Major real-life air disasters are depicted in this series. Each episode features a detailed dramatized reconstruction of the incident based on cockpit voice recorders and air traffic control transcripts, as well as eyewitnesses recounts and interviews with aviation experts.
The best episode of "Mayday" season 7 is "Lockerbie Disaster (Pan Am 103)", rated 8/10 from 124 user votes. It was directed by George D'Amato and written by Larry Bambrick. "Lockerbie Disaster (Pan Am 103)" aired on 11/4/2009 and is rated 0.3 point(s) higher than the second highest rated, "Sight Unseen (1996 Charki Dadri mid-air collision)".
Shortly after leaving London Heathrow airport in December 1988, Pan Am flight 103 exploded above Lockerbie , Scotland killing 270 people. Investigators soon discovered that a bomb in the forward cargo compartment had taken down the plane.
Director: George D'Amato
Writer: Larry Bambrick
Find out what went wrong when a Kazakhstan Airlines jet and a Saudi Airways plane collided in the worst mid-air crash in aviation history, killing 349 people on November 12, 1996.
Director: James Hyslop
Writer: Christopher Blow
Rescuers have to look to the past to solve the riddle of Flight 611, a China Airlines 747 that disappeared 20 minutes after taking off.
Director: Ian Robertson
Writer: Alex Bystram
On September 8, 1989, Partnair Flight 94, a charter from Oslo to Hamburg, suddenly begins to dive from 22 thousand feet. The aging propeller plane eventually crashes into the sea, killing all 55 people on board.
Director: Su Rynard
Writer: Carl Knutson
Near the close of the Vietnam War, the United States launched Operation Babylift, a mass evacuation of children from war torn Vietnam. On April 4th 1975, the first Babylift flight ended in tragedy when a Lockheed C-5 Galaxy carrying 314 passengers crashed during an emergency landing at Tan Son Nhut Air Base, South Vietnam killing 138.
Director: Tim Wolochatiuk
Writer: Larry Bambrick
On 6 August 2005, Tuninter Flight 1153 runs out of fuel and ditches into the Mediterranean Sea, killing 16 people. It ran out of fuel because a fuel gauge for a different type of aircraft had been installed, misleading the crew about how much fuel was on board.
Director: Ian Robertson
Writer: Michael Sheehan
On January 1st 2007, a Boeing 737-400 crashed into the Makassar Strait near Polewali in Sulawesi. The subsequent investigation raised deep concerns about the safety record of the Indonesian airline industry.
Director: Karl Jason
Writer: Jeff Sturge
On 31 October 1994, American Eagle Flight 4184 falls out of the sky, killing all 68 people on board. The crash was caused by ice developing on the wing in a manner that the on-board deicing system could not remove.
Director: George D'Amato
Writer: Greg Gransden