Plane Crash Diaries

By: Desmond Latham
Listen for free

  • Summary

  • I'm a pilot obsessed with flying and all things aviation. This podcast series covers more than a century of commercial aviation and how its shaped the world. Aviation is now safer than its ever been, but it took one hundred years of learning and often through accidents and incidents to reduce the risk of flying.
    All rights reserved
    Show more Show less
Science
Show more Show less
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2
Episodes
  • Episode 40 - Shoddy Maintenance and blown screens

    Episode 40 - Shoddy Maintenance and blown screens
    Aug 22 2024
    Episode 40 is about maintenance blunders. Aviation is littered with a long list of these, sometimes it the failure of unofficial parts, sometimes its poor management, sometimes engineers who cut corners - and believe it or not, all three. Because the topic is vast, I’m going to return to this subject in future podcasts. In this episode we’re going to focus on ground crews replacing important components with non-certified parts and what happens to aeroplanes when you do that. Our first nomination - the 1949 Strato-Freight Curtiss C-46A crash into the ocean 10 kilometers west of San Juan-Isla Grande airport in Puerto Rico which killed 53 of the 81 people aboard. The plane was en route to Miami and what happened was not just a story of bad maintenance. Three days prior to the accident, on 4 June 1949 the Strato Freight C-46 arrived in San Juan from Newark, New Jersey for regular maintenance. Mechanics installed a new flap follow cable, then checked both engines and they noted the right engine was misfiring. Thirteen new spark plugs were installed, the engines cleared and the Curtiss C-46 D registration NC92857 was sent back to its routes. We’ll come back to the problem with the plugs in a moment. On 7 June the Curtiss was cleared for a flight to Miami, taxying to the runway at 00:10 a midnight flight. Cheaper flight and strike two was the crew overloaded the plane. There were 75 passengers aboard, including five infants, babes in arms, and 14 other children aged between 2 and 12. Captain Lee Howard Wakefield was in charge, also on board were Captain Alfred Cockrill — the company chief pilot and vice president of Strato-Freight. Copilots were John Connell and George Cary. Stewardess as they called them back in the day, was Judith Hale.Moving along to example two of flouting maintenance rules A Transat Flight 236 from Toronto to Lisbon scheduled August 24th 2001. Everyone survived this accident as you’ll hear. The Airbus A330 lost all engine power while flying over the Atlantic Ocean- all because of improper maintenance. This incident became known as the Azores Glider - it was the longest passenger aircraft glide without engines at that point, gliding for nearly 75 miles or 121 km As you’re going to hear, the flight crew made the situation worse although they apparently appeared to get a bad rap. Experienced pilot 48 year-old Captain Robert Piché was in command, first officer was 28 year-old Dirk DeJager. Piche had 16 800 hours with 796 on an Airbus, while DeJager had logged 4800 hours - 386 on an Airbus. The aircraft was registered as C-GITS configured with 362 seats and placed in service by Air Transat on April 28, 1999. It was powered by two Rolls-Royce Trent 772B-60 engines. Leaving the gate in Toronto, the aircraft had 46.9 tonnes of fuel on board, 4.5 tonnes more than required by regulations. So how did it run out of fuel?The third example of poor maintenance involved the British Airways Flight 5390 1990 event which is very well known, when an improperly installed windscreen blew out, causing the Captain Timothy Lancaster to be sucked partially out of the flight deck. Again, this was a matter of millimetres. First the events of 10th June 1990. The County of South Glamorgan was a BAC One-Eleven Series 528FL jet airliner, registered as G-BJRT, captained by 42-year-old Timothy Lancaster. He had 11,050 flight hours, including 1,075 hours on the BAC One-Eleven, while the first officer was 39-year-old Alastair Atchison who had logged 7,500 flight hours — 1,100 of them on the BAC One-Eleven. The aircraft carried four cabin crew and 81 passengers. Atchison flew what was called a routine take-off at 08:20 local time, then handed control to Lancaster as the BAC One-Eleven Series climbed. As was the habit at the time, both pilots released their shoulder harnesses and Lancaster went further, loosening his lap belt.
    Show more Show less
    24 mins
  • Episode 39 - Deadly delays during Ramadan as Saudia Airlines Flight 163 crew dawdles

