Air India is said to provide a comfortable environment for passengers. In this instance, the Boeing 747 flying from Canada to London is colorfully decked out inside and the attendants are accommodating. There are almost 350 people aboard and everything is normal at 31,000 feet over the Atlantic. The flight is in contact with ATCs at Shannon Airport in Ireland when the radar signal suddenly disappears from the screen.
The authorities are alerted and a Canadian cargo ship spots debris on the surface of the icy ocean. The wreckage and many of the bodies are brought to Cork and it's determined that the airplane came apart suddenly in flight and all but two passengers were dead before they hit the water. An investigation was immediately begun by three cooperating countries -- Britain, Ireland, and India. It reveals that one suitcase belonged to a passenger who had never boarded the airplane.
Meanwhile, at Narita Airport in Japan, a suitcase is being trundled towards an Air India flight when it explodes prematurely, killing two and injuring four. The Japanese experts, through some amazing detective work, are able to identify the kind of bomb (four sticks of dynamite) and the device (a Sony amplifier) that it was hidden in. Two thousand models of this Sony amplifier had been shipped to Toronto and sold at retail. If the explosion hadn't been premature, two Boeing 747s of Air India would have been demolished in mid-air at about the same time. More detective work traced the scheme to a cabal of radical Sikhs in Vancouver who have been fighting for an independent homeland in India. Two men were indicted and convicted, one sentenced to imprisonment and the other killed.
In both case, Japan and the Atlantic, the man who had checked his luggage through had not boarded the airplane. That the luggage had gone on without him was the results of slack security at the airport.
It never fails to astonish me, the way that investigators linger so lovingly over tiny details. And it's equally surprising that these details are explained so clearly that anyone can understand them.
The program, like the other in the series, consists of experts, witnesses, reenactors, newsreel footage, and judiciously used computer-generated images. It's an admirable series, well worth watching.
The authorities are alerted and a Canadian cargo ship spots debris on the surface of the icy ocean. The wreckage and many of the bodies are brought to Cork and it's determined that the airplane came apart suddenly in flight and all but two passengers were dead before they hit the water. An investigation was immediately begun by three cooperating countries -- Britain, Ireland, and India. It reveals that one suitcase belonged to a passenger who had never boarded the airplane.
Meanwhile, at Narita Airport in Japan, a suitcase is being trundled towards an Air India flight when it explodes prematurely, killing two and injuring four. The Japanese experts, through some amazing detective work, are able to identify the kind of bomb (four sticks of dynamite) and the device (a Sony amplifier) that it was hidden in. Two thousand models of this Sony amplifier had been shipped to Toronto and sold at retail. If the explosion hadn't been premature, two Boeing 747s of Air India would have been demolished in mid-air at about the same time. More detective work traced the scheme to a cabal of radical Sikhs in Vancouver who have been fighting for an independent homeland in India. Two men were indicted and convicted, one sentenced to imprisonment and the other killed.
In both case, Japan and the Atlantic, the man who had checked his luggage through had not boarded the airplane. That the luggage had gone on without him was the results of slack security at the airport.
It never fails to astonish me, the way that investigators linger so lovingly over tiny details. And it's equally surprising that these details are explained so clearly that anyone can understand them.
The program, like the other in the series, consists of experts, witnesses, reenactors, newsreel footage, and judiciously used computer-generated images. It's an admirable series, well worth watching.
