Specials
59 episodes · Jun 26, 2004
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S0E2Crash of the Century
Aug 13, 200645mMarch 27, 1977 – At 2:00 in the afternoon a thick fog rolled into the usually quiet Los Rodeos Airport in Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. On the runway sat two fully loaded jumbo airliners, blanketed in fog. A bomb explosion at a nearby airport had re-directed air traffic to the undermanned airfield at Tenerife. Within three hours, a KLM 747 slams into a taxiing PAM 747, killing 583 people. The planes never left the ground.
S0E3Special Report Season 13: Getting Out Alive
May 9, 201445mThis special looked at how people survive aviation accidents, in part with demonstrations at the Czech Airlines Training Centre. It provided case studies on the following flight: - Asiana Airlines Flight 214 - Air France Flight 358 - Reeve Aleutian Airways Flight 8 - Air Canada Flight 797 - US Airways Flight 1549
S0E4Special Report Season 18 : Communication Breakdown
Jul 9, 201845mThis special looked at how failures in communication lead to disasters
S0E5Special Report Season 18 : Bad Attitude
Jul 16, 201845mThis special looked at how pilots' aggressive or unprofessional behaviour can cause deadly accidents.
S0E6Special Report Season 18 : Hero Pilots
Jul 23, 201845mThis special looked at how pilots safely land their aircraft in emergency situations.
S0E7Special Report Season 18 : Plane vs. Pilot
Jul 30, 201845mThis special looked at how automation in the cockpit causes deadly misunderstandings.
S0E8Special Report Season 18 : Explosive Evidence
Aug 6, 201845mThis special looked at terrorist acts, including bombings and shootdowns.
S0E9Special Report Season 18 : Killer in the Cockpit?
Aug 13, 201845mThis special looked at pilots' carefully planned strategies in deliberately crashing aircraft.
S0E10Special Report Season 18 : Missing Pieces
Aug 20, 201845mThis special looked at foreign items, including ice, a chemical oxygen generator, and a bomb as the cause.
S0E11Special Report Season 18 : Controversial Crashes
Aug 27, 201845mThis special looked at disasters where multiple investigations don't agree on the cause of these accidents.
S0E12Special Report Season 18 : Deadly Distractions
Sep 3, 201845mThis special looked at how pilots' deviation from cockpit duties lead to crashes.
S0E13Special Report Season 18 : Fire on Board
Sep 10, 201845mThis special looked at disasters caused by fires, either on the ground or in the air.
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Special Report Season 19 : Headline News
Oct 5, 201945mThree devastating crashes make front page news and the media frenzy puts intense pressure to uncover the true cause of these deadly disasters.
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Special Report Season 19 : Rookie Errors
Oct 12, 201945mWhile commercial pilots undergo hundreds of hours of training and testing, even experienced pilots can make deadly rookie errors.
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Special Report Season 19 : Collision Course
Oct 19, 201945mInvestigators comb through the wreckage of three separate midair collisions in a race to prevent another fatal impact.
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Special Report Season 19 : Engines Out
Oct 26, 201945mWhen an aircraft loses total engine power, a pilot's training can make all the difference in the world.
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Special Report Season 19 : Fuel Trouble
Nov 2, 201945mThree mysterious accidents send investigators hunting for clues. In the end, all three trails lead back to the same source - the fuel tank.
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Special Report Season 19 : Perilous Payloads
Nov 9, 201945mThree planes fatally out of balance highlight to investigators a flight risk that's entirely preventable, and yet seemingly not stopping.
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Special Report Season 19 : Runway in Sight
Nov 16, 201945mIf pilots aren't prepared when the runway is in sight, a landing can quickly become a tragedy as evidenced in these three crashes.
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Special Report Season 19 : Deadly Confusion
Nov 23, 201945mSpatial disorientation is one of the leading causes of all air accidents. Even the most experienced pilots are susceptible to its subtle yet deadly effects.
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Special Report Season 19 : Radio Silence
Nov 30, 201945mRadio silence between pilots and controllers can mean many different things, but in these stories, the physical evidence reveals the truth.
S0E23Special Report Season 19 : Design Flaws
Dec 7, 201945mDrawing the attention of the entire world, three fatal design flaws put air crash investigators in a storm of controversy.
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Special Report Season 20: Courage in the Cockpit
Jul 20, 202045mDevastating systems failures in the air put pilots to the test and shine a light on three astonishing feats of flying, including Qantas Flight 32.
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Special Report Season 20: Death From Above
Jul 27, 202045mMid-air tragedies are particularly horrifying when they occur over a community, and rain terror on the people below.
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Special Report Season 20: VIP on Board
Aug 3, 202045mRevisit three crashes involving high-profile passengers and the pressurized investigations into the causes that followed.
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Special Report Season 20: Lapse in Security
Aug 10, 202045mThese are three horrific air disasters that provoked fundamental changes to airport security and the measures we follow across the world today.
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Special Report Season 20: Mountain Impact
Aug 17, 202045mFollow three horrifying crashes that revealed high-tech blind spots in the technology preventing aircraft from ploughing into mountains.
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Special Report Season 20: Survivors
Aug 24, 202045mFrom the wreckage of three airplane crashes, survivors emerge to tell harrowing tales and provide critical data about what to do in an emergency.
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Special Report Season 20: Instrument Confusion
Aug 31, 202045mFollow three mid-air tragedies that rained terror on those below when they happened over crowded areas.
