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 people in Chicago and changed aviation forever. Or did it? Join Alice as she explores whether the lessons of America's deadliest aviation disaster were truly learned, and what it means that aging cargo aircraft are still experiencing the same catastrophic failures decades later.

Sources:

• NTSB Preliminary Report DCA26MA024 (November 20, 2025)
• NTSB Media Briefing 3 (November 8, 2025) - YouTube
• FAA Lessons Learned: American Airlines Flight 191
• "New photos show engine falling off UPS cargo plane before Louisville crash" - NBC News
• "Fleet of UPS planes grounded after deadly crash expected to miss peak delivery season" - CNN
• "Leading Aviation Attorney Comments on NTSB Preliminary Report" - Clifford Law Offices
• "Wrongful death lawsuit in UPS cargo jet crash planned by victims' families" - Reuters, December 2, 2025
• "UPS put profits over safety before plane crash that killed 14, lawyer alleges" - Associated Press, December 3, 2025
• "Investigators recover black boxes from UPS plane crash, detail data recovery process" - Tom's Hardware, November 8, 2025
• "Dramatic photos of doomed UPS plane show the aircraft on fire and its engine flying off" - Associated Press, November 20, 2025
• "Investigators find 'black boxes' from UPS plane crash that killed at least 12" - Reuters, November 5, 2025

Find FINAL BOARDING CALL online:

• Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.com
• Email: finalboardingcallpodcast@gmail.com
• Instagram: @FinalBoardingCallPod
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Credits: Final Boarding Call is hosted by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas, researched and written by Alice Stern, produced and edited by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas.

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 hiding in plain sight, and how one captain's extraordinary skill brought everyone home alive from one of aviation's most dramatic belly landings.

Sources:

• "Final report" - State Commission on Aircraft Accidents Investigation (SCAAI), December 18, 2017
• "LOT Polish Airlines Flight 16" - Wikipedia
• "Accident: LOT B763 at Warsaw on Nov 1st 2011, forced gear up landing" - Simon Hradecky, The Aviation Herald
• "Boeing 767 BELLY LANDING! What happened?!" - Mentour Pilot (Petter Hörnfeldt), YouTube
• "Emergency Landing without Landing Gears" - World's Wildest Flights, Season 1 Episode 1

Find FINAL BOARDING CALL online:

• Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.com
• Email: finalboardingcallpodcast@gmail.com
• Instagram: @FinalBoardingCallPod
• Facebook: Final Boarding Call

Credits: Final Boarding Call is hosted by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas, researched and written by Alice Stern, produced and edited by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas.

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 triggered safety changes that transformed modern aviation. This Thanksgiving, we remember a tragedy that taught the industry an unforgettable lesson about the cost of ambiguity.

Sources:

• National Transportation Safety Board Aircraft Accident Report NTSB-AAR-75-16
• Federal Aviation Administration Lessons Learned: TWA Flight 514
• Air Line Pilots Association: "The Legacy of TWA Flight 514: 50 Years of Reflection and Aviation Safety"
• Check-Six.com: "In a Place that Doesn't Exist - The Crash of TWA Flight 514"
• AOPA: "TWA 514's Legacy" by Peter A. Bedell
• Aviation Safety Network Database
• Bluemont Heritage: TWA Flight 514 Memorial
• ABC 7 News - WJLA: "FULL DOCUMENTARY: TWA Flight 514 airplane crash in Loudoun County, Virginia"
• Green Dot Aviation: "Descent into Disaster! | TWA Flight 514"

Find FINAL BOARDING CALL online:

• Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.com
• Instagram: @FinalBoardingCallPod
• Facebook: Final Boarding Call

Credits: Final Boarding Call is hosted by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas, researched and written by Alice Stern, produced and edited by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas.

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 to the deadliest single-aircraft disaster in aviation history—and how the heroic actions of the crew would later help save lives in future emergencies.

• Mayday: Air Disasters - Season 3, Episode 3, titled "Out Of Control"
• "Japan Airlines Flight 123 | A Short Documentary" - Fascinating Horror
• Japan Aircraft Accident Investigation Commission Official Report
• NTSB Investigation Documents
• Wikipedia - Japan Airlines Flight 123
• Survivor testimonials and witness interviews

• Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.com
• Email: finalboardingcallpodcast@gmail.com
• Instagram: @FinalBoardingCallPod
• Facebook: Final Boarding Call

Final Boarding Call is hosted by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas, researched and written by Alice Stern, produced and edited by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas.

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 who escaped burning waters, the families who fought for decades seeking justice, and why this tragedy—despite its massive scale—remains largely forgotten outside the Philippines.

Sources:

• "4,385 Souls Gone: The Nightmare Voyage of the Doña Paz" - Stunning History (YouTube documentary)
• "Burning at Sea: The Sinking of MV Doña Paz" - Philippines' Most Shocking Stories, Episode 6, ABS-CBN News
• "Asia's Titanic" - National Geographic Channel-Asia documentary
• "MV Doña Paz" - Wikipedia article
• "Hell at Sea: Remembering the Tragedy of the MV Doña Paz" - Nicai de Guzman, Esquire Magazine Philippines
• Philippine Coast Guard Marine Board of Inquiry Report - February 29, 1988
• Caltex Philippines v. Sulpicio Lines - Supreme Court of the Philippines, September 30, 1999
• Vector Shipping Corp. v. Macasa - Supreme Court of the Philippines, July 21, 2008
• "Doña Paz victims waiting for justice 25 years after" - Joey Gabieta, Philippine Daily Inquirer
• "MV Doña Paz survivor reunites with family after 25 years on 'Wish Ko Lang'" - GMA News, GMA Network
• RV Petrel Wreck Discovery Footage - Released December 19, 2019

Find FINAL BOARDING CALL online:

Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.com

Instagram: @FinalBoardingCallPod

Facebook: Final Boarding Call

Credits:

Final Boarding Call is hosted by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas, researched and written by Alice Stern, produced and edited by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas.

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 hijacking, heroism, and one of aviation's most dramatic water landings ever captured on film—a crash witnessed by beach tourists who had no idea they were filming one of the deadliest hijackings in history.

Sources:

• Mayday: Air Disasters - Season 3, Episode 13, "Hijack!"
• Official Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 Accident Investigation Report
• "Ethiopian jet hijack ends in disaster" - BBC News, November 23, 1996
• "The Hijacking and Ditching of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961" - Admiral Cloudberg on Medium
• Contemporary news coverage from Associated Press and Reuters
• Survivor testimonies from Michael Adeno and Frank Huddle

Find FINAL BOARDING CALL online:

• Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.com
• Instagram: @FinalBoardingCallPod
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Credits: Final Boarding Call is hosted by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas, researched and written by Alice Stern, produced and edited by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas.

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 difficult balance between medical privacy and public safety. Discover how this horrifying act of mass murder-suicide forced airlines worldwide to reconsider their protocols and prompted important conversations about pilot mental health monitoring that continue to shape aviation safety today.

Sources:

• "How a Pilot Deliberately Crashed a Passenger Plane" - Air Crash Investigation
• Kreindler & Kreindler LLP - Legal documentation regarding 2016 lawsuit against Airline Training Center Arizona
• Courthouse News - Coverage of families' civil claims and U.S. court proceedings
• The Guardian - Reporting on families' compensation claims and Lufthansa's initial offers (2015)
• Reuters - Coverage of families preparing U.S. lawsuit (2015)
• Time Magazine - Summary of Lufthansa compensation offers and insurance reserves
• AP News / DPA - Reporting on Essen court decision rejecting higher compensation claims (July 1, 2020)
• Aviation Pros / DPA - Coverage of German appeal outcomes (September 2021)
• Aviation24.be / CatalanNews - Spanish Supreme Court increases compensation for select families (May 2023)
• Wikipedia - Germanwings Flight 9525 consolidated timeline and legal proceedings

Find FINAL BOARDING CALL online:

Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.com

Instagram: @FinalBoardingCallPod

Facebook: Final Boarding Call

Credits:

Final Boarding Call is hosted by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas, researched and written by Alice Stern, produced and edited by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas.

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 unprecedented international search efforts that spanned years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and explore the competing theories about what might have happened on that fateful night above the South China Sea. Plus, hear about the latest developments as the search officially resumed in 2025, offering new hope for answers.

Sources:

• Mayday: Air Disasters - Season 14, Episode 11: "What Happened to Malaysian Flight 370"
• "The Search for MH370 is Back ON! What's changed?!" - Mentour Now! YouTube channel
• Wikipedia: Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
• Australian Transport Safety Bureau Final Report (2017)

Find FINAL BOARDING CALL online:

• Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.com
• Instagram: @FinalBoardingCallPod
• Facebook: Final Boarding Call

Credits: Final Boarding Call is hosted by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas, researched and written by Alice Stern, produced and edited by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas.