The Comet Crashes BOAC781/ SA201

A de Havilland Comet 1 (BOAC flight 781) suddenly explodes in midair on its way to London from Rome. Then a few months later another Comet 1 (South African Airways 201), on its way to Cairo from Rome, explodes in a similar fashion to the BOAC flight.

Thanks to our Patron Chris Stallard for requesting this episode! Thanks also to Dr. Chris Yakacki for guesting on this episode!

Photo Sources:

https://lessonslearned.faa.gov/Comet1/G-ALYP_Report.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2iklFpFAAV3va4bRQMohG4at6aevZU-a5ZSriByInzyF6tqQWbmGWb1ww

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BOAC_Flight_781

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_Airways_Flight_201

Video Source:

https://www.reddit.com/r/CatastrophicFailure/comments/goquf2/explosive_decompression_test_on_a_model_of_a_de/

Research Sources:

https://lessonslearned.faa.gov/Comet1/G-ALYP_Report.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2iklFpFAAV3va4bRQMohG4at6aevZU-a5ZSriByInzyF6tqQWbmGWb1ww

https://blog.privatefly.com/history-of-the-nato-phonetic-alphabet?fbclid=IwAR3-ef-dV6FDlre9Vzttwj0hHCuMvQ8pCIYMESzDZ8mjnMtHV8Axkr0UeAY#:~:text=British%20forces%20adopted%20the%20RAF,words%20for%20A%20and%20B

“Comet Air Crash.” Seconds from Disaster , season 3, episode 8, National Geographic, 15 Nov. 2006.

Episode also featuring Dr. Chris Yakacki:

A 747-200 crashes into the ocean without any sign of an issue from the flight crew. Find out how a seemingly simple fix to the tail of this aircraft caused China Airlines 611 to break up over the ocean 22 years later.