Special — Multiple incidents (1958–2010), including the Munich air disaster, Arrow Air Flight 1285, and the Smolensk crash that killed Poland's president: High-profile victims and disputed findings put investigators under extraordinary pressure.

Controversial Crashes

Stephen Bogaert

Deadly Disturbance

Missing Pieces

Special — Multiple incidents (1977–1997), including United Express Flight 5925, Garuda Indonesia Flight 152, and the Tenerife disaster: How small miscommunications between cockpits, towers, and crews have triggered some of aviation's worst tragedies.

Communication Breakdown

Special — Multiple incidents (1972–1993), including BEA Flight 548, Trans-Colorado Flight 2286, and Northwest Airlink Flight 5719: How impatience, arrogance, and tension in the cockpit have turned routine flights into disasters.

Fatal Friction

Special — Multiple incidents (1983–2009), including US Airways Flight 1549, Air Canada Flight 143, and TACA Flight 110: Three crews facing sudden crises pull off some of the most remarkable landings in aviation history.

Hero Pilots

Special — Multiple incidents (1988–2009), including Air France Flight 296, XL Airways Flight 888T, and Air France Flight 447: When trust breaks down between pilots and their highly automated aircraft, the cockpit becomes a battle of pilot versus machine.

No Control

Special — Multiple incidents (1983–2015), including Korean Air Lines Flight 007, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, and Metrojet Flight 9268: When airliners fall from the sky under suspicious circumstances, investigators must determine whether they're working a crash scene or a crime scene.

Explosive Clues

Special — Multiple incidents (1997–2015), including SilkAir Flight 185, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, and Germanwings Flight 9525: Crashes that baffled investigators until the evidence pointed somewhere no one wanted to look — the pilots themselves.

Killer in the Cockpit?

Special — Multiple incidents (1988–2008), including Pan Am Flight 103 at Lockerbie, British Airways Flight 38 at Heathrow, and a crash in the Florida Everglades: Three investigations that demanded Sherlock Holmes-level deduction to solve.

Special — Multiple incidents (1972–2012), including Eastern Air Lines Flight 401, Delta Air Lines Flight 1141, and the Sukhoi Superjet demonstration crash: How small distractions in the cockpit have turned routine flights into tragedies.

Special — Multiple incidents (1985–2010), including British Airtours Flight 28M, Nationair Flight 2120, and UPS Flight 6: When fire breaks out on an aircraft, an emergency can become a disaster in seconds.

Fire On Board

Catastrophic incidents in aviation history are meticulously reenacted, providing insight into what went wrong and if the crashes and near-disasters could have been prevented. Accounts from survivors combine with cockpit recordings and computer images to weave the gripping tales, and expert testimony reveals the hows and whys behind the events, some of which have resulted in important changes to aviation safety and regulations.

Controversial Crashes

Seasons25

Season 14 Episodes10

Cast1

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Episode Summary