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Special Report Season 20: Heat of the Moment
Sep 7, 202045mWhen aviation decisions are made in the heat of the moment, even minor issues can have fatal consequences.
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Special Report Season 20: Maintenance Mistakes
Sep 14, 202045mA trio of crashes reveal that when the nuts and bolts of maintenance go unchecked, it can spell catastrophe.
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Special Report Season 20: Take Off Tragedies
Sep 21, 202045mThree flights ending in tragedy prove that minor missteps during take-off can have disastrous consequences.
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Special Report: Dead of Night
Jan 10, 202145mConfused, flying blind and lost in the dark, three crews lose site of the horizon and fall into the same deadly trap.
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Special Report: Engine Gone
Jan 17, 202145mThree crews experience the same devastating event, but with radically different outcomes when an engine falls off their commercial airplane.
S0E36Special Report: Lethal Choices
Jan 24, 202145mFaced with a mid-air crisis, pilots must make life-and-death decisions, but the wrong approach can trigger a far more serious problem.
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Special Report: Risky Runways
Jan 31, 202145mIn Sao Paolo, the Himalayas, and on the Norwegian coast, three flight crews are pushed to the limit by the toughest landings on earth.
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Special Report: Landings Gone Wrong
Feb 7, 202145mRelying on instinct rather than the rule book, three flights end in tragedy when crews improvise on their final approach.
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Special Report: Frozen Wings
Feb 8, 202145mThree planes are brought down by ice, and it's up to investigators to determine how modern aircraft could possibly end up with frozen wings.
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Special Report: Runway Collisions
Feb 11, 202145mThree catastrophic runway collisions raise the same pressing question: How could two planes end up on the same runway at the same time?
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Special Report: Cockpit Breakdown
Feb 12, 202145mIllustrating the deadly consequences of a mismatched crew, three flights end in tragedy, leaving investigators to unravel what went wrong.
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Special Report: Splash Down
Feb 14, 202145mThree last-resort water landings-all handled differently-yet each one crucial to improving the outcomes of ditching on open water.
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Special Report: Northern Extremes
Feb 15, 202145mFaced with the extreme conditions of the far North, three flights fall out of the sky leaving investigators to uncover the cause.
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Special Report: War Zone
Sep 12, 202245mMisidentification and accidental bombing of enemy territory are among the many risks pilots face in military zones around the world.
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Special Report: Time Critical
Sep 19, 202245mAs they rush to finish, some pilots overlook important steps and danger signs and make decisions that threaten the lives of the passengers as well as their own. A Turkish Airlines Boeing 737 crashes into the ground minutes after landing at Amsterdam Airport. A Continental Airlines flight crew ignores normal procedures in Denver amid heavy snow and ice and as the pilots of Ansett New Zealand Flight 703 try to resolve a minor landing gear failure, they hit the ground and their approach ends tragically wrong in the New Zealand slopes.
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Special Report: Impossible Landings
Oct 3, 202245mThe pilots avoid three dangerous situations where there was no room for error and manage to land damaged planes. A female passenger is sucked out the window of Southwest Flight 1380. The cabin of a Boeing 737 explodes over Hawaii and Air Canada Flight 797 catches fire 90 seconds after an incredible crash landing.
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Special Report: Accidents in the Air
Oct 24, 202245mThis special looked at mid-air collisions caused by either pilot error or meltdowns within air traffic control.
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Special Report: Dangerous Winds
Oct 31, 202245mApproaching Charlotte, US Air Flight 1016 crashes violently into the ground after a gust of wind. A 737 drops like a rock while flying blind over Perú half a mile from the jungle, and a scientific expedition into the eye of Hurricane Hugo goes terribly wrong.
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Special Report: Sabotage
Nov 7, 202245mThree flights are sabotaged. When hijackers break into the cockpit of an Ethiopian plane, the captain manages to make a life-threatening sea landing. Scientists debate a pair of conflicting theories when an Italian plane explodes in the sky and Namibian investigators come to a chilling conclusion after examining clues found in the wreckage of LAM Mozambique Flight 470.
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Special Report: Pitch Problems
Jul 8, 202445mAccidents caused by pitch problems are dramatic and destructive, and survival is almost impossible. Very few clues are available to the investigators. Alaska Airlines Flight 261, American Eagle Flight 4184 and United Airlines Flight 585
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Special Report: Fight to the Finish
Jul 15, 2024Pushed to the limits of their training and willpower, three flight crews fight against almost impossible odds to land their crippled aircraft. Transair Flight 671, Air Astana Flight 1388 and Philippine Airlines Flight 434.
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Special Report: Bad Data
Jul 22, 2024With all the advances in technology and safety, sometimes a safe flight is still at risk when the data used is incorrect or misleading. USAF B-2 Bomber, Independant Air Flight 1851 and Birgenair Flight 301
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Special Report: Landing Hazards
Jul 29, 2024Three disasters reveal how poor weather threatens a safe landing, with heavy rain, thunderstorms and treacherous crosswinds. Martinair 495, American Airlines Flight 1572 and Air France Flight 358
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Special Report: Training Ignored
Aug 5, 2024Even the most highly trained pilots in the world can be caught out if they ignore their training when it is needed most. Island Express Helicopter, Corporate Airlines Flight 5966 and Comair Flight 5191.
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Special Report: Reckless Approaches
Aug 12, 2024An argument with no runway in sight, ignoring a critical signal and an exhausted pilot - three problems leading to three crashes. Execuflight 1526. American Eagle Flight 3379. American International Airways Flight 808.