Mayday

About the show

Statistically, traveling by airplane is safer than driving and other forms of transportation, but when something goes wrong during a flight, it can be catastrophic with potentially hundreds of lives at stake. This series examines some of the world's worst air disasters, using official reports, transcripts and interviews with people involved to tell the stories of midair mishaps and discover what went wrong in each case. 

X

Upcoming episodes

May 21st
400a

Cracks in the System

"December 19th, 2005 — Destined for the Bahamas, Chalk’s Ocean Airways Flight #101 is preparing for takeoff in the waters off Miami Beach, Florida. Part plane, part speedboat, the twin turbo-prop taxis through one of the world’s busiest ports, and after a smooth takeoff, climbs towards the clouds. A minute later, however, it’s suddenly rocked by an explosion. From the beach, a tourist films its catastrophic plunge into the ocean. Lifeguards immediately race to the crash site but there are no survivors. All 20 passengers and crew are dead. Within hours, salvage crews begin recovering the wreckage.Eyewitness reports and the tourist video confirm one of the plane’s wings ripped off in mid-air. And the plane fragments are assembled at the NTSB Miami command post in order to determine the cause. A malfunctioning voice recorder yields no useful information, and several theories are eventually ruled out, including an in-water collision, a faulty propeller, and a bomb attack.Investigating the history of the 60-year-old aircraft, investigators discover major maintenance issues, including rampant corrosion and poor workmanship, and along with burn marks on the metal skin of the wing, uncover a metal repair patch located exactly where the wing broke off from the fuselage. Beneath it, they find extensive metal fatigue and evidence that mechanics repeatedly used ‘stop drilling’ to try to stop the metal from fracturing further without addressing the root of the problem. Chronic fuel leaks that should have alerted the airline to major structural issues were instead patched and the underlying problem – a crack in a critical support beam – was ignored.The NTSB concludes that the hidden crack lead to the devastating crash. The investigation’s final report also concludes the airline’s reputation for safety was undermined by ongoing financial issues and by the unavailability of spare parts for its aging fleet. It also criticizes the FAA for a loophole in its aircraft regulations that exempted the aging Mallards from supplemental inspections, and for failing to detect the airline’s growing maintenance and financial problems. A few months after the crash, the legendary Chalk’s Ocean Airways — the world’s oldest continuously operating airline – closes its doors for good."
May 21st
500a

Cockpit Failure

November 24th, 2001 — Making a routine one-hour journey from Berlin, Crossair Flight #3597 is on its final approach to Zurich. It is one of the last planes scheduled to land before the airport shuts down for the night. But just minutes before landing the pilots cannot find the runway. They decide to abort the maneuver and apply full power to all four engines in order to get their jet to climb. But they are too late. The aircraft clips the treetops below and crashes into a hillside. Investigators comb through the wreckage, and the data from the plane’s Black Boxes. But they would only solve the riddle of Crossair Flight 3597 by digging into the past.
May 22nd
400a

The Heathrow Enigma

January 17th, 2008 — Approaching the end of its ten-hour journey from Beijing, British Airways Flight #38 is preparing to land in Heathrow. But just as the pilots take over the controls, and only two minutes before it touches down, the aircraft is inexplicably crippled by double engine failure. Quickly falling out of the sky and with just seconds to react, the captain raises the plane’s flaps to reduce drag. And while the plane narrowly misses the buildings and radio towers in its path, it crashes on the tarmac, ripping off the engines and landing gear. Incredibly, all 152 people on board survive. But can investigators determine what brought down one of the world’s most sophisticated jetliners?
May 22nd
500a

Pilot Betrayed

December 27th, 1991 — Scandinavian Airlines Flight #751 is mired in snow and slush at Stockholm airport. The DC-9 is de-iced twice to ensure it’s safe for take-off. Despite the winter conditions, the aircraft takes off smoothly. But within seconds, the engines begin emitting a series of rapid-fire booming noises, smoke begins filtering through the cabin, and less than two minutes later, both engines fail. As the pilots try restarting them, the left engine erupts in flames. 3,000 feet above the ground, the plane has lost all power and is falling quickly and silently from the sky. The plane hits the ground, breaking into three pieces, but remarkably everyone on board survives. But can investigators determine what brought down the nearly new, state-of-the-art jetliner?
May 23rd
400a

