What happens when the calculations of builders and engineers prove wrong and their constructs come tumbling down? In this episode, we examine the 1987 failure of the Schoharie Creek Bridge in New York; the partial destruction by a runaway freighter of the Riverwalk Marketplace in New Orleans in 1996; the roof collapse of the Rosemont Horizon Arena in Illinois in 1979; the deadliest grain-dust explosion on record in Westwego, Louisiana, when a grain elevator exploded in 1977; and the crash of the British R101 airship in the 1920s.

Join us for look into five engineering disasters... A dangerous cloud of gas explodes into Cleveland's worst fiery industrial disaster in 1944, killing 128 people. A dance competition turns deadly at the new Kansas City Hyatt in 1981, when a skywalk gives way and kills 114. In 1995, neighbors gaped at the spectacle of a $1.5-million San Francisco Bay area mansion breaking into bits as it fell into a massive sinkhole during a rainstorm. In 1931, one of the worst "natural" disasters ever occurred in the Yangtze River basin when six huge flood waves swept down the river destroying the insufficient dams and levees and killing at least 145,000 people. The "miracle mineral" that the US was built upon turns out to be an invisible killer--an estimated 10,000 people die each year from asbestos-related diseases.

In Milwaukee, 104 died after drinking contaminated tap water. At Texas A&M, a tradition turned tragic when a pile of bonfire logs collapsed onto its builders. Thousands of US soldiers expired in known WWII deathtraps--Sherman Tanks. In 1973, 14 men working on a 26-story building died when supports were removed from wet concrete. And in 1993, Denver's "dream" airport became a nightmare when its baggage-handling system ran amok. Aided by computer graphics, catastrophe footage, and visits to the locations today, MIT scientists, Center for Disease Control experts, WWII vets, bonfire builders, and construction engineers explain these tragedies and measures taken to prevent them in future.

In this hour, death seeps out of the ground into a neighborhood sitting on a toxic waste dump at Love Canal in New York; soldiers die during Desert Storm in 1991 when software flaws render Patriot Missiles inaccurate; on September 11, 2001, World Trade Center Building #7 wasn't attacked, but seven hours after the Twin Towers collapsed, it too is mysteriously reduced to a pile of rubble; a night of revelry in Boston turns the Cocoanut Grove nightclub into an inferno that kills over 400 people in 1942; and the science of demolition is put to the test and fails when a building in Rhode Island, the "Leaning Tower of Providence," stands its ground.

In this hour, we examine a massive oil tanker explosion that killed nine; a subway tunnel cave-in that swallowed part of Hollywood Boulevard; a freighter plane crash that destroyed an 11-story apartment building; an historic molasses flash flood; and a freeway ramp collapse that buried construction workers in rubble and concrete. Investigators from NTSB, Cal/OSHA, and Boeing, structural and geo-technical engineers, and historians explain how so much could have gone wrong, costing so many lives. And aided by computer graphics, footage and photos of the disasters, and visits to the locations today, we show viewers what caused these catastrophes and what design experts have done to make sure they never happen again.

A series of construction errors causes a devastating flood that brings Chicago to a standstill. A deadly accident traps hundreds in a smoke-filled Alpine tunnel, with no ventilation. Three boilers explode on a Mississippi riverboat resulting in thousands of deaths and earning the disaster the title of the worst in maritime history. Two buildings, halfway around the world from each other, collapse from the same type of shoddy construction methods--14 years apart. And a cockpit warning system malfunctions, causing a fiery, fatal crash before the jetliner ever takes off. We interview design and construction experts as we investigate what went wrong. And we talk with rescue personnel, eyewitnesses, and victims as we visit the tragedies' sites to see what improvements have been implemented to insure against these kinds of disasters.

To err is human... But when the error results in the loss of life, it's a disaster. Learn about one of the most mysterious maritime disasters of the decade--the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Was it possible that the nation was on the brink of war due to a faulty circuit board? What caused the Buffalo Creek Dam disaster in West Virginia? Finally, delve into the explosion of a super tanker in Los Angeles harbor. With the aid of 3-D animation, forensic engineering experts, and footage of the actual disasters, an in-depth look can be taken of what went wrong, and how the disasters have led to industry improvements.

One of the deadliest natural disasters experienced by US, Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans--submerging it under a torrent of floodwater. We investigate why the levees and water-pumping system failed and join a Geological Detective as he sifts through the rubble to uncover how 80% of the city was left underwater and discovers how the levee system was a potential disaster in the making. We also delve deep into the 80-year-old pumping system to unearth how it flooded and why it took weeks to drain the city of up to 25 feet of water. We learn the engineering cause behind the nightmare suffered by victims seeking shelter in the Superdome. And our investigators discover the design flaws on one of the major escape routes of the city. Using satellite global positioning, we find that New Orleans and the entire Louisiana wetland coastline are actually sinking. How can New Orleans stop this from ever happening again and should it be rebuilt at all?

What happens when the calculations of builders and engineers prove wrong and their constructs come tumbling down? In this episode, we examine the 1987 failure of the Schoharie Creek Bridge in New York; the partial destruction by a runaway freighter of the Riverwalk Marketplace in New Orleans in 1996; the roof collapse of the Rosemont Horizon Arena in Illinois in 1979; the deadliest grain-dust explosion on record in Westwego, Louisiana, when a grain elevator exploded in 1977; and the crash of the British R101 airship in the 1920s.

Join us for look into five engineering disasters... A dangerous cloud of gas explodes into Cleveland's worst fiery industrial disaster in 1944, killing 128 people. A dance competition turns deadly at the new Kansas City Hyatt in 1981, when a skywalk gives way and kills 114. In 1995, neighbors gaped at the spectacle of a $1.5-million San Francisco Bay area mansion breaking into bits as it fell into a massive sinkhole during a rainstorm. In 1931, one of the worst "natural" disasters ever occurred in the Yangtze River basin when six huge flood waves swept down the river destroying the insufficient dams and levees and killing at least 145,000 people. The "miracle mineral" that the US was built upon turns out to be an invisible killer--an estimated 10,000 people die each year from asbestos-related diseases.

In Milwaukee, 104 died after drinking contaminated tap water. At Texas A&M, a tradition turned tragic when a pile of bonfire logs collapsed onto its builders. Thousands of US soldiers expired in known WWII deathtraps--Sherman Tanks. In 1973, 14 men working on a 26-story building died when supports were removed from wet concrete. And in 1993, Denver's "dream" airport became a nightmare when its baggage-handling system ran amok. Aided by computer graphics, catastrophe footage, and visits to the locations today, MIT scientists, Center for Disease Control experts, WWII vets, bonfire builders, and construction engineers explain these tragedies and measures taken to prevent them in future.

In this hour, death seeps out of the ground into a neighborhood sitting on a toxic waste dump at Love Canal in New York; soldiers die during Desert Storm in 1991 when software flaws render Patriot Missiles inaccurate; on September 11, 2001, World Trade Center Building #7 wasn't attacked, but seven hours after the Twin Towers collapsed, it too is mysteriously reduced to a pile of rubble; a night of revelry in Boston turns the Cocoanut Grove nightclub into an inferno that kills over 400 people in 1942; and the science of demolition is put to the test and fails when a building in Rhode Island, the "Leaning Tower of Providence," stands its ground.

In this hour, we examine a massive oil tanker explosion that killed nine; a subway tunnel cave-in that swallowed part of Hollywood Boulevard; a freighter plane crash that destroyed an 11-story apartment building; an historic molasses flash flood; and a freeway ramp collapse that buried construction workers in rubble and concrete. Investigators from NTSB, Cal/OSHA, and Boeing, structural and geo-technical engineers, and historians explain how so much could have gone wrong, costing so many lives. And aided by computer graphics, footage and photos of the disasters, and visits to the locations today, we show viewers what caused these catastrophes and what design experts have done to make sure they never happen again.

A series of construction errors causes a devastating flood that brings Chicago to a standstill. A deadly accident traps hundreds in a smoke-filled Alpine tunnel, with no ventilation. Three boilers explode on a Mississippi riverboat resulting in thousands of deaths and earning the disaster the title of the worst in maritime history. Two buildings, halfway around the world from each other, collapse from the same type of shoddy construction methods--14 years apart. And a cockpit warning system malfunctions, causing a fiery, fatal crash before the jetliner ever takes off. We interview design and construction experts as we investigate what went wrong. And we talk with rescue personnel, eyewitnesses, and victims as we visit the tragedies' sites to see what improvements have been implemented to insure against these kinds of disasters.

To err is human... But when the error results in the loss of life, it's a disaster. Learn about one of the most mysterious maritime disasters of the decade--the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Was it possible that the nation was on the brink of war due to a faulty circuit board? What caused the Buffalo Creek Dam disaster in West Virginia? Finally, delve into the explosion of a super tanker in Los Angeles harbor. With the aid of 3-D animation, forensic engineering experts, and footage of the actual disasters, an in-depth look can be taken of what went wrong, and how the disasters have led to industry improvements.

One of the deadliest natural disasters experienced by US, Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans--submerging it under a torrent of floodwater. We investigate why the levees and water-pumping system failed and join a Geological Detective as he sifts through the rubble to uncover how 80% of the city was left underwater and discovers how the levee system was a potential disaster in the making. We also delve deep into the 80-year-old pumping system to unearth how it flooded and why it took weeks to drain the city of up to 25 feet of water. We learn the engineering cause behind the nightmare suffered by victims seeking shelter in the Superdome. And our investigators discover the design flaws on one of the major escape routes of the city. Using satellite global positioning, we find that New Orleans and the entire Louisiana wetland coastline are actually sinking. How can New Orleans stop this from ever happening again and should it be rebuilt at all?

