Radar Contact Lost: The Podcast
"Radar Contact Lost: The Podcast" will discuss the tragic circumstances involved with some of the worst airplane crashes. When weather conditions are at fault or are a contributing factor to the accident (as is so often the case), the meteorology will be examined and explained. Hosted by a meteorologist with 40 years of professional experience including U.S. Air Force, broadcast and commercial meteorology. The Radar Contact Lost team includes experts from the fields of commercial meteorology, commercial aviation and air traffic control.
Episodes
21 episodes
When Confusion, Complacency and Bad Decisions Took 28 Lives
The first significant snowfall of the season had just begun in central Colorado. At Denver's Stapleton International Airport, Continental Flight 1713 began to accelerate down the runway for takeoff. Within a moment of lifting off the ground, th...
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Season 3
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Episode 1
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1:13:45
When Weather Wasn’t Even Mentioned in the NTSB Investigation Report
This episode is about the crash of a small, twin-engine plane: a Beechcraft Baron 58. This crash occurred on April 22, 2019 in the Texas Hill Country, about an hour northwest (by car) from San Antonio. The flight was a relatively short...
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Season 2
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Episode 7
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1:05:45
When Marine One Landed on a High School Football Field in Dense Fog
In what is a podcast series first - and likely last - for Radar Contact Lost, this episode does not tell the story of a tragic plane crash, but rather the intricate details of the landing of the Presidential Helicopter, Marine One, in dense fog...
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Season 2
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Episode 6
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56:05
When Typhoon Bess Took an Air Force Hurricane Hunter Crew Over the South China Sea
On October 12th, 1974, an Air Force weather reconnaissance Hurricane Hunter aircraft crashed into the South China Sea while investigating Typhoon Bess, taking the lives of the six crew members onboard. No debris was ever found, no sign...
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Season 2
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Episode 5
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47:39
When Winter Survival Skills and a Little Bit of Luck Overpowered Mountain Wave Turbulence, Severe Icing and a Winter Storm
On Tuesday morning, December 5, 1978, 22 people were rescued off the side of a high Colorado mountain in the southern regions of the Rocky Mountains. They had survived the frigid night at an altitude above 10,000 feet (over 3,000 meters). This ...
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Season 2
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Episode 4
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1:03:36
When A Snowy Crash Silenced the Voices of Early Rock and Roll, aka "The Day the Music Died"
On February 3, 1959, a small, single-engine, 4-passenger plane took off from a remote airfield in rural Iowa. It was after midnight. It was snowing. It was windy. Moments later, the plane rolled over and flew into the ground at approximately 17...
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Season 2
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Episode 3
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1:00:16
When Colgan Air Flight 3407 Fell Out of the Sky in Buffalo, New York
On the evening of February 12, 2009, Colgan Air Flight 3407 was on final approach to Runway 23 at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport in Buffalo, New York. It was dark, it was snowing, it was windy and the pilots had noted the accumulatio...
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Season 2
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Episode 2
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1:03:06
When a Russian Airliner Flew Into Cuban Power Lines
On final approach to Havana’s José Martí International Airport in 1977, the Aeroflot Ilyushin IL-62M with 69 people on board, descended below the clouds and the pilot immediately was confronted with power lines between the plane and th...
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Season 2
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Episode 1
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57:11
When a Boeing 707 Broke Apart in Mid-air Near Mt. Fuji
At just before 2 o’clock in the afternoon on Saturday, March 5, 1966, British Overseas Airways Corporation Flight 911, took off from Tokyo’s Haneda International Airport. Bound for Hong Kong, the Boeing 707 broke apart in mid-air, just 15 minut...
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Season 1
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Episode 11
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1:01:14
When a Volcano Silenced a Boeing 747 High Over the Indian Ocean
Today’s episode, “When a Volcano Silenced a Boeing 747 Over the Indian Ocean," is the heart-stopping tale of a commercial jetliner – a Boeing 747 – that, contrary to every other episode in this podcast series, did not crash. However, t...
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Season 1
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Episode 10
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57:57
When a Helicopter Crash Silenced ‘Number One' - The Story Behind the Stevie Ray Vaughan Helicopter Crash
“When a Helicopter Crash Silenced ‘Number One’" is about the 1990 crash of a Bell JetRanger helicopter that was carrying a pilot and four passengers. The helicopter crashed into a ski slope at night and in the fog, killing all on board. ...
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Season 1
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Episode 9
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34:58
When Eastern Airlines Flight 66 Crashed Moments from Landing at JFK International Airport, Part 2
This is Part 2 of 2. On a summer day in 1975, Eastern Airlines Flight 66 crashed just yards away from its intended runway at John F. Kennedy International Airport near New York City. Witnesses at the time, said the plane exploded in midai...
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Season 1
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Episode 8
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42:43
When Eastern Airlines Flight 66 Crashed Moments from Landing at JFK International Airport, Part 1
Part 1 of 2. On a summer day in 1975, Eastern Airlines Flight 66 crashed just yards away from its intended runway at John F. Kennedy International Airport near New York City. Witnesses at the time, said the plane exploded in midair, but this wa...
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Season 1
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Episode 8
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34:26
When the B-52 Lost Its Tail and Crashed into Elephant Mountain
In 1963, there was an unusual crash of a U.S. Air Force B-52 Bomber. The plane, while attempting to escape severe turbulence, lost its vertical stabilizer and rudder – essentially losing its ability to fly straight. The plane lost control and t...
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Season 1
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Episode 7
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32:38
When the First Tornado Forecast Emerged Amidst Aircraft Destruction
Imagine a world where the word "tornado" is banned from public weather announcements and tornadoes are considered unforecastable. This was not Bizzaro World, but the United States of America in the 1940s. It was thought the the mere word, torna...
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Season 1
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Episode 6
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43:57
When Lightning Strikes
On December 8, 1963, Pan Am N709PA, a Boeing 707 with the call sign "Clipper 214," exploded in flight just minutes from its final destination. Thunderstorms delayed that landing and frequent lightning around the plane made the passengers ...
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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48:09
When the C-124 Globemaster Crashed into a Mountain and was Buried Under Snow for 60 Years
This is the tragic tale of an Air Force cargo plane that went un-rescued for 60 years after it crashed in a blinding snowstorm and over some of the harshest terrain that Alaska has to offer. Lost and entombed in a glacier after the large Globem...
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Season 1
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Episode 4
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54:09
When Delta Flight 191 Crashed Into the Ground One Mile Short of the Runway: Part 2
In the conclusion of "When Delta Flight 191 Crashed into the Ground One Mile Short of the Runway," we will look at the complicated way weather information moves from the air traffic controllers to the cockpit and the various sources of weather ...
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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40:36
When Delta Flight 191 Crashed Into the Ground One Mile Short of the Runway: Part 1
On August 2, 1985, a Lockheed-Martin L-1011 - Delta Flight 191 - crashed into the ground just over one mile from the runway at the Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport (DFW). It was a hot afternoon in Texas and thunderstorms were beginning to...
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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51:53
When Air Florida Flight 90 Crashed into the 14th Street Bridge
It was a cold and snowy day in Washington, DC as passengers boarded the narrow-body Air Florida 737. The plane was sprayed with de-icing fluid while waiting at the gate, but a series of errors before the plane reached the runway, and more error...
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Season 1
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Episode 2
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35:33
When the B-25 Crashed into the Empire State Building
It was a cloudy, dreary July day in New York City in 1945. What was supposed to be a routine flight from Massachusetts to New Jersey to South Dakota, ended suddenly when a combat pilot with hundreds of hours in the flak-filled skies over German...
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Season 1
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Episode 1
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45:23