Take to the Sky: the Air Disaster Podcast

On August 12, 1985, more than 500 passengers boarded Japan Air Lines Flight 123 for a short flight between Tokyo and Osaka. 12 minutes into the flight, passengers found themselves fearing for their lives as the flight crew fought desperately to save a plane that was suddenly uncontrollable. In this week's episode of Take to the Sky: the Air Disaster Podcast-- our final episode outside of Patreon-- Stephanie shares the story of the deadliest single-aircraft accident in aviation history and the people who are part of a legacy that changed what safe flight means across the world. It's official: this is our last episode! If you're still looking for new episodes, you'll find us exclusively on Patreon sharing a new episode and layover episode each month. Thank you for spending the last three years- and 150 Thursdays- with us!

It was the deadliest disaster of all time – and it never should have happened. In our next-to-final regular episode of Take to the Sky: The Air Disaster Podcast, Shelly walks us through the fateful events of March 27, 1977, that led to two 747 passenger planes, Pan Am 1736 and KLM 4508, being on the same runway at the same time - and how aviation safety was never the same because of this mega disaster.

July 23, 1983 should have been just another day in the skies for Captain Bob Pearson and First Officer Maurice Quintal, but a series of miscommunications and mechanicals issues caught up with them and their brand-new Boeing 767 once they reached their cruising altitude. In this week's episode of Take to the Sky: The Air Disaster Podcast, we talk about the incredible story of Air Canada Flight 143, a flight crew who found themselves to be uniquely qualified for the most unexpected of issues, and the shocking reasons the plane-- now known as the Gimli Glider-- came to be powerless in the sky. (Only 2 episodes left! Starting in June we'll be exclusively on Patreon to share a new episode and layover episode each month.)

Whenever Concorde took off, it was a mesmerizing spectacle. But on July 25, 2000, when an Air France Concorde took the skies, it did so with flames trailing behind it. Join Shelly for this episode of Take to the Sky: The Air Disaster Podcast where she shares the story of the only deadly Concorde disaster and how it led to the downfall of the entire fleet and spelled the end of supersonic passenger transport. (Only 3 episodes left! Starting in June we'll be exclusively on Patreon sharing a new episode and layover episode each month.)

On a quiet December morning in 1960, the streets of New York city turned from festive cheer to chaos when an aviation disaster played out in the skies above. In this week's episode of Take to the Sky: the Air Disaster Podcast, Stephanie shares the story of two planes headed to two different airports and the tragic chain of events that brought them to the same place at the same time. (Only 4 episodes left! Starting in June we'll be exclusively on Patreon sharing a new episode and layover episode each month.)

Anyone onboard Santa Barbara Airlines Flight 518 on February 21, 2008 would have been taking in the gorgeous views of the Andes as the plane began to climb. But soon, as the mountain tops got closer and closer, some may have started to worry if the plane was flying too low. Join Shelly in this episode of Take to the Sky: The Air Disaster Podcast for our latest episode where we encounter a flight crew who seemed to be lost in the clouds. (Only 5 episodes left! Starting in June we'll be exclusively on Patreon sharing a new episode and layover episode each month.)

As seven co-workers prepared for the final leg of a whirlwind business trip, they had no idea that they were about to spend the most dangerous 30 minutes imaginable on a luxury private jet. In this week's episode of Take to the Sky: the Air Disaster podcast, join Stephanie as she shares the shocking events that lead to what the NTSB called a "litany of failures" and the aviation community remembers as a heartbreaking and unnecessary tragedy. Don't miss a single legacy: join our Patreon for exclusive air disaster stories, layover episodes, and surprises! Visit our website at taketotheskypodcast.com for show notes and our merch store!

When friends and family said their goodbyes and bid farewell to the 75 Marshall University football players, coaches, and fans as they boarded Southern Airways Flight 932, they didn’t know that was the last time they would see them alive. Join Shelly in our latest episode of Take to the Sky: The Air Disaster Podcast for the story of a school and a community that vowed to rebuild in the face of unspeakable loss, and in doing so, inspired documentaries and motion picture film We Are Marshall. Don't miss a single legacy: join our Patreon for exclusive air disaster stories, layover episodes, and surprises! Visit our website at taketotheskypodcast.com for show notes and our merch store!

Delta Air Lines Flight 191 should have been a routine trip from Ft. Lauderdale to Dallas Fort Worth, but instead it found a tragic and industry-changing place in aviation history. In this week's episode of Take to the Sky: The Air Disaster Podcast, Stephanie shares some of the incredible ways this flight made flight safer for all of us and how the crew and passengers contributed to its lasting legacy. Don't miss a single legacy: join our Patreon for exclusive air disaster stories, layover episodes, and surprises! Visit our website at taketotheskypodcast.com for show notes and our merch store!

When seventeen-year-old Juliane Koepcke and her mother, Maria, decided to fly back home on Christmas Eve 1971, they never expected just how fateful that decision was. What happened next was so unbelievable, so against all the odds, it would become the source of studies, documentaries, and one amazing autobiography. In this latest episode of Take to the Sky: The Air Disaster Podcast, Shelly tells the amazing sole survivor story of Juliane Koepcke – the girl who fell from the sky – and lived to tell her story. Don't miss a single legacy: join our Patreon for exclusive air disaster stories, layover episodes, and surprises! Visit our website at taketotheskypodcast.com for show notes and our merch store!

