Innovation: Crash Site Secrets

Format: VHS Runtime: 60 minutes Series: Innovation Closed captioned: No Described Video: No

Despite all the time, money and effort invested in the development of aircraft, the history of commercial aviation is littered with devastating and deadly crashes. The investigations that follow such disasters are driven by the crucial need to find out what went wrong and prevent it from happening again. The experts call this “tombstone technology” – big advances in air safety that only come about in the aftermath of a catastrophe. From the black box that became standard after accidents in the 1950s to the installation of Doppler radar in response to wind shear accidents in the ‘80s, this episode tells the stories of accidents that changed the way we fly, the groundbreaking technology that rose from the ashes of disaster and the on-going quest for even greater safety in the skies. Crash Site Secrets looks at what went wrong, why it went wrong, what’s being done to ensure that it never goes wrong again.