air crash season 1 episode 1 united 811

due to the fact that season 25 premiers in the new year i am doing air crash episode recaps again.

on febuary 24 1989 a united airlines boeing 747-100 prepares to depart honolulu for auckland nz with the crew a bit more on alert due to being two mounths after lockerbie. the flight departs in the middle of the night from hawaii and avoids storms on its climb to 33000 feet not that it makes that altitude as it passes 23000 feet a sound is heard by passengers near the cargo door described as a grinding noise and than a thud followed by an explosion as the cargo door leaves the aircraft a flight attendant is hanging onto the stairwell people missing or injured and the number 3 engine is damaged 9 passengers are already gone and the oxygen supply is gone so they have to decend fast for brievable air and try and return to honolulu the crew have to shut down engine no 3. contorl problems and damage to the numbr 4 engine combined with losing altitude makes it difficult to attempt to get back as well as dumping fuel as they are still 60 miles from the airport as the flight enginneer goes and has a look at the damage which is crazy the pilots than go to full power which destroys the number 4 engine as it catches fire and they shut it down meaning they only have the left side engines working its a massive juggling act but they do get close to the airport but thant hey realise the flaps won’t fully extend and even consider a ditching but they land safely on runway 8 left with only the 9 earlier deaths the crew than see the hole in the cabin which shocks the pilots how big it was. the ntsb investigate the accident but either to protect boeing or lack of real evidence they come up with the wrong cause of the cargo door failure. leigh cambell one of the deads parents decide to their own investigation and come to the conclusion which is right that the cargo doors electircal system and design was the cause as to make money they desinged it in a way that had caused probelms on the similar dc-10 in the 70s and a pan am flight two years earlier the ntsb only change it after a similar incident in 1992 that it was a design flaw not ground crew mishandling that caused the accident.

next time weather delays and spoilers doom an md-80