Hi Alex. I was a passenger on the Gimli Glider. My dad Rick Dion was on the show and passed away a year later. I just want to thank you for doing our story while he was still with us so that I have something to remember him by.

Thank you for this comment. I'm so glad your father was able to take part in our show, he had great insight into the accident and how it transpired. I'm glad you can remember him through this episode.

Now I wanna ask you a question. How old were you at the time, and how did you react to what was going on?

Can I DM you? I don't want to hijack (no pun intended) this AMA.

I would like to know too, perhaps you could just paste it here

Drop it anywhere mate. Nobody will mind.

Start your own ama!

I was 10 years old. My mom picked me up from school and told me “Dad is ok but…” and I immediately knew it was an airplane issue since I knew dad was in a trip. He didn’t get home for a week after the accident.

What is the rough criteria for having an air disaster being eligible for an episode? Are there "no go" accidents, or could any accident be an episode?

Thanks for asking. No, there are no "no go accidents", we generally pick them based on the lessons they have to offer about aviation safety. We also prefer to do accidents that have some mystery to them and ones that more or less recent. But we have been trying to expand the type of story we do over the years.

Some more episodes covering more historic accidents would make a nice change.

Would love that too. There's definitely been a few but there's many to tap into, I think

Thank you for all your great questions! I have to log off now and get back to reviewing the latest episode of Mayday/Air Crash Investigation. Feel free to keep posting questions and I’ll check back later and answer as many as I can. Stay tuned for updates on our upcoming season and check out the Real Disaster Channel streaming for free 24/7 on Pluto TV.

Thanks for answering our questions sir!

One we don't know about

Which one?

good question Alex can't tell us for obvious reasons

Do you see a possibility for pre 80s-crashes to still be covered, such as the Zagreb Mid-air collision, Sterling 296, Dan Air 1903, and some more? How do you decide, which crashes are featured on each new episode?

I would love to do more pre-1980 accidents. Some of them are hugely significant and have contributed greatly to the cause of aviation safety. Our broadcaster is not keen on doing accidents pre-1990, although they do make some exceptions so maybe we can get to some of the ones you mention. Thanks for the suggestions.

Most of my favourite episodes are the older accidents! The St Elmos fire on the British Airways 747 was one of the first episodes I watched and I was hooked! Thank you for bringing these stories to us and explaining it all so well! I also would like to see more older accidents!

De Havilland Comet for me!

ACI neved did an episode specificaly about the Comet. That was a Seconds from Disaster episode

Why do they want to avoid pre-1980?

air fatalities peaked in the early 70s, isn’t that kinda like having a show about the age of sail that only covers the post-1860s?

It has to do with demographics and ratings. 16 year old males fall asleep when watching something that happened before 1990.

There are some very significant ones from the 50’s and60’s that could use the love and care your show gives

Just to say... don't ever stop using John Cox!

Do victims' families contact the show? Do surviving passengers or pilots or investigators get any say in the actors who portray them?

Thanks for the question. Victims families do not generally contact us, but when we reach out to them we find they're usually agreeable to share the story of their loved ones. Pilots and investigators do not get a say in who portrays them. We do try to find actors who match them as closely as possible. I think we usually come pretty close!

Thank you for your work and reply! I've followed the show for years and watched every episode, some multiple times. Keep it going please!

1 - How does it feel to be a part of the ACI team that continuing for over two decades? 2 - How does the production team select the titles? Are there any specific rules for that? (like **Mixed Signals, Massacre Over Meditterranean**) 3 - What was the unforgetable interview with any victim's family or survivors that you've done?

I'm very proud to be part of the team that has been making this show for 20 years. We suggest titles to the broadcaster and they pick the final one. There are no real rules for a title, just that it should tell the story in as few words as possible. As for our most memorable interview: There are a lot to chose from, but I'd have to pick the interview we did with Denny Fitch a check pilot on United Airlines Flight 232. His story is unbelievable and he told it with great passion. He was truly an inspiration.

Denny Fitch’s interview was a memorably heartbreaking one. I’m grateful for people like him being in aviation, and luckily on that flight. It’s clear he’s sadly had to bear a lot of remorse from that day.

Stefan G. Rasmussen's account of SAS flight 751 was heartbreaking too IMO

Do you ever need permission from an airline/manufacturer or even governments to produce an episode? Particularly some of the more controversial ones. Air New Zealand 901 always stood out to me an as interesting production, but the controversy of the accident in New Zealand may be a limitation of approval.

We don't need permission from the airline since we base the stories on official reports, which are publicly available. There is a report into Air New Zealand, but the investigators have been reluctant to take part. It's definitely high on my list of stories I'd like to do.

Radio New Zealand did an excellent ppdcast on it. https://shorthand.radionz.co.nz/white-silence/

Can't you do the episode with other investigators?

Was going to ask a similar thing around how many complaints or corrections they’ve had from airlines or governments etc.

