History Series / SecondsFromDisaster

** Just prior to the fateful collision of the KLM and Pan Am Boeing [=747s=], the KLM flight engineer seems to pick up on the last transmission between the control tower and the Pan Am plane discussing on how the Pan Am will "report when clear of the runway", a major warning sign since that in and of itself implies they're ''still'' on the runway the KLM plane is now speeding down for takeoff. His attempt to bring this up to the KLM captain in the form of a question ("Is he not clear of the runway, the Pan Am?") is brushed off by the focused captain with a distracted "Oh yes!" Put bluntly, they were still on the runway.

** "Collision on the Runway": A massive number of these of these leads to the pilot of KLM Flight 4805 believing he's been cleared for takeoff, when Pan Am Flight 1736 was still on the runway. Most critically, two transmissions that would have alerted him to his error end up blocking each other out on the radio (which wasn't designed to receive transmissions from more than one source at a time), so the KLM crew only hears static and doesn't get either transmission. Even worse, the KLM flight engineer seemed to realize something is wrong upon hearing the final transmission between tower and Pan Am discussing the latter reporting "when clear of the runway", but the pilot already initiating takeoff brushes his concerns off.

** "Collision on the Runway": A massive number of these of these leads to the pilot of KLM Flight 4805 believing he's been cleared for takeoff, when Pan Am Flight 1736 was still on the runway. Most critically, two transmissions that would have alerted him to his error end up blocking each other out on the radio (which wasn't designed to receive transmissions from more than one source at a time), so the KLM crew only hears static and doesn't get either transmission.

* StockSoundEffect: Often used as part of the dramatisations of each disaster.

** "Zeebrugge Ferry Disaster/Capsized in the North Sea": Investigations following the tragedy uncovered systemic laziness and negligence in the corporate hierachy of Townsend Thorsen, the company that owned the ''Herald of Free Enterprise''. This contributed to the lack of communication in the workplace, which was proved to be the root cause of the events that lead to the capsizing.

** Subverted by a miracle in "Zeebrugge Ferry Disaster/Capsized in the North Sea". As she capsized, the ''Herald of Free Enterprise'' settled on an underwater sand bar, one of several that ships coming in and out of Zeebrugge usually had to navigate around. That sand bar kept the ''Herald'' from turning turtle, which would have lead to a true SinkingShipScenario and most likely claimed everyone on board.

** "Fukushima": Damage from a 9.0 earthquake and a tsunami, loss of power related to it, and a build-up of hydrogen leads to a meltdown and explosions that damage the containment of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan, leading to the second worst [[ParanoiaFuel and ongoing]] peacetime nuclear disaster of human history.

Narrators for the show include Ashton Smith (American narrator for seasons 1 to 3), Richard Vaughan (British narrator for seasons 1 and 2; narrator from season 4 onwards) and Peter Guinness (British narrator for season 3).

** "Collision on the Runway" is a deconstruction. The pilot of the KLM flight was considered by many, including himself, to be this and was promoted as such -- which possibly led to his crew and even air traffic control deferring to his wishes when they absolutely should not have done so.

* DeathOfAChild: This happens in quite a number of disasters - in fact, the show goes to great pains to highlight just how many (often small) children die in these disasters just to drive the tearjerker factor in even further. It's even more gut-wrenching when the parents are interviewed. A perfect example of this is the episode covering the Oklahoma City bombing. It's highly stressed that there are several children in a daycare directly above where Timothy [=McVeigh's=] bomb exploded, and that the grandson of one of the people interviewed was there. The grandson survives, but it's noted that he saw many other children die. Especially tragic since this was a deliberate terrorist act rather than a freak accident.

** "Collision on the Runway" is a subversion. The pilot of the KLM flight fancied himself to be this and was promoted as such -- which possibly led to his crew and even air traffic control deferring to his wishes when they absolutely should not have done so.

** "Terrified over Tokyo". The skill of the pilots again likely saved many lives on the ground in getting the plane out of anywhere populated. Also, they kept the plane flying longer than ''anyone'' running the same situation in a simulator ever has. In addition, had the [[UsefulNotes/KaijuDefenseForce JSDF]] arrived in time, they would have been able to save many more people than just the four survivors. A number of passengers in the tail section[[note]]the rest of the plane was obliterated on impact, but the tail section broke away from the main wreckage and consequently escaped the brunt of the impact[[/note]] survived the crash, only to die of hypothermia and untreated injuries in the ensuing hours.

