Every air crash is a catastrophe that leaves behind bereaved families and ruined lives. But each air crash is also a lesson learnt, and because of each disaster we now know how to build safer planes, evacuate passengers more swiftly, and better avoid collisions. Lives have been saved because of what these tragedies have taught us, and yet, despite this progress, more and more disasters still happen. Using powerful personal accounts from survivors, pilots and witnesses as well as comments from aviation experts and CGI, each episode of Air Crash Confidential investigates a selection of aviation disasters to reveal how and why tragedy still happens. It will discover why, despite repeated warnings, terrorists remain one step ahead of airport security, and how only a seating plan error and some sweaty feet saved hundreds from being blown up in mid- air. We will also reveal how a computer designed to eliminate pilot error led to a Qantas flight plummeting hundreds of feet, and that however brilliant our technology, human error can never be entirely eliminated - Air Traffic controller Pieter Nielsen was eventually murdered because of a mistake he made on a busy day that caused the deaths of 45 schoolchildren.
