Air Crash Investigation: Special Report

Some of the deadliest air crashes in history have been caused by simple misunderstandings, and it's a tiny error in the cockpit that brought tragedy to Quincy Airport in Illinois. Meanwhile, a minor mistake, a non-standard approach, and heavy smoke add up to a tragic misunderstanding that cost the lives of everyone on board Garuda Indonesia Flight 152. And, however disastrous, never has a misunderstanding taken as devastating a turn as on the island of Tenerife and the single deadliest aviation accident of all time.

On every flight, passengers place their lives in the hands of their captain whose human flaws are enough to bring down an aircraft. When BEA Flight 548 crashes just moments after takeoff, investigators unravel a tragic combination of human factors centered around the captain. Meanwhile, a captain's belligerence paralyzes the first officer on Northwest Airlink Flight 5719. And, it's the captain's hidden flaw that proves fatal for everyone on board Trans Colorado Flight 2286.

It takes years of training to become an airline captain, but it's when a crisis strikes that a pilot really earns his stripes. An airliner is crippled after takeoff from New York's LaGuardia Airport, and the courageous captain pulls off an amphibious landing in the Hudson River. A catastrophic failure strikes high above the Canadian Prairies turning a Boeing 767 into a very large and very heavy glider. And, when the engines of TACA Flight 110 flame out in a violent storm, its captain pulls off one of the most remarkable landings in the history of commercial aviation.