Personally, the one I watch the most is Mayday: Air Disaster, but I was wondering if there are any other shows/videos. I've tried browsing and only found a few that I found informative and entertaining.

Here is one on Silkair flight 185
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ig9LE0Vp1YM

And this one on MH370
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd2KEHvK-q8

I've also tried smithsonian's videos but I heard that they were more or less a spinoff of mayday, so I somewhat lost interest.

Any other shows that you recommend? I really want to know because it's a hobby of mine to watch them on youtube and I really want to get ahead of the class in school. (Yes, I have an aviation class)

When watching a bunch of Mayday/Air Crash Investigation episodes, I made a comprehensive list... topic, quality of presentation, my rating...

Here the list of those I found best.

Season Episode Title Year of accident Description
7 2 Lockerbie Disaster 1988 Libyan terrorists... etc...
5 9 Fatal Distraction 1972 Eastern Air Lines 401 Everglades
12 6 Grand Canyon Disaster 1956 DC-7 and Constellation crash over the Grand Canyon, ATC didn't assign altitudes and routes then, pilots just had to report when reaching certain waypoints
5 3 Behind Closed Doors 1972 / 1974 The famous DC-10 freight door
15 4 Fatal Delivery 2010 UPS 6, lithium-ion fire, crash after TO in Dubai
12 9 Lokomotiv Hockey Team Disaster 2011 runway overrun
10 1 Cockpit Failure 2001 Crossair crash, descending below MSA during approach
1 6 Flying On Empty Air Transat glider
2 2 Racing the Storm 1999 Bad judgment by pilots, landing in very severe weather, not properly preparing the landing
2 3 The Killing Machine Air France 300 hijacking Algiers
2 4 Deadly Crossroads 2002 Überlingen disaster
4 10 Ghost Plane 2005 Helios crash
5 7 Air India: Explosive Evidence 1985 Sikhs bombing a 747
7 3 Blown Apart 1989 Partnair Flight 394
12 10 Death of the President 2010 Tu-154 with the Polish president on board crashes in Smolensk
13 7 Massacre over the Mediterranean 1980 Ustica incident
14 1 M1 Disaster Kegworth disaster; pilots shutting down the healthy engine
14 2 Niki Lauda: Testing the Limits in-flight thrust reverser action
16 7 Murder in the Skies Germanwings crash in the French Alps
12 2 Fire in the Hold 1996 Valujet, chemical oxygen generator shipped as cargo

Seconds from Disaster is another investigative show. That show covers disasters in all situations and industries and is not relegated to just plane crashes. They really did a good job with the UA 232 and AA 191 episodes, better IMO than the Mayday/Air Crash Investigation versions.

phatfarmlines wrote:

Seconds from Disaster is another investigative show. That show covers disasters in all situations and industries and is not relegated to just plane crashes. They really did a good job with the UA 232 and AA 191 episodes, better IMO than the Mayday/Air Crash Investigation versions.

Yep, it's great. But the episode "Fire on the Ski Slope" (the Kaprun cable car disaster, 155 deaths) was a terrible disappointment. Because the cover-up - also from the judicial side - could easily fill another episode.

The episode basically ends with "an electric heater caused the fire."

But the heater was not installed properly; it was one intended for home and recreational uses, and not to be used for vehicles. Also, the heater's warranty was voided as soon as mechanics modified the heater to fit into the cable car cabin. No engineer checked the design.

The Austrian judiciary branch then made an "attempt" at determining who could be responsible for negligent manslaughter. The prosecutor quarrelled with a office that had impounded the heater. An expertise written by an actual expert was disregarded. "But, according to our laws, that cable car was not a vehicle, and so the safety rules for installing heaters into vehicles are not applicable."

Nobody was sentenced.

The Austrians then made the error of indicting the German company that sold the heater. Upon which the German investigators asked the Austrians for *all* documentation, witness statements, the heater itself, reports, everything. Oh boy, they came to some conclusions. They basically napalmed everything the Austrian investigators had said.

Try reading any of MacArthur Jobs books on the subject, probably the best around

TUGMASTER wrote:

Try reading any of MacArthur Jobs books on the subject, probably the best around

This! Those air disaster TV shows just make me cringe when they do the cockpit scenes. Bad acting that sounds nothing like the CVR recordings.