** "Terrified over Tokyo". The skill of the pilots again likely saved many lives on the ground in getting the plane out of anywhere populated. Also, they kept the plane flying longer than ''anyone'' running the same situation in a simulator ever has. In addition, had the [[UsefulNotes/KaijuDefenseForce JSDF]] arrived in time, they would have been able to save many more people than just the four survivors. Many of the plane's passengers survived the crash, only to die of hypothermia in the ensuing hours.

** Also could have prevented the eponymous disaster in "Collision on the Runway". When van Zanten saw the Pan Am plane on the runway in front of him, he panicked and tried to take off even though he had insufficient speed to lift off, lifting the nose and consequently dragging the plane's tail down the runway, which slowed the plane's acceleration and actually delayed them getting up to takeoff speed. Given that even with that delay, they got off the ground at the last second (but too late to prevent a collision), had van Zanten continued the takeoff roll as though there wasn't another plane, as crazy as that would seem to be in the moment, he almost certainly could have lifted off just in time to clear the Pan Am, making the incident a near-miss instead of a tragedy.

** Also could have prevented the eponymous disaster in "Collision on the Runway". When van Zanten saw the Pan Am plane on the runway in front of him, he panicked and tried to take off, lifting the nose and consequently dragging the plane's tail down the runway, which slowed the plane's acceleration and actually delayed them getting up to takeoff speed. Even with that delay, they got off the ground at the last second, but too late to prevent a collision; had they gotten off the ground just a few seconds earlier, they would have been able to clear the Pan Am jet. Even though it would seem like the last thing one should do in that situation, had Van Zanten simply continued to accelerate to takeoff speed, he would almost certainly have reached takeoff speed sooner and been able to avert the accident.

** "King's Cross Fire/London's Subway Inferno": The smoker who carelessly discarded their still-lit match on the escalator, starting a fire that killed 31 people.

** The passenger who pulled the emergency brake on the train that went on to be involved in the Gare de Lyon rail accident minutes later because she missed her stop. While a more minor example than the others in this list, this set in motion the events that ultimately caused the accident.[[note]]However, although the episode doesn't note this, she ''was'' punished with a fine for her direct action of misusing the emergency system; it's just that she wasn't held responsible for the events that followed, because she couldn't reasonably have anticipated that as a consequence of her action and because too many subsequent factors also had to come into play to cause the crash.[[/note]]

** The passenger who pulled the emergency brake on the train that went on to be involved in the Gare de Lyon rail accident minutes later because she missed her stop. While a more minor example than the others in this list, this set in motion the events that ultimately caused the accident.[[note]]However, although the episode doesn't note this, she ''was'' given a fine for her direct action of misusing the emergency system; it's just that she wasn't held responsible for the events that followed, because she couldn't reasonably have anticipated it and because too many subsequent factors also had to come into play to cause the crash.[[/note]]

** Prior to the Uberlingen disaster, two other planes came dangerously close to colliding under nearly identical circumstances. This close call should have been a major warning to fix a flaw in the system, but was largely ignored. Instead, the same problem occurred again, and this time the pilots were unable to avert tragedy.

** "Crash Landing at Sioux City". The pilots kept the plane in the air until they could land at an airport with emergency crews waiting, despite the loss of all hydraulic controls, likely saving many lives on the ground and even lowering the death toll in the crash itself. Part of this was that one of the pilots (who had been a passenger on the plane to begin with) had studied the crash mentioned in...

** What could've prevented the Mont Blanc Tunnel fire in "Tunnel Inferno". Due to the way forward movement was starving the lorry's air filter and/or engine fire of oxygen. If Gilbert had driven to the end of the tunnel instead of stopping halfway to inspect and extinguish the fire, the fire would've erupted outside the tunnel. In addition, if he had chosen to stop the engine instead of leaving it running, the burning cab wouldn't have continued to ingest air from around itself.

** "Skywalk Collapse": The collapse of the Hyatt skywalk, caused by the actual building of the skywalk not matching the engineering blueprints and using a shoddy construction style, with no load testing before opening to the public. The skywalk was therefore too weak to support the amount of people who crowded onto it, causing the disaster.

** "Terrified over Tokyo". The skill of the pilots again likely saved many lives on the ground in getting the plane out of anywhere populated. Also, they kept the plane flying longer than ''anyone'' running the same situation in a simulator ever has. In addition, had the J.S.D.F. arrived in time, they would have been able to save many more people than just the four survivors. Many of the plane's passengers survived the crash, only to die of hypothermia in the ensuing hours.