    Episode 39 - Deadly delays during Ramadan as Saudia Airlines Flight 163 crew dawdles
    Jun 19 2024
    This is episode 39 and we’re looking at a horrendous accident, Saudia Airlines Flight 163, a Lockheed TriStar which was gutted in a blaze on the ground on 19th August 1980 - all 301 aboard died. The plane was registered in Saudi Arabia as HZ-AHK, and made its first first flight on 13 July 1979, and was delivered brand new to Saudia on 21 August 1979. Some say this is a classic case of cockpit resource management gone haywire, with the combination of an autocratic captain, a young and apparently undercooked first officer, and a flight engineer who had his own list of mysteries as you’re going to hear.Saudia Flight 163 was a scheduled passenger flight departing from Karachi, Pakistan, bound for Kandara Airport in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia with a stop planned at Riyadh International Airport. The majority of the passengers were Saudi and Pakistani religious pilgrims on their way to Mecca for a traditional Ramadan holiday, joined by 32 religious pilgrims from Iran. A small number of pax worked in diplomatic missions for various countries. The question was why the captain had not shut down all engines immediately.He may have prevented the flight attendants from initiating the evacuation by continuing to operate the engines after stopping the aircraft.
    Show more Show less
    15 mins
  • Episode 38 - Newark Airport’s “umbrella of death” and Jimmy Doolittle’s clear ways

    Episode 38 - Newark Airport’s “umbrella of death” and Jimmy Doolittle’s clear ways
    Feb 6 2024
    This episode we’re going to take a look at commercial airliners that have hit obstacles near runways and how three accidents in the small town of Elizabeth New Jersey in 1951 and 1952 led to rules about clear ways and re-zoning. It’s important though to stress how the rules have changed improving safety particularly with regard to clear ways. Take one of the the earliest which was the 1933 Imperial Airways Ruysselede incident on 30 December 1933 when an Avro Ten collided with a radio mast at the town of Ruysselede, West Flanders, Belgium and crashed killing all ten people on board. The Avro Ten's registration was G-ABLU, nickname Apollo, and had entered service with Imperial Airways in May 1931. Apollo the Avro Ten departed Cologne at 12:20 local time - 20 minutes later than scheduled. A thick fog hampered the flight, and the pilots headed out on a track to the north of the normal route. They appeared to be blissfully unaware of the threat that awaited. Less than an hour later at 13h15 the aircraft was cruising at 250 feet when it hit a guy wire of the 870 foot tall Ruysselede radio mast. The force of the strike demolished the top section of the mast and the Avro Ten lost a wing and crashed. Four workers at the radio station rushed to help those on board the aircraft, joined by local villagers from Ruysselede. At least one passenger survived the crash, but in a horrible moment, before they could save him, then there was an explosion and the aircraft burnt up despite valiant attempts by the rescuers to get to those on board all perished. Thirteen of the rescuers suffered serious burns they were so committed. It’s time now to take a closer look at three accidents in a small town called Elizabeth located close to New Jersey’s Newark International Airport that were going to change aviation regulations regarding zoning and clear ways amongst other rules. The first crash took place on December 16 1951, when a Miami Airlines flight from Newark to Tampa hit a warehouse in an industrial stretch of the Elizabeth River. All 56 passengers and crew died. Witnesses described seeing the Curtiss C-46 Commando plane belching smoke after take off. The plane lost altitude, swept low over Elizabeth CBD, stalled, and crashing into the warehouse — parts of the plane skidded through the building into the river Elizabeth. This second crash led Elizabeth Mayor James T. Kirk to demand that Newark Airport be closed, a move opposed by the Port Authority because of those two terminal illnesses called stupid politics and greed. But there was a third crash that was imminent - and strike three would change everyone's minds.
    Show more Show less
    20 mins

What listeners say about Plane Crash Diaries

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    10
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    11
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    10
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Audible.com reviews

Amazon reviews
Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for John Mountz

well said

nice flow of events and aviation details. enjoyable for listening . from a 60 year veteran pilot.

Report this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for TDW

Factual, fascinating, darkly fun

Great speaker telling interesting stories of air tragedies. Very addictive! Story of Paine Stewart a great example start there. Also airship history!!!

Report this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Rudy Garcia-Tolson

Perfect

This guy has some really good stuff. His battle of stalingrad podcast is a must for ww2 historians

Report this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!