TV Schedule for Smithsonian Channel USA HD

Air Disasters Alarming Silence

Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes shortly after take-off in Detroit in 1987; a fatal preflight error caused the second-deadliest plane crash in the U.S. history.

Air Disasters Flying on Empty

When Air Transat Flight 236 runs out of fuel over the Atlantic, its pilots desperately try to keep their Airbus A330 in the air until they reach land.

Air Disasters Headline News

Three devastating crashes make front-page news around the globe; the media frenzy puts intense pressure on investigators to uncover the causes.

Air Disasters Cruel Skies

The U.S. Aviation Weather Center in Kansas City, Miss.; the importance of accurate weather forecasting to the aviation industry.

How Did They Fix That? Fixing For A Fight: U.S. Army Mega Repair Base

Mike works with the U.S. Army in Germany inside the massive fix facility The MAK, Maintenance Activity Kaiserslautern, as teams repair over one hundred Bradley fighting vehicles, then embeds with troops in a massive two week long battle exercise.

How Did They Fix That? For-Everglades

Mike works with the Army Corps of Engineers on a massive project to restore essential flow of fresh water to the Florida Everglades. He also joins scientists, python hunters and the Miccosuke Tribe to eliminate invasive species.

How Did They Fix That? Water Bombers: Fixing Aerial Firefighters

With wildfire season ahead, Mike works with an aerial firefighting company as they fix and convert aircraft into firefighting machines, including the transformation of a 1960's C130 plane from aged military aircraft into a stateofthe art waterbomber.

How Did They Fix That? Philadelphia Transit

In Philadelphia, Mike Davidson is on streets, in tunnels, on tracks & in trolley restoration garages - working shoulder-to-shoulder with the team that keeps one of America's largest & oldest mass transit systems running smoothly and on time.

How Did They Fix That? Heli-Logger

A crew and its massive air crane helicopter haul millions of pounds of timber while battling the elements and handling emergency repairs.

How Did They Fix That? Deep Space Telescope

Host Mike Davidson goes to the remote Atacama desert in Chile; at observatory ALMA he works alongside the expert team as they repair some of the world's biggest antennas.

How Did They Build That? Arches & Opera Houses

The inside stories behind a new, horseshoe-shaped complex in Rotterdam, a rock-shaped opera house in China and a makeover of the British Museum.

How Did They Build That? High Waters & Harsh Winds

Defy gravity in an Amsterdam high-rise that hangs 164 feet above the water; marvel at three interconnected towers in Chicago that have a road running through them; examine the revolutionary framework of Paris' controversial Pompidou Centre.

How Did They Build That? Retrofits & Airport Glitz

Visiting the Hearst Tower in Manhattan and Jewel Changi Airport in Singapore to understand how they were built; covering how designers and engineers attempt to create a museum worthy of Salvador Dali in Florida.

How Did They Build That? Space Stations and Super

Learn how astronauts constructed the International Space Station while circling the Earth at 17,500 miles per hour; look at the meteorproof ship's power source and unique water-recycling technology; discover why it almost wasn't built at all.

How Did They Build That? High Waters & Harsh Winds

Defy gravity in an Amsterdam high-rise that hangs 164 feet above the water; marvel at three interconnected towers in Chicago that have a road running through them; examine the revolutionary framework of Paris' controversial Pompidou Centre.

Air Disasters Deadly Disturbance

How routine flights can turn catastrophic in mere seconds when the pilots become momentarily distracted; three flights end in a disaster.

Air Disasters Deadly Delay

Almost immediately after taking off from Madrid International Airport, Spanair Flight 5022 banked to the right, slammed into a creek and burst into flames.

Air Disasters Landing Hazards

Martinair 495 crashes on a rain-soaked runway in Portugal, showing how weather can doom a landing; American 1572 hits a storm and loses both engines amid a tower shutdown; crosswinds challenge an Air France crew already halfway down the runway.

Air Disasters No Control

An examination of three crashes that occurred when pilots battled against their sophisticated aircraft.

Air Disasters Mayday Munich

A plane with members of the Manchester United football team crashes while heading home from Yugoslavia, killing 23 aboard.

Air Disasters Focused on Failure

On 28 December 1978, the crew of United Airlines Flight 173 are preoccupied with a landing gear problem as the aircraft circles in a holding pattern in the vicinity of Portland, Oregon; it runs out of fuel and crashes in a sparsely populated area.

Combat Ships Galleons and Privateers

Revolutionary ship design helped Sir John Hawkins and Sir Francis Drake lead England to defeat the Spanish Armada and become a world power.

Combat Ships The Fast and Furious

A look at Naval warfare's fastest combat ships and how the advantage of speed determined the outcome of some of the great seas battles of the last 150 years.

Combat Ships Doomed Vessels

Bad design, human error and the enemy sent great ships to tragic ends, like Britain's K13 submarine and HMS Hood, Sweden's 17th century Vasa, and Kublai Khan's fleet, sunk by the original kamikaze.