Case Files

Case Files is the working archive behind Flight Follower. Every entry here began as a recording of a real exchange between an aircraft and air traffic control, obtained from publicly released recordings and investigation records, then reconstructed alongside the radar picture so the sequence can be followed as it actually unfolded.

The archive is deliberately broad. It covers engine failures and fires, loss of control, runway incursions and collisions, fuel emergencies, medical diversions, weather encounters, military intercepts and mechanical failures — ranging from minor occurrences that ended without damage to accidents that killed everyone on board. Some entries concern events investigated in depth by the NTSB or an equivalent national authority and closed with a formal probable cause. Others involve occurrences that were never formally investigated, where the recording itself and contemporary reporting are the only surviving record.

Each case file sets out what is established and, where it matters, what is not. When an investigation remains open or a cause was never determined, the page says so rather than offering a theory. Where an official report exists, its findings take precedence over early reporting, which is frequently wrong in the first hours after an event. Names of people involved appear only where they were already public through official documents or contemporary coverage.

A ranked breakdown of which incident types appear most often across the archive is on the leaderboard, and the airports involved are plotted on the incident map.

Use the search box to look for an aircraft type, an airport, a registration or a callsign. The filters narrow the archive by year, by event category and by how the outcome was recorded. Entries are sorted newest first by default; sorting by most watched surfaces the cases that drew the widest audience, which are not always the most serious ones.

The reconstructions are our own work. The audio is real, the radar track reflects the aircraft’s actual movements, and the written account is assembled from the recording together with whatever documentary record exists. Where we have made an error, the corrections page records it. Our sourcing and editorial standards are set out in the editorial policy.