Tear Jerker / Mayday

aka: Air Crash Investigation

"The thing that impacts you is when you're dealing with 247 passengers and 14 crew, all dead. That's... that gets your attention, and the fact that something as big as a DC-8 is now lying there in a zillion pieces, all burned. Yeah, it... has an effect."

— Ron Coleman, on Nigeria Airways Flight 2120.

Air Crash Investigation covers a variety of aerospace incidents that most of the time involve people dying, so it's only natural that it's a heartbreaking series to watch.

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• The re-enactments of the crew's or the passengers' last moments when a plane is very obviously going down. It's sad enough when it's just terrified screaming or swearing; far worse is when the crew is literally begging the aircraft to respond as they plummet towards the ground.
  • When passengers or crewmembers use their last moments (or what they think will be such) to tell family members they love them. In "Blind Spot" (PSA Flight 182), one of the pilots' last words were "Ma, I love you", in "Hudson River Runway" (US Airways Flight 1549), one of the passengers texted "I love you" to a loved one, and in "A Wounded Bird", the copilot calls out to his wife "I love you, Amy!" just before the plane crashes, while another passenger writes a goodbye note to her children. Some of these are less wrenching in hindsight since the people in question end up surviving (and sometimes the viewer even knows that already for one reason or another^*the co-pilot of ASA 529 was among the interviewees in the episode, and US Airways 1549 is a well-known case of Everyone Lives), but the feeling is still there because in that moment, they don't know they're going to make it.
  • The father of two boys writing a message to his wife on British Airways Flight 9, who they were flying home to. "Ma. In trouble. Plane going down. Will do best for boys. We love you. Sorry. Pa."
• Some ATCs' reactions when they realize one of their planes just went down. At the time, they usually have no way of knowing if anyone survived, nor whether it happened because of something they did. More than one re-enactment shows the ATC staring at the screen in disbelief, numbly trying to re-establish contact, and then breaking down in tears once it sinks in.
  • Even worse in cases of collision, which usually means that two planes go down; or in cases where the plane crashes in a populated area, which usually causes deaths on the ground as well as within the plane. In "Out of Sight", these scenarios came together in the worst possible way: two planes collided, both planes crashed leaving no survivors, and one of the two also caused deaths on the ground. In the re-enactment, when the ATC first realizes his plane has gone down, he leaves the room in a daze and then collapses to his knees in tears.
  • Peter Nielsen‘s reaction when he realised he inadvertently caused two planes to collide in midair:
    Peter: Bravo Tango Charlie 2937.
    (he looks up but there is no reply, the screen beeps ominously)
    Peter: (starts to realise) Bravo Tango Charlie 2937…
    (it’s at this point his coworker comes back from his break, and the female coworker comes to him as well)
    Peter: (starting to break down) Bravo… Tango… Charlie…
    Narrator: This is the nightmare that every controller hopes would not happen to him. Two of his aircraft colliding, killing scores of people.
    • In the immediate aftermath of the collision, Vitaly Kaloyev, having lost his entire family, finds his little daughter's still-intact body and carries it out of the forest in his arms. Although it doesn’t excuse his eventual murder of Nielsen, it’s little wonder the man is so utterly devastated and goes mad with grief.
    Narrator: Vitaly Kaloyev, the Russian architect, was awaiting is family in Barcelona. He's one of the first to arrive in Überlingen. Although relatives are not encouraged to participate in the search, Vitaly cannot help himself.
    (Vitaly is seen searching in a forest using a stick, he stops when he sees something and kneels down to have a closer look and pick it up.)
    Narrator: Vitaly finds a broken pearl necklace, he recognises it as his four-year old daughter's.
    (Smash Cut to Vitaly holding his daughter's still-intact dead body and carrying it out of the forest)
    Narrator: Amazingly, amidst all the carnage, Vitaly finds his daughter's body intact.
    (a paramedic approaches him)
    Vitaly: (grief-stricken) She did not suffer at all.
