''Why Planes Crash'' was an

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot air ...

documentary

TV mini-series A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...

based on aircraft accidents and crashes. The series was created and named by producer Caroline Sommers, on behalf of NBC Peacock Productions. The series premiere on July 12, 2009, featured Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger's incredible water ditching of U.S. Air Flight 1549 in the Hudson on January 15, 2009, popularly known as "Miracle on the Hudson". Three other ditchings were also featured:

Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 was a scheduled flight serving the route Addis Ababa–Nairobi–Brazzaville–Lagos–Abidjan. On 23 November 1996, the aircraft serving the flight, a Boeing 767-200ER, was hijacked en route from Addis Ababa to Nai ...

ALM Flight 980 ALM Antillean Airlines Flight 980 was a flight scheduled to fly from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City to Princess Juliana International Airport in St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles, on 2 May 1970. After several unsuccess ...

, and

Pan Am Flight 6 Pan Am Flight 6 (registration N90943, and sometimes erroneously called Flight 943) was a round-the-world airline flight that ditched in the Pacific Ocean on October 16, 1956, after two of its four engines failed. Flight 6 left Philadelphia on Oct ...

. Originally run on MSNBC, each episode was narrated by

Lester Holt Lester Don Holt Jr. (born March 8, 1959) is an American journalist and news anchor for the weekday edition of ''NBC Nightly News'' and ''Dateline NBC''. On June 18, 2015, Holt was made the permanent anchor of ''NBC Nightly News'' following the ...

. Original production ceased in 2015. The series is still in heavy rotation on

The Weather Channel The Weather Channel (TWC) is an American pay television channel owned by Weather Group, LLC, a subsidiary of Allen Media Group. The channel's headquarters are in Atlanta, Georgia. Launched on May 2, 1982, the channel broadcasts weather forecas ...

Plot

Normally, each episode would see three accidents discussed. Over the 43-minute program,

experts such as veteran pilot and founder of Safety Operating Systems John M. Cox, as well as former NTSB investigators John Goglia and

Greg Feith Gregory Allen Feith is an United States of America, American former Senior Air Safety Investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). He currently works as a consultant on aviation safety and security matters in the private sec ...

, would discuss the events and what caused or led up to the crash. Similar to ''

Air Crash Investigation ''Mayday'', entitled ''Air Crash Investigation'' in Canada (alternatively known as ''Air Crash Investigations'' on Seven Network), New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom (alternatively known as ''Air Crash: Disaster Revealed'' on 5Selec ...

'', the show also featured state-of-the-art recreations and visuals to graphically illustrate what occurred during the accident. In some episodes, a survivor (or multiple survivors) would explain what they experienced during the accident. For example, in the very first episode, Captain Balsey DeWitt of

was interviewed.

Episodes

Season 1

Season 2

Notes

In the episode "Sudden Impact", the narrator states the wrong flight number of

Air Inter Air Inter (Lignes Aériennes Intérieures) was a semi-public French domestic airline. Before its merger with Air France, the airline was headquartered in Paray-Vieille-Poste, Essonne.''World Airline Directory''. Flight International. 26 March-1 Ap ...

. It should be 148, not 5148. Also, the date is first given as December 20, 1992 (the correct date), but later it changes to December 22, 1992.

References

External links

Why Planes Crash
on

website. American documentary television films Documentary television series about aviation The Weather Channel original programming 2009 American television series debuts 2015 American television series endings {{documentary-tv-prog-stub