And update on a podcast

So I normally get an email from Google when bigger stories use either “Disaster” or “Catastrophe”, and today’s took me down a rabbit hole of a past podcast. It’s the Boston Molasses Disaster of 1919, and believe it or not, there’s a new article from Smithsonian about the incident. If you’re interested, you can click here for the article.

Good read!

The Crash of Air New Zealand Flight 901 from November 29th, 1979

Today’s podcast goes into the incident that led to what’s been called “the loneliest air crash”, which was Air New Zealand flight 901, which crashed into Mount Erebus on Antartica back in 1979.  It’s another podcast that’s been inspired, this time by my friend Ethan, who lives and works on Antarctica.  As always, you can download the podcast from here, find us on iTunes, or listen to the player below.

Sources for the podcast include:

An FYI on the Podcast Feed

Just as an FYI, it looks like the provider we used for hosting our podcast has gone belly-up! They haven’t been reachable in days now, so I’ve had to abandon them and go to another provider. I’ve imported all the episodes into LibSyn.com and changed the feed in iTunes, but you shouldn’t have to do anything; your settings should be fine.

There’s a chance that iTunes may re-download old episodes, and for that I apologize.

In other news, we should have a new podcast published this weekend!

The Texas City Catastrophe of April 16th, 1947

Today’s podcast has to deal with the worst industrial accident in American history.  And like many catastrophic incidents, while there may be a large loss of life, there were also good things to come out of the incident – safety precautions that have no doubt saved lives since the original incident occurred.

As usual you can download the podcast at this link, find us on iTunes, or listen to the link provided below.

Sources for the podcast include:

Air Canada Flight 797 from June 2nd, 1983

Today’s podcast, like our last, is about an airline incident that caused major changes – safety related – to the airline industry as a whole, changing aviation travel to the appearance that it has for us today.  Thirty years ago, airline travel was a bit more laid back, but also lacked certain safety issues that we take for granted when we board a flight these days.

As usual, you can download the podcast at this link, find us on iTunes, or listen to the podcast in the embedded player below.

Sources for the podcast include:

And as promised, here’s the picture of the plane showing where you sat was a factor in whether you lived or died…

Air Canada Flight 797 passenger seating chart

Want A Piece of the Hindenburg?

Got a spare $10,000 dollars sitting around? Love history?  And want a piece of the Hindenburg disaster for your very own?  Well, you’re actually too late!

A pitcher and a tray, which were hidden (actually buried, because guards wouldn’t allow anything to be removed from the crash site) and then dug up a few days after the catastrophe.  They were privately held until 2009, when they were sold to an auction house.

Recently, they were sold for close to $10,000 each ($10,735 for the tray, $8,435 for the pitcher) at auction.  So now someone has a bit of our shared catastrophic history.

Eastwind Flight 517 from June 9th, 1996, and how it changed aviation

Today’s podcast, which comes with a shoutout to Gabe for the awesome email and getting me back to work here, is about Eastwind Airlines flight 517.  And while this flight may not sound familiar to many people, the simple fact is that it had profound results that reverberated throughout the aviation world.

As usual, you can download the podcast at this link, find us on iTunes, or listen to the podcast in the embedded player below.

Sources for the podcast include:

The Limnic Eruption of Lake Nyos of August, 1986

Today’s podcast touches on a more obscure natural phenomenon that occurred in Cameroon back in 1986.  The limnic eruption of Lake Nyos, when submerged carbon dioxide gas was suddenly forced to the surface, is something that doesn’t happen all that often, but when it does, the results are deadly.

As usual, you can download the podcast at this link, find us on iTunes, or listen to the podcast in the embedded player below.

Sources for the podcasts are as follows:

Quick thoughts on the Hyatt Regency episode

So after I published the podcast, I sat down and watched the A&E special “Minute By Minute” programs linked in the previous blogpost, and have to say I’ve changed my mind about something.  I didn’t watch the episode beforehand, because I didn’t want it tainting the research I’d done.

At the end of my podcast, I’d said something about the Engineers that approved the design that didn’t paint them in the best light. But one of those same Engineers was in the A&E program – and he took full responsibility for the actions that had happened. As he said, “My signature was on those plans, and the buck stops with me. I’m responsible.”

That’s just not something I’m used to hearing… So while it doesn’t change the catastrophe of that fateful evening back in 1981, it sure as hell changes my opinion of the Engineers in charge.