Three people survived the Olympic collision in 1911, the Titanic sinking in 1912, and the Britannic disaster in 1916. Six months later, two of them were on the same ship when a German torpedo struck. One survived this fourth disaster. One didn't. The survivor was then rejected by every shipping line in Britain—not because he lacked skill, but because sailors refused to work with "the jinx." Discover the devastating true story of Violet Jessop, Arthur John Priest, and Archie Jewell—the only three people to survive all three maritime disasters.

Sources:

1. "Titanic Survivor: The Newly Discovered Memoirs of Violet Jessop Who Survived Both the Titanic and Britannic Disasters" edited by John Maxtone-Graham (1997, Sheridan House Inc.)
2. British Board of Trade Official Inquiry into the Loss of the SS Titanic (1912) - Lord Mersey's Report
3. U.S. Senate Inquiry into the Titanic Disaster - Senate Subcommittee Hearings chaired by Senator William Alden Smith (1912)
4. White Star Line Crew Agreements and Official Logs - National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UK
5. Encyclopedia Titanica - Biographical entries for Violet Jessop, Arthur John Priest, and Archie Jewell (www.encyclopedia-titanica.org)
6. Commonwealth War Graves Commission Records - Archie Jewell memorial entry, Tower Hill Memorial, London
7. WreckSite.eu - SS Donegal sinking documentation (torpedoed April 17, 1917 by UC-27)
8. Tower Hill Memorial Records - Merchant Navy casualties with no known grave
9. "Official History of the War: Naval Operations" - documentation of SS Donegal torpedoing by German submarine UC-27
10. Southampton Stories - local historical accounts of White Star Line crew members
11. The Old Salt Blog - "Arthur John Priest: The Unsinkable Stoker" and related maritime history articles
12. BBC History - biographical profiles of Titanic survivors
13. Maritime Archaeology Trust - White Star Line vessel documentation and crew records
14. National Maritime Museum Collections - Olympic-class ship records and crew manifests

Find FINAL BOARDING CALL online:

1. Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.com
2. Email: finalboardingcallpodcast@gmail.com
3. Instagram: @FinalBoardingCallPod
4. Facebook: Final Boarding Call

Credits: Final Boarding Call is hosted by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas, researched and written by Alice Stern, produced and edited by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas.

On October 30, 2025, a JetBlue flight from Cancun suddenly dove without warning, slamming passengers into the cabin ceiling and hospitalizing 15 people. The pilots hadn't touched the controls. The plane was on autopilot. What investigators discovered wasn't pilot error or mechanical failure—it was something aviation engineers had never prepared for, a vulnerability hiding in plain sight that would trigger the largest emergency grounding in Airbus history within weeks. Join Alice and Zach as they unravel how a burst of solar radiation exploited a software flaw, why 6,000 aircraft were pulled from service during Thanksgiving week, and how this incident transformed aviation safety forever.

Sources:

1. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) preliminary investigation documents
2. European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) Emergency Airworthiness Directive 2025-0234-E
3. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Emergency Airworthiness Directive 2025-24-51
4. Airbus Alert Operators Transmission (AOT) A320-27-3301
5. "WHAT Actually Grounded the Global Airbus A320 Fleet?!" - Mentour Pilot YouTube channel
6. "Solar Flare Fallout: Airbus A320 Global Grounding" - Aviation analysis
7. "When the Sun Strikes Back: How a Solar Flare Nearly Took Down an Airbus A320" - Pavel Zlatník, Medium
8. India Today: "How a solar explosion grounded 6,000 Airbus planes globally"
9. CNN Aviation: "Thousands of passenger planes need emergency maintenance"
10. NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center solar activity reports (October 2025)
11. University of Surrey Space Engineering Department radiation data
12. FlightRadar24 flight tracking data for JetBlue Flight 1230
13. Reddit r/aviation passenger testimonials
14. LiveATC audio recordings

Find FINAL BOARDING CALL online:

1. Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.com
2. Email: finalboardingcallpodcast@gmail.com
3. Instagram: @FinalBoardingCallPod
4. Facebook: Final Boarding Call

Credits: Final Boarding Call is hosted by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas, researched and written by Alice Stern, produced and edited by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas.

When a critical component fails at 31,000 feet, Alaska Airlines Flight 261 becomes a desperate battle against physics itself. Two veteran pilots attempt something never before tried in commercial aviation—flying their MD-83 inverted over the Pacific Ocean—in a last-ditch effort to save 88 lives. But this disaster didn't start with mechanical failure. It started three years earlier, when a mechanic's warning was ignored, a worn part was put back into service, and a whistleblower was silenced. Discover how a few dollars' worth of grease and corporate cost-cutting turned a routine flight into one of aviation's most heroic—and most preventable—tragedies.