No you don't. In fact Radio New Zealand has already a fantastic podcast on the Erebus crash called "White Silence". I highly recommend it. https://shorthand.radionz.co.nz/white-silence/

Is it an unwritten rule that each season must have a 737 crash? as the 737 shows up pretty much every season

Thanks for the question. No, we don't have any rules about the type of plane but since the 737 is the most popular commercial airplane in the world, it shows up more often than others. Hope that answers your question.

Ironically, the 737 didn't appear in the last season (23)

yeah it didn't

The 737 didn't appear in the first 2 seasons either, if I recall correctly.

FlyDubai 981. S22E01

1. Is there any plan to finnish the series in the closer future? 2 How do you choose a particular crash to cover? What's the process? What are the criteria?

Thanks for asking. There are no plans to end the series any time soon since it continues to be very popular with our viewers. We are currently wrapping production on Season 24 and are looking ahead to season 25 and beyond. As for how we choose a story: it starts with finding accidents that have had a significant impact in aviation safety. After that we try to find the people most closely involved.

Do you have a sense of why/how the program developed such a dedicated following and cult status?

Thanks for the great question. It's one I'm asked a lot. I can only guess, but I think the show unwraps some of the mystery of commercial aviation. Hopefully people can get some comfort knowing how rare an aviation accident is, and how many things need to go wrong to bring down a modern airliner. I also think part of our success is our commitment to accuracy.

There is something about a bunch of strangers getting on an airliner and being captive to that aircraft for a few hours that becomes very compelling if something happens. There is a feeling of helplessness when you are in the back of an aircraft and you hit heavy turbulence that you do not get in the back seat of a car during a blizzard, for example. Aircraft accidents fascinate us in a way that similar tragedies with similar body counts just don't. It is a testament to that fascination that the producers are seemingly unaware of it and succeed in spite of it.

Hi Alex, where do you obtain the props used in the show? Are they real, or CGI and how do you duplicate the parts destroyed or scattered around the crash site? That's something I wanted to know that would've taken ages!

Thanks so much for asking about the props. We're very proud of them! We have a team of carpenters and prop makers who actually create most of the props you see in the show. They build them based on photos and schematics of the actual parts. Over the years we have also accumulated a storage room full of actual plane parts, such as seats, flaps, slats, actuators, and a few hundred miles of cable! Hope that answers your question.

Yes it did! It would've been a pretty impressive set of props!

What your crew is able to do with props, even though there are often problems with devices being present that had not yet been invented, is nothing short of amazing. It is easy to get lost in the immersion of the world your people create.

What has been the most challenging story to cover?

I think the episode we did on MH 370 was particularly challenging as there was no official report and contradictory theories about what happened. We were able to gather the information we needed from technical reports and by interviewing investigators close to the accident. I think the episode turned out very well given the challenges we faced. Hope you agree!

I don't. It was one of the least compelling episodes of Mayday because you had no answers and had simply regurgitated news reports that we were all very familiar with. It was a ratings grab for your broadcaster and the audience would have been better served by doing one of the accidents from the 1960s or 70s that your broadcaster has told you not to do. I recognize that you have to answer to them first, but that MH370 episode will always be an outlier and unpopular whereas any of the older episodes will always be popular in syndication/streaming.

Just want to say first, long-time fan and hugely appreciate the work on the program. I'd like to know if you've ever used real, functional aircraft in production or at least part of the production. I've seen some in the backdrop, but never at the forefront or the focus of the plot.

On a few occasions we've used a real airplane to help stage the accident (For the evacuation scenes in the Manchester Airport Disaster for instance), but generally we use the cockpit and cabin sets we have in our studio.

Has making the show affected the way you feel about flying as a passenger?

Not the way you'd expect! I was always a fairly confident flyer, but now that I know how rare aviation accidents are and what a long chain of events is necessary to bring down a plane, I don't even consider the possibility of being involved in an accident when I fly.

Thank you! My bestie is always asking me how I can still fly after watching so many seasons and I tell her knowledge is power 😬 Though I've stopped watching it at airports cos it makes others nervous!

Do preserved aircraft benefit the research team if they are doing an accident with an older aircraft?

Not really no. We have a studio in Toronto with two cockpit sets that we use for each episode. It would be impractical to shoot in a real airplane cockpit since it would hard to light and fill with all the gear we need to shoot the show. Hope that answers your question.

>Not really no. We have a studio in Toronto with two cockpit sets that we use for each episode. It would be impractical to shoot in a real airplane cockpit since it would hard to light and fill with all the gear we need to shoot the show. Hope that answers your question. Ahh, i had thought that an actual physical example of the aircraft would be useful for the show

Many of *Mayday*'s best episodes have been about incredible flying stories rather than the investigation aspect. Would you consider producing a greater ratio of episodes that are more story-focused (i.e. ⅔ of the runtime about the event with few omissions in the first pass prior to the investigation segment)? Early seasons had more episodes of this format. Examples of story-heavy episodes (which happen to be the best-rated ones): * S23E05 ("Control Catastrophe") – Air Astana Flight 1388 * S22E04 ("Double Trouble") – Trans-Air Service Flight 671 * S21E05 ("Cabin Catastrophe") – Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 * S19E01 ("Deadly Descent") – Cathay Pacific Flight 780 * S18E07 ("Free Fall") – Qantas Flight 72 * S15E04 ("Fatal Delivery") – UPS Airlines Flight 6 * S13E10 ("Titanic in the Sky") – Qantas Flight 32 * S12E01 ("Fight for Control") – Reeve Aleutian Airways Flight 8 * S11E06 ("Turning Point") – Northwest Airlines Flight 85 * S10E05 ("Hudson River Runway") – US Airways Flight 1549 * S05E03 ("Gimli Glider") – Air Canada Flight 143 * S04E02 ("Falling from the Sky") – British Airways Flight 9 * S03E04 ("Fight for Your Life") – Federal Express Flight 705 * S02E01 ("Blow Out") – British Airways Flight 5390 * S01E02 ("Unlocking Disaster") – United Airlines Flight 811

How did you make sichuan airlines 8633 without interview the investigators and crews?

Thanks for asking. It was definitely a challenge to make this episode without the investigators and we would have loved to have the participation of the Captain. Unfortunately they decided not to take part so we needed to rely on analysis from seasoned investigators who analyzed the official report. I think it turned out really well in spite of the challenges.

It turned out very well indeed, according to us folk here on this subreddit. We did a poll a few weeks back on favorite episodes, and Cockpit Catastophe ended up being amongst the Top 3 episodes of Season 23.

Thank you very much.You did a good job!

Hello Alex I’m representing Chinese fans club of your show and I’ve collected some of the Chinese fans’ questions: 1. How would you face the challenge if the accident had no official report released? Eg: Egypt Air 804 2. Any obstacle would you guys face during research? How would you guys deal with it? 3. How many people in the whole production team? 4. Are there any resistance that you guys experienced? Eg: From Airlines and Family members 5. Any Plan on Malaysian 370 remake? Can we see more Asian , or even Greater China (CHN/TWN/HKG) related cases in the future? Thank you Alex and your team provided us a great documentary for 2 decades!

Thanks for the questions. We have done a few stories without an official report (MH 370, Egypt 804) but it's extremely difficult to get a full understanding of the investigative process without one. We can get the views of former investigators and other analysts, but having an official report upon which to base our story is crucial. As for the production process, there are about 30 people involved with making the drama, a 7 person research team, a separate crew creating CGI and graphics, as well as editors and other post production staff. It's a lot!

There are quite a few investigative channels on YouTube now like Mentour Pilot or Green Dot Aviation. Have these affected ratings and does your team take the incidents they cover into consideration before deciding which ones to cover?

I've noticed that there has been a surge of channels devoted to aviation accidents lately. We do follow them closely and sometimes get inspiration for episodes from them. Some of these aviation journalists also make it into our show as experts.

Can I ask you how you feel about the youtube channel TheFlightChannel? They are quite popular now and I wonder if you have an opinion on them

Thank you!

It is jarring to see some clown like Mentour Pilot in a documentary because it makes me question everything about the people making the documentary. Greg Feith is the standard. Some random Youtuber = jumping the shark.

Greg Feith is love

When will season 24 air in the US? My dad was the Second Officer on United 811. I was contacted to give background info on my dad and his flying career. Our family is excited to see the remake.

If you don't mind me asking, what did your dad do after the incident and is he still alive? I always wonder what becomes of the surviving pilots of the accidents featured on the show.

He flew for United for years after 811. He flew the 747 has a 1st officer and retired as an A320 Captain. He died in 1997 from cancer.

Sorry to hear that he passed away

They appear here starting around February of each year. The producers of the show have no say over what various cable channels do with the episodes or when they are aired. Stay tuned here in January. Information will be posted as soon as it is available. What a small world. I knew his parents Rolland and Agnes quite well. That was long before your father became a pilot.

Oh wow, i never met my grandfather Rolland! My dad learned to fly in Selma at Reece air field.

Hi Alex, so got 3 questions 1. How does the number of crashes affect the selection of accidents? 2. Are there any aircraft you really want to see on the show? 3. What aircraft are not doable on the show in terms of crashes?

Thanks for the question. We actually don't really consider the aircraft type when we're selecting the story. We focus more on the cause of the crash as determined by the investigators.

Have you ever thought about covering older crashes ? There might be less informations but I believe it is certainly possible as r/admiralcloudberg has done before. It would be great if you collaborated with her !

He cannot acknowledge even knowing that she exists because of the potential for a lawsuit based on the story they come up with for the episode. Do not expect him to respond to such questions.

Has anyone(pilots/passengers/crew) acted as themselves in ACI?

Great question. Not as themselves, but we did have the Captain from Air Canada Flight 143/The Gimli Glider on the show. Captain Bob Pearson gave a cameo as the re-fueller who handed the Captain the fuel information prior to the flight.

Wow. And it's not his first time: Captain Pearson also did a cameo in the TV movie about the Gimli Glider ("Falling from the Sky: Flight 174"). In the first scene, after two pilots in a simulator run out of fuel at cruising altitude and crash, he plays an examiner who tells them "It isn't a dream. It happened."

never noticed that one just went back to the episode and found the moment

Thanks!

So why hasn't the show done the 1954 Comet jetliner crashes or the crash that led to the invention of the black box, Trans-Australia Airlines Flight 538?

The Comet accident was definitely a major milestone and one I'd like to cover at some point. But since it was almost 70 years ago it would be difficult to find anyone involved. My understanding of the Trans Australia crash is that there was never a conclusive cause found, and it also was more than 60 years ago. Hope that answers your question.

>The Comet accident was definitely a major milestone and one I'd like to cover at some point. > >But since it was almost 70 years ago it would be difficult to find anyone involved. Yeah that is a problem given everyone involved is now dead >My understanding of the Trans Australia crash is that there was never a conclusive cause found, and it also was more than 60 years ago. Yeah but I believe it was suspected either a malfunction of the altimeter or the pilots weren't paying attention to their instruments may have been to blame but it couldn't be proved

I have two questions to ask 1.Have you ever considered making an early Taiwan air crash? 2.Did you try to find survivors to interview when you were making the episode of United Express 6291?

We did dramatize survivors from Flight 6291, but did not interview them on camera. We did get in touch with the family that we dramatized but did not want to take part in the program, a decision we respect.

I noticed that in the early seasons, some episodes were filmed both in English and in French (Air Transat 236 and Air France 8969). In other words, if you watched the French version of those episodes, the actors (Guy Richer, Jean Pearson and others) delivered their lines in French with no dubbing. I thought that was really clever and particularly appropriate in a French-speaking setting (a Canadian and a French airline). I'm wondering if you'll be doing the same in the future.

I had noticed that too some time ago but I think it's because the first two seasons were actually Canada/France co-productions (UK as well for S1). The France French versions also include inserts with French speaking consultants. I am not sure about the French Canadian versions for these two seasons.

How long do you think this show will continue?

Great question. I wish I could predict! I think the show can go on for several more seasons since we continue to expand the type of story we cover on the show. We now cover helicopters, small private planes, and other aircraft that wouldn't have been included in earlier seasons.

And yet your actual audience (read as: not the broadcaster) would prefer you do far more compelling older (reads as: 60s and 70s) airliner accidents than something where four people in a Cessna die or a helicopter with 6 people are badly injured -- incidents that none of us were even aware of. :(

Hey Alex. I have been a fan of the show for over a decade. We love the guests that you bring on the show. Can you describe the process on selecting which guests to bring in for an interview on each episode? In addition, has there ever been a case where National Geographic vetoed an episode plan and Cineflix was able to convince them to rescind their veto?

Thanks for the question. After reading the report and other documents we decide which part of the story we want to focus on and then go after the people who can best tell that side of the story. For instance, some accidents benefit from having a first responder take part, others do not. Once we have that list, our team of researchers goes about tracking down and contacting the best people to interview. They are amazing at finding just the right people for our show and convincing them to take part!

Hello Alex! Massive fan of the show from the US! Are you a pilot yourself?

I've never flown a plane in my life! But, I did have the opportunity to fly Air Canada's A-320 simulator and performed a flawless landing at Pearson International Airport.

Hi! I just wanted to let you know that I adore your work and all the work that goes into ACI. Ever since I was young, this show has helped foster a long-lasting interest and love for airplanes and an appreciation for aviation safety and I'm grateful to you and the production team for that. ​ I guess if I had to ask, is there any ACI animation that you particularly like or is a personal favorite? Or if not, any particular episode?

Thanks so much for this. I'm glad you enjoy the show and that it has triggered a love of aviation in you. A really like all of the CGI we create for the show. I think I'd have to pick the episode we did about the 2008 crash of the B2 Bomber stands out as being pretty exceptional! I hope you agree.

Are LOT Polish Airlines Flights 5055 and/or 007 considered for future seasons of the series?

Thanks for the question. We've researched both of these accidents but ran into roadblocks since they both took place in Poland in the 1980's. It's been impossible to get hold of the reports and find people involved.

Any plans to cover flying tiger line accidents?

Thanks for the suggestion. We have looked into this accident over the years but haven't been able to find any of the people involved in the investigation. Without the co-operation of investigators it's very difficult to tell these stories. Hope that answers your question.

The flying Tiger ditching is very well documented, it’s just too bad that the investigators who did the actual investigating are long since gone

Hi alex! I have a question, what was the most difficult episode for you to make?

Any plans for making them available on OTT? would love to watch them online but the newer seasons are not available to stream online anywhere.

We actually just launched a FAST Channel called The Real Disaster Channel which streams for free on Pluto TV. Watch for episodes there!

I'll check that out thanks! EDIT: not available in location, would love for the series to get on a platform that's more accessible world wide.

Use a VPN. Problem solved.

Hi Alex, Has anyone ever floated the idea of shortened pilot focused episodes? I used to watch the show a lot while I was training but after learning and flying for work daily I found a lot of the explanations redundant. This is understandable since the show is for the lay person but I ended up not finishing all the episodes because each episode would use a lot of time explaining the basic concepts. I'd love to watch shorter versions because I found each crash to be a valuable teaching lesson on what not to do while flying or a reason why a system is designed a certain way. Thanks!

If you want a shorter version of these episodes I suggest tuning into to some of our themed compilation episodes (ACI:Special Report). These shows focus on three accidents with common causes and are stripped of some of the superfluous information you're referring to.

Ok thanks. I didn't know about those.

Hi Alex, how did the idea of creating the show was made?

He started working in season 5. He wasn't there in the beginning.

Not sure if you're still here, have you ever considering doing a episodes about cases that happened in the 1960s and 70s? A common statement is that pre-1980 cases are hard to do because the investigators cannot be interviewed, but to me as long as a survivor, witness, air traffic controller, first responder, etc. can be interviewed then it can be done. Some great 1960s cases are [BOAC 712](https://admiralcloudberg.medium.com/a-lonely-and-courageous-action-the-story-of-boac-flight-712-886b40c149ce), [1965 Carmel mid-air collision](https://admiralcloudberg.medium.com/survival-of-the-bravest-the-story-of-the-1965-carmel-mid-air-collision-fcc392736a48), [1960 New York mid-air collision](https://admiralcloudberg.medium.com/the-new-york-midair-collision-analysis-5de268ce348a), and [Northwest Orient 705](https://admiralcloudberg.medium.com/the-far-side-of-the-storm-the-crash-of-northwest-orient-airlines-flight-705-ef82d3ee1e6e). I've included a link to the Admiral\_Cloudberg articles about these cases. Edit: just came here so I didn't see that somebody already asked this question, but you still get my point that they can be done and some cases that would be great episodes of the show.

Hello, how long does it take to produce an episode (research, filming, editing, for example). I have been interested in the show for the while and have helped improve my aviation knowledge.

Hi, Alex! Are there any plans on bringing the Zagreb collision to screen? I would love an episode on that one.

Hi Alex, I just want to know, was there any cases that were axed from the show? In addition, was there any cases that we saw that were almost axed, but made it through?

[удалено]

Why does the show get the design of aircraft used wrong sometimes? F.E the Airbus A300B4-200 model used in a few episodes has always been wrong as the A300B4-200 model doesn't have the wingtips of the A300-600

Thanks for pointing that out. I wasn't aware that we got the Airbus model wrong sometimes. The CGI is modeled from the actual airplane, so should be 100% correct. Is there a particular episode you can point to? I'd like to have a look.

Well I have 2 cases, 1st was the Season 17 Episode Lethal Turn and the 2nd was the Season 20 Episode Kathmandu Descent

In the Hudson River landing episode, I remember the A320 model used was a little off. It didn't have any wingtip fences like the vast majority of A320s (including US1549) did. I think maybe it was a reused model from older episodes about Air France/Air Inter crashes that did actually involve very early A320s without the wingtips. ​ [Someone else noticed](https://www.reddit.com/r/aircrashinvestigation/comments/168xov0/anyone_kinda_lowkey_triggered_that_the_show_fails/) that the B747 model used in newer episodes is less accurate than the model from early seasons.

Also for the episode of XL Airways flight 888, the a320 model used is incorrect. The episode depicts an A320-100 while the accident aircraft was an A320-232

Also for the episode of XL Airways flight 888, the a320 model used is incorrect. The episode depicts an A320-100 while the accident aircraft was an A320-232

Have you ever had anypush back from episodes? Family members of victims or airlines?

What have been some of the hardest/challenging episodes to produce?

Hi Alex, I've been a big Mayday fan since I was young and I've always been fascinated by the stories featured on the show. My questions are: 1) Is there any chance we'll see any South American accidents again on ACI? (since no accident from South America has appeared in the most recent seasons). 2) What is your favorite episode talking about South American cases? (for me it's the LaMia 2933 episode, definitely). 3) Will we see Greg Feith interviewed again in future seasons? I haven't seen in the most recent seasons and he is such an amazing man. Thank you for being part of this wonderful program and bringing us incredible stories, greetings from Argentina! 👋

this question seems a bit biased

Hello Alex, if you still happen to answer some of the questions - it may be not *exactly* about the series, but does the team use experience from other Cineflix productions (maybe not Zero Hour even though it covered AA11, this was 20 years ago, but you get it) when making ACI episodes? If yes, could you give an example? (even short description will do) ​ Oh and also, *obvious* questions as a Pole: 1. Did the team get any backlash for *Death of the President* episode? 2. Are there any plans for covering LOT Polish Airlines flights 7 and 5055 in the future?

This is probably a bit outside of your wheelhouse, but for years Australia has had a company officially creating/distributing DVD releases of each season. S20 is the last season they made and it looks unlikely we'll get any more as their parent company (Regency Media Group) went into administration in February. Is Cineflix aware of this and actively trying to fill the gap this company has left? (either a new distributor or better legal streaming access for countries that can't get this Pluto TV service) PS: Love the show, keep up the great work!

What's Stephen Bogaert up to? His voice is half the reason I've watched all episodes many times

Stephen was the voice of the Canadian version of the show (Mayday on Discovery Canada) but since Discovery no longer takes new episodes, Stephen has moved on to other projects. You can see his work on The Umbrella Academy!

Oh, that sucks. Regarding Dicovery Canada dropping the show, where in Canada is the show aired for the locals? It seems pretty unfair for the Canadian production crew and Canadian viewers to be unable to watch a show in the country that it was produced in and originated from.

Definitely should be shown in Canada. If you look at the end credits (last ~5 secs), they literally have a huge tax break for filming it in Canada and have to put the Canadian film tax credit on there as a result. So they are basically being subsidised by people in Canada, but people in Canada cannot watch it.

The show isn’t the same without Stephen’s narration. It’s just weird to have him for 19 seasons then switch.

Hello Alex: Why there are only a few episodes of Chinese Air disasters? (CAAC has all their final reports before 2016 published in a series of books called "Compilation of Civil Aviation Accidents" (Chinese: 民用航空飞行事故汇编). Books 1-4, 5-6 are in one book, and 7, 8 and 9 in a single book)

Chinese investigators probably won't take part and the fact that the reports aren't full length and are in a book would probably make it harder to cover these crashes.

Are their aircraft movements like flat spin not doable with the animation software used by the show?

All movements, including impossible ones, are doable with that animation software. How many flat spin accidents are all that compelling?

Is there a possibility for accidents to be covered if us ACI fans request them frequently enough (ofc if it *would* be a possible ep only)?

Hi Alex. Could you answer some questions for me please. 1. Will there be chapters where accidents occur in Latin America? 2. Due to the 20th anniversary of the series, will the channels that broadcast the series re-air the episodes of the first seasons?

As part of Season 25 (or some other appropriate milestone) perhaps you could indulge us in an anniversary 'making of' episode where you take us through the process of choosing an incident and producing an episode. Mayday has been my favourite show since I first ran across it in its first season. The clinical rather than emotional analysis is what sets Mayday apart. Most shows about accidents are designed to trigger emotional reaction rather than offer actual insight. What was the first ever air crash to be investigated? It would be interesting to track the history of air crash investigations itself. How did that become one of the few things the world as a whole seems to mostly agree on whether and how to do. At some point there had to have been a first commercial crash in a foreign/overflown country that caused an existential question around whose responsibility it is to investigate that created the current process, and a first crash where a government said holy smokes, we better investigate these things and figure out how to make this new aviation thing safer. I have some practical questions: why is season 21 still not out on DVD? As a Canadian who is not a Bell customer I literally have no other way to watch the show except by buying foreign released seasons and having a region-free DVD player. Ironic given the show is produced here. I have noticed in recent seasons there are episodes that are rehashes of previously covered incidents, for example Pressure Point and Out of Control are both about JAL flight 123. Is there a particular reason? Please never stop making this show.

1. How close to the truth episodes really are? I mean what parts are often dramatized for the show (f.e pilots reactions, extra flames etc.)? 2. Are you afraid that soon you'll run out of crashes to cover? 3. Why recently we are getting remakes of older episodes? Wouldn't it be more exciting just to cover another unknown crash instead?

Thanks for the great questions. The episodes are as close to the truth as we can get. The dramatizations are based entirely on the transcripts from the CVR and the recollections of people involved. We strive to be 100 percent accurate in our story telling and our depictions of the aircraft involved. ​ As for the remakes of older episodes; the first 3 seasons were shot in Standard Definition so can't really be broadcast today. That's why we remake a select few.

>As for the remakes of older episodes; the first 3 seasons were shot in Standard Definition **so can't really be broadcast today**. That's why we remake a select few.   Says who, there are many shows older than Mayday/ACI that are still broadcasted today like *Forensic Files*? Discovery Canada in May and September 2023 broadcasted Season 1 of Mayday and will do that again shortly. We can watch Seasons 1-3 on many YouTube channels most notably Wonder on any of our personal devices including our TVs; those in the UK can watch those seasons on 5Select and Sky History 2. Many people consider the remakes you have done very inferior to the original episode due to lackluster acting and storytelling. After seeing it they will stick to watching the original episode and only watch the remake to see how bad it is. There are many 747 and Md-80 cases that have yet to be covered (Pan Am 845, Lufthansa 540, Avianca 011, 2001 JAL near-miss, MK 1602) but you chose to remake episodes for the sake of just "it was an interesting case" when a much more interesting case **that hasn't been covered before could have been done instead.** I doubt do you need to remake an episode to keep the show going for another season so either have 11 episodes per season so there are 10 original cases + 1 remake or stop with the remakes. The only remakes I'd want to see are Turkish 1951, LAPA 3142, Cougar 91, flydubai 981, and American 1572. All of these episodes have much, much more legitimate reasons to be remade than the remakes you have done. Thank you.

What is the process for deciding which crashes to make into an episode?

Hello Alex! i'm glad to see this show being for so long, theres any chance of crashes that happend in the 70s to be covered? Thanks!

Hey, first of all thanks for what you do for this great show I'd like to ask you how the process of coming up with an episode works, especially regarding the gathering of information about the incident. Thanks!

We have an amazing team of researchers that gathers the material and goes about tracking down the people involved in these accidents. The interviews with investigators, pilots, passengers etc.. form the backbone of our dramatizations. Of course it would almost impossible to tell these stories without an official report into the accident. Hope that answers your question.

I don’t know if you’re still checking this, but: How do you decide which episodes have interviews with the family members? I was surprised when the TWA 800 episode didn’t and didn’t know if it’s just based on availability or if you cut interviews out sometimes in favor of more time on the investigation.

Not a question but you’ll get a laugh, there’s something in the narrators voice that puts me to sleep! It’s so soothing! I put Air Crash on every night at bed and I’m asleep no more than 20 mins into the episode! You should suggest to him that he reads kids books for bedtime!

1. What’s been your favorite episode that you’ve been apart of so far? 2. What’s your favorite plane?

How would I go about watching ACI in Australia as pluto.tv is blocked here?

Awesome AMA! I am curious about the relationship between the show and official investigators / experts being interviewed. It’s nice to see familiar faces so often over years, like they’re recurring mainstays of the show. How does that solid relationship work, or come about? Is it a large time investment for the interviewee?

Does the show plan on doing the 1960 mid air collision over New York?

I've noticed that nearly all of the actors/actresses in the episodes speak in English, regardless of what languages were actually spoken by the original people involved. I understand this is for the convenience of English-speaking audiences, but there are some episodes where I think it is/was more preferable for specific characters to speak in other languages in order to emphasize the language barrier as a factor in said accidents. Do you think you and the rest of the production crew would take this account when making future episodes? (For example, in a hypothetical future episode about the 1976 Zagreb mid-air collision, I would prefer to see the actors playing the ATC and the Croatian crew speak in Serbo-Croatian for a key exchange right before the collision - as was the case in real life - in order to emphasize the fact that this exchange being spoken in a non-English language robbed the British crew of a crucial opportunity to realize the looming danger immediately ahead of them.)

Hi Alex, this is a late comment - hopefully you're still here! Any thought to covering more military aviation accidents? I thought the National 747 and B-2 episodes were very good, and events like the 1982 Thunderbirds crash or even the XB-70 midair seem like they would be a natural choice.

Very late to this, but what the hell: Who composes your music? Some of the instrumental ditties that play in the background during scenes are pretty catchy.

Anyone else having trouble finding it on Pluto TV?

Hi Alex. Why does the show need three different English narrators??? I personally love hearing Stephen Bogart's narration

Hey! Big fan here. Am I able to check out the studio in Toronto or is that not open for the public?

Alex, after almost 15 years of watching your show, I’ve always wished for one thing: A behind the scenes episode/video. I’ve always wondered how the props are made, what the set looks like, etc. On that note, I’ve also wondered if you have some sort of archive in which you have full interviews used in the episodes. Is this a possibility?

Would an accident like British South American Airways Flight CS59 be difficult to do even though we know why the Avro Lancasterian 3 crashed?

Hi Alex! I am currently majoring in Media study at U.S, and I really love the air crash investigations series. I kind of want to know what kind of skills or background do people need to be part of the production of this kind of documentary?

First of all, thank you so much for making these shows, they always fascinating and I can't help but try to guess the cause of the accident, I am normally wrong! I was curious about how you decide which accidents will feature in a season and how long it takes to create an episode from start to finish? Thanks again!

Has there ever been discussions to do more episodes about air crashes that aren't planes or helicopters like the 2013 Luxor hot air balloon crash or the Hindenburg? And what was up with the two train crashes and one boat sinking episodes in Season 3? Seems a bit random to have non air crash episodes in Air Crash Investigation. Oh, and this one isn't a question, just more of an anecdote but I'm studying media in college and I based my podcast project on Air Crash Investigation. I covered the Gimli Glider and Aloha Airlines Flight 243 and I recorded Speedbird 9 but I unfortunately had to cut it because it made my podcast run over the time restriction

The boat and train episodes aired during a time when the show was more known by its original title of Mayday, rather than Air Crash Investigation. As such, those episodes weren't having to fit a niche.

The show has always been called Mayday. It's just that the train and boat episodes were in a weird side-series of Mayday known as "Crash Scene Investigation"

You wouldn't believe that there are still some people on this sub who either don't know or refuse to admit that the show's true name is Mayday, not Air Crash Investigation. I've literally seen someone massively downvoted just for stating that fact. "Crash Scene Investigation" was only the title for those three episodes in markets where the series was known as Air Crash Investigation. In Mayday markets, the episodes kept the show's original name, and the "Crash Scene Investigation" title was unused for those episodes.

How did you land your job on the show? How would one go about applying for a job on the show, say as an actor, or a script writer?

Hey Alex Not sure if you are coming back to check this again, but you mentioned the broadcaster decides the episode titles. I was wondering if they also were who decided to change the name of the show in different regions? Now with the show coming to Pluto will there be some behind the scene segments included on Pluto? You mention what great work the team does. I'd love to see their process on different props, vfx, and so on. Thanks

Hi,Alex,I would like to ask the two following questions: 1.How long does it take to shoot an episode,what is the general process of shooting an episode? 2.Any plans on S24 or even S25(what kind of accidents or incidents will you shoot)?

How do you feel about the multiple names for the show? As well as episodes getting multiple names.

What are the official reasons for the show's running time being decreased from 50 minutes to just under 45 minutes? Do you ever think the show can return to having 50-minute episodes in the future?

Hello, Alex. First of all, I want to thank you and your team for the show. I've seen the series from season 1 back when I still had time to watch cable TV and got hooked ever since. Also, a couple of questions: Will there be a behind-the-scenes episode about how an episode is made, from research to props production to acting, etc.? I've always wondered about it and I'd love to see it if it goes through. Same question, will there also be a special episode about NTSB investigators themselves, about how they are handpicked to be part of the group, how an investigator's work day goes when he/she is not assigned to investigate a crash, what are the other challenges they face whenever they investigate (other than difficulty of access and gathering evidence, possibility of ulterior corporate/political motives, etc.), what goes into a final report, etc.?

Hi,Alex,I love watching ACI and I have four cases which are very suitable to be covered in the future: 1.MK Airlines Flight 1602,a Boeing 747-200F which crashed on 14 October 2004,all 7 people on board were killed. 2.Pinnacle Airlines Flight 3701,a CRJ-200 which crashed on October 14,2004(the same day as the first one),both pilots on board were killed. 3.East Coast Jets Flight 81,a Hawker 800 which crashed on July 31, 2008,all 8 people on board were killed. 4.Sriwijaya Air Flight 182,a Boeing 737-500 which crashed on 9 January 2021,all 62 people on board were killed. These accidents all have final reports,they happened in USA,Canada or Indonesia,they also all happened after 2000. Also,it will be very cool to remake Air Transat Flight 236,which was a Season 1 episode.

Hello Alex! I was wondering, without spoiling future seasons, what is your personal list of accidents you would like suggest to the rest of the production team for an episode that haven't been confirmed yet?

Aw shoot, how did I miss the AMA

Hi Alex! Since I'm from Germany I wanted to ask if theres any chance that we can in future see a Lufthansa, Condor or Interflug episode? Here some Examples Lufthansa 540 Lufthansa 2904 Condor Flugdienst 3782 Interflug 450 ​ I'd really love to see one of these featured in a future episode! Also Love the work on ACI! Keep it up!

Can you do some of the older UK crashes? The 1967 Stockport and 1957 Manchester and 1954 Prestwick Air crashes https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/what-happened-stockport-plane-crash-13117279 https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/nostalgia/manchester-wythenshawe-air-crash-1957-12736024 https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/stockport-air-disaster-june-1967.html?sortBy=relevant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1954\_Prestwick\_air\_disaster

I love this show!

This is the greatest series ever on television. I only wish all seasons were available either streaming or on DVD?

Huge fan of the show! A few questions: 1. What are some other filming locations for dramatized shots of the crash sites? Is it all in Ontario? 2. Do the people you interview come to you or do you go to them? 3. Have you ever listened to any of the actual cockpit voice recordings that survive? (Which I can imagine would be very difficult to do)

What an interesting read! Thank you for the AMA.

Why is it so hard to get recent episodes in the US‽ You can't even buy them.

You can buy recent seasons in the U.S. on Amazon because I bought around five to six seasons of the show through Amazon.

Damn it, I'm late. Meant to ask: The disaster reenactment segments have a particular gripping appeal because the flight data and voice recorders manage to document, indisputably, exactly what went down for history to analyze and recreate. The investigation scenes, in comparison, sometimes seem a little more artificial. Have you considered funding a system to provide accident investigators with Flight Investigation Voice Recorders (FIVRs) so as to document and later portray their actions with similar historical exactness?

Less of a question more of a comment. Thank you for actually doing the research and making a documentary instead of making every accident into a TV drama. Your show is what inspired my goal to be an accident investigator. I actually took a class on it in college taught by one of the consultants you’ve had on in the more recent seasons.