Discovery, Dragonfly Film and Television Productions deliberately crashed a $450,000 unmanned 727 in the Sonoran Desert of Baja California, Mexico south of Mexicali, Mexico. The plane was equipped with crash dummies, scientific sensors and experiments. Among other things such as creating a sensational topic for the Curiosity series, the crash is postulated as a study the crashworthiness of the aircraft’s airframe and cabin.
Pilots parachuted from the plane minutes before it was remote-controlled to a crash.
The video called “part of a scientific experiment for an unprecedented international television documentary” was captured by 19 cameras inside the plane and 2 on helicopters outside. The film will be presented as an episode of Curiosity.
UPS flight 5X-15 made an emergency landing in Mumbai, India, on March 8th.
Jet2 flight LS-509 made an emergency landing in Frankfurt, Germany, on July 28th.
Southwest Airlines flight WN-3442 suffered multiple bird strikes near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Virginia, on November 5th.