SOURCES

1. Mayday: Air Disasters - Season 22, Episode 5, "Pacific Plunge"
2. National Transportation Safety Board Final Report NTSB/AAR-02/01
3. FOX 13 Seattle coverage by Tyler Slauson, "Remembering Alaska Airlines Flight 261: 25 years since tragic crash"
4. NTSB investigation transcripts and testimony records
5. Federal Aviation Administration Lessons Learned documentation

Find FINAL BOARDING CALL online:

1. Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.com
2. Email: finalboardingcallpodcast@gmail.com
3. Instagram: @FinalBoardingCallPod
4. Facebook: Final Boarding Call

Credits: Final Boarding Call is hosted by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas, researched and written by Alice Stern, produced and edited by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas.

On December 8, 1963, Pan American World Airways Flight 214 was struck by lightning while holding in a thunderstorm near Philadelphia, triggering an explosion that tore off the aircraft's left wing. All 81 people aboard perished when the Boeing 707 crashed into a Maryland cornfield. Join Alice and Zach as they explore how this tragedy fundamentally changed aviation safety—proving for the first time that lightning could destroy a commercial airliner and sparking an urgent overhaul of aircraft fuel systems that continues to protect passengers today. Discover how a single bolt of electricity led to static discharge wicks, flame arrestors, and design changes that have prevented any U.S. commercial aircraft from being lost to lightning in over 60 years.

Sources:

1. Civil Aeronautics Board Aircraft Accident Report SA-376, File No. 1-0015, "Pan American World Airways Inc., Boeing 707-121, N709PA, Near Elkton, Maryland, December 8, 1963," released March 3, 1965
2. "81 Perish as Jet Crashes in Storm Near Elkton, Md." The New York Times, December 9, 1963
3. "Witnesses Tell of Ball of Fire in the Sky." The Philadelphia Inquirer, December 9, 1963
4. "A Night of Fire and Rain: 50 Years Since Flight 214." The Cecil Whig, December 8, 2013
5. FAA Lessons Learned: Pan Am Flight 214 at Elkton, Maryland
6. Historical Society of Cecil County archives

Find FINAL BOARDING CALL online:

1. Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.com
2. Email: finalboardingcallpodcast@gmail.com
3. Instagram: @FinalBoardingCallPod
4. Facebook: Final Boarding Call

Credits: Final Boarding Call is hosted by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas, researched and written by Alice Stern, produced and edited by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas.

On April 28, 1988, Aloha Airlines Flight 243 became an impromptu convertible at 24,000 feet when an explosive decompression tore away the entire upper fuselage. Discover how a flight attendant crawled through hurricane-force winds to save passengers, how pilots landed half an airplane, and how one woman's premonition saved her life while another's hesitation haunts her still. This is the story of thirteen minutes of terror that revolutionized how we understand aging aircraft—and the extraordinary heroism that kept 93 people alive.

SOURCES:

1. NTSB Aircraft Accident Report AAR-89/03
2. "Miracle Landing" (1990) - TV movie by LionHeart FilmWorks
3. Mayday: Air Disaster - Season 3, Episode 1, titled "Hanging by a Thread"
4. The Washington Post - "A Flight Attendant's Moments In The Maelstrom" (May 18, 1988)
5. Survivor and crew member interviews
6. NTSB witness statements and testimony
7. Aviation safety databases and reports

FIND FINAL BOARDING CALL ONLINE:

1. Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.com
2. Email: finalboardingcallpodcast@gmail.com
3. Instagram: @FinalBoardingCallPod
4. Facebook: Final Boarding Call

CREDITS: Final Boarding Call is hosted by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas, researched and written by Alice Stern, produced and edited by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas.

Join Alice and Zach as they close out 2025 with a comprehensive look at the year's final quarter in aviation. From the deadliest accident in UPS Airlines' history to a violent mid-flight attack with a metal fork, this episode covers cargo disasters, military transport failures, a deadly medical mission in fog, tourism flight spatial disorientation, ground collisions, and some of the strangest passenger incidents ever recorded. Discover what investigators have uncovered and what 2025's final months reveal about aviation safety heading into 2026.