DL_Mech wrote:

TUGMASTER wrote:

Try reading any of MacArthur Jobs books on the subject, probably the best around

This! Those air disaster TV shows just make me cringe when they do the cockpit scenes. Bad acting that sounds nothing like the CVR recordings.

I don't think all the cockpit scenes are bad. Sure, a lot of them are, but I think this one in particular is a big exception
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQRb7VT3q2g

flyingturtle wrote:

When watching a bunch of Mayday/Air Crash Investigation episodes, I made a comprehensive list... topic, quality of presentation, my rating...

Here the list of those I found best.

Season Episode Title Year of accident Description
7 2 Lockerbie Disaster 1988 Libyan terrorists... etc...
5 9 Fatal Distraction 1972 Eastern Air Lines 401 Everglades
12 6 Grand Canyon Disaster 1956 DC-7 and Constellation crash over the Grand Canyon, ATC didn't assign altitudes and routes then, pilots just had to report when reaching certain waypoints
5 3 Behind Closed Doors 1972 / 1974 The famous DC-10 freight door
15 4 Fatal Delivery 2010 UPS 6, lithium-ion fire, crash after TO in Dubai
12 9 Lokomotiv Hockey Team Disaster 2011 runway overrun
10 1 Cockpit Failure 2001 Crossair crash, descending below MSA during approach
1 6 Flying On Empty Air Transat glider
2 2 Racing the Storm 1999 Bad judgment by pilots, landing in very severe weather, not properly preparing the landing
2 3 The Killing Machine Air France 300 hijacking Algiers
2 4 Deadly Crossroads 2002 Überlingen disaster
4 10 Ghost Plane 2005 Helios crash
5 7 Air India: Explosive Evidence 1985 Sikhs bombing a 747
7 3 Blown Apart 1989 Partnair Flight 394
12 10 Death of the President 2010 Tu-154 with the Polish president on board crashes in Smolensk
13 7 Massacre over the Mediterranean 1980 Ustica incident
14 1 M1 Disaster Kegworth disaster; pilots shutting down the healthy engine
14 2 Niki Lauda: Testing the Limits in-flight thrust reverser action
16 7 Murder in the Skies Germanwings crash in the French Alps
12 2 Fire in the Hold 1996 Valujet, chemical oxygen generator shipped as cargo

I'd also add S5E5 "Dead Weight" a Beech 1900d that crashed after takeoff from Charlotte due to overweight, every other episode from Seasons 1 & 2, and S10E2 "The Heathrow Enigma" a British Airways 777 that crash-landed just short of London Heathrow in 2008.

TUGMASTER wrote:

Try reading any of MacArthur Jobs books on the subject, probably the best around

So I'm wanting to ask my parents for Mr Job's Air Disaster Volumes 1-4 for my birthday, but I can only find the first volume on Amazon. Does anyone have a link where the others could be purchased?

Boeing757100 wrote:

TUGMASTER wrote:

Try reading any of MacArthur Jobs books on the subject, probably the best around

So I'm wanting to ask my parents for Mr Job's Air Disaster Volumes 1-4 for my birthday, but I can only find the first volume on Amazon. Does anyone have a link where the others could be purchased?

Just had a quick look on eBay..
All 4 volumes available for around £30-40
Separate sellers tho’

TUGMASTER wrote:

Boeing757100 wrote:

TUGMASTER wrote:

Try reading any of MacArthur Jobs books on the subject, probably the best around

So I'm wanting to ask my parents for Mr Job's Air Disaster Volumes 1-4 for my birthday, but I can only find the first volume on Amazon. Does anyone have a link where the others could be purchased?

Just had a quick look on eBay..
All 4 volumes available for around £30-40
Separate sellers tho’

Can you please provide me with the links? I tried searching but could not find. Did they already get sold?

OK, PM me ,
And I’ll send the links.
Unsure of A.net rules wether I can promote 3rd party sellers.

Edit: I was looking at eBay UK, but a quick glance at eBay US shows all volumes available too.

distaster breakdown on youtube is quite good and sometime provide the CVR in his video (such as the aeroflot 593 one)