Archive: Crash testing not for dummies

Channel 4 have never been known for shy or retiring programming. Tonight's 'The Plane Crash' was no different.

On the face of it, a show dedicated to purposely crashing a Boeing 727 does seem particularly ostentatious. As an average viewer, how do we know this is really necessary and not purely made-for-TV nonsense? Of course we don't, but that's the faith we place in much of today's television schedule anyway, and this is more engaging than some of the terrible programmes currently in the TV guide.

The programme was laced with unnecessary melodrama, but in the end this was only a slight nuisance that did not detract to much from the show. Of course, a plain crash is all relative to its specific crash point and how it actually crashes. Nevertheless it proved to be an interesting insight into the science of a crash and the efforts of those studying it to improve flight safety.

Moreover, what could have been a programme that lacked any kind of emotion, also proved to be particularly poignant as it combined the science of a plane crash with face-to-camera pieces from survivors describing how they did and how, sadly, their loved ones didn't.

Overall it's difficult for us to know if the investigators got the information they needed or if they were 'sand-bagging' their actual findings, but nonetheless the programme proved insightful and even reassuring in showing the lengths people go to improve flight safety.

Channel 4 - The Plane Crash