Dead Tired

February 12th, 2009 — Two hours behind schedule and nearing the end of its 53-minute trip from Newark, New Jersey, Continental Connection Flight #3407 is approaching Buffalo-Niagara International Airport. Flying through snow and strong winds, the pilots can see the lights of the city below, but as they lower their landing gear and extend the flaps to slow the plane, the control column suddenly starts to shake. It’s a warning that the plane is about to stall. The captain struggles to keep the plane flying but the out-of-control aircraft suddenly plummets towards the ground and crashes into a suburban home. It is the worst US crash in more than 7 years, but with a raging fire consuming the wreckage, can investigators determine what went wrong?
May 23rd
500a

Hudson River Runway

January 15th, 2009 — Just minutes after taking off from New York’s LaGuardia Airport, United Airlines Flight #1549 collides with a flock of birds. Both engines suddenly lose all thrust, and the Airbus A-320 begins falling from the sky. The crew desperately tries to restart their engines, but can’t. With New York on one side and New Jersey on the other, Captain Chesley Sullenberger is running out of options. Searching desperately for a place to land, Sullenberger warns passengers and crew to brace for impact and tells the control tower that he will be ditching the plane in the icy waters of the Hudson River. Amazingly, all 155 people on board survive, and investigators try to determine how birds could have crippled two of the world’s most advanced jet engines. Can they prevent it from happening again?
May 24th
400a

Who’s In Control

February 25th, 2009 — Arriving from Istanbul, Turkish Airlines Flight #1951 is on its final approach to Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. 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. Of the 135 people on board, nine die at the scene, and investigators begin pouring through the wreckage to determine what brought down one of the world’s most popular passenger jets. Can they figure out what went wrong in time to prevent another similar catastrophe?
May 24th
500a

Fight for Control

"En route from Cold Bay, Alaska, to Seattle, Washington, Reeve Aleutian Airlines Flight #8 is19,000 feet over the Pacific Ocean when the propeller from one of its four turboprop enginesflies off and tears a hole in the fuselage. Rocked by explosive decompression, the pilots fightto control the plane as the cabin and cockpit fill with heavy fog. With the engines stuck in fullthrottle and with their control column jammed in place, they have no way to steer theaircraft. Unable to descend to a safer altitude and with their emergency oxygen running out,they are flying straight out to sea in a plane on the verge of tearing itself apart."
May 25th
400a

Fire in the Hold

"Headed for Atlanta in an aging DC-9, the crew of ValuJet Flight #592 hears a mysterioussound shortly after taking off from Miami. Almost immediately, they are hit with a barrage ofmechanical failures. At first, they notice an electrical problem. The plane’s batteries aredraining fast. But within minutes, the situation gets much worse. The pilots hear screams of‘fire’ coming from the cabin. With flames burning through the cabin floor and smoke filling theaircraft, the crew attempts a return to the airport. For passengers, there’s no escaping theonboard inferno. Plummeting to the ground at over 500 miles per hour, the plane crashesinto the Florida Everglades killing all 110 people on board."
May 25th
500a

Typhoon Takeoff

"As Taiwan braces for an intense tropical storm, Singapore Airlines Flight 006 prepares to takeoff from Taipei’s Chang Kai-shek Airport. Bound for Los Angeles, the plane needs to getairborne before the typhoon hits. But as the 747 hurtles down the runway, the pilotssuddenly lose control of the aircraft. It spins around violently, crashes and breaks apart.Survivors desperately flee the burning wreckage and of the 179 people on board, 83 peopledie. With much of the wreckage found on the adjacent runway, investigators wonder if fiercewinds blew the aircraft off course. But when they find tire marks on a runway underconstruction, they reach a much darker conclusion."