Air Crash Investigation - Season 3

28 April 1988. A short island hop from Maui to Honolulu quickly turns into a nightmare for the crew and passengers aboard Flight 243. Shortly after take-off a loud bang is heard, removing a huge chunk of the plane's roof and walls.

It was supposed to be a routine mail drop for the DHL cargo plane, but, shortly after leaving Baghdad's Saddam Hussein Airport, an anti-aircraft missile hit the Airbus A300 and the crew were thrown into a fight for their lives

On a flight between Osaka and Tokyo, the alarm system blares out a warning: a stabilizer has blown off and the plane can no longer steer. 30 minutes later it hits Mount Osutaka in the worst single aircraft accident in history.

The three-man crew of FedEx 705 are just finishing their climb out from Memphis when they are attacked. In the struggle to control both the plane and the attacker, the pilots perform incredible feats in order to save their lives.

An explosion jolts the pilots of PA 434; a bomb has gone off and there's extensive damage to the plane. The blast kills one passenger and injures another ten, with a notorious terrorist being behind the bombing.

The USS Vincennes, stationed in the Persian Gulf, tracks an incoming aircraft. The plane is destroyed, but the crew's elation turns to dismay as it becomes clear they have shot down an innocent airliner with 290 people on board.

A helicopter is ferrying workers to an oil platform when it is struck by lightning. The pilots struggle to keep control but are forced to ditch. Investigators find a design flaw which made it a sitting target for lightning.

Egypt Air flight 990 is over the Atlantic when it suddenly plunges towards the water, killing all 217 people on board. Follow the investigation that became one of the most controversial in modern aviation history.

The new Airbus leaves Moscow and the captain invites his two children to the flight deck. The boy turns the steering column, which sets off a chain of events that leads to the deaths of all 70 people on board.

An Ethiopian Airlines aircraft is hijacked and told to fly to Australia. The pilot fails to convince the hijackers that the plane doesn't have enough fuel, so he decides to trick them. Events end in tragedy.

On 8 February 1986, a VIA Rail passenger train and a 118-car freight train collided, killing 23 people. The freight train crew did not stop at a red railway signal on a section of a passing loop because they were possibly asleep.

On 12 May 1989, a 69-car freight train went out of control while descending from California's Cajon Pass. It derailed into a residential neighborhood of San Bernardino after reaching speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour. Two residents and two train crew were killed in the initial crash. A clerical error had caused the train's weight to be greatly underestimated, and it had been assembled without enough locomotives to provide adequate braking. Additionally, several of the engines had completely inoperable brakes, but this information was not passed on to the crews. More than a week later, an underground gasoline pipeline, which was damaged by earth-moving equipment during crash cleanup, ruptured and sparked a fire that killed a further two people.