The Crash of Flight 111

“On the evening of September 2, 1998, a Swissair MD-11 jet bound from New York to Geneva diverted to Halifax, Nova Scotia, after the crew smelled smoke in the cockpit. Just minutes from the airport, Flight 111 plunged into the ocean, killing all 229 people aboard. "Crash of Flight 111" tells the behind-the-scenes story of the quest for the cause of this tragic accident.”(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/aircrash/about.html )

In this one hour DVD, NOVA follows the four-and-a-half year, $39 million investigation into why Swissair Flight 111 crashed on September 2, 1998, killing all 229 passengers.

The program:

o   reviews the series of events that led up to the crash of the McDonnell-Douglas MD-11 plane in the waters off Nova Scotia.

o   follows the salvage and sorting of hundreds of thousands of pounds of wreckage—such as metal pieces, wires, burnt rugs, and other airplane debris—from 55 meters  below the ocean surface.

o   shows the recovery of the black box and the subsequent finding that it did not record the final six minutes of flight.

o   details the reassembly of the plane in a hangar in Halifax and the creation of a three-dimensional computer model of the aircraft.

o   demonstrates a variety of tests that investigators conducted, including exposing metal to different levels of heat to determine color changes and performing materials flammability tests.

o   shows how investigators came to reconstruct the series of events that led up to the crash—a damaged wire in the entertainment system gave rise to an electrical arc-generated fire that spread out of sight in the plane's attic area.

o   reviews the recommendations made by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada upon completion of its investigation.

Quoted from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/teachers/programs/3105_aircrash.html

 Additional Material on the website

PBS has put together extensive materials on their website to supplement the DVD:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/aircrash/safer.html

This page details a handful of recent crashes that resulted in extensive inquiries and consequent changes.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/aircrash/blackboxes.html

This page contains a discussion of issue of black box data being transmitted  continuously in real-time .

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/aircrash/jetliner.html

This is an interactive tour of the parts of an jetliner. “In this interactive, look beneath the skin of a late-model Boeing 737, the most widely flown commercial jetliner of all time, and explore a cutaway detailing the 12 major systems that make it tick.”

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/aircrash/dissection.html

This is an interview with safety expert David Evans who details “what he calls a "confederacy of complacency" in the airline industry regarding safety improvements following this and other major accidents.”

The DVD is divided into 6 chapters so that you can easily view just part. Baddour Library owns this DVD. It is housed in the Aviation Video section under the call number TL553.53 .N67 C74 2004.

Past Picks

Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
Jack Johnson became the first African American heavy weight boxing champion of the world in1908 by defeating Tommy Burns. Johnson biographer Randy Roberts observes, "The press reacted [to Johnson's victory] as if Armageddon was here." (http://www.pbs.org/unforgivableblackness/about/) Johnson’s story is told on this 2 DVD set of videos that were originally broadcast in January 2005 on PBS. It also contains features on the “The Making of the Movie” and original ragtime compositions by Wynton Marsalis.The website for this DVD is an educational experience in itself. (See http://www.pbs.org/unforgivableblackness/ ) There are extensive notes online with flash presentations and audio clips. A section for teachers contains ideas for student projects.  Each disk 110 min.

The Fog of War : eleven lessons from the life of Robert S. McNamara
 

A riveting look at the leadership of Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense during the Kennedy-Johnson years. McNamara looks back over his life with a clear eye and an engaging intellect. This film won the oscar for best documentary 2004.  It could be useful when studying executive leadership, decision-making or history. Baddour Library owns this DVD. Click here to see record.