    • Really, Vitaly's whole story in the disaster counts, he even designed and built a huge monument himself for his own family who were killed in the crash. This eventually culminates in this line by the narrator just before he murders Peter Nielsen:
    Narrator: Vitaly Kaloyev, the Russian architect, has lost his entire family, everything. He, himself has gone to pieces. He's become obsessed with finding out who is responsible for the collision. Kaloyev decides to travel to Zurich, to play out the last tragic chapter of the Überlingen story.
    • The fact that Nielsen's own life was lost as a result, when it's so apparent that he never wanted any of this to happen and was already utterly devastated by the accident.
    • Yet another one for the Überlingen collision, though a lesser one compared to the rest of the tragedy: the controller at Karlsruhe actually sees the two planes on the collision course in advance, calls Nielsen to warn him, but can't get through. And he doesn't have the right to interfere himself (considering the small amount of time left and the already contradictory instructions from Nielsen and TCAS, it's doubtful he would have managed to rectify the situation even if he had called the pilots). Although he isn't shown after his attempts to contact Nielsen, one can imagine what it was like for him, being Forced to Watch the catastrophe on his radar and utterly unable to do anything to help.
  • From "Concorde - Up in Flames":
    "I think until the very last moment, I was thinking that something would save the situation. I remember that I just sat down on the carpet floor of the control tower up there, and I cried."
  • The controller who tried to guide Nigeria Airways Flight 2120 back to the runway looks absolutely devastated when Saudia Flight 738 reports that they didn't make it back. This is particularly heart-wrenching because he confused the two planes and was likely wondering if his mistake delayed their return too long.
• Interviews with the first people who arrive to the scene of an accident, whether members of the public or first responders. In crashes where nobody survives, they often lament how despite trying their best to help...sometimes they're just too late, or the passengers' injuries are too severe.
  • From "America's Deadliest/Catastrophe at O'Hare"
    "It was very, very frustrating to realise that no matter what your training was, there was nobody there that you could help."
• Interviews with people who lost a friend or loved one in the accident, especially if they recount the last time they saw the person, or the moment they learned of their death.
• With many of the survivors who give interviews, it's almost inevitable that at some point they'll become deeply upset recalling the events of the episode, and it's not uncommon for passengers who survived where others perished to feel survivor guilt.
• The fact that with most of the accidents that take place, there are often very few "bad guys" to point to. Even when individuals are in some way at fault, there are usually mitigating factors at play, and most are just simply normal people trying to get by and do the best they can with what they have, and have to live with the guilt.
  • Maintenance not done correctly? It's probably not due to a cowboy who doesn't care about the quality of his work, but someone overworked, untrained, not given the tools or resources they need, or being pressured by an impatient Pointy-Haired Boss who isn't trained in their field and doesn't fully understand why their work is so important.
  • Pilot makes a stupid decision? Multiple accidents have them overworked or demoralised by their company (for instance, not being paid for months because the airline they work for has been run into the ground), intimidated by a bullying colleague, given bad information, worried about job loss or punishment due to a delay or cancellation, or are victims of poor maintenance that cause safeguards to fail them at the worst possible time. In several cases they are a victim of airline safety and crew standards of the time and wouldn't make the same mistakes in a modern cockpit environment under current standards.
  • Air traffic control screws up and causes a crash? Being overworked due to lack of resources, given inadequate oversight, or forced to deal with old/malfunctioning equipment are often factors.
• Even when all passengers survive an accident, they can still end up with life-changing injuries and trauma. For instance, in "Free Fall", flight attendant Fuzzy Maiava was permanently injured, and to this day suffers severe pain and other aftereffects.
• "Blow Out" has a happy ending thanks to First Officer Atchison, who managed to keep his head and fly the plane all by himself in spite of the total chaos around him. But in the re-enactment, as soon as the plane has safely landed, he starts weeping and shaking uncontrollably. It's clear the poor guy was bottling that up until he could afford to let it out.
• The fact that if they had gotten there soon after the crash, more passengers of Japan Air Lines Flight 123 could have been saved instead of the four that were found; unfortunately, the JSDF's hesitancy in reaching the crash site and, partially fuelled by the belief that no one could have survived such a horrific accident, and waving off outside help resulted in many people who had survived the impact dying from exposure to the elements or succumbing to their wounds. Survivors mention hearing noises of other survivors slowly dying out during the night with one survivor mentioning said that she heard and saw a helicopter flying by and desperately tried to get its attention but it was no use and could only watch helplessly as it flew away.
