Mayday: Air Crash Investigations

[Dave Anderson]

Just discovered this a few weeks ago. I've become obsessed with this series. All the episodes seem to be available on YouTube.

This series is definitely the best set of documentaries on major air disasters I've seen. Has a lot of well known ones and many lesser known but equally fascinating ones. Good mixture of the horror contrasted with the human side of the incident followed by a thorough scientific breakdown of the investigation and causes of the event.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mayday_episodes

[MikeS]

If it doesn't, it should include PSA Flight 182, North Park (San Diego) California, September 1978.

I lived in San Diego's East County, not North Park, in '78, horrific accident, unforgettable tragedy.

I remember in '96 or so, a former bandmate of mine and I were on our way to practice, I picked him up at his house in North Park. As we were leaving his house he asked me if I remembered flight 182, I said of course, I will never forget the footage of the plane leaning on it's side as it was plunging to the ground. Rick said to me "the plane hit right about where we are now." I asked him what all he remembered - as we drove he offered a cleaned up version. He said something to the affect, "these houses here, all were destroyed as the plane slid thru the neighborhood." "Over here, the street to the left was a make-shift morgue." "The smell of jet fuel and burning bodies was overwhelming, I can still smell it, maybe even taste it, it was very thick in the air."

Had it not been for the time of day, early morning as I recall, there would have been even more casualties on the ground. I could see on Rick's face this event hit home, it really hurt him, scared him, and his family. I didn't ask but I do recall that he knew one or two of the people that lost their lives that day, the incident was only one or two streets over from his own. we're about the same age, he would have been 14 or 15, lot to handle at that age.

I'm sorry for ranting a bit but it seems the county I grew up in has had its share of unfortunate happenings, from Flight 182, the McDonalds massacre, Heavens Gate mass suicide, Santana High shootings. It does make me sad at times knowing how screwed up our world is.

[ConchRepublican]

I still believe TWA flight 800 was shot down.

[Dave Anderson]

If it doesn't, it should include PSA Flight 182, North Park (San Diego) California, September 1978.

I lived in San Diego's East County, not North Park, in '78, horrific accident, unforgettable tragedy.

I remember in '96 or so, a former bandmate of mine and I were on our way to practice, I picked him up at his house in North Park. As we were leaving his house he asked me if I remembered flight 182, I said of course, I will never forget the footage of the plane leaning on it's side as it was plunging to the ground. Rick said to me "the plane hit right about where we are now." I asked him what all he remembered - as we drove he offered a cleaned up version. He said something to the affect, "these houses here, all were destroyed as the plane slid thru the neighborhood." "Over here, the street to the left was a make-shift morgue." "The smell of jet fuel and burning bodies was overwhelming, I can still smell it, maybe even taste it, it was very thick in the air."

Had it not been for the time of day, early morning as I recall, there would have been even more casualties on the ground. I could see on Rick's face this event hit home, it really hurt him, scared him, and his family. I didn't ask but I do recall that he knew one or two of the people that lost their lives that day, the incident was only one or two streets over from his own. we're about the same age, he would have been 14 or 15, lot to handle at that age.

I'm sorry for ranting a bit but it seems the county I grew up in has had its share of unfortunate happenings, from Flight 182, the McDonalds massacre, Heavens Gate mass suicide, Santana High shootings. It does make me sad at times knowing how screwed up our world is.

Yes, they do, the best documentary of the incident I know of. In fact that was the first episode I watched...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqTbRW6AoX8

I was a kid in San Diego at the time. I remember that day vividly. It was so hot, they let us out of Tierrasanta Elementary early. I remember seeing the black smoke from our yard and being glued to the TV the rest of the day. I think it influenced my lifelong fascination with plane crashes. They had refrigerated trucks outside the morgue for months, which was only a couple miles from my house, while they tried to identify the body parts. We used to go the Wendy's across the street from there all the time. There seemed to be several more big crashes over the following months, including the American Airlines crash in Chicago.

For whatever reason, it didn't really scare me, just fascinate me. I remember when we took a flight about a year later, I had this little ink stamper with my name and address, and I stamped it on my hands and arms. The stewardess must have noticed it and asked me why, probably thinking it was cute or something. I explaned it was in case in the plane crashed and my body parts got separated I wanted to make it easier for the coroner to make identification. I still remember the horrified look on her face when I explained. I don't think she thought I was such a cute kid after that, but I was sincere about it at the time.

[Dave Anderson]

I still believe TWA flight 800 was shot down.

I haven't watched that one yet, but I would assume they tow the party line. The one thing about the series is that it pretty much accepts the NTSB conclusions.

[Dave Anderson]

...I'm sorry for ranting a bit but it seems the county I grew up in has had its share of unfortunate happenings, from Flight 182, the McDonalds massacre, Heavens Gate mass suicide, Santana High shootings. It does make me sad at times knowing how screwed up our world is.

I don't remember the Santana High shootings, but I do remember that girl who shot up a school because she didn't like Mondays. Yeah, San Diego was a great place to grow up, but there was a lot of crazy things that happened.

[MikeS]

<snip> I don't remember the Santana High shootings

IIRC it was early 2001, a student named Andy Williams felt bullied so he retaliated. It wasn't even close to a Columbine
but a few were lost and numerous were injured.