Final Boarding Call

Alice Stern

Final Boarding Call dives into the true stories of aviation disasters, survival tales, and near misses that have shaped history. Hosted by Alice, a disaster-obsessed frequent flyer, and her reluctant, homebody husband Zach, each episode explores the history, mechanics, and human decisions behind these harrowing events. Through meticulous research and compelling storytelling, we examine how small oversights and miscommunications can cascade into catastrophe, revealing the fragility of complex systems and celebrating the heroism that emerges in crisis. From ghost planes circling on autopilot to pilots sucked out of windshields at 17,000 feet, we unpack these incidents with equal parts fascination and respect for the lessons they've taught us. So stow your tray tables, fasten your seatbelts, and prepare for turbulence—because not every trip reaches its final destination.

  1. 3 dgn geleden

    SS El Faro

    On October 1, 2015, the cargo ship SS El Faro steamed directly into the path of Hurricane Joaquin and vanished with all 33 crew members aboard. Join Alice and Zach as they unravel how a routine "milk run" between Jacksonville and Puerto Rico became America's worst maritime disaster in decades. Discover the deadly combination of outdated weather data, corporate pressure, ignored warnings, and mechanical failures that turned a survivable storm into an unsurvivable nightmare. Through audio recovered from three miles beneath the Atlantic, hear the final hours of a crew fighting against impossible odds—and learn how their deaths changed maritime safety forever. Sources: National Transportation Safety Board Marine Accident Report MAR-17/01: "Sinking of US Cargo Vessel SS El Faro, Atlantic Ocean, Northeast of Acklins and Crooked Island, Bahamas, October 1, 2015"U.S. Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation Final Report (September 24, 2017)NTSB Voyage Data Recorder Audio Transcript (510 pages)Into the Raging Sea: Thirty-Three Mariners, One Megastorm, and the Sinking of El Faro by Rachel Slade (HarperCollins, 2018)"The Clock is Ticking: Inside El Faro" by William Langewiesche, Vanity Fair (April 2018)CBS News 60 Minutes: "Voices of the Lost" (March 5, 2017)House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure hearing transcripts (January 30, 2018)The Working Waterfront: "'Into the Raging Sea' details human failings that cursed El Faro" Find FINAL BOARDING CALL online: Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.comEmail: finalboardingcallpodcast@gmail.comInstagram: @FinalBoardingCallPodFacebook: 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.

    59 min.

  2. 17 jun

    American Airlines Flight 444

    When a mysterious package in the cargo hold of American Airlines Flight 444 suddenly detonates at 30,000 feet, 80 people find themselves trapped in a smoke-filled Boeing 727. Join Alice and Zach as they explore the chilling story of a midair bombing that failed only because of a single ingredient mistake—and the 17-year manhunt it set in motion. Discover how one of the most intensive investigations in FBI history began with a parcel that was supposed to kill everyone on board. Buckle up for a story that changed aviation security forever. Sources: "Unabomber" - FBI Famous Cases"Bomb Jolts Jet" - The Washington Post, November 16, 1979"A Chronology of the UNABOM Investigation" - Cornell Law School Find FINAL BOARDING CALL online: Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.com Email: finalboardingcallpodcast@gmail.comInstagram: @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.

    39 min.

  3. 10 jun

    Piedmont Flight 22

    On July 19, 1967, Piedmont Airlines Flight 22 collided in midair with a small Cessna over the mountains of North Carolina, killing everyone aboard both aircraft — directly above a children's summer camp at lunchtime. Join Alice and Zach as they trace how a confusing radio clearance, a controller working without radar, and a single misunderstood instruction lined up into catastrophe. Discover the safety technology this disaster helped create, and the questions one investigator was still asking nearly forty years later. Sources: "Aircraft Accident Report AAR 68-AJ" – National Transportation Safety Board"The Crash of Piedmont Airlines Flight 22: Completing the Record of the 1967 Midair" – Paul D. Houle (McFarland & Company)Asheville Citizen, July 20-22, 1967Asheville Times, July 19-20, 1967Times-News (Hendersonville), July 19, 1967Winston-Salem Journal, July 20, 1967Twin-City Sentinel, July 19, 1967"Piedmont Flight 22 and the Midair Collision Over Hendersonville" – Legeros Fire Blog"In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam" – Robert McNamaraThe Pentagon Papers Find FINAL BOARDING CALL online: Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.comEmail: finalboardingcallpodcast@gmail.comInstagram: @FinalBoardingCallPodFacebook: 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.

    47 min.

  4. 3 jun

    Air Algérie Flight 6289

    On March 6, 2003, Air Algérie Flight 6289 crashed roughly thirty seconds after takeoff from Tamanrasset Airport in the Sahara Desert, killing 102 people. Discover how an engine failure—the kind of emergency pilots train for repeatedly—turned catastrophic through a series of critical mistakes in cockpit management and missed procedures. This episode explores the tragic consequences when standard safety protocols break down during aviation's most dangerous phase: takeoff. We'll also uncover the extraordinary story of the flight's sole survivor, whose survival defied all odds through an incredible twist of fate. Sources: "Report on the accident on 6 March 2003 at Tamanrasset to the Boeing 737-200 registered 7T-VEZ operated by Air Algérie" — Algerian Ministry of Transport National Commission of Inquiry"Crisis of Confidence: The crash of Air Algérie flight 6289" — Admiral Cloudberg on Medium"Unforgivable!! The Tragic tale of Air Algérie Flight 6289" — Mentour Pilot YouTube channelWikipedia article on Air Algérie Flight 6289Aviation safety databases and accident investigation reports Find FINAL BOARDING CALL online: Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.comEmail: finalboardingcallpodcast@gmail.comInstagram: @FinalBoardingCallPodFacebook: 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.

    46 min.

  5. 27 mei

    CSX 8888: The Crazy Eights Incident

    On May 15, 2001, an experienced freight engineer steps down from his locomotive in a rural Ohio rail yard to fix a misaligned switch. He's done this kind of work for thirty-five years, the train is creeping along at walking pace, and he'll be back on board in seconds. Then everything goes wrong. Join Alice and Zach for the story of CSX 8888 — a three-thousand-ton freight train carrying tank cars of toxic chemicals that runs loose through northwestern Ohio with nobody at the controls, and the ordinary railroaders who have to figure out how to stop it before it reaches the next town. This is the story Hollywood turned into the movie Unstoppable, with all the parts they left out. Sources: "Runaway Train" by William M. Hendryx — Reader's Digest, March 2002"A 3,000-Ton Locomotive Was Loose, Unstoppable, and Filled with Toxic Cargo" by Jesse Hicks — Popular Mechanics"CSX's Runaway Train: The Crazy Eights Incident" — AmtrakGuy365 (YouTube)"Ordinary Railroaders Stop Deadly Runaway Train: The Crazy Eights Incident" — Fascinating Horror (YouTube)"CSX 8888 — Crazy Eights" by Dan Robie — WVNC RailsFederal Railroad Administration incident memo, May 2001Contemporary news coverage from CNN, the Los Angeles Times, and CBS NewsEPA emergency response documentation on phenol-related rail incidents Find FINAL BOARDING CALL online: Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.comEmail: finalboardingcallpodcast@gmail.comInstagram: @FinalBoardingCallPodFacebook: 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.

    57 min.

  6. 20 mei

    Northwest Airlink Flight 5719

    On December 1, 1993, Northwest Airlink Flight 5719 crashed three miles short of its destination in northern Minnesota, killing all 18 people aboard. The weather wasn't extreme. The aircraft wasn't broken. Both pilots were certified, qualified, and physically capable of flying the approach. But as the turboprop descended through the dark, something else was happening in the cockpit — something that wouldn't show up in the wreckage. This is the story of how investigators traced a routine night flight back through twenty years of warning signs that nobody connected, and what the cockpit voice recorder revealed about the silence that killed eighteen people. Sources: NTSB Aircraft Accident Report AAR-94/05 — Express Airlines II, Inc., Northwest Airlink Flight 5719Cockpit Voice Recorder Transcript (NTSB Appendix B)Mayday: Air Disasters, Season 17 Episode 1, "Killer Attitude"NTSB Safety Recommendations A-94-70 through A-94-72Express Airlines II General Operations Manual and Standard Operating Procedures (as cited in AAR-94/05) Find FINAL BOARDING CALL online: Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.comEmail: finalboardingcallpodcast@gmail.comInstagram: @FinalBoardingCallPodFacebook: 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.

    46 min.

  7. 13 mei

    TACA Flight 110

    What happens when a brand-new Boeing 737 flies into a hailstorm so violent that both engines die in the same instant, 16,500 feet above the Gulf Coast? Join Alice and Zach as they explore the 1988 emergency landing of TACA Flight 110, where a 29-year-old captain with one eye, a first officer he trusted, and a brand new aircraft were tested in a way no flight simulator had ever prepared a crew for. Discover how a near-miss nine months earlier was waved off as a freak event, why the engines on one of the most reliable jets in the world were vulnerable in a way no one had imagined, and how a 43-ton glider found the only piece of dry ground for miles. This is the rare story where everyone walks away — including the aircraft itself. Sources: "Boeing 737-300 | TACA International Airlines Flight 110, N75356" — Federal Aviation Administration, Lessons Learned from Transport Airplane AccidentsNTSB Brief of Incident FTW88IA109 — National Transportation Safety Board"Nowhere to Land," Mayday: Air Disaster, Season 11 Episode 11 — National Geographic / Cineflix"Interview with Capt. Carlos Dárdano: Hero of TACA 110" — Carlos Dardano Fans, YouTube"This Incredible Pilot: Carlos Dárdano" — Plane & Pilot Magazine"The Miracle on the Levée" — Fear of Landing"¡Misión Cumplida! Se Jubila el Histórico Piloto Salvadoreño Carlos Dárdano" — El Diario de HoyAviation Safety Network — TACA Flight 110 Profile Find FINAL BOARDING CALL online: Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.comEmail: finalboardingcallpodcast@gmail.comInstagram: @FinalBoardingCallPodFacebook: 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.

    51 min.

  8. 6 mei

    Malaysia Airlines Flight MH134

    On the night of July 18, 2018, a Malaysia Airlines Airbus A330 pushed back from Brisbane Airport carrying 215 passengers bound for Kuala Lumpur. Within seconds of takeoff, every airspeed display in the cockpit went red — and the crew had no idea how fast they were flying or why. Join Alice and Zach as they unravel a near-disaster that played out in the dark over the Queensland coast, the chain of small failures that put this aircraft in the air, and the very specific Brisbane Airport problem that nobody at Malaysia Airlines had been told about. Buckle up — this one is a wild ride. Sources: ATSB Final Investigation Report AO-2018-053 — Australian Transport Safety Bureau, March 2022"How Did EVERYONE Miss THIS!? | Malaysian Airlines Flight 134" — Mentour Pilot, YouTube"Malaysia Airlines mistakes led to 'serious incident' on packed A330" — Australian Aviation"Pitot covers left on made for tense BUSS ride" — Flight Safety Australia"A350 pitot probe covers left on prior to pushback demonstrates how assumptions, procedural omissions can lead to unsafe conditions" — Australian Transport Safety BureauMalaysia Airlines Flight MH134 — Wikipedia Find FINAL BOARDING CALL online: Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.com | Email: finalboardingcallpodcast@gmail.com | Instagram: @FinalBoardingCallPod | Facebook: Final Boarding Call | Patreon: patreon.com/finalboardingcall 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.

    45 min.
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Info

Final Boarding Call dives into the true stories of aviation disasters, survival tales, and near misses that have shaped history. Hosted by Alice, a disaster-obsessed frequent flyer, and her reluctant, homebody husband Zach, each episode explores the history, mechanics, and human decisions behind these harrowing events. Through meticulous research and compelling storytelling, we examine how small oversights and miscommunications can cascade into catastrophe, revealing the fragility of complex systems and celebrating the heroism that emerges in crisis. From ghost planes circling on autopilot to pilots sucked out of windshields at 17,000 feet, we unpack these incidents with equal parts fascination and respect for the lessons they've taught us. So stow your tray tables, fasten your seatbelts, and prepare for turbulence—because not every trip reaches its final destination.

Informatie

  • Maker
    Alice Stern
  • Jaren actief
    2025 - 2026
  • Afleveringen
    66
  • Beoordeling
    Expliciet
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 Alice Stern
  • Website van aflevering
    Final Boarding Call

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