I stumbled upon this series' episode about the Edmund Fitzgerald, the ore freighter that sank to the bottom of Lake Superior on Nov. 10, 1975, causing the deaths of 29 brave crew and inspiring Gordon Lightfoot's atmospheric sea shanty.
According to this well-narrated and -illustrated program, it's still not known what brought down the 729-foot vessel. It's possible that after the ship took on water amidst 35-foot swells, a particularly powerful wave smashed windows of the control room, sinking the ship before its highly experienced captain could send out an SOS.
This segment was of additional interest to me because it also examines the September 1994 crash of USAir 427 outside of Pittsburgh, my hometown. I well remember this tragedy due to its proximity, and I knew a young woman among the 132 dead.
The plane was a Boeing 737, which we're told is the workhorse of the commercial airline industry. Another 737 had crashed in an eerily similar way in 1991, and an investigation of both prompted the longest-ever investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (4.5 years). We're told that 737's are safe today, having been retrofitted and their pilots trained.
Amazingly, this episode addresses an additional incident of personal interest to me -- the 3.5-million-gallon Ashland Oil spill of 1988, some 25 miles south of Pittsburgh. By that time, I was long gone from the vicinity, and I'd never even heard of the assault to the Monongahela River. Only one year later, oil devastation made big news, when the Exxon Valdez leaked 11 million gallons into Prince William Sound in Alaska.
According to this well-narrated and -illustrated program, it's still not known what brought down the 729-foot vessel. It's possible that after the ship took on water amidst 35-foot swells, a particularly powerful wave smashed windows of the control room, sinking the ship before its highly experienced captain could send out an SOS.
This segment was of additional interest to me because it also examines the September 1994 crash of USAir 427 outside of Pittsburgh, my hometown. I well remember this tragedy due to its proximity, and I knew a young woman among the 132 dead.
The plane was a Boeing 737, which we're told is the workhorse of the commercial airline industry. Another 737 had crashed in an eerily similar way in 1991, and an investigation of both prompted the longest-ever investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (4.5 years). We're told that 737's are safe today, having been retrofitted and their pilots trained.
Amazingly, this episode addresses an additional incident of personal interest to me -- the 3.5-million-gallon Ashland Oil spill of 1988, some 25 miles south of Pittsburgh. By that time, I was long gone from the vicinity, and I'd never even heard of the assault to the Monongahela River. Only one year later, oil devastation made big news, when the Exxon Valdez leaked 11 million gallons into Prince William Sound in Alaska.