On 26 June 1988, Air France Flight 296 fails to climb and crashes into trees after performing a flyby during an airshow at Mulhouse-Habsheim Airport, killing three people. The cause…

On 16 August 1987, Northwest Airlines Flight 255 stalls as it lifts off from Detroit Metropolitan Airport and crashes just beyond the runway, killing 154 of the 155 people on…

On 1 February 1991, USAir Flight 1493 collides with a waiting SkyWest Airlines aircraft on the runway, killing 34 people. An air traffic controller mistakenly assigned the inbound Flight 1493…

On 1 September 1983, during the Cold War, Korean Air Lines Flight 007 was shot down after violating Soviet airspace. The crew did not switch the autopilot from heading to…

On 10 March 1989, Air Ontario Flight 1363 crashes just after takeoff, killing 24 people. Three years later, on 22 March 1992, USAir Flight 405 also crashes just after takeoff…

On 20 January 1992, Air Inter Flight 148 flies into a peak in the Vosges Mountains while circling to land at Strasbourg Airport, killing 87 people. An error made in…

On 19 December 2005, just seconds after takeoff from Miami, Florida, the right wing of Chalk’s Ocean Airways Flight 101 breaks off, causing the aircraft to crash into the sea,…

1956 Grand Canyon mid-air collision, 1986 Cerritos mid-air collision, Avianca Flight 52, Gol Transportes Aéreos Flight 1907, Überlingen mid-air collision. This special looked at the role of air traffic controllers…

Southern Airways Flight 242, Delta Air Lines Flight 191, American Airlines Flight 1420, British Airways Flight 9. This special looked at the role of bad weather in disasters and examines…

Shortly after leaving London Heathrow airport in December 1988, Pan Am flight 103 exploded above Lockerbie , Scotland killing 270 people. Investigators soon discovered that a bomb in the forward…

Find out what went wrong when a Kazakhstan Airlines jet and a Saudi Airways plane collided in the worst mid-air crash in aviation history, killing 349 people on November 12,…

Rescuers have to look to the past to solve the riddle of Flight 611, a China Airlines 747 that disappeared 20 minutes after taking off.

On September 8, 1989, Partnair Flight 394, a charter from Oslo to Hamburg, suddenly begins to dive from 22 thousand feet. The aging propeller plane eventually crashes into the sea,…

Near the close of the Vietnam War, the United States launched Operation Babylift, a mass evacuation of children from war torn Vietnam. On April 4th 1975, the first Babylift flight…

On 6 August 2005, Tuninter Flight 1153 runs out of fuel and ditches into the Mediterranean Sea, killing 16 people. It ran out of fuel because a fuel gauge for…

On January 1st 2007, a Boeing 737-400 crashed into the Makassar Strait near Polewali in Sulawesi. The subsequent investigation raised deep concerns about the safety record of the Indonesian airline…

On 31 October 1994, American Eagle Flight 4184 falls out of the sky, killing all 68 people on board. The crash was caused by ice developing on the wing in…

BOAC Flight 781 ,South African Airways Flight 201, Aloha Airlines Flight 243, British Airways Flight 5390, United Airlines Flight 811, Helios Airways Flight 522. This special looks at accidents and…

Alaska Airlines Flight 261, Japan Airlines Flight 123, Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 529, Swissair Flight 111, United Airlines Flight 585, USAir Flight 427, Eastwind Airlines Flight 517. This special looks…

This special looked at accidents and incidents where problems with the interface between crew members and on-board avionics were a factor and the causes of those problems. Episodes re-visited: Flying…

On 23 June 1985, Air India Flight 182 explodes in mid-air and disintegrates over the coast of Ireland, killing all 329 passengers and crew members on board. Investigators discovered that…

On 12 June 1972, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10, just a few months old, operating as American Airlines Flight 96 from Detroit, Michigan, to Buffalo, New York, suffers an explosive decompression…

On 4 April 1977, Southern Airways Flight 242, a flight from Huntsville, Alabama, to Atlanta, Georgia, flies through a severe thunderstorm and is hit by large hailstones. Both engines of…

On 8 January 2003, Air Midwest Flight 5481 crashes into an aircraft hangar at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport seconds after takeoff on a flight to Greenville. All 21 people on board…

In the summer of 1985, a Delta 191 aircraft was diverted away from a thunderstorm, only to be struck by powerful winds and plummet to the ground. Flames engulfed the…

A Boeing 767-200 jet, Air Canada Flight 143, ran completely out of fuel at 41,000 feet (12,000m) altitude, about halfway through its flight from Montreal to Edmonton. The crew was…

South African Airways Flight 295 starts filling with smoke over the Indian Ocean. A fire has erupted in the rear main level cargo area; the pilots successfully open the doors…

A Lockheed L-1011 Tristar operating Eastern Airlines Flight 401 to Miami International Airport crashes in the Everglades because the crew is distracted by a faulty landing gear indicator light and…

On 6 February 1996, Birgenair Flight 301 is scheduled to fly from Puerto Plata to Frankfurt. On takeoff, the captain finds that his airspeed indicator (ASI) is not reading properly,…

A Gol Transportes Aéreos Boeing 737 and a brand-new Embraer Legacy business jet on its delivery flight collide in mid-air over the Amazon. The 737 crashes but the Legacy manages…

On 24 June 1982, British Airways Flight 9 experiences St. Elmo’s fire en route from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Perth, Australia. A few minutes later, all four engines flame out….

On 2 June 1983, a fire breaks out on Air Canada Flight 797 in the aircraft’s toilet. An emergency landing is made in Cincinnati, but the aircraft is engulfed by…

On 6 August 1997, the crew of Korean Air Flight 801 is unable to see the runway during final approach for a night landing in Guam. They initiate a missed…

On 3 March 1991, a Boeing 737 operating as United Airlines Flight 585 is on approach to land, when it suddenly rolls into a dive and crashes within eight seconds,…

On 19 February 1985, China Airlines Flight 006’s number four (right-side outer) engine flames out. As the crew tries to restart the engine, the Boeing 747SP stalls and enters into…

On 31 August 1986, Aeroméxico Flight 498, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9, and a light aircraft collide over Cerritos, California, causing both to go out of control and crash, killing 82…

On 3 April 1996, while attempting to land at Dubrovnik Airport in Croatia during heavy fog, a United States Air Force Boeing CT-43 strays off course and flies into a…

On 3 January 2004, Flash Airlines Flight 604 banks to the right just after takeoff and crashes into the Red Sea, killing all 148 people on board. The cause of…

On 14 August 2005, air traffic controllers lose radio contact with Helios Airways Flight 522. Two fighters from the Hellenic Air Force intercept and investigate the flight and find all…

On 23 March 1994, Aeroflot Flight 593 is en route to Hong Kong, when it stalls and crashes, killing all 75 people on board. The pilot’s 15-year-old son accidentally disabled…