Mayday, also known as Air Crash Investigation(s) in the United Kingdom, Australia and Asia and Air Emergency and Air Disasters in the United States, is a Canadian documentary television program produced by Cineflix investigating air crashes, near-crashes, fires, hijackings, bombings and other disasters. It reveals events that led up to each disaster, the causes of the incidents and the measures recommended in the report by the NTSB or the investigating Commission to prevent a similar incident happening again. It features re-enactments, interviews, eyewitness testimony, computer-generated imagery, and in some episodes cockpit voice recordings were used to reconstruct the sequence of events to the audiences.
As of Febuary 17, 2012, a total of 83 episodes of Mayday have aired including five "Science of Disaster" specials and three "Crash Scene Investigation" spin-offs.
Season 2 (2004)[]
| # | Title= | Disaster(s) | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | "Blown Out" | British Airways Flight 5390 | January 23, 2005 |
| ShortSummary = On 10 June 1990, on British Airways Flight 5390 the cockpit window blew out, sucking the captain partially through the hole. A member of the cabin crew clung to the pilot's legs as the co-pilot completed an emergency landing. The captain was found to be still alive after being outside the cockpit for 21 minutes. The blow out was caused by a maintenance worker installing the incorrect sized screws during maintenance work.----
Type of aircraft: BAC-111-528FL. | |||
| # | Title= | Disaster(s) | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 02 | "A Wounded Bird" | Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 529 | January 23, 2005 |
| ShortSummary = On 21 August 1995, the left-side engine on Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 529 partly tore itself from its mounting creating excessive drag which caused the aircraft to fall out of the sky killing nine people. A propeller, damaged by metal fatigue, caused the initial engine failure.----
Type of aircraft: Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia. | |||
| #1 | Title= | Disaster(s) | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 03 | "The Killing Machine" | Air France Flight 8969 | |
| ShortSummary = On 24 December 1994, Air France Flight 8969 was hijacked on the ground at Algiers Airport. The terrorists demanded the aircraft be allowed to depart for Paris so they could crash the aircraft into the Eiffel Tower, but since they did not know how to fly the aircraft and Algerian Army refused to give them a pilot they were unable to carry out their plans. Instead, over two days they killed three passengers. The aircraft was then cleared to take off but the crew diverted to Marseille Provence Airport. The Hostage rescue team of the French Gendarmerie stormed the aircraft, and after a gun battle in the cabin the hijackers were killed and everyone else was evacuated. It is described as one of the most successful anti-terrorist operations in history.----Type of aircraft: Airbus A300B2-1C Cause of disaster: Aircraft hijacking. | |||
| #1 | Title= | Disaster(s) | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 03 | "Lost" | American Airlines Flight 965 | |
| ShortSummary = On 20 December 1995, American Airlines Flight 965 headed for Cali, Colombia. The crew was asked if they would like to do a straight-in approach to Cali. The pilots agreed and inadvertently removed the waypoints from the flight plan in their Flight management system (FMS), causing them to become unsure of their exact position. Their mistakes caused them to crash into a 9,000 foot mountain near Buga. Only four passengers and a dog survived.----
Type of aircraft: Boeing 757-200. | |||
| #1 | Title= | Disaster(s) | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 05 | "Missing Over New York" | Avianca Flight 52 | |
| ShortSummary = On 25 January 1990, Avianca Flight 52, a flight to New York from Colombia, was delayed numerous times by weather en route and was dangerously low on fuel as it attempted landing. Wind shear forced the crew to abort the approach just 1 mile from the runway. They initiated a go-around, but were mishandled back into a holding pattern by air traffic controllers unaware of the low-fuel situation. The plane then ran out of fuel causing it to crash in Long Island near New York.----
Type of aircraft: Boeing 707-320B. | |||
| #1 | Title= | Disaster(s) | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 06 | "Deadly Crossroads" | 2002 Überlingen mid-air collision | |
| ShortSummary = On 1 July 2002, the Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937 collided with the DHL Flight 611 in German airspace near Überlingen. BTC Flight 2937 was destroyed instantly and DHL Flight 611 crashed shortly afterwards, killing all 71 people in the two aircraft. The crew of Flight 611 followed the TCAS instructions to initiate a descent while the crew of Flight 2937 listened to the air traffic controller over their TCAS and initiated a descent as well. The air traffic controller was later murdered by the father of one of the families on board the passenger plane.----
Type of aircraft: Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937: Tupolev Tu-154M, DHL Flight 611: Boeing 757-200. | |||