S4 · E13: Vanished

On Jun 8, 1983 — Reeve Aleutian Airways Flight 8 (Lockheed Electra): High over the Pacific off Alaska, a propeller tears loose and slices into the fuselage, jamming the controls of a plane still hours from safety.

On May 11, 1996 — ValuJet Flight 592 (DC-9): Minutes after leaving Miami, smoke pours into the cabin and the jet plunges into the Everglades, igniting a controversy that rocks the FAA itself.

On Oct 31, 2000 — Singapore Airlines Flight 006 (Boeing 747): Departing Taipei as a typhoon closes in, a jumbo jet erupts in flames partway down its takeoff roll, and investigators make a shocking discovery on the airfield.

On Dec 19, 1997 — SilkAir Flight 185 (Boeing 737): Cruising toward Singapore in clear weather, a nearly new jet suddenly plunges from 35,000 feet into an Indonesian river, and two investigations reach very different conclusions.

On Aug 23, 2005 — TANS Peru Flight 204 (Boeing 737): Descending through a violent storm toward Pucallpa, a jet comes down in the Peruvian jungle — and looters strip the crash site before investigators arrive.

On Jun 30, 1956 — United Airlines Flight 718 & TWA Flight 2: Two airliners cross the Arizona desert on the same summer morning and collide over the Grand Canyon — a disaster that transforms how America controls its skies.

On May 25, 1979 — American Airlines Flight 191 (DC-10): As a fully loaded jet lifts off from Chicago O'Hare, an engine tears away from the wing — the beginning of the deadliest aviation accident on U.S. soil.

On Dec 28, 1978 — United Airlines Flight 173 (DC-8): Circling Portland while the crew troubleshoots a landing gear problem, a jet with 189 aboard slowly runs out of time — and the lessons reshape every cockpit in the world.

On Sep 7, 2011 — Yak-Service Flight 9633 (Yak-42): A charter carrying the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey team fails to climb on takeoff and crashes beside the Volga, stunning the sports world and all of Russia.

On Apr 10, 2010 — Polish Air Force Flight 101 (Tu-154M): Carrying Poland's president and dozens of national leaders to a memorial ceremony, a government jet descends through dense fog toward Smolensk — and never arrives.

On Jan 25, 2010 — Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 (Boeing 737): Minutes after a stormy night takeoff from Beirut, a jet banks off course and spirals into the Mediterranean, and investigators focus on the men at the controls.

On Feb 21, 2008 — Santa Bárbara Airlines Flight 518 (ATR 42): Departing the mountain city of Mérida at dusk, a Venezuelan turboprop has only moments to escape the Andes rising around it.