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. 3d ago

    Lac-Mégantic Rail Disaster

    On a warm July night in 2013, patrons at a popular Quebec bar heard the screech of metal on metal as an unmanned train barreled toward their town at highway speeds. What followed was a cascade of explosions that turned half the downtown into an inferno, killing 47 people and exposing a corporate culture that valued profits over lives. Discover how a cheap repair, inadequate training, and regulatory failures turned a routine freight run into one of North America's deadliest rail disasters—and why similar conditions persist on railways today. Sources: Railway Investigation Report R13D0054, "Runaway and Main-track Derailment: Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway Freight Train MMA-002" — Transportation Safety Board of CanadaLac-Mégantic criminal trial testimony, 2017–2018 proceedings — Court record"The Lac-Mégantic Rail Disaster: Public Betrayal, Justice Denied" by Bruce Campbell — James Lorimer & Company"Bomb Trains: How Industry Greed and Regulatory Failure Put the Public at Risk" by Justin Mikulka"The public health response during and after the Lac-Mégantic train derailment tragedy" by Généreux et al. — Disaster HealthInvestigation series on MMA corporate culture and safety record — The Globe and MailTrial coverage and witness testimony — CBC News"Lives lost: Remembering Lac-Mégantic's victims" — Montreal Gazette"Five Years after Lac-Mégantic, U.S. Freight Rail Going Backward on Safety" — The Century FoundationReporting on former engineer Jarod Briggs's warnings about single-person crews — Bangor Daily News 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.

  2. Jul 15

    Air France Flight 447

    On June 1, 2009, Air France Flight 447 vanished over the Atlantic Ocean with 228 people aboard. For two years, the world could only speculate about what happened to a state-of-the-art Airbus A330 during a routine overnight crossing. Join Alice and Zach as they explore how a brief sensor malfunction triggered a catastrophic chain of confusion — and why, seventeen years later, the question of who bears responsibility was finally answered in a French courtroom. Sources: Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses (BEA) Final Report, July 2012"Should Airplanes Be Flying Themselves?" by William Langewiesche, Vanity Fair"Air France 447: Vanished" — Mayday/Air Crash Investigation"TITANIC of the Skies! The Untold Story of Air France 447" — Mentour PilotBBC News coverage of the May 2026 appeal verdict 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.

  3. Jul 8

    China Airlines Flight 120

    A Boeing 737 lands in Okinawa after a routine one-hour hop from Taiwan. The flight is over. The engines are off, the passengers are reaching for their bags — and then someone sees smoke curling from under the right wing. Within minutes the aircraft is an inferno. Join Alice and Zach for the story of a plane that survived every dangerous phase of flight, only to erupt into flames while parked at the gate — and the painstaking investigation that traced the fire back to a single missing part no bigger than a coin. Sources: "China Airlines Flight 120, B18616" — FAA Lessons Learned From Transport Airplane AccidentsAircraft Accident Investigation Report, Japan Transport Safety Board (JTSB)"Deadly Detail" — Mayday / Air Crash InvestigationFirst-person account of passenger Jim Caruso 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.

  4. Jul 1

    The Flying Tiger Mystery

    On March 16, 1962, a military charter flight carrying 93 Army Rangers vanished over the Pacific Ocean during a secret mission to Vietnam. Despite one of the largest searches in aviation history, no trace of the aircraft or its 107 occupants was ever found. Join Alice and Zach as they explore how a mission so classified that soldiers had to leave their wedding rings and dog tags at home became one of aviation's most enduring mysteries—and why, 60 years later, families are still fighting just to prove their loved ones existed. Sources: Civil Aeronautics Board Aircraft Accident Report, File No. 1-0002, April 8, 1963"Listing on Vietnam Wall sought for troops killed in 1962 plane crash" - Stars and Stripes, July 24, 2013"'He knew something': The 1962 flight of Army Rangers that vanished into thin air" - SFGATE, May 10, 2021"60 Years Missing: The Mystery Of Flying Tiger Line Flight 739" - FLYING Magazine, March 16, 2022"A New Memorial Is Unveiled for Those Lost on a Missing Vietnam War Transport Plane" - Military.com, May 22, 2021Wreaths Across America official documentation and family testimonies"The Mystery of Flying Tiger Line flight 739" - The History Guy (YouTube), 2024 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.

  5. Jun 24

    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.

  6. Jun 17

    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.

  7. Jun 10

    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.

  8. Jun 3

    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.

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4.3
out of 5
9 Ratings

About

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.

Information

  • Creator
    Alice Stern
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    70
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 Alice Stern
  • Show Website
    Final Boarding Call

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