Seconds to Survive
On Feb 21, 2008 — Santa Bárbara Airlines Flight 518 (ATR 42): Departing the mountain city of Mérida at dusk, a Venezuelan turboprop has only moments to escape the Andes rising around it.
More from Season 4
Episode 1
Fight for Control
On Jun 8, 1983 — Reeve Aleutian Airways Flight 8 (Lockheed Electra): High over the Pacific off Alaska, a propeller tears loose and slices into the fuselage, jamming the controls of a plane still hours from safety.
Episode 2
Fire in the Hold
On May 11, 1996 — ValuJet Flight 592 (DC-9): Minutes after leaving Miami, smoke pours into the cabin and the jet plunges into the Everglades, igniting a controversy that rocks the FAA itself.
Episode 3
Caution to the Wind
On Oct 31, 2000 — Singapore Airlines Flight 006 (Boeing 747): Departing Taipei as a typhoon closes in, a jumbo jet erupts in flames partway down its takeoff roll, and investigators make a shocking discovery on the airfield.
Episode 4
Pushed to the Limit
On Dec 19, 1997 — SilkAir Flight 185 (Boeing 737): Cruising toward Singapore in clear weather, a nearly new jet suddenly plunges from 35,000 feet into an Indonesian river, and two investigations reach very different conclusions.
Episode 5
Blind Landing
On Aug 23, 2005 — TANS Peru Flight 204 (Boeing 737): Descending through a violent storm toward Pucallpa, a jet comes down in the Peruvian jungle — and looters strip the crash site before investigators arrive.
Episode 6
Grand Canyon
On Jun 30, 1956 — United Airlines Flight 718 & TWA Flight 2: Two airliners cross the Arizona desert on the same summer morning and collide over the Grand Canyon — a disaster that transforms how America controls its skies.
