Ep 4. The Turning Point

In season 11 episode 4 of Air Disasters titled "The Turning Point", the show examines a fatal combination of mechanical failures and poor decision-making that led to the crash of Continental Express Flight 2574 in 1991. The flight, which originated in Laredo, Texas, was en route to Houston, but crashed into a field near Eagle Lake, Texas, killing all 14 passengers and crew on board.

The episode begins with a detailed look at the aircraft involved in the crash, an Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia, and how it was designed and built. It then turns to the events leading up to the flight, including the maintenance history of the aircraft and the experience of the crew. The captain, who had more than 8,000 hours of flight time, was a seasoned veteran, but the first officer, who had only 585 hours of flight time, was relatively inexperienced.

The flight itself proceeded normally until about an hour into the journey, when the aircraft began experiencing problems with its left engine. The captain radioed air traffic control and requested to divert to the nearest airport. However, just moments later, the aircraft suddenly rolled to the left and began an uncontrolled descent. Despite the captain's best efforts to regain control of the aircraft, it crashed into the field below.

As the investigators began to piece together what had happened, they found that a critical component of the aircraft's left engine had failed, causing it to shut down. However, they also discovered that the first officer had made a critical error in response to the engine failure, which greatly contributed to the crash. Rather than follow the established emergency procedures for a shut-down engine, he had mistakenly shut down the functioning right engine as well. This mistake caused the aircraft to become unbalanced and led to its eventual crash.

Throughout the episode, experts weigh in on the various factors that contributed to the crash, including the design of the aircraft, the maintenance practices of the airline, and the training and experience of the crew. Ultimately, the crash of Continental Express Flight 2574 serves as a tragic reminder of just how many factors can come together to create a deadly aviation disaster, and how critical it is for everyone involved in aviation, from manufacturers to operators to pilots, to take safety seriously and work together to prevent such incidents from happening.