What happens when the calculations of builders and engineers prove wrong and their constructs come tumbling down? In this episode, we examine the 1987 failure of the Schoharie Creek Bridge in New York; the partial destruction by a runaway freighter of the Riverwalk Marketplace in New Orleans in 1996; the roof collapse of the Rosemont Horizon Arena in Illinois in 1979; the deadliest grain-dust explosion on record in Westwego, Louisiana, when a grain elevator exploded in 1977; and the crash of the British R101 airship in the 1920s.

Join us for look into five engineering disasters... A dangerous cloud of gas explodes into Cleveland's worst fiery industrial disaster in 1944, killing 128 people. A dance competition turns deadly at the new Kansas City Hyatt in 1981, when a skywalk gives way and kills 114. In 1995, neighbors gaped at the spectacle of a $1.5-million San Francisco Bay area mansion breaking into bits as it fell into a massive sinkhole during a rainstorm. In 1931, one of the worst "natural" disasters ever occurred in the Yangtze River basin when six huge flood waves swept down the river destroying the insufficient dams and levees and killing at least 145,000 people. The "miracle mineral" that the US was built upon turns out to be an invisible killer--an estimated 10,000 people die each year from asbestos-related diseases.

In Milwaukee, 104 died after drinking contaminated tap water. At Texas A&M, a tradition turned tragic when a pile of bonfire logs collapsed onto its builders. Thousands of US soldiers expired in known WWII deathtraps--Sherman Tanks. In 1973, 14 men working on a 26-story building died when supports were removed from wet concrete. And in 1993, Denver's "dream" airport became a nightmare when its baggage-handling system ran amok. Aided by computer graphics, catastrophe footage, and visits to the locations today, MIT scientists, Center for Disease Control experts, WWII vets, bonfire builders, and construction engineers explain these tragedies and measures taken to prevent them in future.

In this hour, death seeps out of the ground into a neighborhood sitting on a toxic waste dump at Love Canal in New York; soldiers die during Desert Storm in 1991 when software flaws render Patriot Missiles inaccurate; on September 11, 2001, World Trade Center Building #7 wasn't attacked, but seven hours after the Twin Towers collapsed, it too is mysteriously reduced to a pile of rubble; a night of revelry in Boston turns the Cocoanut Grove nightclub into an inferno that kills over 400 people in 1942; and the science of demolition is put to the test and fails when a building in Rhode Island, the "Leaning Tower of Providence," stands its ground.

In this hour, we examine a massive oil tanker explosion that killed nine; a subway tunnel cave-in that swallowed part of Hollywood Boulevard; a freighter plane crash that destroyed an 11-story apartment building; an historic molasses flash flood; and a freeway ramp collapse that buried construction workers in rubble and concrete. Investigators from NTSB, Cal/OSHA, and Boeing, structural and geo-technical engineers, and historians explain how so much could have gone wrong, costing so many lives. And aided by computer graphics, footage and photos of the disasters, and visits to the locations today, we show viewers what caused these catastrophes and what design experts have done to make sure they never happen again.

A series of construction errors causes a devastating flood that brings Chicago to a standstill. A deadly accident traps hundreds in a smoke-filled Alpine tunnel, with no ventilation. Three boilers explode on a Mississippi riverboat resulting in thousands of deaths and earning the disaster the title of the worst in maritime history. Two buildings, halfway around the world from each other, collapse from the same type of shoddy construction methods--14 years apart. And a cockpit warning system malfunctions, causing a fiery, fatal crash before the jetliner ever takes off. We interview design and construction experts as we investigate what went wrong. And we talk with rescue personnel, eyewitnesses, and victims as we visit the tragedies' sites to see what improvements have been implemented to insure against these kinds of disasters.

To err is human... But when the error results in the loss of life, it's a disaster. Learn about one of the most mysterious maritime disasters of the decade--the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Was it possible that the nation was on the brink of war due to a faulty circuit board? What caused the Buffalo Creek Dam disaster in West Virginia? Finally, delve into the explosion of a super tanker in Los Angeles harbor. With the aid of 3-D animation, forensic engineering experts, and footage of the actual disasters, an in-depth look can be taken of what went wrong, and how the disasters have led to industry improvements.

One of the deadliest natural disasters experienced by US, Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans--submerging it under a torrent of floodwater. We investigate why the levees and water-pumping system failed and join a Geological Detective as he sifts through the rubble to uncover how 80% of the city was left underwater and discovers how the levee system was a potential disaster in the making. We also delve deep into the 80-year-old pumping system to unearth how it flooded and why it took weeks to drain the city of up to 25 feet of water. We learn the engineering cause behind the nightmare suffered by victims seeking shelter in the Superdome. And our investigators discover the design flaws on one of the major escape routes of the city. Using satellite global positioning, we find that New Orleans and the entire Louisiana wetland coastline are actually sinking. How can New Orleans stop this from ever happening again and should it be rebuilt at all?