Final Boarding Call

Pan Am Flight 103 Part 1

On December 21, 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was seven minutes into level cruise over southern Scotland when the cockpit voice recorder captured a single loud sound and stopped. What happened over the next three seconds is one of the most precisely reconstructed events in aviation history — and almost none of it came from the black boxes. Join Alice and Zach for the story of the people aboard Clipper Maid of the Seas, the thirty-eight minutes of a completely ordinary flight, and the night a small Scottish town became the largest crime scene in the world. Part one of two. Sources: Aircraft Accident Report 2/90: Report on the accident to Boeing 747-121, N739PA at Lockerbie, Dumfriesshire, Scotland on 21 December 1988 — Air Accidents Investigation Branch, UK Department of Transport Victims of Pan Am Flight 103 — victim registry and memorial records Remembering Pan Am 103 — Syracuse University The Crew of Pan Am Flight 103 — Confessions of a Trolley Dolly Mayday: Air Disasters, Season 7, Episode 2 — "Lockerbie" Find FINAL BOARDING CALL online: Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.com Email: finalboardingcallpodcast@gmail.com Instagram: @FinalBoardingCallPod Facebook: Final Boarding Call Credits: Final Boarding Call is hosted by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas, researched and written by Alice Stern, produced and edited by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas.

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Cessna N333LD

A single-engine plane is over the Atlantic between the Bahamas and the Florida coast when the pilot goes silent at the controls. In the back sits a 39-year-old flooring salesman who has never touched an airplane, a magnetic compass, a friend frozen with fear, and a voice on the radio who wasn't supposed to be working that day. Join Alice and Zach for the story of a routine flight home that becomes one of the most improbable emergencies in modern aviation — and the strangers whose paths collide on a single May afternoon in South Florida. Sources: "'Not today': The twin miracles of Palm Beach" by Joe Sexton - The Sunday Long Read "Miracle in the Air: Air Traffic Controllers Guide Passenger to Land Plane Safely" - FAA "The Air Up There" podcast "A passenger with no flying experience landed a plane at a Florida airport after the pilot became incapacitated" - CNN "'Absolutely incredible': Pilot reacts to passenger with no flight experience landing plane at PBIA" - WPBF ATC audio archives from Fort Pierce Tower and Palm Beach International - LiveATC.net Aircraft registration record for N333LD - FAA Aircraft Registry Surface weather observation for Palm Beach International, May 10, 2022 - Iowa Environmental Mesonet "Aortic Dissection" - Cleveland Clinic "Aortic Dissection" - American Heart Association Find FINAL BOARDING CALL online: Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.com Email: finalboardingcallpodcast@gmail.com Instagram: @FinalBoardingCallPod Facebook: Final Boarding Call Credits: Final Boarding Call is hosted by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas, researched and written by Alice Stern, produced and edited by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas.

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American Airlines Flight 587

On the morning of November 12, 2001, ninety seconds after leaving JFK, an Airbus A300 bound for Santo Domingo came apart in clear air over Queens. All 260 people aboard and five more on the ground were killed. In a city nine weeks removed from September 11th, there seemed to be only one possible explanation — and the FBI, the NTSB, and an entire grieving neighborhood spent the next three years finding out whether it was true. Join Alice and Zach for the second-deadliest aviation disaster in American history: the flight that served as a lifeline between New York and the Dominican Republic, the three-year investigation that followed, and the finding that quietly rewrote what pilots around the world are taught about their own airplanes. Sources: "Aircraft Accident Report: In-Flight Separation of Vertical Stabilizer, American Airlines Flight 587, Airbus Industrie A300-605R, N14053, Belle Harbor, New York, November 12, 2001" (NTSB/AAR-04/04) — National Transportation Safety Board "Mayday: Air Disaster," Season 13, Episode 5 — Cineflix Productions "Government Indicts Second 'Shoe Bomber' In Boston" by Howard Schwach — The Wave "Crash of Flight 587 Remembered 21 Years Later" — The Rockaway Times "Dominican Americans Cope With Lasting Impact of Flight 587 Crash 20 Years Later" by Gaby Acevedo — NBC New York "The Grief of a Forgotten Plane Crash in Elizabeth Acevedo's 'Clap When You Land'" by Rigoberto González — NBC News Find FINAL BOARDING CALL online: Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.com Email: finalboardingcallpodcast@gmail.com Instagram: @FinalBoardingCallPod Facebook: Final Boarding Call Credits: Final Boarding Call is hosted by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas, researched and written by Alice Stern, produced and edited by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas.

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Antis, RAF No. 311 Squadron

A Czech gunner is shot down in no man's land in the winter of 1939 and finds something alive in an abandoned farmhouse. What follows is the story of how a German Shepherd puppy crossed occupied France, went to war, and was decorated for it — a dog who, according to the paperwork, was never there at all. Join Alice and Zach for a story about loyalty, an escape that happened twice, and a war record that officially does not exist. This episode is dedicated to Benji. Sources: "Antis: Dog of War" by Damien Lewis - Royal Air Forces Association "The story of a Czech WW II airman and his remarkable dog" - Radio Prague International Dickin Medal Roll of Honour - People's Dispensary for Sick Animals Recorded interview with Gary Manley, owner of the Antis Dickin Medal Find FINAL BOARDING CALL online: Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.com Email: finalboardingcallpodcast@gmail.com Instagram: @FinalBoardingCallPod Facebook: Final Boarding Call Credits: Final Boarding Call is hosted by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas, researched and written by Alice Stern, produced and edited by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas.

Delta Air Lines Flight 1141

A Boeing 727 lifts its nose on a clear Texas morning, and the rest of the plane refuses to follow. Twenty-two seconds later it's a burning wreck in a field a mile from the runway. Join Alice and Zach as they unravel how a routine takeoff at America's third-busiest airport went catastrophically wrong — a disaster that looked at first like an engine failure, then like a freak mechanical fault, and turned out to be something far more unsettling. Discover the chain of small human decisions, a silent alarm, and an airline's buried problems that put 108 people on a runway they were never going to leave cleanly. Sources: Aircraft Accident Report AAR-89/04, Delta Air Lines Flight 1141 — National Transportation Safety Board Crashing after 22 seconds?? Delta 1141 — Green Dot Aviation Delta Air Lines Flight 1141 crash coverage — WFAA Mayday: Air Disaster, Season 18 Episode 3 Find FINAL BOARDING CALL online: Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.com Email: finalboardingcallpodcast@gmail.com Instagram: @FinalBoardingCallPod Facebook: Final Boarding Call Credits: Final Boarding Call is hosted by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas, researched and written by Alice Stern, produced and edited by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas.

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Lac-Mégantic Rail Disaster

On a warm July night in 2013, patrons at a popular Quebec bar heard the screech of metal on metal as an unmanned train barreled toward their town at highway speeds. What followed was a cascade of explosions that turned half the downtown into an inferno, killing 47 people and exposing a corporate culture that valued profits over lives. Discover how a cheap repair, inadequate training, and regulatory failures turned a routine freight run into one of North America's deadliest rail disasters—and why similar conditions persist on railways today. Sources: Railway Investigation Report R13D0054, "Runaway and Main-track Derailment: Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway Freight Train MMA-002" — Transportation Safety Board of Canada Lac-Mégantic criminal trial testimony, 2017–2018 proceedings — Court record "The Lac-Mégantic Rail Disaster: Public Betrayal, Justice Denied" by Bruce Campbell — James Lorimer & Company "Bomb Trains: How Industry Greed and Regulatory Failure Put the Public at Risk" by Justin Mikulka "The public health response during and after the Lac-Mégantic train derailment tragedy" by Généreux et al. — Disaster Health Investigation series on MMA corporate culture and safety record — The Globe and Mail Trial coverage and witness testimony — CBC News "Lives lost: Remembering Lac-Mégantic's victims" — Montreal Gazette "Five Years after Lac-Mégantic, U.S. Freight Rail Going Backward on Safety" — The Century Foundation Reporting on former engineer Jarod Briggs's warnings about single-person crews — Bangor Daily News Find Final Boarding Call online: Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.com Email: finalboardingcallpodcast@gmail.com Instagram: @FinalBoardingCallPod Facebook: Final Boarding Call Credits: Final Boarding Call is hosted by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas, researched and written by Alice Stern, produced and edited by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas.

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Air France Flight 447

On June 1, 2009, Air France Flight 447 vanished over the Atlantic Ocean with 228 people aboard. For two years, the world could only speculate about what happened to a state-of-the-art Airbus A330 during a routine overnight crossing. Join Alice and Zach as they explore how a brief sensor malfunction triggered a catastrophic chain of confusion — and why, seventeen years later, the question of who bears responsibility was finally answered in a French courtroom. Sources: Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses (BEA) Final Report, July 2012 "Should Airplanes Be Flying Themselves?" by William Langewiesche, Vanity Fair "Air France 447: Vanished" — Mayday/Air Crash Investigation "TITANIC of the Skies! The Untold Story of Air France 447" — Mentour Pilot BBC News coverage of the May 2026 appeal verdict Find FINAL BOARDING CALL online: Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.com Email: finalboardingcallpodcast@gmail.com Instagram: @FinalBoardingCallPod Facebook: Final Boarding Call Credits: Final Boarding Call is hosted by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas, researched and written by Alice Stern, produced and edited by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas.

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China Airlines Flight 120

A Boeing 737 lands in Okinawa after a routine one-hour hop from Taiwan. The flight is over. The engines are off, the passengers are reaching for their bags — and then someone sees smoke curling from under the right wing. Within minutes the aircraft is an inferno. Join Alice and Zach for the story of a plane that survived every dangerous phase of flight, only to erupt into flames while parked at the gate — and the painstaking investigation that traced the fire back to a single missing part no bigger than a coin. Sources: "China Airlines Flight 120, B18616" — FAA Lessons Learned From Transport Airplane Accidents Aircraft Accident Investigation Report, Japan Transport Safety Board (JTSB) "Deadly Detail" — Mayday / Air Crash Investigation First-person account of passenger Jim Caruso Find FINAL BOARDING CALL online: Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.com Email: finalboardingcallpodcast@gmail.com Instagram: @FinalBoardingCallPod Facebook: Final Boarding Call Credits: Final Boarding Call is hosted by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas, researched and written by Alice Stern, produced and edited by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas.

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The Flying Tiger Mystery

On March 16, 1962, a military charter flight carrying 93 Army Rangers vanished over the Pacific Ocean during a secret mission to Vietnam. Despite one of the largest searches in aviation history, no trace of the aircraft or its 107 occupants was ever found. Join Alice and Zach as they explore how a mission so classified that soldiers had to leave their wedding rings and dog tags at home became one of aviation's most enduring mysteries—and why, 60 years later, families are still fighting just to prove their loved ones existed. Sources: Civil Aeronautics Board Aircraft Accident Report, File No. 1-0002, April 8, 1963 "Listing on Vietnam Wall sought for troops killed in 1962 plane crash" - Stars and Stripes, July 24, 2013 "'He knew something': The 1962 flight of Army Rangers that vanished into thin air" - SFGATE, May 10, 2021 "60 Years Missing: The Mystery Of Flying Tiger Line Flight 739" - FLYING Magazine, March 16, 2022 "A New Memorial Is Unveiled for Those Lost on a Missing Vietnam War Transport Plane" - Military.com, May 22, 2021 Wreaths Across America official documentation and family testimonies "The Mystery of Flying Tiger Line flight 739" - The History Guy (YouTube), 2024 Find FINAL BOARDING CALL online: Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.com Email: finalboardingcallpodcast@gmail.com Instagram: @FinalBoardingCallPod Facebook: Final Boarding Call Credits: Final Boarding Call is hosted by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas, researched and written by Alice Stern, produced and edited by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas.

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SS El Faro

On October 1, 2015, the cargo ship SS El Faro steamed directly into the path of Hurricane Joaquin and vanished with all 33 crew members aboard. Join Alice and Zach as they unravel how a routine "milk run" between Jacksonville and Puerto Rico became America's worst maritime disaster in decades. Discover the deadly combination of outdated weather data, corporate pressure, ignored warnings, and mechanical failures that turned a survivable storm into an unsurvivable nightmare. Through audio recovered from three miles beneath the Atlantic, hear the final hours of a crew fighting against impossible odds—and learn how their deaths changed maritime safety forever. Sources: National Transportation Safety Board Marine Accident Report MAR-17/01: "Sinking of US Cargo Vessel SS El Faro, Atlantic Ocean, Northeast of Acklins and Crooked Island, Bahamas, October 1, 2015" U.S. Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation Final Report (September 24, 2017) NTSB Voyage Data Recorder Audio Transcript (510 pages) Into the Raging Sea: Thirty-Three Mariners, One Megastorm, and the Sinking of El Faro by Rachel Slade (HarperCollins, 2018) "The Clock is Ticking: Inside El Faro" by William Langewiesche, Vanity Fair (April 2018) CBS News 60 Minutes: "Voices of the Lost" (March 5, 2017) House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure hearing transcripts (January 30, 2018) The Working Waterfront: "'Into the Raging Sea' details human failings that cursed El Faro" Find FINAL BOARDING CALL online: Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.com Email: finalboardingcallpodcast@gmail.com Instagram: @FinalBoardingCallPod Facebook: Final Boarding Call Credits: Final Boarding Call is hosted by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas, researched and written by Alice Stern, produced and edited by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas.

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American Airlines Flight 444

When a mysterious package in the cargo hold of American Airlines Flight 444 suddenly detonates at 30,000 feet, 80 people find themselves trapped in a smoke-filled Boeing 727. Join Alice and Zach as they explore the chilling story of a midair bombing that failed only because of a single ingredient mistake—and the 17-year manhunt it set in motion. Discover how one of the most intensive investigations in FBI history began with a parcel that was supposed to kill everyone on board. Buckle up for a story that changed aviation security forever. Sources: "Unabomber" - FBI Famous Cases "Bomb Jolts Jet" - The Washington Post, November 16, 1979 "A Chronology of the UNABOM Investigation" - Cornell Law School Find FINAL BOARDING CALL online: Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.com Email: finalboardingcallpodcast@gmail.com Instagram: @FinalBoardingCallPod Facebook: Final Boarding Call Credits: Final Boarding Call is hosted by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas, researched and written by Alice Stern, produced and edited by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas.

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Piedmont Flight 22

On July 19, 1967, Piedmont Airlines Flight 22 collided in midair with a small Cessna over the mountains of North Carolina, killing everyone aboard both aircraft — directly above a children's summer camp at lunchtime. Join Alice and Zach as they trace how a confusing radio clearance, a controller working without radar, and a single misunderstood instruction lined up into catastrophe. Discover the safety technology this disaster helped create, and the questions one investigator was still asking nearly forty years later. Sources: "Aircraft Accident Report AAR 68-AJ" – National Transportation Safety Board "The Crash of Piedmont Airlines Flight 22: Completing the Record of the 1967 Midair" – Paul D. Houle (McFarland & Company) Asheville Citizen, July 20-22, 1967 Asheville Times, July 19-20, 1967 Times-News (Hendersonville), July 19, 1967 Winston-Salem Journal, July 20, 1967 Twin-City Sentinel, July 19, 1967 "Piedmont Flight 22 and the Midair Collision Over Hendersonville" – Legeros Fire Blog "In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam" – Robert McNamara The Pentagon Papers Find FINAL BOARDING CALL online: Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.com Email: finalboardingcallpodcast@gmail.com Instagram: @FinalBoardingCallPod Facebook: Final Boarding Call Credits: Final Boarding Call is hosted by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas, researched and written by Alice Stern, produced and edited by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas.

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Air Algérie Flight 6289

On March 6, 2003, Air Algérie Flight 6289 crashed roughly thirty seconds after takeoff from Tamanrasset Airport in the Sahara Desert, killing 102 people. Discover how an engine failure—the kind of emergency pilots train for repeatedly—turned catastrophic through a series of critical mistakes in cockpit management and missed procedures. This episode explores the tragic consequences when standard safety protocols break down during aviation's most dangerous phase: takeoff. We'll also uncover the extraordinary story of the flight's sole survivor, whose survival defied all odds through an incredible twist of fate. Sources: "Report on the accident on 6 March 2003 at Tamanrasset to the Boeing 737-200 registered 7T-VEZ operated by Air Algérie" — Algerian Ministry of Transport National Commission of Inquiry "Crisis of Confidence: The crash of Air Algérie flight 6289" — Admiral Cloudberg on Medium "Unforgivable!! The Tragic tale of Air Algérie Flight 6289" — Mentour Pilot YouTube channel Wikipedia article on Air Algérie Flight 6289 Aviation safety databases and accident investigation reports Find FINAL BOARDING CALL online: Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.com Email: finalboardingcallpodcast@gmail.com Instagram: @FinalBoardingCallPod Facebook: Final Boarding Call Credits: Final Boarding Call is hosted by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas, researched and written by Alice Stern, produced and edited by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas.

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CSX 8888: The Crazy Eights Incident

On May 15, 2001, an experienced freight engineer steps down from his locomotive in a rural Ohio rail yard to fix a misaligned switch. He's done this kind of work for thirty-five years, the train is creeping along at walking pace, and he'll be back on board in seconds. Then everything goes wrong. Join Alice and Zach for the story of CSX 8888 — a three-thousand-ton freight train carrying tank cars of toxic chemicals that runs loose through northwestern Ohio with nobody at the controls, and the ordinary railroaders who have to figure out how to stop it before it reaches the next town. This is the story Hollywood turned into the movie Unstoppable, with all the parts they left out. Sources: "Runaway Train" by William M. Hendryx — Reader's Digest, March 2002 "A 3,000-Ton Locomotive Was Loose, Unstoppable, and Filled with Toxic Cargo" by Jesse Hicks — Popular Mechanics "CSX's Runaway Train: The Crazy Eights Incident" — AmtrakGuy365 (YouTube) "Ordinary Railroaders Stop Deadly Runaway Train: The Crazy Eights Incident" — Fascinating Horror (YouTube) "CSX 8888 — Crazy Eights" by Dan Robie — WVNC Rails Federal Railroad Administration incident memo, May 2001 Contemporary news coverage from CNN, the Los Angeles Times, and CBS News EPA emergency response documentation on phenol-related rail incidents Find FINAL BOARDING CALL online: Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.com Email: finalboardingcallpodcast@gmail.com Instagram: @FinalBoardingCallPod Facebook: Final Boarding Call Credits: Final Boarding Call is hosted by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas, researched and written by Alice Stern, produced and edited by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas.

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Northwest Airlink Flight 5719

On December 1, 1993, Northwest Airlink Flight 5719 crashed three miles short of its destination in northern Minnesota, killing all 18 people aboard. The weather wasn't extreme. The aircraft wasn't broken. Both pilots were certified, qualified, and physically capable of flying the approach. But as the turboprop descended through the dark, something else was happening in the cockpit — something that wouldn't show up in the wreckage. This is the story of how investigators traced a routine night flight back through twenty years of warning signs that nobody connected, and what the cockpit voice recorder revealed about the silence that killed eighteen people. Sources: NTSB Aircraft Accident Report AAR-94/05 — Express Airlines II, Inc., Northwest Airlink Flight 5719 Cockpit Voice Recorder Transcript (NTSB Appendix B) Mayday: Air Disasters, Season 17 Episode 1, "Killer Attitude" NTSB Safety Recommendations A-94-70 through A-94-72 Express Airlines II General Operations Manual and Standard Operating Procedures (as cited in AAR-94/05) Find FINAL BOARDING CALL online: Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.com Email: finalboardingcallpodcast@gmail.com Instagram: @FinalBoardingCallPod Facebook: Final Boarding Call Credits: Final Boarding Call is hosted by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas, researched and written by Alice Stern, produced and edited by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas.

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TACA Flight 110

What happens when a brand-new Boeing 737 flies into a hailstorm so violent that both engines die in the same instant, 16,500 feet above the Gulf Coast? Join Alice and Zach as they explore the 1988 emergency landing of TACA Flight 110, where a 29-year-old captain with one eye, a first officer he trusted, and a brand new aircraft were tested in a way no flight simulator had ever prepared a crew for. Discover how a near-miss nine months earlier was waved off as a freak event, why the engines on one of the most reliable jets in the world were vulnerable in a way no one had imagined, and how a 43-ton glider found the only piece of dry ground for miles. This is the rare story where everyone walks away — including the aircraft itself. Sources: "Boeing 737-300 | TACA International Airlines Flight 110, N75356" — Federal Aviation Administration, Lessons Learned from Transport Airplane Accidents NTSB Brief of Incident FTW88IA109 — National Transportation Safety Board "Nowhere to Land," Mayday: Air Disaster, Season 11 Episode 11 — National Geographic / Cineflix "Interview with Capt. Carlos Dárdano: Hero of TACA 110" — Carlos Dardano Fans, YouTube "This Incredible Pilot: Carlos Dárdano" — Plane & Pilot Magazine "The Miracle on the Levée" — Fear of Landing "¡Misión Cumplida! Se Jubila el Histórico Piloto Salvadoreño Carlos Dárdano" — El Diario de Hoy Aviation Safety Network — TACA Flight 110 Profile Find FINAL BOARDING CALL online: Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.com Email: finalboardingcallpodcast@gmail.com Instagram: @FinalBoardingCallPod Facebook: Final Boarding Call Credits: Final Boarding Call is hosted by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas, researched and written by Alice Stern, produced and edited by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas.

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Malaysia Airlines Flight MH134

On the night of July 18, 2018, a Malaysia Airlines Airbus A330 pushed back from Brisbane Airport carrying 215 passengers bound for Kuala Lumpur. Within seconds of takeoff, every airspeed display in the cockpit went red — and the crew had no idea how fast they were flying or why. Join Alice and Zach as they unravel a near-disaster that played out in the dark over the Queensland coast, the chain of small failures that put this aircraft in the air, and the very specific Brisbane Airport problem that nobody at Malaysia Airlines had been told about. Buckle up — this one is a wild ride. Sources: ATSB Final Investigation Report AO-2018-053 — Australian Transport Safety Bureau, March 2022 "How Did EVERYONE Miss THIS!? | Malaysian Airlines Flight 134" — Mentour Pilot, YouTube "Malaysia Airlines mistakes led to 'serious incident' on packed A330" — Australian Aviation "Pitot covers left on made for tense BUSS ride" — Flight Safety Australia "A350 pitot probe covers left on prior to pushback demonstrates how assumptions, procedural omissions can lead to unsafe conditions" — Australian Transport Safety Bureau Malaysia Airlines Flight MH134 — Wikipedia Find FINAL BOARDING CALL online: Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.com | Email: finalboardingcallpodcast@gmail.com | Instagram: @FinalBoardingCallPod | Facebook: Final Boarding Call | Patreon: patreon.com/finalboardingcall Credits: Final Boarding Call is hosted by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas, researched and written by Alice Stern, produced and edited by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas.

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The Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster

On a cold January morning in 1986, a launch that had been promoted as a celebration of science and education went catastrophically wrong in front of a watching nation. But the real story of this disaster didn't begin on the launch pad. It began six months earlier, in a memo an engineer wrote to his boss. It continued the night before, in a conference room in Utah, where that engineer laid photographs on a table and begged four men not to kill seven people. Join Alice and Zach as they unravel the story of how the warnings were raised, how they were overruled, and what it cost the people who tried to tell the truth. Sources: Report of the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident (Rogers Commission Report), Volumes I–V — NASA History Division "Personal Observations on the Reliability of the Shuttle," Appendix F to the Rogers Commission Report — Richard P. Feynman The Challenger Launch Decision: Risky Technology, Culture, and Deviance at NASA — Diane Vaughan, University of Chicago Press Truth, Lies, and O-Rings: Inside the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster — Allan J. McDonald with James R. Hansen "Challenger: The Final Voyage" — report by Dr. Joseph P. Kerwin to NASA Administrator, July 28, 1986 "Ethical Decisions — Morton Thiokol and the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster" — Roger Boisjoly, MIT lecture, January 1989 "The Challenger Disaster: Making it Personal" — paper presented at ASEE Annual Conference NASA Challenger STS-51-L crew report and transcript release, 1986 "Christa McAuliffe's Lost Lessons" — NASA STEM archive "Former Students Remember Christa McAuliffe" — New Hampshire Public Radio President Ronald Reagan, Address to the Nation on the Challenger Disaster, January 28, 1986 — Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Columbia Accident Investigation Board Report, Volume I, August 2003 Find FINAL BOARDING CALL online: Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.com Email: finalboardingcallpodcast@gmail.com Instagram: @FinalBoardingCallPod Facebook: Final Boarding Call Credits: Final Boarding Call is hosted by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas, researched and written by Alice Stern, produced and edited by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas.

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Trans-Colorado Airlines Flight 2286

On January 19, 1988, a twin-engine commuter plane descended through an overcast Colorado night toward a mountain valley and struck a ridge twelve miles from the runway at Durango. The pilots were experienced. The aircraft was functioning normally. Investigators found no mechanical failure of any kind. So what brought Trans-Colorado Airlines Flight 2286 down on a routine approach — and why did it take more than a year, a stranger's tip at a hotel in Phoenix, and a second round of toxicology testing to find the answer? Join Alice and Zach for the story of a crash that exposed the people hiding inside America's commuter airline system, and the slow, imperfect reforms that followed. Sources: Aircraft Accident Report NTSB/AAR-89/01: Trans-Colorado Airlines, Inc., Flight 2286 - National Transportation Safety Board "A Sickness and Its Cure: The crash of Trans-Colorado Airlines flight 2286" - Admiral Cloudberg, Medium "Dangerous Approach" - Mayday: Air Disaster, Season 16, Episode 6 - Discovery Channel Canada / National Geographic "A Continental Express commuter plane crashed on a snow-covered ridge in southwestern Colorado" - UPI, January 20, 1988 "No mechanical failure found in commuter plane" - UPI, January 22, 1988 "Airline crash attributed to cocaine" - UPI, January 31, 1989 "Anti-Drug Program for Personnel Engaged in Specified Aviation Activities, Final Rule" (53 FR 47024) - Federal Aviation Administration, November 21, 1988 "Pilot Records Improvement Act of 1996" - Federal Aviation Administration "Reinforcement and Rapid Delivery Systems: Understanding Adverse Consequences of Cocaine" - S. Cohen, National Institute on Drug Abuse Monograph 61 "The Behavioral Pharmacology of Cocaine in Humans" - M.W. Fishman, National Institute on Drug Abuse Monograph 50 Find FINAL BOARDING CALL online: Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.com Email: finalboardingcallpodcast@gmail.com Instagram: @FinalBoardingCallPod Facebook: Final Boarding Call Credits: Final Boarding Call is hosted by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas, researched and written by Alice Stern, produced and edited by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas.

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Air Astana Flight 1388

What happens when maintenance technicians reverse a single set of cables, turning a routine ferry flight into a two-hour battle for survival? Join Alice and Zach as they explore the harrowing story of Air Astana Flight 1388, where three pilots found themselves fighting an aircraft that did the exact opposite of what they commanded. With the plane flipping inverted, pulling crushing g-forces, and tearing itself apart in Portuguese skies, the crew faced an impossible challenge: land an aircraft that simply would not obey. Discover how quick thinking, exceptional teamwork, and sheer physical endurance turned what should have been a fatal crash into one of aviation's most remarkable survival stories. SOURCES Official Accident Investigation Report - Gabinete de Prevenção e Investigação de Acidentes com Aeronaves e de Acidentes Ferroviários (GPIAAF), Portugal "Runaway AIRCRAFT! This Aircraft Flew TWO HOURS Without CONTROLS!" - Mentour Pilot YouTube Channel "Air Astana Flight 1388 - Uncontrollable" - Mini Air Crash Investigation YouTube Channel "How to Land a 'Completely Uncontrollable' Passenger Jet" - Alex Davies, WIRED Magazine "How A Maintenance Error Caused Severe Control Issues Onboard Air Astana Flight 1388 In 2018" - Nicole Kylie, Simple Flying Aviation Safety Network Database Entry for Air Astana Flight 1388 "Air Astana Out Of Control (KC1833 in 2018)" - Fear of Landing FIND FINAL BOARDING CALL ONLINE: Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.com Email: finalboardingcallpodcast@gmail.com Instagram: @FinalBoardingCallPod Facebook: Final Boarding Call CREDITS: Final Boarding Call is hosted by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas, researched and written by Alice Stern, produced and edited by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas.

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