Flights Gone Wrong

Real stories. Deeper understanding.

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McDonnell Douglas MD-80
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2 events

  1. Photo: Frank Jäger / CC BY-SA 2.0

    Alaska Airlines Flight 261

    The worn jackscrew off the California coast

    Open event

    On 31 January 2000 Alaska Airlines Flight 261, an MD-83 flying from Puerto Vallarta to San Francisco, lost pitch control when the worn threads of the jackscrew that moves its horizontal stabiliser failed. It dived inverted into the Pacific Ocean off Anacapa Island, California, and all 88 people on board were killed.

    2 video perspectives

  2. Photo: Aero Icarus from Zürich, Switzerland / CC BY-SA 2.0

    Swissair Flight 551

    Cockpit smoke after leaving Munich

    Open event

    Ten minutes after Swissair Flight 551 left Munich for Zurich on 16 October 1993, an overheating emergency power switch filled the MD-81's cockpit with dense smoke and knocked out the captain's instruments. The pilots flew back to Munich almost blind and landed 13 minutes after asking to return, and all 95 people on board survived the evacuation, 15 of them with minor injuries.

    1 video perspective