MayDay: Air Disaster Investigations

On United Airlines flight 811, the cargo door suddenly opens in-flight and tears a portion of the fuselage. With their plane torn wide open and no options left, the crew attempts a last ditch landing back in Honolulu.

On June 1st, 1999, as an American Airlines jet prepares to land amidst a violent storm, its crew's worst fears were realized. Racing against time, the pilots struggle against nature to set down the plane at great cost.

In 1998, off Canada's east coast, a passenger jet catches fire at 33,000 feet, then plummets into the ocean leaving 229 people dead. Now, after one of the largest investigations in aviation history, the complete story can finally be told.

October 1996. A state-of-the-art passenger jet careens out of control for 30 minutes, then crashes into the Pacific Ocean. The answer to Aeroperu flight 063's demise is found in the plane's black box: a simple case of human error that caused a tragedy.

In January 2000, an Air Alaska jet with 88 passengers and crew suffered a catastrophic failure that tore it from the sky. A shocking chain of error and negligence had led to disaster.

On the night of August 24, 2001 a fully loaded airbus A330 with 306 people on board ran out of fuel mid way over the Atlantic. How could a state-of-the-art computerized airliner suffer such a catastrophic failure?

17,000 feet in the air, a plane careens out of control with the pilot stuck on the outside. In the cockpit, three flight attendants cling to his legs. If they let go, the captain's body could be sucked into the engine and bring down the plane.

When a small commuter plane loses the use of a wing, it is only through sheer determination that the pilots are able to make a miraculous crash landing with all passengers alive. But what awaited them next was a horror that no one could have imagined.

In Marcais, France, an aircraft is taken over by high jackers planning the worst terrorist attack the world has so far seen. Do the authorities storm the plane, forfeiting the lives of 173 people, or let it take off and risk an even greater catastrophe?

In July 2002, two planes collide over Germany. It's among the most poignant air disasters of recent times. How could two planes crash into one another over one of the most closely regulated airspaces in the world?

In 1995, just days before Christmas, a Boeing 757 is on its final approach to Cali, Columbia. But the pilots don't know they've made a horrible mistake-they've strayed more than 10 miles off course, and are heading toward mortal danger.

Avianca flight 52 is in trouble. The crew is exhausted, circling over New York City, and almost out of fuel. They're cleared to land, but in the terrible weather they can't find the runway. Now they're battling wind shear, and they are going to crash.