Mayday: Season 5

2008 · 10 episodes · ★ 7.9

What Season 5 of Mayday

This season of Mayday reconstructs ten accidents and incidents that shaped aviation history. Each episode starts with the flight that went wrong and follows the chain of decisions, technical failures and human errors that led to the emergency. Cases include bomb attacks, such as the Air India flight over Ireland; a DC-10 with a faulty cargo door; a storm that hits a plane over Georgia; and a flight that runs out of fuel because of a unit conversion error between measurement systems. Staged reenactments with actors and computer animation alternate with interviews with retired pilots and investigators, who explain what happened and how it could have been avoided. Stephen Bogaert's narration guides each case.

10episodes

Apr 9, 2008premiered

Jun 11, 2008latest episode

7.5 hrtotal runtime

Season 5 Episodes

5x01 Explosive Evidence (Air India Flight 182)
Apr 9, 2008 · 45 min · ★ 7.7
On 23 June 1985, Air India Flight 182 explodes in mid-air and disintegrates over the coast of Ireland, killing all 329 passengers and crew members on board. Investigators discovered that a bomb from Sikh militant group Babbar Khalsa caused the explosion.
Director: George D'Amato · Writer: Larry Bambrick · Starring: Adam Basheer, Suresh John, Bsn Rau, Garth Sheriff
5x02 Behind Closed Doors (American Airlines Flight 96 and Turkish Airlines Flight 981)
Apr 16, 2008 · 45 min · ★ 8.2
On 12 June 1972, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10, just a few months old, operating as American Airlines Flight 96 from Detroit, Michigan, to Buffalo, New York, suffers an explosive decompression after a cargo door in the lower rear fuselage bursts open. The crew makes an emergency landing at Detroit without any loss of life. Two years later, on 3 March 1974, Turkish Airlines Flight 981 suffers a similar sequence of events during a flight from Paris to London. This time, the DC-10's hydraulic systems are damaged enough that the crew loses control, and the aircraft crashes in a forest near Senlis outside Paris, killing all 346 on board. At the time, it was the worst aviation disaster in history. A design fault with the cargo door mechanism was not rectified after the first accident, and the second DC-10's door opened during flight, causing the crash.
Director: James Hyslop · Writer: Larry Bambrick · Starring: John Watson, Robin Wilcock, Cara Ricketts, Sam Kalilieh
5x03 Southern Storm (Southern Airways Flight 242)
Apr 23, 2008 · 45 min · ★ 7.2
On 4 April 1977, Southern Airways Flight 242, a flight from Huntsville, Alabama, to Atlanta, Georgia, flies through a severe thunderstorm and is hit by large hailstones. Both engines of the DC-9-31 fail, and the aircraft makes an emergency landing on a highway in New Hope, Paulding County, Georgia. However, it collides with a gas station and explodes, killing 62 people on board and eight on the ground. Two more die later of injuries sustained during the crash.
Director: Ian Robertson · Writer: Christopher Blow · Starring: Brian Young, Paul Braunstein, Paul Stephen, Ashleigh Rains
5x04 Dead Weight (Air Midwest Flight 5481)
Apr 30, 2008 · 45 min · ★ 7.6
On 8 January 2003, Air Midwest Flight 5481 crashes into an aircraft hangar at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport seconds after takeoff on a flight to Greenville. All 21 people on board die, and one person on the ground is injured. Investigation showed that the pilots' controls had been improperly adjusted during maintenance, and that the aircraft was overloaded due to outdated formula for calculation of passenger weights.
Director: Su Rynard · Writer: Michael Sheehan · Starring: Mary Krohnert, Jesse Bond, Sharon McFarlane, Nathalie Toriel
5x05 Invisible Killer (Delta Air Lines Flight 191)
May 7, 2008 · 45 min · ★ 8.4
In the summer of 1985, a Delta 191 aircraft was diverted away from a thunderstorm, only to be struck by powerful winds and plummet to the ground. Flames engulfed the front of the plane and more than 130 people died in a tragic accident that would eventually expose, and eliminate, an invisible killer.
Director: Phil Desjardins · Writer: Alex Bystram · Starring: Brian Rhodes, Michael Carley, Richard Binsley, James Byron
5x06 Gimli Glider (Air Canada Flight 143)
May 14, 2008 · 45 min · ★ 9.0
A Boeing 767-200 jet, Air Canada Flight 143, ran completely out of fuel at 41,000 feet (12,000m) altitude, about halfway through its flight from Montreal to Edmonton. The crew was able to glide the aircraft safely to an emergency landing at Gimli Industrial Park Airport, a former airbase at Gimli, Manitoba.
Director: Karl Jason · Writer: Dave Gabriel Bene · Starring: Robert Bockstael, Randy Thomas, Stephan Dubeau, Shelley Findlay
5x07 Fanning the Flames (South African Airways Flight 295)
May 21, 2008 · 45 min · ★ 6.8
South African Airways Flight 295 starts filling with smoke over the Indian Ocean. A fire has erupted in the rear main level cargo area; the pilots successfully open the doors in flight to clear the smoke from the aircraft, however it crashes with no survivors.
Director: P.J. Naworynski · Writer: Carl Knutson · Starring: Ivan Sherry, Simon Northwood, Derek Murchie, Stewart Arnott
5x08 Fatal Distraction (Eastern Airlines Flight 401)
May 28, 2008 · 45 min · ★ 8.5
A Lockheed L-1011 Tristar operating Eastern Airlines Flight 401 to Miami International Airport crashes in the Everglades because the crew is distracted by a faulty landing gear indicator light and accidentally disengage the autopilot. 101 people die.
Director: Su Rynard · Writer: Carl Knutson · Starring: Shawn Lawrence, Shaun Smyth, David Sparrow, Lee Oliveira
5x09 Mixed Signals (Birgenair Flight 301)
Jun 4, 2008 · 45 min · ★ 8.0
On 6 February 1996, Birgenair Flight 301 is scheduled to fly from Puerto Plata to Frankfurt. On takeoff, the captain finds that his airspeed indicator (ASI) is not reading properly, though the co-pilot's ASI is showing the correct speed; the aircraft subsequently crashes in the Atlantic Ocean. The pilots became confused and believed that both ASIs were malfunctioning, leading to loss of control of the aircraft. All 13 crew members and 176 passengers died. The cause of the disaster was believed to be a wasp that built a nest in one of the aircraft's pitot tubes, which was incorrectly left uncovered during the aircraft's extended stay at Puerto Plata airport.
Director: Tim Wolochatiuk · Writer: Dave Gabriel Bene · Starring: Hrant Alianak, Jorge Molina, Sam Tabar, Francisco Trujillo Avalos-Davidson
5x10 Phantom Strike (Gol Transportes Aéreos Flight 1907) Season Finale
Jun 11, 2008 · 45 min · ★ 7.4
A Gol Transportes Aéreos Boeing 737 and a brand-new Embraer Legacy business jet on its delivery flight collide in mid-air over the Amazon. The 737 crashes but the Legacy manages to make a safe landing. 154 people die.
Director: George D'Amato · Writer: Larry Bambrick · Starring: Simon Reynolds, Gord Rand, Doug MacLeod, Clinton Lee Pontes