Seconds from Disaster

- Season 3

(2006)

An investigation inti the cause of the sinking of Titanic. The ultimate cause was the use of post-war rivets that showed flaws in the metal and were unable to withstand the massive strain of the collision with the iceberg.

An accidental release of an old missile on the flight deck of the USS Forestal starts a huge fire and subsequent explosions kill a total of 134 soldiers and injure another 161. The accident came close to sinking the Forestal.

On November 12, 2001 an American Airlines Airbus crashed in Queens. The investigation showed that the tailfin was sheared off following fierce rudder corrections by the co-pilot.

An examination of the deadly terrorist hostage taking and subsequent massacre of Israeli athletes during the 1972 Munich Olympics.

A large department store collapses in Seoul, South Korea killing 502 people and injuring another 937. Safety margins were ignored during construction and several people were jailed for corruption and criminal negligence.

Potomac air disaster in which Florida Flight 90 left Washington and almost immediately crashed in to a bridge.

In December 2004, the subduction fault between the Indian and Burma tectonic plates ruptured along 1600 km, causing a 9.1- to 9.3-magnitude earthquake and a giant tsunami that killed around 230,000 people.

The 1954 investigation of the crashes of de Havilland Comets due to structural flaws that encourage catastrophic metal fatigue.

On May 25, 1979, an American Airlines DC-10 loses an engine at take-off and crashes into a trailer park killing all 271 on board. The investigation shows that short-cuts at maintenance resulted in damaged attachments of the engine pylon.

On March 23, 2005 restarting a distillation tower results in a massive explosion, destroying large parts of the Texas City refinery. The cause is relayed to short-cuts in safety procedures and generally a poor safety record over many years.

In 1974, 148 tornadoes hit 13 states causing millions of Dollars of damage injuring 5500 people and killing 330. At the time the weather service couldn't give precise warnings where the tornadoes would strike.

In 1997, the Soufrière Volcano on Montserrat erupted killing 17 people and destroying the capital Plymouth.

On January 28, 1986, Challenger exploded 73 seconds after lift-off. The official report named failing O-rings in the booster rockets as the cause of the disaster, but bad communication and decision procedures also played a role.