For passengers on the final leg of Varig Flight 254, they couldn't land in Belém, Brazil soon enough; their trip began moments after kickoff for an important football match, and everyone was anxious to know whether Brazil would win and advance to the 1990 World Cup. In this week's episode of Take to the Sky: The Air Disaster Podcast, Stephanie tells the story of why Flight 254 took hours longer than expected, how the plane went unthinkably and unbelievably off course, and how every life onboard was at risk even before the plane taxied to the runway. Don't miss a single legacy: join our Patreon for exclusive air disaster stories, layover episodes, and surprises! Visit our website at taketotheskypodcast.com for show notes and our merch store!

When passengers boarded Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 on the morning of January 8, 2020, they never knew they would be flying through airspace that was on high alert. And when an explosion brings down Flight 752, killing everyone onboard, the international community demands answers. Join Shelly as she explores the complicated Iranian AAIB final report that left multiple international civil aviation agencies – and the victims’ families – begging for more answers. Don't miss a single legacy: join our Patreon for exclusive air disaster stories, layover episodes, and surprises! Visit our website at taketotheskypodcast.com for show notes and our merch store!

In aviation, there are few people as well-known as the infamous D.B. Cooper, who has shocked, captivated, and confused investigators and the public since he vanished from the back of a 737 on November 24, 1971. In this week's episode of Take to the Sky: the Air Disaster Podcast, Stephanie tells the story of Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305, which was in the wrong place at the wrong time for six crew members who found themselves in the hands of the world's most successful skyjacker and part of the history of the only unsolved case of air piracy in commercial aviation. Don't miss a single legacy: join our Patreon for exclusive air disaster stories, layover episodes, and surprises! Visit our website at taketotheskypodcast.com for show notes and our merch store!

No one could have imagined how a field trip of a lifetime for 54 children could turn into a nightmare within just minutes. But when two planes collided on July 2, 2002, in the night sky over the small town of Überlingen, Germany, the disaster forever changed the families of the lost children and led to the redesign of an important onboard safety system. Join Shelly in this episode of Take to the Sky: The Air Disaster Podcast as she recounts one of the most tragic air disaster stories in aviation history – and how one father’s grief led to an unspeakable act of retribution. Don't miss a single legacy: join our Patreon for exclusive air disaster stories, layover episodes, and surprises! Visit our website at taketotheskypodcast.com for show notes and our merch store!

A threatening storm system and one pilot's drive to touch down at his intended destination created a recipe for disaster on April 20, 2012, when Bhoja Air Flight 213 began its descent into Islamabad Pakistan. In this episode of Take to the Sky: the Air Disaster Podcast, Stephanie shares the many layers to a tragedy that started long before Flight 213 ever left the ground. Don't miss a single legacy: join our Patreon for exclusive air disaster stories, layover episodes, and surprises! Visit our website at taketotheskypodcast.com for show notes and our merch store!

On February 25, 2009, everything was going according to plan for the flight crew and passengers of Turkish Airlines Flight 1951 - until it wasn't. While descending toward the runway at Schipol Airport, the plane begins falling from the sky. Join Shelly in this episode of Take to the Sky: The Air Disaster Podcast as she explains what happened to a plane that was so close to its destination - and how this single accident was a sentinel event for two crashes that would happen almost 10 years later. Don't miss a single legacy: join our Patreon for exclusive air disaster stories, layover episodes, and surprises! Visit our website at taketotheskypodcast.com for show notes and our merch store!

In aviation, the most dangerous part of any flight is statistically the first few minutes and the last few minutes, when flight crews have less time to react to problems that may arise. In this week's episode of Take to the Sky: The Air Disaster Podcast, join Stephanie as she tells the story of EgyptAir Flight 804, which encountered a startling issue while flying at its cruising altitude. From the shock of the accident to the investigation's frustrating twists and turns, this story highlights the essential need for all disasters to connect outcomes to lessons in safety. Don't miss a single legacy: join our Patreon for exclusive air disaster stories, layover episodes, and surprises! Visit our website at taketotheskypodcast.com for show notes and our merch store!

The morning of Janaury 26, 2020 forever changed the world of sports when the devastating news emerged that basketball legend Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, and seven others had been killed in a helicopter crash. In this week's episode of Take to the Sky: The Air Disaster Podcast, Shelly takes us back through the investigation that uncovered the shocking reasons why the crash happened and the safety recommendations that still haven't been implemented even today. Don't miss a single legacy: join our Patreon for exclusive air disaster stories, layover episodes, and surprises! Visit our website at taketotheskypodcast.com for show notes and our merch store!

On December 4, 1965, fear and panic erupted in the skies above Carmel, New York when TWA Flight 42 and Eastern Airlines Flight 853 collided. In this week's episode of Take to the Sky: the Air Disaster Podcast, Stephanie tells the story of two planes with incredible flight crews who shared a single goal: get their planes back to the ground below as safely as possible. Don't miss a single legacy: join our Patreon for exclusive air disaster stories, layover episodes, and surprises! Visit our website at taketotheskypodcast.com for show notes and our merch store!

It should have been just another landing. But when the pilots of Eastern Airlines Flight 212 have trouble locating a landmark on their final approach to the airport on September 11, 1974, things suddenly go from routine to disastrous. Join Shelly in this episode of Take to the Sky: The Air Disaster Podcast as she tells the story of how this accident shaped one of the most important cockpit rules in aviation. Don't miss a single legacy: join our Patreon for exclusive air disaster stories, layover episodes, and surprises! Visit our website at taketotheskypodcast.com for show notes and our merch store!