Final Boarding Call

When three desperate men seize control of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961, demanding to be taken to Australia, they set in motion a chain of events that will test the limits of human endurance and pilot skill. With insufficient fuel for their impossible journey, Captain Leul Abate faces an unthinkable choice: comply with the hijackers' demands and crash into the ocean, or risk everything in a desper...

Join Alice and Zach as they explore one of aviation's most disturbing tragedies. On March 24, 2015, Germanwings Flight 9525 crashed into the French Alps, killing all 150 people on board when co-pilot Andreas Lubitz deliberately locked the captain out of the cockpit and intentionally flew the plane into a mountainside. This episode examines the fatal flaws in cockpit security procedures implemented...

What happens when a state-of-the-art commercial airliner simply disappears without a trace? Join Alice and Zach as they investigate the baffling case of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which vanished on March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board. Discover how an ordinary overnight flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing turned into aviation's greatest modern mystery when it deviated from its course, went r...

Join Alice and Zach for their quarterly roundup of recent aviation incidents and accidents from around the world. In this Q3 2025 edition, they explore ten significant aviation events from July through early October, including near mid-air collisions with military aircraft, a dramatic engine failure requiring fuel dumping, an airshow near-disaster, violent passenger behavior, wing flap failures, t...

On June 2, 1983, Air Canada Flight 797 was halfway through a routine flight from Dallas to Montreal when circuit breakers started popping in the cockpit. What began as a seemingly minor electrical issue quickly escalated into a race against time as smoke filled the cabin and an invisible fire burned behind the lavatory walls. Join Alice and Zach as they explore how a small problem became a deadly...

When 23-year-old Amy Lynn Bradley stepped onto the balcony of her family's cruise ship cabin in the early morning hours of March 24, 1998, she had no idea she was about to become the center of one of the most perplexing disappearances in maritime history. Join Alice and Zach as they navigate the murky waters of Amy's vanishing from the Royal Caribbean's Rhapsody of the Seas during a family vacatio...

What would you do to survive when all hope seems lost? Join Alice and Zach as they explore one of history's most remarkable survival stories. On October 13, 1972, a plane carrying a Uruguayan rugby team crashed high in the Andes mountains. For the survivors, this was just the beginning of a 72-day ordeal in one of Earth's most hostile environments. Facing starvation, extreme cold, avalanches, and...

On August 25, 2001, a Cessna 402B carrying R&B superstar Aaliyah crashed shortly after takeoff from Marsh Harbour Airport in the Bahamas, claiming all nine lives on board. Discover how multiple preventable factors—an overloaded aircraft, an unqualified pilot with falsified credentials and substances in his system, and a charter company operating without proper authorization—led to this devasta...

What happens when an ordinary day of paragliding transforms into a battle against one of nature's most violent forces? Join Alice and Zach as they explore the extraordinary survival story of Ewa Wiśnierska, a champion paraglider who was literally sucked into a massive thunderstorm and carried to an altitude higher than Mount Everest. Discover how this elite athlete endured temperatures of minus 50...

On August 16, 1987, Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashed just moments after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, killing 154 people and leaving only one survivor—a four-year-old girl who became known as the "miracle child." Discover how an experienced crew's missed checklist, combined with schedule pressure and a disabled warning system, led to one of America's deadliest aviation disasters....

In Part 1, we explored the three terrorist incidents that shaped TSA policy. Now, we examine whether the agency actually works. Join Alice and Zach as they dive into the TSA's shocking 95% failure rate in security tests, the human cost of security theater, and the recent policy changes that have everyone asking: if we can keep our shoes on now, why couldn't we before? After 23 years and over $200...

Over two decades after 9/11, the Transportation Security Administration is finally letting us keep our shoes on at airport security. But how did we get here? Join Alice and Zach as they dive deep into the three terrorist incidents that shaped modern airport security: Richard Reid's shoe bomb attempt, the 2006 transatlantic liquid bomb plot, and the underwear bomber. Discover the shocking intellige...

On February 12, 2009, a routine commuter flight from Newark to Buffalo became a catastrophic lesson in pilot training and aviation safety. When stick shaker stall warnings activated during Colgan Air Flight 3407's approach, the captain's response turned a recoverable situation into an unrecoverable tragedy. Join Alice and Zach as they explore how fatigue, inadequate training, and a fundamental mis...