** At some point, the producers got GenreSavvy and would occasionally withhold interviews with a victim until the episode revealed that person was alive. See, for example, [[spoiler:one survivor's younger sister in the Bali nighclub episode, or the final survivor rescued from the Sampoong department store collapse.]]

** "Nagasaki - The Forgotten Bomb" is about the US nuclear attack on Nagasaki, Japan in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. The episode makes particular emphasis on the fact that most of the people in the city were trying to continue their lives, despite hearing of the destruction of Hiroshima a few days earlier. To make matters worse, [[WouldHurtAChild the bomb fell at the same time as a group of children got to work building firebreaks in anticipation of a major firebombing.]]
* AwakeningTheSleepingGiant: One episode focuses on the Attack on Pearl Harbor, and how the Japanese made it a disaster...for themselves.

** Multiple people on Montserrat mentioned that the volcano was soon to erupt. The same thing happened in Mt. Saint Helens.

* ChekhovsVolcano: At least two, for the eruptions at Soufriere Hills and Mt St Helens are also shown as episodes.

* DeathOfAChild: This happens in quite a number of disasters - in fact, the show goes to great pains to highlight just how many (often small) children die in these disasters just to drive the tearjerker factor in even further. It's even more gut-wrenching when the parents are interviewed. A perfect example of this is the episode covering the Oklahoma City Bombing. It's highly stressed that there are several children in a daycare directly above where Timothy [=McVeigh's=] bomb exploded, and that the grandson of one of the people interviewed was there. The grandson survives, but it's noted that he saw many other children die. Especially tragic since this was a deliberate terrorist act rather than a freak accident.

** "Crash of the Concord": A strip of metal that had fallen off another plane and was lying on the runway burst one of the Concord's tires, which sent debris into the undercarriage that severed a wire and knocked fuel loose from one of the tanks, setting the plane's wing on fire.

** "Meltdown in Chernobyl": A steam explosion blows the roof and containment off of the Chernobyl reactor, leading to a massive, uncontrolled release of radioactive material and one of the two worst peacetime nuclear disasters of human history.

* JustPlaneWrong: The Boeing 757 featured in the episode about the Uberlingen mid-air collision is an example of this; Boeing 757s are best known for their wide and round nose, with the cockpit situated pretty close to it; in the episode, the [=CGI=] 757 has an oddly pointy nose with the cockpit set back, making it look somewhat like a 747 without the hump and upper deck, when viewed at a glance.

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: The Pearl Harbor attack is seen as a ''Japanese'' disaster, rather than an American one. Among other reasons, the Japanese airmen missed hitting important facilities such as dry docks, sub pens, and fuel storage tanks near the harbor, opting instead to attack the American battleships docked at Battleship row. Worse, their intended primary targets, the American aircraft carriers, were not in the harbor at the time of the attack. Also overlaps with AwakeningTheSleepingGiant, considering what happens to the carriers and men that partook in the attack only months later.

* OhCrap: Multple moments:
** Dr. Bendaari upon learning the residents of Bhopal have been exposed to MIC, and that its is a life or death struggle that no conventional eye drops will help.
** Geoff Bollands, with a close up of his eyes, when he notices the pressure gauge of Piper Alpha’s gas pipes are at critical levels, just before the first explosion.

** "Titanic/Sinking of the Titanic": The wireless operator for the SS ''Californian'' tried to warn nearby ships of icebergs in the area. Unfortunately, he didn't properly announce himself, and was using much less sensitive equipment than the ''Titanic'', so he was told by the ''Titanic's'' operator to get off the frequency. He went to bed after that, and missed the ''Titanic's'' SOS signal.

* {{Retirony}}: Edward Smith was to make one last trip across the Atlantic as ship's captain before retiring. Unfortunately he was to captain the doomed Titanic.
* ShownTheirWork: One of the most famous survivors of the USS ''Forrestal'' disaster was actually future US Senator and presidential hopeful John [=McCain=]; in fact, the plane hit was either [=McCain=]'s or the one right next to it (there was too much damage to tell after the fact exactly which plane was hit). His name is never spoken in the episode, but a brief shot of an assignment board does show the name [=McCain=] listed.