Sources:

1. "NTSB Investigation Dashboard - Case DCA26MA024" - National Transportation Safety Board
2. "Death toll from UPS cargo plane crash rises to 15" - CBS News (December 25, 2025)
3. "Lithuanian Ministry of Justice - Interim Statement on EC-MFE" - Lithuanian Ministry of Justice
4. "Aviation Safety Network Wiki - Swiftair 5960" - Aviation Safety Network
5. "Cockpit Errors Lead to Fatal DHL Crash" - Mentour Pilot YouTube
6. "Libya's military chief and 7 others killed in plane crash" - Associated Press (December 23, 2025)
7. "FlightAware Track Log - 9H-DFS" - FlightAware (December 23, 2025)
8. "Search continues for missing plane crash victim" - ABC13 Houston (December 23, 2025)
9. "Mexican Navy Official Press Release" - SEMAR (December 23, 2025)
10. "Kenya Aircraft Accident Investigation Department Preliminary Findings" - Kenya AAID (November 2025)
11. "Eleven Lives Lost in Kwale Crash" - Travel and Tour World
12. U.S. Attorney's Office (District of Massachusetts) Press Release
13. Federal criminal complaint - U.S. District Court (October 25, 2025)
14. "Man charged in alleged fork stabbing of 2 teens on flight" - ABC News
15. "NTSB Final Report on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282" - National Transportation Safety Board (2025)
16. "Boeing and FAA share blame in door plug incident" - Aviation Week
17. "Airbus Alert Operators Transmission (AOT)" - Airbus (November 28, 2025)
18. "Emergency software patch for 6,000 A320s" - Aviation International News
19. "NTSB Investigation - Statesville Regional Airport" - National Transportation Safety Board
20. "Former NASCAR champion Greg Biffle killed in plane crash" - Associated Press (December 18, 2025)
21. "NTSB briefing on Biffle crash" - Charlotte Observer (December 20, 2025)

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What happens when all four engines on a Boeing 747 suddenly fail at 37,000 feet over the ocean? On June 24, 1982, Captain Eric Moody and his crew faced the impossible: flying the world's largest passenger jet as a glider through the darkness, with 263 lives depending on split-second decisions and a calm voice over the intercom. Join Alice and Zach as they explore one of aviation's most remarkable survival stories—where a former glider pilot's skills, a crew's unshakeable teamwork, and passengers' quiet courage turned certain death into an unforgettable lesson in airmanship. Discover the invisible enemy that brought them down, and learn why aviation authorities' failure to heed the warning nearly caused a second disaster just 19 days later.

Sources:

1. Betty Tootell, "All Four Engines Have Failed" (1985)
2. Mayday: Air Disasters - Season 4, Episode 2, "Falling From the Sky"
3. Captain Eric Moody interviews (BBC, Flight Safety Australia, aviation podcasts)
4. Wikipedia: British Airways Flight 009
5. SKYbrary Aviation Safety Database
6. Mentour Pilot YouTube analysis
7. Aviation Safety Network accident report
8. Rolls-Royce engine investigation documentation
9. Singapore Airlines Flight 21A incident report

Find FINAL BOARDING CALL online:

1. Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.com
2. Email: finalboardingcallpodcast@gmail.com
3. Instagram: @FinalBoardingCallPod
4. Facebook: Final Boarding Call

Credits: Final Boarding Call is hosted by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas, researched and written by Alice Stern, produced and edited by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas.

When LANSA Flight 508 was struck by lightning and broke apart at 10,000 feet over the Amazon rainforest on Christmas Eve 1971, 17-year-old Juliane Koepcke found herself falling through the sky still strapped to her seat. Against impossible odds, she survived - only to face an 11-day journey through one of the world's most dangerous environments while injured and alone. But she wasn't the only survivor. Join Alice and guest co-host Lydia as they explore this extraordinary story and discover what separated Juliane from the 14 others who survived the fall but died waiting for rescue - including her own mother. From the science of crash survivability to the psychology of extreme survival, this episode reveals why preparation, determination, and a lifetime of unique knowledge made all the difference.

SOURCES:

• "When I Fell from the Sky: How the Jungle Gave Me My Life Back" by Juliane Koepcke
• "Wings of Hope" documentary by Werner Herzog
• LANSA Flight 508 crash investigation reports
• My Favorite Murder Podcast
• Not Today Podcast

FIND FINAL BOARDING CALL ONLINE:

• Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.com
• Email: finalboardingcallpodcast@gmail.com
• Instagram: @FinalBoardingCallPod
• Facebook: Final Boarding Call

CREDITS: Final Boarding Call is hosted by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas, with special guest co-host Lydia Stern and special guest Terren Judson. Researched and written by Alice Stern and Lydia Stern, produced and edited by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas.