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PODCAST

Final Boarding Call

Final Boarding Call dives into the true stories of aviation disasters, survival tales, and near misses that have shaped history. Hosted by Alice, a disaster-obsessed frequent flyer, and her reluctant, homebody husband Zach, each episode explores the history, mechanics, and human decisions behind these harrowing events. Through meticulous research and compelling storytelling, we examine how small oversights and miscommunications can cascade into catastrophe, revealing the fragility of complex systems

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All Episodes

45:29

TransAsia Airways Flight 235

Final Boarding Call ·

2025/12/17

On February 4, 2015, a routine 50-minute flight from Taipei to Kinmen Island turned into a two-minute-and-48-second nightmare captured on dashcam and watched by millions worldwide. Join Alice and Zach to learn how a microscopic circuit board failure triggered a cascade of catastrophic decisions in the cockpit—and how investigators proved that doing nothing would have saved 43 lives.Sources:Mayday: Air Disasters - Season 17, Episode 7: "Caught on Camera""A Horrible Chain of Mistakes! TransAsia

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55:24

UPS Airlines Flight 2976

Final Boarding Call ·

2025/12/10

On November 4, 2025, a UPS cargo jet loaded with fuel for its trans-Pacific journey thundered down the runway in Louisville, Kentucky. But just seconds after liftoff, something catastrophic happened—the left engine tore away from the wing in a shower of sparks and flame. What followed was 30 seconds of horror as the crippled MD-11 carved a path of destruction through an industrial area, killing 14 people. But this disaster wasn't unprecedented—46 years earlier, an almost identical failure killed 271

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53:34

LOT Polish Airlines Flight 16

Final Boarding Call ·

2025/12/03

When a Boeing 767 loses a critical system minutes after takeoff, the experienced crew makes a reasonable decision: continue across the Atlantic and deal with it when they land. After all, they've trained for this exact scenario, and backup systems are designed for situations like this. But as Flight 16 approaches Warsaw with 231 people on board, the backup systems mysteriously fail. Join Alice and Zach as they unravel how a perfect landing became impossible, why experienced pilots missed something

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56:02

TWA Flight 514

Final Boarding Call ·

2025/11/26

On the Sunday after Thanksgiving 1974, what should have been a routine diversion turned into one of aviation's most consequential disasters. Join Alice and Zach as they explore how TWA Flight 514's crash into Mount Weather, Virginia, exposed a deadly gap in communication between pilots and air traffic controllers—a misunderstanding so fundamental that it had nearly caused another crash just weeks earlier. Discover how confusion over three simple words, "cleared for approach," led to 92 deaths and

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58:35

Japan Airlines Flight 123

Final Boarding Call ·

2025/11/19

On August 12, 1985, Japan Airlines Flight 123 climbed into the evening sky with 524 people aboard, bound for a routine 54-minute flight to Osaka. Twelve minutes later, a thunderous explosion tore through the aircraft, severing all hydraulic controls and leaving the crew fighting to control an uncontrollable jumbo jet using only engine thrust. What followed was 32 minutes of extraordinary airmanship as three pilots battled against impossible odds. Discover how a seven-year-old maintenance error led

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57:44

The MV Doña Paz Disaster

Final Boarding Call ·

2025/11/12

On December 20, 1987, the passenger ferry MV Doña Paz collided with the oil tanker MT Vector in the Tablas Strait of the Philippines, creating a catastrophic inferno that claimed over 4,300 lives—nearly three times the death toll of the Titanic. Join Alice and Zach as they investigate how corporate negligence, regulatory failure, and a culture of overlooking safety standards converged to create the deadliest peacetime maritime disaster in history. Discover the harrowing stories of the 26 survivors

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55:59

Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961

Final Boarding Call ·

2025/11/05

When three desperate men seize control of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961, demanding to be taken to Australia, they set in motion a chain of events that will test the limits of human endurance and pilot skill. With insufficient fuel for their impossible journey, Captain Leul Abate faces an unthinkable choice: comply with the hijackers' demands and crash into the ocean, or risk everything in a desperate gamble to save his passengers. Join Alice and Zach as they explore this harrowing true story of

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49:53

Germanwings Flight 9525

Final Boarding Call ·

2025/10/29

Join Alice and Zach as they explore one of aviation's most disturbing tragedies. On March 24, 2015, Germanwings Flight 9525 crashed into the French Alps, killing all 150 people on board when co-pilot Andreas Lubitz deliberately locked the captain out of the cockpit and intentionally flew the plane into a mountainside. This episode examines the fatal flaws in cockpit security procedures implemented after 9/11, the devastating impact of untreated mental illness in safety-critical professions, and the

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01:23:46

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370

Final Boarding Call ·

2025/10/22

What happens when a state-of-the-art commercial airliner simply disappears without a trace? Join Alice and Zach as they investigate the baffling case of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which vanished on March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board. Discover how an ordinary overnight flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing turned into aviation's greatest modern mystery when it deviated from its course, went radio silent, and apparently flew for hours into one of the most remote regions on Earth. Follow the

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23:56

Aviation News Roundup - Q3 2025

Final Boarding Call ·

2025/10/15

Join Alice and Zach for their quarterly roundup of recent aviation incidents and accidents from around the world. In this Q3 2025 edition, they explore ten significant aviation events from July through early October, including near mid-air collisions with military aircraft, a dramatic engine failure requiring fuel dumping, an airshow near-disaster, violent passenger behavior, wing flap failures, toxic fume concerns, a technology outage that grounded an entire fleet, a major airline's sudden collapse

