Flights Gone Wrong

Real stories. Deeper understanding.

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3 events

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

    Air Transat Flight 236

    The glide to the Azores

    Open event

    On 24 August 2001 an Air Transat Airbus A330 flying from Toronto to Lisbon lost all its fuel over the Atlantic through a leak in its right engine, and both engines stopped. The crew glided it to Lajes in the Azores and landed, and all 306 people on board survived.

    1 video perspective

  2. Photo: Paul Seymour / CC BY-SA 4.0

    United Airlines Flight 232

    The DC-10 steered with engine power to Sioux City

    Open event

    On 19 July 1989 United Airlines Flight 232, a DC-10 flying from Denver to Chicago and Philadelphia, lost all three hydraulic systems when its tail engine's fan disk shattered at 37,000 feet. The crew steered it to Sioux City, Iowa, using only the two remaining engines, and 184 of the 296 people on board survived the crash landing.

    2 video perspectives

  3. Photo: Rivet Joint / CC BY 2.0

    Olympic Airways Flight 411

    An engine failure over Athens

    Open event

    An engine failed as Olympic Airways Flight 411, a fully loaded Boeing 747 bound for New York, lifted off from Athens on 9 August 1978, and the jet barely climbed as it crossed the city at rooftop height. The crew nursed it out over the sea, dumped fuel and landed back at Athens about an hour later, and all 418 people on board survived.

    1 video perspective