• There's a small but particularly sad moment in the season 3 episode "Collision Course", dealing with the sinking of the ferry Samina. Amidst the chaos at the hospital emergency room in the aftermath of the sinking, a seemingly unrelated heart attack victim arrives but dies shortly after. The man was the port master of the island where the ferry sank; his heart gave out under the stress of organizing the rescue efforts. He was only 40 years old.
• In the episode "Fire Fight", right after the flashover decimates the plane, a frantic flight attendent starts doing a headcount, fearing the worst. When she realizes she's short several passengers who didn't make it off the plane, she breaks down weeping.
• Despite Captain Donald Cameron and his first officer Claude Outmet's heroic actions during the Air Canada 797 accident, they were also blamed heavily by the NTSB in the initial report, the outcry of which prompted a rare instance of the NTSB revising their report to more fairly reflect the situation aboard the aircraft and the misleading information the pilots were given. Despite doing everything he could, Cameron in particular felt guilt and regret at not being able to save all his passengers for the rest of his days.
• It's a cross between this and a Heartwarming Moment when, at the end of "Impossible Landing", Denny Fitch describes flying again after the accident, something his doctors hadn't been convinced would be possible.
  • In the same episode, Denny Fitch holding back tears as he describes the failed landing: "...Didn't get it quite right...and we hit very hard." You just want to reach into the TV and give the poor man a hug and tell him he did good.
  • The same for Matt Warmerdam in "A Wounded Bird".
    • Not to mention everyone from the town where the plane crashed. The interviews with the doctor, the EMT, the farmer, are all incredibly heartbreaking and hard to watch. One can only imagine how utterly traumatized the town was by the crash, along with the survivors.
• In "Operation Babylift", a USAF transport aircraft was supposed to evacuate dozens of Vietnamese orphans, ranging from infants to teenagers, out of Vietnam. Instead the plane crashed, killing about 138 people, including 78 children who were supposed to be escaping to a better life.
  • During the episode's introduction, there's a brief shot of Captain Traynor's interview where his jaw is trembling as if he's about to cry. Like with Denny Fitch above, it makes you want to give the poor man a hug.
• When a crewmember or ATC can't return to their job after the incident, due to either physical injury or mental trauma.
  • The ATC from "Out of Sight" tried to return to his job, but the way a coworker tells it, only partway through his first shift back he realized he couldn't handle it, and left, and never came back.
  • Captain Rasmussen from "Pilot Betrayed" was diagnosed with PTSD, and retired the year after the crash. Especially sad because the narration emphasises just how he used to love his job.
  • All three crewmembers from "Fight for Your Life" could not return to commercial flying after the incident, because of the long-term effects of their injuries. For example, one of them has seizures that can only be controlled with medication, and in order to be recertified he would have to be seizure-free without medication.
• On a similar note, the guilt felt by Captain Malburn McBroom of United Airlines Flight 173. Trying to troubleshoot a landing gear problem and ensure a safe outcome for his passengers, McBroom's aircraft runs out of fuel due to this being before the age of Cockpit Resource Management that would have prevented the loss of situational awareness that led to the accident. Despite a heroic crash landing that saved many of his passengers and amazingly avoiding any casualties on the ground, McBroom lost his job in the aftermath. At a survivor's reunion 20 years later, he had the courage and integrity to attend to be there for his passengers and give some closure, despite being described as a "broken man".
• In the aftermath of the crash of Air Florida Flight 90, we see actual real-life footage - not a re-enactment - of the few survivors struggling in the wreckage in icy water. In particular the close-ups of Priscilla Tirado whose baby son and husband were among the fatalities, traumatised and blinded by jet fuel and too weakened from hypothermia to hang onto the life line thrown to her.
  • The brief glimpse we have of Arland D. Williams' hand waving amidst the wreckage - the survivor who didn't survive because he kept passing the safety line to the others.
• After witnessing United Express Flight 5925 crash, nearby pilot Paul Walker dashes to the scene to rescue the 12 occupants, but is unable to open the door, and is forced to leave just before the plane blows up and kills everyone as they could do nothing but scream and panic over being trapped. Worse is that Walker was acquainted with Flight 5925's pilot Kate Gathje, who spent the whole time pleading with Walker to save her and the others. When Walker can't open the door and is forced to find help, all Gathje could do is sit in the cockpit and cry, knowing that it's too late.
• "Fatal Delivery" is heartbreaking. The pilots struggle to get back to the airport in an increasingly worsening onboard fire. The smoke spreads to the cockpit, forcing them to fly blind. Then the captain’s mask malfunctions and he gets no oxygen. He goes to find a replacement and turn on the plane's supplementary oxygen, but collapses and dies from a combination of smoke inhalation and the flames. The first officer struggles to get the plane to the ground, pleading with the ATC to help him – and the saddest part is, many people do try to help him with all their might: the controllers in two countries and pilots of the relay planes do everything they can, and the first officer fights for control of the plane till the last, but it’s All for Nothing and the plane crashes with no survivors (although the copilot does manage one Dying Moment of Awesome by succeeding in his last-ditch efforts to ensure that he doesn't crash into a populated area). Usually the all-fatal crashes are shown in a relatively short sequence, but this one’s depiction takes thirty minutes of the episode, making viewers hope someone will survive.
• "Crash of the Century" and "Tenerife Airport Disaster", which cover the same incident. The moment you see KLM's 747 crash into Pan-Am's, you know that hundreds of people across two high-capacity planes have just died in the worst aviation disaster ever.
  • Even worse is the fact that one passenger from the KLM flight broke protocol and successfully skipped getting back on the plane because she lived on Tenerife and wanted to go see her boyfriend instead of going to the original destination airport and taking a small charter back. She would technically be the lone survivor from that plane.
• Germanwings Flight 9525 has a shot involving Maria Radner and her infant son Felix. Knowing that they're both about to be murdered by a suicidal co-pilot, all Maria could do is tell Felix that she loves him very much. Felix is shown crying, as if he's aware of the impending crash. And he was only two years old.
  • From the same flight, there is the pilot Patrick Sondenheimer banging at the door with an axe and alternating between swearing profanely and desperately begging in the vain hopes of getting back in and regaining control of the flight from his co-pilot and soon-to-be murderer Andreas Lubitz. Several shots have a flight attendant looking on, crying in despair.
• In "River Runway" (Garuda Indonesia Flight 421), the pilots try and fail twice to relight their flamed-out engines, and then they lose all their power, leaving them only a handful of emergency instruments to navigate and fly with — not even a radio to call for help with. Having run out of options, they pray. Captain Rozaq cries as he recounts this moment in his interview.
  First Officer Gunawan: "Please forgive our sins, and let us have the strength to save our passengers."
• The episode focusing on Emery 17 has the investigation crew call in John Albright, a fellow pilot who was friends with the crew who perished in the crash, to help identify their voices on the cockpit recorder, and give insight on the crew's methods of dealing with the out of control aircraft. You can first see Albright wincing at hearing the voices of his dead friends as the recording starts, then chuckling as he listens to their pre-takeoff banter, before finally breaking as he hears their final moments just as they crash. To make matters worse, because he was only psychologically able to go over part of the recording each day, and only a few seconds at a time, this meant multiple days of slowly listening to his friends and colleagues' fatal accident. Many years later, while being interviewed for the episode, Albright admits to still being haunted by the recording.
• Marisa Beiro, a passenger on LAPA 3142 and the sole survivor from her group of friends and colleagues testified against the airline in court, seeking justice for herself, her friends and the other victims. The episode ends with the news that nobody goes to prison.
• In practically every episode, there is a discussion of how easily the tragedy could have been averted, but some of the newer episodes, such as "Mixed Signals", have taken to twisting the knife by showing it. We are treated to Fix Fic snippets of the dramatisation that show how things could have been put right — in "Mixed Signals"' case, we see how one phrase to correct the pilot error or a few seconds of the pilots reacting to the ground proximity warning would have resulted in the plane clearing the mountain safely instead of crashing into it and killing everyone aboard. Especially in the snippet where the pilots heed the ground proximity warning and start a go-around at the last moment, looking at their relieved faces is particularly heartbreaking with the knowledge that it's not what happened.