Nova why planes crash

Sign In. Director Veronica L. Veronica L. Top credits Director Veronica L. See more at IMDbPro. Photos Add Image. Top cast Edit. Clay Foushee. John Lauber. John McCarthy. Storyline Edit. One factor may be the 'macho' or 'go-it-alone' attitudes of pilots originally trained to fly single-seat military fighter jets. Another factor is "automation complacency", where a highly-automated cockpit environment leads to reduced piloting skills and a false sense of security.

Genre s : News , Documentary , Science. Watch Now. Stream On. Buy on. Season 14 Episodes. Episode User Score. More From Metacritic. With the Summer Olympics set to begin in Atlanta in two days, speculation of a terrorist bombing immediately arose. But after one of the most intricate inquiries in aviation history, which included the first full-scale re-creation of a downed aircraft from its debris, NTSB investigators ruled out terrorism. They focused instead on the aircraft's near-empty center fuel tank, where, they determined, an explosion of still unknown origin brought the plane down.

The NTSB's recommendations focused on the flammability of the 's fuel tank, including its potential ignition sources, design, and certification standards, and on the maintenance and aging of the aircraft's other systems, particularly wiring and fittings that could spark or overheat. Within two years of the crash, new fuel-management procedures were required for all s. All people on board were killed. The crash occurred after the pilot radioed that there was smoke in the cockpit and requested an emergency landing.

As he dumped the aircraft's fuel, vectored for a runway at Halifax's airport, and reported an escalation of the emergency, Flight disappeared from radar. After a four-and-a-half-year investigation, which revealed evidence of an in-flight fire above the cockpit caused by faulty wiring and fueled by flammable airframe insulation, Canada's Transportation Safety Board published its final recommendations.

These included toughening flammability standards for all materials used in airplanes and more stringent testing and certification of electrical wires.

The FAA ultimately issued an order requiring the replacement of insulation in commercial jetliners in the U. At least other MDs worldwide were also modified.

For more on the investigation and its aftermath, see Dissection of a Disaster. All 88 people aboard perished when this MD aircraft nose-dived with devastating force into the Pacific Ocean off southern California.

Flight had left Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and was en route to San Francisco when it ran into trouble. At 28, feet, the crew reported problems with the plane's stabilizer trim small flaps on the horizontal portion of its tail and were unable to control the pitch of the aircraft.

Moments later, they began an uncontrolled descent. In its investigation, the NTSB found that too little grease on the jet's jackscrew, a tail component that helps move the plane's stabilizer, had promoted excessive wear on its threads. Their report blamed Alaska Airlines for shoddy maintenance standards and the FAA for approval of these standards, which increased the likelihood of inadequate greasing.

Changes have since been made to Alaska Airlines' maintenance procedures and the FAA's oversight apparatus, but federal prosecutors eventually opened a criminal probe into the crash. Five people on the ground and all people aboard the plane were killed. The NTSB ruled out terrorism, focusing instead on the plane's vertical tail stabilizer and rudder, which snapped off as the plane fell from the sky. Several months after the accident, the NTSB issued two safety recommendations involving the A's vertical stabilizer and rudder, pointing out that some maneuvers can lead to structural failure.