Air Crash Investigation

Enter the cockpit of a damaged Alaskan passenger plane as pilots fight to reach land before the aircraft tears in two.

Discover the preventable reason for the crash of Emery Worldwide Flight 17 in 2000.

En route from Cold Bay, Alaska, to Seattle, Washington, Reeve Aleutian Airlines Flight #8 is 19,000 feet over the Pacific Ocean when the propeller from one of its four turboprop engines flies off and tears a hole in the fuselage. Rocked by explosive decompression, the pilots fight to control the plane as the cabin and cockpit fill with heavy fog.

See how two accidents over seven months led investigators to a shocking conclusion about a Taiwanese airline.

Headed for Atlanta in an aging DC-9, the crew of ValuJet Flight #592 hears a mysterious sound shortly after taking off from Miami. Almost immediately, they are hit with a barrage of mechanical failures. At first, they notice an electrical problem. The plane’s batteries are draining fast. But within minutes, the situation gets much worse. The pilots hear screams of ‘fire’ coming from the cabin.

Air crash investigators struggle to figure out why a Boeing 727 crashed on takeoff on a clear summer day.

As Taiwan braces for an intense tropical storm, Singapore Airlines Flight 006 prepares to take off from Taipei’s Chang Kai-shek Airport. Bound for Los Angeles, the plane needs to get airborne before the typhoon hits. But as the 747 hurtles down the runway, the pilots suddenly lose control of the aircraft. It spins around violently, crashes and breaks apart.

Discover the shocking reason why a Boeing 737 suddenly and inexplicably plummeted 35,000 feet into Indonesia's jungles.

Revisit the controversial 2014 crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, which broke apart over a war zone.

Witness the crash of a demonstration flight, the daring black box rescue that followed, and the secrets it revealed.

In 2005, a Boeing 737 hit severe weather and plunged into the Amazon. But was the storm really to blame for the crash?

Follow investigators as they explain why a test flight went so wrong so quickly.

The 1956 midair collision over the Grand Canyon was heartbreaking. The investigation that followed was groundbreaking.

A computer glitch on a Qantas Airways flight in 2008 nearly sends the plane slamming into the Indian Ocean.

In 1979, an engine dropped from a DC-10 on takeoff, triggering the worst aviation disaster in U.S. history.

Relive the 1978 crash of United Airlines Flight 173, caused by faulty landing gear, failing engines, and pilot error.

Did a hidden flaw lying deep inside Alitalia Flight 404 lead its pilots down a deadly path to disaster?

The horrific 2011 crash of a Russian passenger jet decimated a popular hockey team and devastated a nation.

A high-tech plane and improper training doomed China Airlines Flight 140 in 1994.

A failed takeoff in 1987 during a Denver snowstorm changed the airline industry forever.

The stakes go far beyond aviation safety after Poland's president is killed in a suspicious plane crash in Russia.

Was it pilot error or an act of sabotage that brought down Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409? You decide.

Climb 14,000 feet to the top of the Andes Mountains and join the puzzling investigation of the crash of Flight 518.

Relive the Rio-Paris crash of 2009, which claimed 228 lives and took two years and $42 million just to uncover.