Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 was a scheduled flight serving the route Addis Ababa–Nairobi–Brazzaville–Lagos–Abidjan. On 23 November 1996, the aircraft serving the flight, a Boeing 767-200ER, was hijacked en route from Addis Ababa to Nairobi by three Ethiopians seeking asylum in Australia. The plane crash-landed in the Indian Ocean near Grande Comore, Comoros Islands, due to fuel exhaustion; 125 of the 175 passengers and crew on board, including the three hijackers, died. This is the first recorded instance of a partially successful ditching utilizing a wide-body aircraft.
Alaska Airlines Flight 261 was an Alaska Airlines flight of a McDonnell Douglas MD-80 plane that crashed into the Pacific Ocean on January 31, 2000, roughly 2.7 miles north of Anacapa Island, California, following a catastrophic loss of pitch control, killing all 88 on board: two pilots, three flight attendants, and 83 passengers. The flight was a scheduled international passenger flight from Licenciado Gustavo Díaz Ordaz International Airport in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico, to Seattle–Tacoma International Airport near Seattle, Washington, United States, with an intermediate stop at San Francisco International Airport near San Francisco, California.
Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 was a scheduled flight from New York JFK to Miami. Shortly before midnight on December 29, 1972, the Lockheed L-1011-1 TriStar crashed into the Florida Everglades, causing 101 total fatalities. Three of the four cockpit crew members, two of the 10 flight attendants, and 96 of the 163 passengers were killed; 75 people survived.
Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2501 was a DC-4 operating its daily transcontinental service between New York City and Seattle when it disappeared on the night of June 23, 1950. The flight was carrying 55 passengers and three crew members; the loss of all 58 aboard made it the deadliest commercial airliner accident in America at the time.
Kenya Airways Flight 431 was an international scheduled Abidjan–Lagos–Nairobi passenger service, operated by Kenyan national airline Kenya Airways. On 30 January 2000, the Airbus A310-300 serving the flight crashed into the sea off the Ivory Coast, shortly after takeoff from Félix-Houphouët-Boigny International Airport, Abidjan. There were 179 people on board, of whom 169 were passengers. Only ten people survived.
New Pacific Airlines, Inc., d.b.a. Ravn Alaska, is an Alaskan airline that specializes in serving the small communities in the US state of Alaska. The airline is headquartered in Anchorage, which is also home to its primary hub, Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.
Deadliest Catch is an American reality television series that premiered on the Discovery Channel on April 12, 2005. The show follows crab fishermen aboard fishing vessels in the Bering Sea during the Alaskan king crab and snow crab fishing seasons. The base of operations for the fishing fleet is the Aleutian Islands port of Dutch Harbor, Alaska. Produced for the Discovery Channel, the show's title is derived from the inherent high risk of injury or death associated with this line of work.
Aeroflot Flight 593 was a passenger flight from Sheremetyevo International Airport, Moscow, Russia, to Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong. On 23 March 1994, the aircraft operating the route, an Airbus A310-304 flown by Aeroflot, crashed into the Kuznetsk Alatau mountain range in Kemerovo Oblast, killing all 63 passengers and 12 crew members on board.
Tom Madsen Airport is a state-owned public-use airport in City of Unalaska, on Amaknak Island in the Aleutian Islands, off the coast of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is located near the Bering Sea coast of Unalaska Island, 800 miles (1,300 km) southwest of Anchorage and 1,950 miles (3,140 km) from Seattle.
Kenya Airways Flight 507 was a scheduled Abidjan–Douala–Nairobi passenger service, operated by Kenya Airways. On 5 May 2007, the Boeing 737–800 aircraft serving the flight crashed in the initial stage of its second leg, immediately after takeoff from Douala International Airport in Cameroon.
The Grand Canyon mid-air collision occurred in the western United States on June 30, 1956, when a United Airlines Douglas DC-7 struck a Trans World Airlines Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation over Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. The first one fell into a canyon and the other one slammed into a rock face. All 128 on board both airplanes perished, making it the first commercial airline incident to exceed one hundred fatalities. The airplanes had departed Los Angeles International Airport minutes apart from each other and headed for Chicago and Kansas City, respectively. The collision took place in uncontrolled airspace, where it was the pilots' responsibility to maintain separation. This highlighted the antiquated state of air traffic control, which became the focus of major aviation reforms.
Discovery Turbo is an Indian male-oriented factual television channel devoted to programming regarding cars, bikes, boats, and planes. The channel is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel was launched in January 2010 replacing Discovery Real Time and was later converted into a men's only channel on 1 December 2014.
Soldotna Airport is a city-owned, public use airport located one nautical mile (1.85 km) southeast of the central business district of Soldotna, Alaska.
Flying Wild Alaska is a documentary television series that aired on Discovery Channel in 2011 and 2012.
On April 27, 2012, a multinational team of television studios staged an airplane crash near Mexicali, Mexico. An unmanned Boeing 727-200, fitted with numerous cameras, crash test dummies and other scientific instruments, was flown into the ground. The exercise was filmed for television.
John Driftmier was a Canadian documentary director. His works included Dangerous Flights, Licence to Drill, and Ice Pilots NWT.
Murat Öztürk was a Turkish professional aerobatics pilot and former camera operator.
Suicide by pilot is an aviation event in which a pilot deliberately crashes or attempts to crash an aircraft as a suicide act, with or without the intention of causing harm to passengers on board or people on the ground. If others are killed, it may be considered a type of murder–suicide. It is suspected to have been a possible cause in several commercial flight crashes and has been confirmed as the cause in other instances. Determining the motives of pilots can be challenging for crash investigators, as pilots may intentionally disable recording devices or engage in other actions to impede future investigations. Consequently, definitively proving pilot suicide can be difficult.
Cold Water Cowboys is a Canadian documentary/reality series developed by Tyson Hepburn and John Driftmier. It aired on Discovery Channel Canada for 34 episodes and 4 seasons from 2014 to 2017. The show was filmed in Newfoundland and tells the story of six local captains and their crews.
Tyson Hepburn is a Vancouver-based Television creator, director and producer. He is also an Executive Producer at Mayhem Entertainment.
