Mayday, also known as Air Crash Investigation(s) in the United Kingdom, Australia and Asia and Air Emergency and Air Disasters in the United States, is a Canadian documentary television program produced by Cineflix investigating air crashes, near-crashes, fires, hijackings, bombings and other disasters. It reveals events that led up to each disaster, the causes of the incidents and the measures recommended in the report by the NTSB or the investigating Commission to prevent a similar incident happening again. It features re-enactments, interviews, eyewitness testimony, computer-generated imagery, and in some episodes cockpit voice recordings were used to reconstruct the sequence of events to the audiences.
As of Febuary 17, 2012, a total of 83 episodes of Mayday have aired including five "Science of Disaster" specials and three "Crash Scene Investigation" spin-offs.
Season 8 (2009)[]
Season 8 of Mayday was the second season of the "Science of Disaster" series consisting of 2 episodes.
| # | Title= | Disaster(s) | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | "System Breakdown" | Flights 2/718, 498/N4891F, 52, 1907/N600XL and 2937/611 | |
| ShortSummary = This special looked at the role of air traffic controllers in the airline industry, and took a look at the Next Generation Air Transportation System, a new technology meant to eliminate mid-air collisions by reducing overall dependence on radar and radio, as well as delegating some of the air traffic controllers' tasks to computers on board each plane.----
Type of aircraft: TW 2: Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation and UA 718: Douglas DC-7 Mainliner, AM 498: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 and N4891F: Piper PA-28-181 Archer, AV 52: Boeing 707-320B, G3 1907: Boeing 737-800 and N600XL: Embraer Legacy 600, V9 2937: Tupolev Tu-154M and QY 611: Boeing 757-23APF. Cause of disaster: TW 2/UA 718: Mid-air collision over uncontrolled airspace, AM 498/N4891F: Mid-air collision, pilot error (Piper), ATC error, outdated radar, AV 52: Numerous delays, fuel starvation, pilot error and ATC error, G3 1907/N600XL: Mid-air collision resulting from ATC error, design flaw (Embraer), pilot error (Embraer), V9 2937/QY 611: Mid-air collision, ATC error, pilot error. | |||
| # | Title= | Disaster(s) | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 02 | "Cruel Skies" | Flights 242, 191, 1420 and 9 | January 23, 2005 |
| ShortSummary = This special looked at the role of bad weather in disasters, and toured the US Aviation Weather Centre in Kansas City, Missouri to see how information on weather is transmitted to pilots in the sky.
Type of aircraft: SO 242: McDonnel Douglas DC-9-32, DL 191: Lockheed L-1011-385-1 Tristar, AA 1420: McDonnell Douglas MD-82, BA 9: Boeing 747-200B. Cause of disasters: SO 242: Extreme weather leading to multiple engine failure, DL 191: Microburst-induced wind shear, pilot error, AA 1420: Foul weather, runway overrun resulting from pilot error, BA 9: Failure of all engines in volcanic ash cloud. | |||