** The RMS Titanic, one of the most infamous examples, is covered as the 1st episode of the 3rd season.

** The German Battleship ''Bismarck'', which sinks after a relentless pursuit by the Royal Navy. In the same episode, the HMS ''Hood'' is sunk by the former only days prior, killing all but 3 of the 1400 man crew.
** HMS ''Coventry'', which sinks after being struck by two bombs from Argentinian attack aircraft during UsefulNotes/TheFalklandsWar.
** The MV ''Dona Paz'' collides with a tanker and sinks in the Phillipine Sea, in a disaster several times the magnitude of the ''Titanic''. Only 24 people survive out of over 4,000.
** Subverted with the MS ''Scandinavian Star''. While the massive fire that breaks out causes 159 fatalities onboard, the ship itself remains afloat.

* StuffBlowingUp: Exploding sewers, exploding buildings, exploding planes, and lots of things going up in smoke due to leaking fuel catching fire, not to mention actual bombs going off. The initial Guadalajara explosion was powerful enough to be picked up on ''seismographs,'' where it registered 3.3 on the Richter scale.

** "Death In Mid-Air": Peter Nielsen becomes this when he orders the Russian plane to descend, unknowingly contradicting their TCAS instructions. If he had said nothing, the Russian pilots would almost certainly have obeyed their TCAS system and climbed to avoid the other plane. To make matters worse, even if the Russian crew hadn't listened to TCAS and had done nothing, the DHL plane, which was descending in accordance with their own TCAS, would have passed harmlessly underneath the passenger plane. Similarly, Nielsen could have chosen to tell the Russians to climb rather than to descend, or he could have chosen to issue instruction -- ''any'' instruction -- to the DHL pilots, who were trained to prioritize TCAS and would likely have continued to descend regardless of what Nielsen told them to do. Instead, he inadvertently gave the one order that kept the planes on a collision course.

** Also could have prevented the eponymous disaster in "Collision on the Runway". When Van Zanten saw the Pan Am plane on the runway in front of him, he panicked and tried to take off, lifting the nose and consequently dragging the plane's tail down the runway, which slowed the plane's acceleration and actually delayed them getting up to takeoff speed. Even with that delay, they got off the ground at the last second, but too late to prevent a collision; had they gotten off the ground just a few seconds earlier, they would have been able to clear the Pan Am jet. Even though it would seem like the last thing one should do in that situation, had Van Zanten simply continued to accelerate to takeoff speed, he would almost certainly have reached takeoff speed sooner and been able to avert the accident.

** "Jonestown Cult Suicide". Jim Jones ordered children to be killed ''by their own parents.''
** "Oklahoma City Bombing", Timothy Mc Veigh, the [[WesternTerrorists terrorist]] who committed the worst act of terrorism on US soil before September 11, 2001. The childcare center in the Murrah Building was right above where his truck bomb exploded.

* Retirony: Edward Smith was to make one last trip across the Atlantic as ship's captain before retiring. Unfortunately he was to captain the doomed Titanic.

** ..."Terrified over Tokyo". The skill of the pilots again likely saved many lives on the ground in getting the plane out of anywhere populated. Also, they kept the plane flying longer than ''anyone'' running the same situation in a simulator ever has. In addition, had the J.S.D.F. arrived in time, they would have been able to save many more people than just the four survivors. Many of the plane's passengers survived the crash, only to die of hypothermia in the ensuing hours.

** The passenger who pulled the emergency brake on the train that went on to be involved in the Gare de Lyon rail accident minutes later because she missed her stop. While a more minor example than the others in this list, this set in motion the events that ultimately caused the accident.[[note]]However, although the episode doesn't note this, she ''was'' given a fine for her direct action of misusing the emergency system; it's just that she wasn't held responsible for the events that followed, which, to be fair, she couldn't reasonably have anticipated.[[/note]]

** The passenger who pulled the emergency brake on the train that went on to be involved in the Gare de Lyon rail accident minutes later because she missed her stop. While a more minor example than the others in this list, this set in motion the events that ultimately caused the accident.

* InfantImmortality: Averted in many cases; in fact, the show goes to great pains to highlight just how many (often small) children die in disasters just to drive the TearJerker factor in even further. It's even more gut-wrenching when the parents are interviewed.
** A perfect example of this is the episode covering the Oklahoma City Bombing. It's highly stressed that there are several children in a daycare directly above where Timothy [=McVeigh's=] bomb exploded, and that the grandson of one of the people interviewed was there. The grandson survives, but it's noted that he saw many other children die. Especially tragic since this was a deliberate terrorist act rather than a freak accident.
** Occasionally it's played straight, though not in a good way since in most cases the children's parents die, such as the girl in the Zeebrugge example above.