Air Crash Investigation - Season 1

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1 General Information
2 Cover
3 Information
4 Screenshots
5 Technical Specs
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[edit] General Information

Technology Documentary hosted by Stephen Bogaert and published by National Geographic in 2003 - English narration

[edit] Cover

[edit] Information

Several passengers and crew members (whether they survived the accident or not) of the accident aircraft would be picked and actors/actresses would play the role of those passengers and crews throughout the accident flight usually starting from boarding of the flight. The flight routines in the air traffic control, cockpit and cabin would be recreated on screen starting from departure up to the moment of the accident. At the moment of the accident, external view of the aircraft from different angles would be recreated to show the effect and what had happened to the aircraft. The responses and reactions of the passengers, crews and air traffic control after the accident had happened leading up to the eventual crash or emergency landing are then recreated. All the scenes in cockpit and air traffic control centres are recreated using the actual script obtained from the cockpit voice recorder of the accident aircraft.

The rescue and recovery effort and the investigations process is then recreated in details, showing how the aircraft parts, the flight data recorders and cockpit voice recorders are recovered and examined, how the pieces are related together to maintenance records, initial design, training procedures, etc. to draw the final conclusion.

Surviving passengers and crews or surviving relatives and friends of deceased passengers are interviewed throughout each episode. Investigators, from NTSB in most cases, involved in the subsequent accident investigations are interviewed to explain the flow of the investigations and how the conclusion and subsequent recommendations are made. Each episode usually ends with a short interview with one of the survivors (or a relative of a deceased) to summarize their experience and how they feel.

[edit] Racing the Storm

American Airlines Flight 1420 is warned about crosswinds from a thunderstorm during approach to Little Rock Regional Airport. The plane tries to land but overshoots the runway. 11 people are dead. Was the storm to blame? Or were the pilots to blame?

[edit] Unlocking Disaster

Passengers onboard United Airlines Flight 811 from Honolulu to Auckland are horrified when the side of the aircraft rips off. 9 people are flung out the plane. Flight 811 manages to land safely. How did this happen?

[edit] Flying Blind

The pilots of AeroPeru Flight 603 are confused by false speed and altitude readings and contradictory warnings from the plane's computer system. The pilots descend for an emergency landing over the Pacific Ocean, but they are much lower than the altimeter says. A wing gets caught in the water and the plane crashes killing all the people onboard. How could this happen?

[edit] Flying on Empty

Air Transat Flight 236 leaks large amounts of fuel, but the pilots don't trust the computer's warnings and they are soon out of fuel. The pilots glide the aircraft to a naval base in the Azores where they land at high speed with limited braking power. Everyone onboard survives. What caused the giant fuel leak?

[edit] Cutting Corners

Alaska Airlines Flight 261 is heading for San Francisco, en route to Seattle but its horizontal stabilizer jams. The pilots try to solve the situation but the stabilizer breaks free from its control system and the plane nosedives inverted into the Pacific Ocean, causing the death of all onboard. Why did the stabilizer fail?

[edit] Fire On Board

Swissair Flight 111, an improved version of the DC-10 called the MD-11, experiences a fire in the cockpit. The pilots try to land in Nova Scotia but vital systems are lost while attempting a fuel dump and the plane crashes into the sea. What caused the fire?