Mayday (2003)

Episode Overview

On October 9, 2002, while flying over the Bering Sea, Northwest Airlines Flight 85 experiences a sudden left deflection of its lower rudder segment. Faced with this critical issue, the pilots manage to divert the plane and execute a successful emergency landing in Anchorage, Alaska, skillfully using engine thrust to maintain control. The event was later determined to be caused by a fatigue failure in the rudder hydraulic control module, leading to a portion of the module's metal casing breaking away.