I have seen a lots of the episodes in this series and the most disturbing one has to be the one with the passenger killing all of the crew in cockpit with a gun and then crashing the plane.
This was in season-11 ep-10 "I`m the problem"
I find this series very interesting.
Ah there are so many. I found "Dead Weight" to be pretty disturbing. When the female pilot comments about the CRJ taking off just before them, "Yeah, I wish I was flying it." She had no idea how much she would be wishing she was flying it.
Also frustrated with Swiss 111. In a fire situation, why are you concerned about dumping fuel?! I mean I know this was a while ago and procedures have changed concerning fires on aircraft, but if it were me I'd be like "the aircraft may be overweight but it doesn't matter because the plane is on fire." Although I seem to remember that they wouldn't have made it to an airport anyway.
I really enjoy this series. I mean the acting can be a little cheesy sometimes but I really enjoy the explanations and I have learned so much about airplanes and how they work. How regulations have changed throughout the years, how air travel has gotten safer. The ironic thing is that as long as planes keep crashing, or at least nearly so, this show will never run out of content.
To be fair to the Swiss pilots, I'd imagine if I had a fire getting rid of as much fuel as possible would be a high priority - not just to reduce landing weight, but to reduce available fuel for the fire to spread to.
shareI'm a total addict. Hands down was the Tenerife (KLM/PanAm) disaster - the worst in airline history. It's the must-see episode.
shareAeroperú Flight 603 where a maintenance worker forgot to remove a small bit of duct tape from one of the outside pitot sensors after cleaning the fuselage, causing a mid air instrument malfunction which eventually lead to a catastrophic crash and killing everyone onboard. I was like, WTF? Is that really all it takes?!
This one seems even more harrowing after finally listening to the cvr audio
I can't imagine what it might have been like to survive both the wing strike and crash, and if still conscious, to realize you'd ultimately drown. :(
Hi nicky232. I just saw that episode a few nights ago. I just couldn't wrap my head around the cause of the crash being such a tiny piece on the airplane. Hats off to the investigators. It always amazes me that they can pinpoint the cause down to such a small piece on the plane, amongst all the wreckage. Its mind boggling.
shareJAL 123 To see the pilots struggle with the pointless Phugoid cycle. There is no way they were going to survive. No way they could ever gain control and land the plane. To see the panic as the cycle happened, then calm making the pilots think the danger had passed, then to start again. And again, and again, for half an hour. And the passengers were going through this, with one even using the time to write a goodbye note to his wife and family. The terror they must have felt especially in the final seconds as the plane hit the trees. Just horrifying.
shareYes, I agree Gypsy12, that was another horrifying one.
shareYeah, the JAL 123 was certainly one of the freakiest. One can't help but speculate though if there might have been a way to bring the plane to a semi-survivable crash landing if it weren't for the mountaneous terrain? I mean, 4 years later the UA 232 similarly suffered a loss of all hydraulics and nearly all control, but was able to return on the ground with most on board surviving... Of course, there was the little difference that JAL 123 also lost the vertical stabilizer, rendering the plane aerodynamically unflyable and that apparently also made the so-called "phugoid" cycles much more severe and violent... Anyways, if there's anyone with a deeper knowledge of these things, please do chime in.
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan
Do you guys remember the Alaska Airlines Flight 261 episode?
I still think of it as one of the most terrifying crashes. The pilots manage to save the plane after going into a terrible dive, without knowing when it will go out of control again, and then a few minutes after everything goes to hell and they are trying to fly the plane upside-down.
The horror that those passengers must have gone through... They got a slow and terryfying death.
Yeah it's heartbreaking how the pilots of AA Flight 261 never lost hope or nerve, doing anything to keep from crashing and it just wasn't enough... There are audio files afloat on the net of the communication between flight control and other planes in the vicinity and one pilot with a clear view to the Alaskan commenting that "the plane's taking a huge dive right now... definitely out of control". The horror.
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan
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I saw that one flying upside down. It was horrifying as it was clear there was something drastically wrong the pilots were trying to fix. I mean it not everyday you see at your shoulder an airplane flying upside down. I pulled my car over quick! When the cause of the crash come out, my anger- it's something I'll never forget. All those people basically tortured to their death because someone was a cheapskate.
DeeDee
"We're all mad here. I'm mad, you're mad."
upside down in an airplane? I think I would die of a heart attack before it hit the ground. I can't imagine the absolute, sheer terror of that.
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Oh, gods, so many for so many different reasons.
Anything involving a mid-air breakup, or anyone falling from an aircraft in flight. The idea of falling, and knowing what's going to happen at the end is chilling.
Anything where pilot arrogance or overconfidence kills their passengers as well. Such cavalier attitudes towards people whose lives are in your hands are NOT acceptable.
For personal reasons, "Panic on the Runway" - British Airtours 28M, the fire at Manchester - is deeply distressing, because I remember my father's reaction to it; he had worked on that very aircraft not long before, and was deeply afraid he might be responsible (he wasn't).