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Private Notes
On March 27th, 1977 in the beautiful Canary Islands of Spain, the worst disaster in aviation history to date took place. In an attempt to take off in a thick fog, a 747 collides with another on the runway in Tenerife. The fiery explosion kills 583 people, leaving just 70 survivors. By using forensic re-creations and transcripts of the recorded cockpit and control tower conversation, this programme investigates exactly what went wrong. We interview the only surviving pilot, Captain Robert Bragg, and two of the stewardesses working on one of the planes that day as they take us though the events and their experiences. We hear from numerous experts, authors and pilots as we try to unravel the events leading up to the incredible disaster. This type of collision is referred to as a runway incursion and, shockingly, we learn that we are far from protected from another Tenerife taking place again.
On the evening of December 21st, 1988, Pan Am FIight 103 mysteriously exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland. The Boeing 747 fell to the ground in a million pieces. AlI 243 passengers, 16 crew members and 11 Lockerbie residents were killed. An investigation into the accident implicated two Libyan terrorists and a small plastic explosive. The two men, one an employee at an airport in Malta, smuggled a suitcase on board Pan Am Flight 103. Inside is an ordinary cassette recorder, but tucked inside the recorder is a "Semtex" explosive. The bomb detonates and all passengers aboard are lost. An investigation is immediately launched, and a thumb-sized timing device eventually Ieads officials to the two men responsible for the deaths of 270 people This programme relives the disaster at Lockerbie through the recollections of those involved and tells the story of the extensive investigation which resulted in the eventual trial of two Libyan men 11 years later.
In 1996, TWA flight 800 exploded shortly after take-off from New York's JFK Airport, instantly killing all 230 people on board. The scale of the disaster was enormous and wreckage was scattered all over the ocean. The families left behind needed to know exactly what had happened. There were three possibilities; mechanical failure, a bomb inside the hold or a missile from the outside. It became obvious that the explosion occurred inside the centre fuel tank, but nobody knew the cause. After 12 months of the largest and most expensive airplane investigation to date, the FBI & NTSB revealed their verdict on the crash. They believed the fuel in the central tank had vapourised while the plane waited on the hot tarmac. A spark then ignited the vapours, causing an enormous explosion. However, there is much speculation about the government's spark theory. Over 150 eyewitnesses claim they saw a rocket or missile strike the plane. RADAR evidence and traces of plastic explosives found in the wreckage further added to the speculation. This programme speaks to all those involved in solving the mystery as well as key eyewitnesses and aviation experts in order to understand exactly what happened on that fateful day.
On 11th September 2001, the world watched in horror as two hijacked American Airlines planes were flown into The Twin Towers, devastating the lives of thousands. But what exactly happened in those 60 minutes leading up to the moment when the first plane hit the World Trade Centre? Last Hour of Flight 11 uses a real-time split-screen format to examine that fateful hour. Experience the pulse-pounding countdown from the moment that the passengers boarded Fiight 11 to the split second before the plane hit the Twin Tower. That evening, FBI agents found two black cases belonging to Mohammed Atta that had failed to be put on Flight 11 in time for its departure. Within these cases were videos of pilots’ tours, a hand-held flight computer, a Koran and five sheets of Arabic script detailing Atta’s plan of action for that day. This programme uses Atta's chilling prescription for death in voice over as the minutes unfold from the perspectives of various key people invoived; the terrorists on the aircraft; the hostesses making their telephone calls to the ground and ground control at Logan airport.
When the going gets tough at 30,000 feet and the unexpected happens, it's only the pilots with 'the right stuff' who will bring you safely down to earth. Watch incredible footage of Captain Larry Fuda landing his Boeing on only one set of main landing gear. Captain Eric Moody lost all four engines when he flew into a cloud of volcanic ash. After gliding for an agonizing 14 minutes and dropping 25,000 feet, the engines suddenly burst into life. Willy Query survived a mid-air collision and managed to land his stricken plane safely. British Airways Captain Tim Lancaster was sucked out of his cockpit when his windscreen blew out. A purser clung to his feet as the co-pilot made an emergency landing. Captain Denny Fitch lost all flight controls in his DC-10 but he achieved the impossible by landing his plane on a wing and a prayer. In this programme we meet the pilots whose acts of heroism saved passengers from almost certain death and find out what it took for these. skilled men to land their planes.
On a clear June day in Hollywood, a six-seater Beechcraft Bonanza narrowly misses a field of school children before taking a nosedive into an apartment building. The plane crashes through three floors before exploding in a fireball in an underground garage. We capture the chaos as emergency crews attempt to take control of the situation. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Investigators are on the scene within minutes, assuming command. It is their crime scene. All of the police, firefighters, FBI, and anti-terrorism squads answer to the NTSB investigators. This programme is a definitive look at how plane wrecks are recovered and returned to accident investigators who review all the evidence and work towards a probable cause.
After every aircraft incident, there is an investigation. Over the past 30 years, these investigations have spurred the airline industry to change its approach to air safety. This programme highlights some of the major air disasters such as the notorious TWA Flight 800 and Singapore Airlines Flight 006 and shows how they helped shape air safety standards of today. We take you on the inside of what the Federal Aviation Administration considers the safest airline in America and show you how it keeps statistics down and confidence up. We reveal how it maintains its fleet and trains maintenance crews, flight attendants and pilots to avert tragedy. We also take you behind the scenes of the FAA for a look at how aircraft are performance tested, how pilots are screened for "Fitness to Fly" and how port security personnel and air traffic control are trained.
Thirty five years ago, in October 1972, a chartered plane carrying members of a Uruguayan rugby team, along with friends and family, crashed into a remote section of the Argentinean Andes. Thirteen people were instantly killed but there were 32 survivors left 14,000 feet up in the harsh, forbidding snow-swept Andes. After two weeks, the search for the missing plane was called off and the remaining survivors soon dwindled to a mere sixteen. In order to survive their ordeal, they had no choice but to eat some of their deceased companions. Left with no other option, two survivors, Nando Parrado and Roberto Canessa, left the crash site and trekked for 9 days over the Andes in order to save the rest. Featuring interviews with the survivors we chronicle their incredible tale and provide a first-hand account of their seventy one days spent in the middle of the Andes Mountains.
