Mentour Pilot: Aviation Accidents explained

On September 2nd 1998 Swiss Air Flight 111 was on route overnight crossing the Atlantic on what was supposed to be an ordinary flight. However, this was anything but ordinary. A single electrical spark hidden above the cockpit triggered one of the most devastating in-flight fires in aviation... This is the full story of Swiss Air 111

On June 6, 1971, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 airliner and a US Marine Corps F-4 Phantom fighter jet collided over Southern California, this tragic accident exposed critical flaws in US airspace management that still exist today. This is the full story of Hughes Airwest Flight 706

TWA Flight 514 was not brought down by weather or mechanical failure, but by a misunderstanding shared across the aviation system. The result of this accident changed aviation forever… This is the full story of TWA Flight 514

Everything that could go wrong went wrong for Miami Air flight 293. A broken thrust reverser, failed air conditioning, and 4 hours of delays were just the beginning. When the crew finally attempted to land at Jacksonville in a thunderstorm, disaster struck. This is the the full story of Miami Air Flight 293.

On May 12th, 2010. Afriqiyah Airways was on route to Tripoli, Libya. This crash was one of the deadliest aviation disasters in Libya ever and the first fatal accident in the history of Afriqiyah Airways… So what happened? Let’s find out.

On August 27th, 2006, Comair Flight 5191 made a devastating wrong turn. An overconfident crew led to a chain reaction of mistakes leading them onto the wrong runway, by the time they realised something was wrong it was already too late. This is the full story of Comair Flight 5191.

On January 26th, 2020. A helicopter crashed into the hillside in the city of Calabasas California, amongst the passengers was Kobe Bryant, who was famous for being meticulous about safety when it comes to travelling. So how did this happen? This is what really happened in the Kobe Bryant Crash.

On a summer evening in 1996, a Boeing 747 vanished from the skies off Long Island and nobody could agree on what happened. Hundreds of witnesses. Countless theories. One devastating truth. This is the story of TWA Flight 800.

How could an airplane find itself trying to take off with a hundred thousand kilos more weight on board than what the pilots had calculated with? And exactly what would happen if it did? Well that's exactly what happened to LATAM Flight 8073, so how did this happen? Let's find out!

April 4, 1977. A routine departure turns deadly as Southern Airways Flight 242 lifts off into a brewing storm over Alabama. What begins as a short, uneventful hop quickly spirals into one of aviation’s most terrifying encounters with extreme weather and a crazy landing.

On 11 December 1998, Thai Airways Flight 261, crashed on its third approach to Surat Thani Airport in southern Thailand. After two failed landing attempts in deteriorating weather, the crew attempted a third and lost control of the aircraft seconds into the go-around. This is full the story Thai Airways Flight 261.

Late in the afternoon on August 25th, 2001, on board a small Cessna were a single pilot, eight passengers, and their luggage among them was singer and actress Aaliyah, whose career had been rising rapidly through the late 1990s and early 2000s. What followed was an accident that would change the face of both music and aviation for years to come.

On January 29th, 2025. A bombardier CRJ700 and a U.S Army helicopter collided over the Potomac River in Washington. This tragic accident is one of the deadliest US air disasters in years. This is the full story of what happened.

On the 14th Of August 2005 Helios Airways flight 522 took off on a routine flight via Athens to Prague. Due to a combination of a faulty cockpit setup and misidentification of the different cockpit alarms the pilots, crew, and passengers became unconscious suffering from hypoxia. The aircraft continued it's silent flight towards Athens without anyone at the controls.

On the 14th of May 1977, a Dan-Air Boeing 707 freighter was on a routine approach into Lusaka, Zambia, when something almost no crew in history has ever experienced happened. Suddenly the aircraft tore apart. There was no warning, no system failure, and nothing the pilots could have done.

On the rainy night of September 20th, 1989, a Boeing 737-400 thundered down LaGuardia's runway with nothing mechanically wrong with it, yet within seconds it would shoot off the end of the runway and into the dark waters of Bowery Bay. So how did this happen? Let's find out.

It looks like a simple icing accident. It wasn't. Behind it was an airline where doing the right thing got you threatened, defects went on Post-it notes instead of the logbook, and every safety net had quietly been removed. What seems like a simple crash goes far deeper than you'd expect. This is the full story of Air Ontario 1363.

On the night of 24 February 1989, United Airlines Flight 811 climbed away from Honolulu bound for Auckland with 355 people on board. Minutes later, a loud thunk echoed through the cabin and seconds after that, the side of the aircraft tore open in mid-air.

On 16 August 1991, Indian Airlines Flight 257 was operating a routine flight. The crew decided to violate the approach procedure by taking a short cut and during the approach, the crew did not adequately monitor their instruments, despite the deteriorating weather condition at the time. What happened next was catastrophic.

In 1987, South African Airways Flight 295 was scheduled on an international flight. A Boeing 858 named Helderberg experienced a catastrophic in-flight fire in the cargo area. The official inquiry was unable to determine the cause of the fire, leading to mass speculation and debate surrounding what exactly happened that day.

On the 5th of November 2014, an Airbus A321 took off from Bilbao heading for Munich with 109 people on board. Somewhere in the climb, the nose started dropping. The pilots pulled back on the sidestick. Nothing changed...

An easyJet A320 with 185 people on board is cleared to land at Bordeaux, whilst up on the runway in a tiny Robin, a father and son are waiting for a take-off clearance that never comes... The controller has forgotten they exist, and from the air, the little white aircraft has vanished against the white threshold markings as the Airbus approaches for landing. So what happened? Let's find out.

Aeroperú Flight 603 was a scheduled passenger flight from Miami International Airport in Miami to a final destination of Santiago. On October 2, 1996, the Boeing 757 aircraft flying the final leg of the flight crashed into the Pacific Ocean. So what happened that day?

Delta 191, a regularly scheduled domestic flight from Florida to California. A regular flight that ended in disaster due to an invisible threat, a threat that was so severe that aviation safety was forever changed after this event. So what happened?

On February 3, 1959, American rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and "The Big Bopper" also known as J. P. Richardson had a fatal accident near Clear Lake, Iowa, together with pilot Roger Peterson. This event later became known as "The Day the Music Died".