Season 1

The eighth season of Mayday (also known as Air Crash Investigation and Air Disasters) was the second season of the Science of Disaster series, and was the last of the series until Season 12, with one of them being a compilation. It lasted for a week, from 10 May to 17 May 2009, and featured 2 compilation episodes.

Incidents under System Breakdown

 * 1) United Airlines Flight 718 and TWA Flight 2: A United Airlines Douglas DC-7 collides with a TWA Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation, killing all on board on both aircraft. At that time, it was the deadliest aviation disaster in history, with 129 fatalities. The main cause was the TCAS, which at the time was inadequate. This would get an episode of its own in the twelfth season as Grand Canyon Disaster  (also simply known as Grand Canyon in USA).
 * 2) Aeromexico Flight 498: A Douglas DC-9 collides with a Piper PA-28-181 Archer owned by the Krater Family, killing all on board plus several on the ground. There were 82 fatalities, with 3 on the Piper, 64 on the DC-9 and 15 on the ground. The main cause was pilot error on Piper, as well as the lack of TCAS, which would be implemented after. This was previously talked about in a Season 4 episode as Out of Sight (also known as Collision over LA in the UK).
 * 3) Avianca Flight 52: A Boeing 707 ran out of fuel and crashed in Cove Neck, Long Island, USA, killing 73 on board, with 85 survivors. The main cause was fuel exhaustion due to ATC error and pilot error, as they used the word "priority" rather a "Pan-Pan", "Mayday" or even "Emergency", with the ATC unable to discover the direness of the situation. This was previously talked about in a Season 2 episode as Missing over New York (also known as Deadly Delay in UK, Australia and Asia).
 * 4) Gol Transportes Aereos Flight 1907: A Boeing 737 collides with an Embraer Legacy 600, killing all on board the Boeing aircraft, with all on board the Embraer Legacy 600 being the survivors. There were 145 fatalities, all of which where on the Boeing, with the 7 on the Embraer being the survivors. The main cause was ATC error (with the ATC assigning BOTH aircraft to stay at 37,000 feet, and pilots on board the Embraer, as they turned off their transponder, which also includes TCAS. At the time, it was the deadliest Brazilian aviation disaster (until TAM Airlines 3054, which crashed into a gas station and a TAM Express warehouse due to a runway overrun) and the deadliest Boeing 737 (all series) disaster (until Air India Express 812, which overran the runway and crashed beyond Runway 24 at Mangalore due to pilot error), and also sparked the Brazilian aviation crisis. This was previously talked abound in a Season 5 episode as Phantom Strike (also known as Radio Silence in UK and Death over the Amazon in the USA).
 * 5) Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937 and DHL Flight 611: A Tupolev Tu-145M collides with a Boeing 757, killing all on board both aircraft. There were 71 fatalities, 69 on the Tupolev and 2 on the Boeing, with no survivors. The main cause was confusion (the DHL followed the TCAS to go down, but the Bashkirian followed the ATC and went DOWN instead of UP). A year and a half later, Vitaly Kayolev, an Ossetian, killed Peter Nielsen, the ATC on that day, as a result of grief. This was previously talked about in a Season 2 episode as Deadly Crossroads (also known as Mid-Air Collision in UK, Australia and Asia and A Father's Revenge in the USA).

Incidents under Cruel Skies

 * 1) Southern Airways Flight 242: A Boein