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s25e10 · 2026-03-25
Running · GB
Air Crash Investigation
National Geographic Documentary
What it is
Flying is one of the safest forms of transport. But what happens when tragedy strikes? From human error and accidents to mechanical faults and design flaws, the success of aviation history is punctuated with disaster and catastrophe. It's rare, but it does happen. Follow experts as they determine what went wrong and work out how to prevent these horrific tragedies from happening again. Examine the wrecks and official records, and hear from eyewitnesses, passengers and aviation experts as we reconstruct some of the most tragic disasters in aviation history. Air Crash Investigation looks at what went wrong and how future disasters can be averted.
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8 this season · 261 totals07e01 Lockerbie Disaster 2009-11-05 02:00
Lockerbie Disaster
Shortly after leaving London Heathrow airport in December 1988, Pan Am flight 103 exploded above Lockerbie , Scotland killing 270 people. Investigators soon discovered that a bomb in the forward cargo compartment had taken down the plane.
s07e02 Sight Unseen 2009-11-12 02:00
Sight Unseen
Find out what went wrong when a Kazakhstan Airlines jet and a Saudi Airways plane collided in the worst mid-air crash in aviation history, killing 349 people on November 12, 1996.
s07e03 Scratching the Surface 2009-11-19 02:00
Scratching the Surface
Rescuers have to look to the past to solve the riddle of Flight 611, a China Airlines 747 that disappeared 20 minutes after taking off.
s07e04 Blown Apart 2009-11-26 02:00
Blown Apart
On September 8, 1989, Partnair Flight 94, a charter from Oslo to Hamburg, suddenly begins to dive from 22 thousand feet. The aging propeller plane eventually crashes into the sea, killing all 55 people on board.
s07e05 Operation Babylift 2009-12-03 02:00
Operation Babylift
An attempt to rescue orphans from the chaos of war-torn Vietnam ended in tragedy when a US plane crashed on April 4, 1975, killing more than 150 people.
s07e06 Falling Fast 2009-12-10 02:00
Falling Fast
On August 6, 2005, a Tuninter ATR-72 ran out of fuel and was forced to ditch in the sea near Palermo, Italy. Of the 39 people on board, 16 lost their lives. The mistake was simply a wrong fuel gauge that sent higher fuel readings than the actual ones.
s07e07 Flight 574: Lost 2009-12-17 02:00
Flight 574: Lost
In January 2007, an Adam Air Boeing 737 crashed into the Makassar Strait killing 102 people on board. The pilots inadvertently disengaged the autopilot while trying to fix the inertial reference system, causing the plane to plunge to the water.
s07e08 Frozen in Flight 2009-12-17 02:00
Frozen in Flight
31 October 1994 - American Eagle Flight 4184. It's a frigid Halloween night in the skies above Chicago. Bad weather is delaying dozens of flights, including American Eagle Flight 4184. Suddenly, the plane spins wildly out of control. The pilots fight desperately to right their plane, but can't. It smashes into a cornfield. All 68 people on board are killed instantly. Investigators eventually discover the cause is a rare weather phenomenon, and a fatal design flaw.