Air Disasters

Season 19

Harrowing stories of tragedy and triumph are brought to life through official reports, transcripts and interviews with the pilots, air traffic controllers and lucky survivors of history's most terrifying crashes. Widely considered to be the safest form of travel, air transportation is still in its infancy and when midair calamity strikes, the results are often catastrophic. From the cockpit to the cabin, from the control room to the crash scene, we uncover just what went wrong.

Where to Watch Season 19

10 Episodes

Deadly Exchange
E1
Deadly ExchangeA 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.
Missed Opportunities
E2
Missed OpportunitiesInvestigators 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.
Pressure Point
E3
Pressure PointMinutes 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.
Power Play
E4
Power PlayAn 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.
Control Catastrophe
E5
Control CatastropheEquipment 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.
Cockpit Catastrophe
E6
Cockpit CatastropheWhen 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.
Dream Flight Disaster
E7
Dream Flight DisasterWhen a British tycoon and his family die in a 2017 Australian seaplane crash, investigators spend over two years searching for the reason behind the tragedy.
Deadly Deception
E8
Deadly DeceptionThe plan to save Balkan Bulgarian Airlines Flight 013 hinges on convincing the violent hijackers that their demands have been met before the plane runs out of fuel.
Delivery to Disaster
E9
Delivery to DisasterWhen an Amazon cargo plane nosedives into a swamp outside Houston, the evidence eventually leads investigators to a pilot with a long history of failures.
Mystery Over the Mediterranean
E10
Mystery Over the MediterraneanEvidence from the disappearance of EgyptAir Flight 804 leads investigators to theorize different causes for the plane's spiral into the Mediterranean.