On Sep 28, 1992 — PIA Flight 268 (Airbus A300): Minutes from landing at Kathmandu, an airliner descends into the mountainous terrain guarding one of the world's most demanding approaches.

Kathmandu Descent

Stephen Bogaert

Impossible Pitch

Season 14

On Jan 8, 2016 — West Air Sweden Flight 294 (CRJ-200): On a night mail run over northern Sweden, a cargo jet suddenly dives from cruise, and investigators trace the chaos to a single instrument.

On Aug 24, 1999 — Uni Air Flight 873 (MD-90): The flight to Hualien, Taiwan is routine — until the moment of landing, when the cabin erupts and passengers must escape a burning aircraft.

Explosive Touchdown

On Dec 3, 1990 — Northwest Airlines Flights 1482 & 299 (DC-9 & Boeing 727): In dense fog at Detroit, a taxiing DC-9 ends up on an active runway, directly in the path of a jet accelerating for takeoff.

Taxiway Turmoil

On Aug 16, 2010 — Aires Flight 8250 (Boeing 737): Landing on Colombia's San Andrés Island in a violent tropical storm, a jet touches down short of the runway and breaks apart — yet the story doesn't end there.

Runway Breakup

On May 18, 2011 — Sol Líneas Aéreas Flight 5428 (Saab 340): A commuter flight vanishes over the Argentine desert at night, and a microscopic filament becomes investigators' first real clue.

Icy Descent

On Mar 12, 2009 — Cougar Helicopters Flight 91 (Sikorsky S-92): Ferrying oil workers offshore from Newfoundland, a helicopter crew reports mechanical trouble over the frigid North Atlantic — and the investigation reaches around the world.

Atlantic Ditching

On Aug 16, 2015 — Trigana Air Flight 267 (ATR 42): A short hop over Papua, Indonesia ends against a mountainside with no distress call, leaving investigators to work out what the crew never saw coming.

No Warning

On Nov 29, 2013 — LAM Mozambique Flight 470 (Embraer 190): A flight from Maputo to Luanda goes down in a remote Namibian wilderness, and investigators eliminate cause after cause before reaching a chilling conclusion.

Cockpit Killer

On May 5, 2007 — Kenya Airways Flight 507 (Boeing 737): A nearly new jet departs Douala, Cameroon into a major storm and disappears minutes later — but investigators find the weather wasn't to blame.

Stormy Cockpit

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.

Kathmandu Descent

Seasons25

Season 15 Episodes10

Cast1

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