Final Boarding Call

What happens when a flock of birds turns an ordinary winter flight into a 208-second race against physics? Join Alice and Zach as they explore the incredible story of US Airways Flight 1549, where Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger [SUL-en-berg-er] made a split-second decision that saved 155 lives on a freezing January afternoon. But this isn't just a story about one heroic pilot—it's about the ferry captains who arrived in four ...

On September 11, 1974, Eastern Air Lines Flight 212 crashed three miles short of the runway in Charlotte, North Carolina, killing 72 people. The cause wasn't mechanical failure or bad weather — it was a conversation. Discover how cockpit distraction during a routine approach led to one of aviation's most preventable tragedies, and learn about the landmark safety rule that now governs every takeoff and landing worldwide. Among the 7...

What happens when one of history's most celebrated aviators attempts to circumnavigate the globe and vanishes without a trace? Join Alice and Zach as they investigate the extraordinary life and mysterious disappearance of Amelia Earhart, a pioneering pilot who broke records, shattered glass ceilings, and captivated the world with her courage and determination. Discover how a woman who once avoided flying as a child became the first...

In the early 1990s, two Boeing 737s fall out of clear skies moments before landing. One in Colorado Springs. One outside Pittsburgh. In both cases, the crews are experienced professionals flying perfectly maintained aircraft. The engines are running normally at impact. The weather in Pittsburgh isn't even a factor. And the investigators who comb through both crash sites — the best aviation safety analysts in the world — find almost...

On February 15, 2019, a routine JetBlue flight from San Juan to Fort Lauderdale gained an unexpected passenger when a mother went into labor at 30,000 feet. With no hospital, no surgical team, and no way to pull over, the crew and a handful of strangers became the only thing standing between a safe delivery and a medical catastrophe. Join Alice and Zach as they explore what happens when a baby decides to arrive six miles above the ...

On July 1, 2002, two aircraft collided at 36,000 feet over southern Germany, claiming 71 lives—including 45 Russian schoolchildren on what should have been the trip of a lifetime. Discover how a series of seemingly small mistakes—a short-staffed air traffic control center, malfunctioning equipment, and confusion over emergency protocols—created a perfect storm of disaster that could have been prevented at multiple points. Learn abo...

Three people survived the Olympic collision in 1911, the Titanic sinking in 1912, and the Britannic disaster in 1916. Six months later, two of them were on the same ship when a German torpedo struck. One survived this fourth disaster. One didn't. The survivor was then rejected by every shipping line in Britain—not because he lacked skill, but because sailors refused to work with "the jinx." Discover the devastating true story of Vi...

On October 30, 2025, a JetBlue flight from Cancun suddenly dove without warning, slamming passengers into the cabin ceiling and hospitalizing 15 people. The pilots hadn't touched the controls. The plane was on autopilot. What investigators discovered wasn't pilot error or mechanical failure—it was something aviation engineers had never prepared for, a vulnerability hiding in plain sight that would trigger the largest emergency grou...

When a critical component fails at 31,000 feet, Alaska Airlines Flight 261 becomes a desperate battle against physics itself. Two veteran pilots attempt something never before tried in commercial aviation—flying their MD-83 inverted over the Pacific Ocean—in a last-ditch effort to save 88 lives. But this disaster didn't start with mechanical failure. It started three years earlier, when a mechanic's warning was ignored, a worn part...

On December 8, 1963, Pan American World Airways Flight 214 was struck by lightning while holding in a thunderstorm near Philadelphia, triggering an explosion that tore off the aircraft's left wing. All 81 people aboard perished when the Boeing 707 crashed into a Maryland cornfield. Join Alice and Zach as they explore how this tragedy fundamentally changed aviation safety—proving for the first time that lightning could destroy a com...

On April 28, 1988, Aloha Airlines Flight 243 became an impromptu convertible at 24,000 feet when an explosive decompression tore away the entire upper fuselage. Discover how a flight attendant crawled through hurricane-force winds to save passengers, how pilots landed half an airplane, and how one woman's premonition saved her life while another's hesitation haunts her still. This is the story of thirteen minutes of terror that rev...

Join Alice and Zach as they close out 2025 with a comprehensive look at the year's final quarter in aviation. From the deadliest accident in UPS Airlines' history to a violent mid-flight attack with a metal fork, this episode covers cargo disasters, military transport failures, a deadly medical mission in fog, tourism flight spatial disorientation, ground collisions, and some of the strangest passenger incidents ever recorded. Disc...

What happens when all four engines on a Boeing 747 suddenly fail at 37,000 feet over the ocean? On June 24, 1982, Captain Eric Moody and his crew faced the impossible: flying the world's largest passenger jet as a glider through the darkness, with 263 lives depending on split-second decisions and a calm voice over the intercom. Join Alice and Zach as they explore one of aviation's most remarkable survival stories—where a former gli...

When LANSA Flight 508 was struck by lightning and broke apart at 10,000 feet over the Amazon rainforest on Christmas Eve 1971, 17-year-old Juliane Koepcke found herself falling through the sky still strapped to her seat. Against impossible odds, she survived - only to face an 11-day journey through one of the world's most dangerous environments while injured and alone. But she wasn't the only survivor. Join Alice and guest co-host ...

On February 4, 2015, a routine 50-minute flight from Taipei to Kinmen Island turned into a two-minute-and-48-second nightmare captured on dashcam and watched by millions worldwide. Join Alice and Zach to learn how a microscopic circuit board failure triggered a cascade of catastrophic decisions in the cockpit—and how investigators proved that doing nothing would have saved 43 lives. 

Sources:

• Mayday: Air Disasters - Season 1...

On November 4, 2025, a UPS cargo jet loaded with fuel for its trans-Pacific journey thundered down the runway in Louisville, Kentucky. But just seconds after liftoff, something catastrophic happened—the left engine tore away from the wing in a shower of sparks and flame. What followed was 30 seconds of horror as the crippled MD-11 carved a path of destruction through an industrial area, killing 14 people. But this disaster wasn't u...

When a Boeing 767 loses a critical system minutes after takeoff, the experienced crew makes a reasonable decision: continue across the Atlantic and deal with it when they land. After all, they've trained for this exact scenario, and backup systems are designed for situations like this. But as Flight 16 approaches Warsaw with 231 people on board, the backup systems mysteriously fail. Join Alice and Zach as they unravel how a perfect...

On the Sunday after Thanksgiving 1974, what should have been a routine diversion turned into one of aviation's most consequential disasters. Join Alice and Zach as they explore how TWA Flight 514's crash into Mount Weather, Virginia, exposed a deadly gap in communication between pilots and air traffic controllers—a misunderstanding so fundamental that it had nearly caused another crash just weeks earlier. Discover how confusion ove...

On August 12, 1985, Japan Airlines Flight 123 climbed into the evening sky with 524 people aboard, bound for a routine 54-minute flight to Osaka. Twelve minutes later, a thunderous explosion tore through the aircraft, severing all hydraulic controls and leaving the crew fighting to control an uncontrollable jumbo jet using only engine thrust. What followed was 32 minutes of extraordinary airmanship as three pilots battled against i...