On Feb 21, 2008 — Santa Bárbara Airlines Flight 518 (ATR 42): Departing the mountain city of Mérida at dusk, a Venezuelan turboprop has only moments to escape the Andes rising around it.

Seconds to Survive

Stephen Bogaert

Vanished

Subtle Incapacitation

On Jun 8, 1983 — Reeve Aleutian Airways Flight 8 (Lockheed Electra): High over the Pacific off Alaska, a propeller tears loose and slices into the fuselage, jamming the controls of a plane still hours from safety.

Fight for Control

On May 11, 1996 — ValuJet Flight 592 (DC-9): Minutes after leaving Miami, smoke pours into the cabin and the jet plunges into the Everglades, igniting a controversy that rocks the FAA itself.

Fire in the Hold

On Oct 31, 2000 — Singapore Airlines Flight 006 (Boeing 747): Departing Taipei as a typhoon closes in, a jumbo jet erupts in flames partway down its takeoff roll, and investigators make a shocking discovery on the airfield.

Caution to the Wind

On Dec 19, 1997 — SilkAir Flight 185 (Boeing 737): Cruising toward Singapore in clear weather, a nearly new jet suddenly plunges from 35,000 feet into an Indonesian river, and two investigations reach very different conclusions.

Pushed to the Limit

On Aug 23, 2005 — TANS Peru Flight 204 (Boeing 737): Descending through a violent storm toward Pucallpa, a jet comes down in the Peruvian jungle — and looters strip the crash site before investigators arrive.

Blind Landing

On Jun 30, 1956 — United Airlines Flight 718 & TWA Flight 2: Two airliners cross the Arizona desert on the same summer morning and collide over the Grand Canyon — a disaster that transforms how America controls its skies.

Grand Canyon

On May 25, 1979 — American Airlines Flight 191 (DC-10): As a fully loaded jet lifts off from Chicago O'Hare, an engine tears away from the wing — the beginning of the deadliest aviation accident on U.S. soil.

Catastrophe at O'Hare

On Dec 28, 1978 — United Airlines Flight 173 (DC-8): Circling Portland while the crew troubleshoots a landing gear problem, a jet with 189 aboard slowly runs out of time — and the lessons reshape every cockpit in the world.

Focused on Failure

On Sep 7, 2011 — Yak-Service Flight 9633 (Yak-42): A charter carrying the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey team fails to climb on takeoff and crashes beside the Volga, stunning the sports world and all of Russia.

Hockey Team Tragedy

On Apr 10, 2010 — Polish Air Force Flight 101 (Tu-154M): Carrying Poland's president and dozens of national leaders to a memorial ceremony, a government jet descends through dense fog toward Smolensk — and never arrives.

Death of the President

On Jan 25, 2010 — Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 (Boeing 737): Minutes after a stormy night takeoff from Beirut, a jet banks off course and spirals into the Mediterranean, and investigators focus on the men at the controls.

On Jun 1, 2009 — Air France Flight 447 (Airbus A330): An overnight flight from Rio to Paris disappears over the mid-Atlantic without a distress call, launching a two-year hunt for wreckage, recorders, and the truth.

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.

Seconds to Survive

Seasons25

Season 4 Episodes13

Cast1

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