When ambition and rule-breaking collide in the deepest parts of the ocean, the consequences can be catastrophic. Join Alice and Zach as they explore the shocking 2023 implosion of OceanGate's Titan submersible, which claimed five lives during an expedition to the Titanic wreckage. Discover how a series of controversial design decisions, regulatory shortcuts, and repeatedly ignored warnings from in...

Join Alice and Zach as they explore the terrifying power of invisible turbulence. On March 5, 1966, BOAC Flight 911, a Boeing 707, disintegrated in mid-air while flying past Mount Fuji in Japan, killing all 124 people on board. Discover how an attempt to give passengers a scenic view of Japan's iconic mountain led the aircraft directly into catastrophic clear-air turbulence—powerful enough to tear...

Five months after Lion Air Flight 610, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashes under nearly identical circumstances, killing 157 more people and forcing the worldwide grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX. Join Alice and Zach as they explore how Ethiopian pilots who knew about MCAS and followed Boeing's procedures still couldn't save their aircraft, revealing the inadequacy of the company's proposed solut...

When Boeing learned that American Airlines might choose Airbus over their planes, it triggered a corporate race that would ultimately kill 346 people. Join Alice and Zach as they explore how Boeing's rushed development of the 737 MAX led to fatal design shortcuts, including a hidden software system called MCAS that pilots were never told about. Discover the corporate culture that prioritized speed...

On December 15, 1967, during rush hour traffic, the Silver Bridge spanning the Ohio River between Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and Gallipolis, Ohio, suddenly collapsed in less than a minute, claiming 46 lives. Discover how a microscopic crack just one-tenth of an inch deep in a single eyebar brought down an entire bridge that had stood for nearly four decades. Learn about the innovative but flaw...

Join Alice and Zach for another quarterly roundup of recent aviation incidents and accidents from around the world. In this second quarter edition, they explore seven significant aviation events from April through June 2025, including a devastating air traffic control crisis that paralyzed Newark Airport, a tragic Air India crash that became one of India's deadliest aviation disasters, multiple fa...

On July 19, 1989, United Airlines Flight 232 departed Denver for what should have been a routine flight to Chicago. At 37,000 feet over Iowa, a catastrophic engine failure led to the complete loss of all hydraulic systems - a failure so rare it was considered impossible, with odds calculated at a billion to one. With no flight controls, Captain Al Haynes and his crew faced an unprecedented challen...

What happens when both a main and reserve parachute catastrophically fail during a routine jump? Join Alice and Zach as they explore an unprecedented skydiving disaster where experienced jumper Victoria Cilliers has a 4,000-foot freefall at terminal velocity. This remarkable case stands alone in British skydiving history—never before had dual parachute failures been recorded in over 2.3 million ju...

On April 7, 1994, what began as a routine FedEx cargo flight from Memphis to San Jose became the scene of an unbelievable battle at 19,000 feet. When flight engineer Auburn Calloway launched a brutal hammer attack on the three-man crew, severely injuring all of them, the pilots fought back in the most extraordinary way imaginable—by using their massive DC-10 cargo jet as a weapon. Discover how the...

On May 25, 1979, American Airlines Flight 191 lifted off from Chicago's O'Hare Airport only to have its left engine tear completely free from the wing seconds later. In just 31 terrifying seconds, the crippled McDonnell Douglas DC-10 rolled onto its side and plunged to earth, killing all 271 people onboard and 2 more on the ground. Discover how an airline's time-saving maintenance shortcut led to...

On June 14, 1986, the world's largest indoor triple-loop roller coaster became a death trap when a critical mechanical failure sent four passengers plummeting to the concrete floor below. Join Alice and Zach as they explore how missing bolts and maintenance oversights at West Edmonton Mall's Mindbender led to disaster, claiming three lives and forever changing amusement ride safety standards.&nbsp...

How can a single burnt-out light bulb bring down one of the most advanced aircraft ever built? A state-of-the-art Lockheed L-1011 TriStar jetliner plunges into the Florida Everglades when its experienced crew became fixated on a minor mechanical issue.  Sources: Mayday: Air Disaster - Season 5, Episode 9, titled "Fatal Distraction" "What CAUSED the Everglades DISASTER?" by Mentour Pilot Wikip...