went wron

Just minutes after taking off an Airbus collides with a flock of birds causing both engines to lose all thrust. The crew desperately tries to restart their engines, but can't. Searching desperately for a place to land, the captain warns passengers and crew to brace for impact and lands the plane in the icy waters of the Hudson River.

On a Turkish Airlines flight, the crew is following instructions from the control tower that will line up their Boeing 737 with the runway. In the final seconds of the flight, however, the plane suddenly falls from the sky and crashes into a muddy field just north of the airport where it was supposed to land. Was it the pilot or plane's fault that caused this disaster?

On 6 February 1958, British European Airways Flight 609, carrying members of the famed Manchester United football team, crashed into a house about 300 metres from the end of the runway in Munich, killing 23 abroad. Aviation experts investigated and were shocked at the cause of the crash, questioning whether this catastrophe could have been prevented.

United Airlines Flight #232 is 37,000 feet over Iowa when one of its three engines explodes. The pilots shut it down but soon discover they have a much more serious problem on their hands. The plane is in a steep right bank, and the pilots are unable to restore its flight path. The DC-10 has suffered a complete failure of all hydraulic systems, and the pilots have no way to maneuver the plane othe

October 8th, 2001: A heavy fog blankets Milan's Linate Airport as SAS Flight #686 prepares for a routine flight to Copenhagen. Facing almost zero- visibility, the pilots rely entirely on ground controllers as they navigate into position for take-off. The plane accelerates down the runway, but moments after lifting off it collides with a Cessna in its path. The Cessna erupts in flames. The MD-87 sl

In April 1998, a short island hop from Maui to Honolulu quickly turns into a nightmare for Aloha Airlines Flight 243. Just after take off, a loud bang is heard and a huge chunk of the plane's roof and walls go missing. They are flying in a convertible! Against all the odds, the plane gets down safely. But what caused it? A startling theory links it to the mysterious disappearance of one of the fli

On April 7, 1994 the crew of the Federal Express DC-10 freighter faced a horrifying and violent mid-air attack from an off duty Fed-Ex employee who had planned to kill them and crash the plane. In their struggle to control both the plane and the attacker, the pilots perform incredible feats, in order to save their lives.

December 11, 1996. A terrorist sneaks a bomb aboard Philippine Airlines Flight 434. On the final leg of the plane's journey to Tokyo, the bomb explodes, killing one passenger and damaging the plane's control systems. The pilot makes a successful emergency landing in Okinawa. It soon becomes clear that a notorious terrorist is responsible, but the ensuing investigation proves a larger and more deva

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