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56:53

Air Canada Flight 797

Final Boarding Call ·

2025/10/08

On June 2, 1983, Air Canada Flight 797 was halfway through a routine flight from Dallas to Montreal when circuit breakers started popping in the cockpit. What began as a seemingly minor electrical issue quickly escalated into a race against time as smoke filled the cabin and an invisible fire burned behind the lavatory walls. Join Alice and Zach as they explore how a small problem became a deadly inferno, the heroic efforts of the crew to land the plane safely, and the tragic flashover that claimed

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46:11

Disappearance of Amy Lynn Bradley

Final Boarding Call ·

2025/10/01

When 23-year-old Amy Lynn Bradley stepped onto the balcony of her family's cruise ship cabin in the early morning hours of March 24, 1998, she had no idea she was about to become the center of one of the most perplexing disappearances in maritime history. Join Alice and Zach as they navigate the murky waters of Amy's vanishing from the Royal Caribbean's Rhapsody of the Seas during a family vacation in the Caribbean. Was it an accident, suicide, or something far more sinister? From alleged sightings

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01:01:41

Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571

Final Boarding Call ·

2025/09/24

What would you do to survive when all hope seems lost? Join Alice and Zach as they explore one of history's most remarkable survival stories. On October 13, 1972, a plane carrying a Uruguayan rugby team crashed high in the Andes mountains. For the survivors, this was just the beginning of a 72-day ordeal in one of Earth's most hostile environments. Facing starvation, extreme cold, avalanches, and the crushing news that the search had been abandoned, these ordinary young men were forced to make

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27:14

Life and Death of Aaliyah

Final Boarding Call ·

2025/09/17

On August 25, 2001, a Cessna 402B carrying R&B superstar Aaliyah crashed shortly after takeoff from Marsh Harbour Airport in the Bahamas, claiming all nine lives on board. Discover how multiple preventable factors—an overloaded aircraft, an unqualified pilot with falsified credentials and substances in his system, and a charter company operating without proper authorization—led to this devastating tragedy. The episode also reveals how Aaliyah herself sensed the danger and refused to board, only

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47:39

Ewa Wiśnierska the Paraglider - Special Guest Episode

Final Boarding Call ·

2025/09/10

What happens when an ordinary day of paragliding transforms into a battle against one of nature's most violent forces? Join Alice and Zach as they explore the extraordinary survival story of Ewa Wiśnierska, a champion paraglider who was literally sucked into a massive thunderstorm and carried to an altitude higher than Mount Everest. Discover how this elite athlete endured temperatures of minus 50 degrees, oxygen levels too thin to sustain consciousness, and violent hailstorms that should have

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36:06

Northwest Airlines Flight 255

Final Boarding Call ·

2025/09/03

On August 16, 1987, Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashed just moments after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, killing 154 people and leaving only one survivor—a four-year-old girl who became known as the "miracle child." Discover how an experienced crew's missed checklist, combined with schedule pressure and a disabled warning system, led to one of America's deadliest aviation disasters. Learn about the fundamental safety changes that emerged from this tragedy and why Flight 255 became a

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31:10

All About the TSA - Part 2

Final Boarding Call ·

2025/08/27

In Part 1, we explored the three terrorist incidents that shaped TSA policy. Now, we examine whether the agency actually works. Join Alice and Zach as they dive into the TSA's shocking 95% failure rate in security tests, the human cost of security theater, and the recent policy changes that have everyone asking: if we can keep our shoes on now, why couldn't we before? After 23 years and over $200 billion, has the TSA made us safer, or just made us feel safer? This episode asks the tough questions

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55:45

All About the TSA - Part 1

Final Boarding Call ·

2025/08/20

Over two decades after 9/11, the Transportation Security Administration is finally letting us keep our shoes on at airport security. But how did we get here? Join Alice and Zach as they dive deep into the three terrorist incidents that shaped modern airport security: Richard Reid's shoe bomb attempt, the 2006 transatlantic liquid bomb plot, and the underwear bomber. Discover the shocking intelligence failures, the heroic passengers who actually stopped these attacks, and how each incident led to the

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47:04

Colgan Air Flight 3407

Final Boarding Call ·

2025/08/13

On February 12, 2009, a routine commuter flight from Newark to Buffalo became a catastrophic lesson in pilot training and aviation safety. When stick shaker stall warnings activated during Colgan Air Flight 3407's approach, the captain's response turned a recoverable situation into an unrecoverable tragedy. Join Alice and Zach as they explore how fatigue, inadequate training, and a fundamental misunderstanding of stall recovery led to the deaths of 50 people—and sparked the most comprehensive

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01:05:25

OceanGate Titan

Final Boarding Call ·

2025/08/06

When ambition and rule-breaking collide in the deepest parts of the ocean, the consequences can be catastrophic. Join Alice and Zach as they explore the shocking 2023 implosion of OceanGate's Titan submersible, which claimed five lives during an expedition to the Titanic wreckage. Discover how a series of controversial design decisions, regulatory shortcuts, and repeatedly ignored warnings from industry experts led to this modern tragedy, raising profound questions about safety, innovation, and the

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39 results

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