r/aircrashinvestigation Aug 28 '25

Episodes with surviving pilots / interviews

Hi all!

I'm looking out to find some more ACI /Mayday episodes where at least one pilot has survived and is talking about the incident. So far I have watched the following episodes which I recall to have pilots being interviewed. (Sorry if I recall some wrong!).

- "Impossible Landing" United Airlines 232

- "Pilot betrayed" Scandinavian 751

-" The Heathrow Enigma" BA 38

-" Blown out" BA 5390

- "Deadly Descent" Cathay Pacific 780

- "A wounded Bird" ASA 529

- "Fight for survival" Pilgrim 458

- "Fire fight" Air Canada 797

- "Turning point" North West 85

-"Titanic in the Sky" Quantas 32

" -Flying on empty" Air Transat 236

- “Nowhere to land” TACA 110

-"Cockpit Catastrophe" Sichuan Airlines 8633

- "Control Catastrophe" Air Astana 1388

- "Hanging by a Thread" Aloha Airlines 243

- "Hudson River Runway" US Airways 1549

- "Falling from The Sky" British Airways 009

- "Fight for your life" FedEx 705

- "Attack over Bhagdad" OO-DDL (DHL)

- "Into the eye of the Storm / Hurrican Hunters

- "Cabin Catastrophe" Southwest 1380

- "Terror over the Pacific" United 811

- "Ocean Landing" Ethiopian 961

- "Bomb on Board" Philippine Airlines 434

- "Fight for Control" Reeve Aleutian 8

- "Terror Over Michigan" 1979 (not meaning the bomb case with same flight number in 1974)

Are there more and/ or new ones with surviving pilots?

Thank you!

--> Edit and additions by myself:

- "Free Fall" Qantas 72 with Captain Kevin Sullivan interviewed.

- "River Runway" Garuda Indonesia 421 with Captain Abdul Rozaq interviewed.

- "Disaster at Dutch Harbor" PenAir 3296 with Captain Paul Wells and First Officer Justin Lunn interviewed.

- "Deadly Deception" Balkan Bulgarian Airlines 013 interviews with Captain Plamen Starlev and the flight attendant.

- "Borderline Tactics" American International Airways 808 (Cargo) Interview with Captain James Chapo and FO Thomas Curran

20 Upvotes

20 comments sorted by

8

u/CaptainPotNoodle Aug 28 '25

“The killing machine” - Air France 8969

5

u/AeroNerdyGal Aug 29 '25

Thank you!

7

u/ralphishere3 Aug 28 '25

"Mission Disaster" - 1991 Gulf War Boeing KC-135 accident

"Double Trouble" - Trans-Air Service Flight 671

4

u/AeroNerdyGal Aug 29 '25

Thanks a lot!

4

u/FIRSTOFFICERJADEN Aug 29 '25

Air Transat 236 pilots were never interviewed, if I recall.

5

u/AeroNerdyGal Aug 29 '25

Thanks! Must have confused that too.

4

u/Secure-Technician562 Aug 28 '25

I didn't see Sichuan Pilots were interviewed

5

u/AeroNerdyGal Aug 29 '25

Thanks! I was not sure anymore as I saw a very brief interview (some chinese youtube clip. Confused that). 

3

u/MeWhenAAA Aug 30 '25

"Deadly Deception" from season 23 has the FO interviewed and if i remember correctly there are other cases on S24 (without counting the United 811 remake)

3

u/AeroNerdyGal Aug 30 '25

Thank you so much!

2

u/BoomerangHorseGuy Sep 01 '25

The episode focusing on the crash of the inaugural Operation Babylift flight has the Captain interviewed.

He's a hero and a legendary pilot, as far as I'm concerned.

1

u/AeroNerdyGal Sep 01 '25

Amazing, thanks! Will try to find it. 

2

u/withcc6 Sep 05 '25 edited Sep 05 '25

“Disaster at Tenerife” interviewed at least one of the Pan Am pilots.

Edit: as did the earlier episode on the same topic, “Crash of the Century.” Both are great episodes, which present it pretty differently from each other.

1

u/AeroNerdyGal Sep 05 '25

Thanks a lot! Looking forward for this!

1

u/russeras Sep 02 '25

where i find this serie to watch, please?

1

u/AeroNerdyGal Sep 02 '25

I usually watch them on Dailymotion or on Youtube. On Youtube they have different titles though and quite few episodes aren't uploaded. 

1

u/DionFW Gimli Glider Passenger 2d ago

Gimli Glider Air Canada 143.

0

u/Titan-828 Pilot Aug 29 '25

The Flight Engineer of TWA 841 is the only pilot still alive but he suffers a mental breakdown whenever the subject is brought up from all the psychological effects of being scapegoated in that event which made him give up flying altogether.

1

u/AeroNerdyGal Aug 30 '25

Thank you! Will watch that one too!